Anna had slept through the rest of the night. It had taken her almost an hour to fall asleep when we’d first gone to bed, and it had taken nearly all my might not to move as her hands traced each one of my tattoos. Her touch was timid and even soft as she delicately smoothed over my knuckles and fingers one by one. It was one of the rare times I’d ever seen her so gentle and quiet, and it surprised the fuck outofme.
I was just glad she didn’t notice my erection growing under my boxer shorts. If expecting Anna to go straight to sleep was a mistake, then putting my nose in the crook of her neck so all I could do was smell her was a colossalfuckup.
And then, when she woke up after hernightmare...
The moment between us was deeper than I’d felt with anyone in such a long time. And when she touched the back of my neck, the black paw print, I could barely hold on to myself. I wanted to shut her down like I did whenever anybody mentioned my past, but I didn’t. Anna was so vulnerable that I couldn’t bear to shut her out; so instead, I opened my soul to her. And once I opened myself and saw Anna open herself in return, accepting what I had done—which I hadn’t for almost twenty years—felt easy. It had felt right. Anna had feltright.
Overall, I woke up with my emotions raw and my defenses violated and in desperate need of atobaccofix.
I reached my hand out for my cigarettes and nearly groaned when I remembered I’d put them on the other bedside table. I let out an annoyed growl before flipping over onto my othersideand—
“What the fuck?” spluttered from my mouth as my eyes moved to the round, beautiful ass pointed high in the air, only a single pair of black lace panties sliding between eachcheek.
Anna leaped up at the sound of my voice, her clothes in her hands pinned to her chest as her eyes whirled to meet mine. I didn’t think it could get worse, but as my eyes rose and saw that she was also only wearing a deep red, lace bra that peaked out just behind her clutched clothes, I knew that I waswrong.
“Don’t scare me like that!” she snapped. Her eyes looked down at her bags before looking back to where I lay in the bed and then down at the clothes pinned in front of herchest.
“I could say the same thing,” I ground out, my eyes sinking back down across her body. I could feel my mouth watering at the sight of her deep, sultry curves. Where you could see the ribs of the girls in the club, Anna’s body was covered in soft, cushioned skin that smoothed over her bone structure. Her broad shoulders and heavy rack balanced with her wide hips, both covered in a soft, almost innocent pale-pink skin tone. She didn’t have a thigh gap, and the way her legs pressed together only made me want to sink my teeth into them. I could imagine my marks all over her skin, and the image near made me explode then andthere.
Fuck, it was too earlyforthis.
It must have been written all over my face because, as my eyes rose back to hers, I saw Anna take an unconscious step back. “I’m going to get a shower,” she snapped, taking her clothes over tothedoor.
When I quickly rose out of bed, Anna stopped in her tracks, her eyes going down to the bulging erection in my boxers. I didn’t even say anything before a husky but firm “No” came out ofAnna’slips.
Whatever moment we shared last night obviously became invalid now, because Anna was back to normal, which meant I needed to prepare myself to get burned. I’d always been the type who liked to playwithfire.
“That word isn’t allowed in this room,” I growled, my feet prowling across the wooden floor, my eyes lockedontohers.
“I don’t care about your rules, Wolf,” Anna scoffed, bundling her clothes under her arm as she set one hand on her hips, jutting her waist to the side. “And the only reason I’m in this room is because you won’t let me sleep in someoneelse’sroom.”
“You’re free to go sleep in another room,” I said and watched her eyes widen with surprise. “But if you do,theydie.”
“What?” Anna snapped. “Don’t be fucking ridiculous. You can’t kill one of the brothers for letting me sleep intheirroom.”
“I can,” I promised, taking a step toward her. “AndIwill.”
Anna took a step toward the bathroom as her eyes searched my face. Judging by the deep scowl, I knew she could tell I wasn’t joking. Even so, I saw her eyes flicker to the door withlonging.
“Try it,” Idared.
She whirled her head back on me with a vicious scowl. “Fuck you,” she snapped, picking up her feet and barging past me and into the bathroom. I let her go, watching her ass move in those tiny little panties while forcing myself not to move before I went and tore themapart.
“Fucking perv,” she hissed, punctuating it with a slam ofthedoor.
Chapter Eight
Anna
“Auntie Anna,”Adair called, tugging at my shirt and pulling me from my daze. My mind had been going over last night again and again as I looked into the empty screen of my phone. I turned the phone off, tucking it in my back pocket as I looked down at theyoungboy.
His blond curls and bright green eyes were the spitting images of his father’s. I felt my heart pang just a little as I reached up and helped him climb onto my lap. Noble had been a brother in the club, one who’d filled his life with women, sex, and bikes and did it smiling all the way. He’d been a carefree bastard, and I’d liked that about him. His only problem being the nonstopflirting.
“Mia and Chloe asked me to choose between them,” Adair announced to me. “But I don’t know who tochoose.”
Yep, that trait had been passed on to hisson,too.
I forced myself not to burst out laughing at the kid’s deeply concerned frown, obviously feeling that it was a very serious issue to him. Adair had only just turned four years old, and the girls he had to choose between were six and eight. Chloe and Mia were Ripper’s two daughters, and they’d both been smitten with him ever since he joined the gang ayearago.