Page 47 of Echoes of Temptation

“What does that love feel like?” he asks, rubbing his hand up and down my back. “When you think about the love you have for him, what does it feel like?”

He doesn’t seem upset with this conversation so I go with it.

“Well,” I start. “When I think about him I smile because I know he’s a silly man who likes to make me laugh. He’s always kind to me and it’s so easy to have a conversation with him knowing he won’t judge me. He makes my heart happy.”

“Alright,” he says softly. “How about Knox, Bitsy, or Sophie? Do you love them?”

“Yeah,” I whisper. “They’re so easy to hang out with. I can be myself and not have to worry about them judging me. They make me laugh and we have so much fun.”

“What does your love for me feel like?”

I stop and think about his question. I examine my feelings for this man thoroughly before answering. Leaning up, I look down at the man in question. The moonlight is shining through thesingle window and it’s giving me just enough light to make out his features.

He smiles softly as he moves my hair to one side of my head.

“When I think about you,” I whisper as if my heart wants what I’m about to say to be only for him. “I feel like I’ve found a missing piece of myself that I didn’t know was gone. When I think of your smile it makes me realize that your happiness is just as important to me as my own. I feel this overwhelming desire to make sure you always have something to smile about. And right now, looking down into your eyes, it feels as if my heart beats in tandem with yours and every second with you feels like I’m where I’m supposed to be. I feel the same love for you as I do my friends but it’s so much more profound. Much deeper. More desperate. And it’s the scariest thing I’ve felt in my entire life.”

“Yeah,” he whispers, his eyes alight with happiness. “You love me, baby.”

He leans up and kisses me. It’s not soft and it’s not wild, but it’s a kiss of ownership. A kiss of victory.

A kiss of love.

Chapter Eighteen

Maddy

“Let’s eat breakfast before I have to leave,” Bitsy says as I sit down on one of the couches. “What do we have here?”

“Nothing much,” Sophia announces from the small kitchen area. “There’s a few pieces of leftover ribs and two beers.”

“Alright you three, let’s go,” Knox says. “Colt, tell the guys we went to pick up breakfast. We’ll be back in thirty minutes.”

“Whose car are we taking? I rode my bike here.”

“I rode with King,” I announce.

“My car has been here for a few days but the back is loaded with some supplies that I need to take to UNITY later,” Sophie says, grabbing her purse.

“My car it is,” Knox says.

“Maybe you should wait for them to finish up their meeting,” Colt suggests. “It shouldn’t be much longer.”

“Viper and I have to leave in an hour if we’re going to make it to my parents in time,” Bitsy says. “I don’t have time to wait for them to finish. We’ll be back.”

“Knox,” Colt tries again. “You know how the twins get when you leave without telling them.”

“We’re leaving right now, Colt,” Knox says. “But, if you want to go ahead and barge into their meeting to let them know I’m leaving, I’ll wait.”

I turn and head towards the front door so Colt doesn’t see my smirk. I may not be part of a biker club but all of my friends are. Interrupting a meeting for anything less than an emergency is a quick way to get put back on the Prospect level.

“That’s what I thought,” Knox says. “We’ll be back. Let’s go ladies.”

“Shotgun,” I call out.

We head to Sunny Side Bites. It’s only a fifteen-minute drive and serves the best breakfast in all of Harborbrook.

“It would have been cheaper if we just bought the groceries and cooked it,” I say as we wait for the order to be made.

---