Page 36 of The Keeper

“No.” I rocked against his erection, whimpering when his teeth grazed my collarbone. “That’s not what I want.”

His breath was hot against my neck. “Then what do you want, Piper? Tell me.”

I shuddered against him, trying to collect my thoughts into something resembling a complete sentence. What did I want? As much as I ached to tell him to take me to bed and leave the problems for future Piper, we couldn’t fix this with sex. Sex had gotten us into this mess in the first place.

With more than a bit of reluctance, I pulled back to catch my breath. “I want you. I want us to be a family. But I’m scared. I’m scared Avery will get hurt.” I swallowed before admitting, “I’m scared I’ll get hurt.”

Dane’s eyes softened as he set me back on my feet, his hands still gripping my waist. “I get it, darlin’. I’m scared, too. This is all new territory for me.”

“According to the back of your kutte, you live in Lubbock. How do we even begin to make this work when we live five hours apart?”

He pressed his forehead against mine, his breath mingling with my own. “We’ll take it one day at a time. You don’t need to have all the answers tonight. You just need to trust me.”

“And the club?” I asked, desperate to silence the nagging voice in my head, which sounded a hell of a lot like my mother.

“The club is part of who I am, Piper. Once you’re in, you’re in. I can’t walk away from this life,” he said before pausing. His brow creased as though he were carefully weighing his following words. “But family comes first over everything, and I swear to you, I’ll do whatever it takes to keep stuff with the club separate from us.”

It wasn’t a perfect solution, but it was a start. The tension coiled tightly in my chest began to unravel, replaced by a tentative hope.

I let out a slow breath. “Okay. I think I can work with that, but I want to take things slow. For Avery’s sake.”

“Baby, nothing about us has ever been slow,” he drawled with a lazy smirk.

My cheeks warmed, and I twisted my thumb ring to keep my fingers occupied… To stop myself from latching onto his kutte and losing myself in his kiss again. “True. But this time around, we’ve got a lot more at stake. This is going to be a big adjustment for us all, and I don’t want to make it more complicated than it needs to be.”

Dane nodded, his expression growing serious. “No, you’re right. We’ll do this at your pace.”

Relief washed over me, quickly followed by exhaustion. I stifled a yawn and glanced at the clock to find it was after midnight. I had gotten into the habit of going to bed when Avery did and couldn’t recall the last time I’d been up this late.

“Been a hell of a day. Let’s get you to bed,” he finally said.

Too exhausted to argue, I let him lead me down the hall to my bedroom, suddenly self-conscious of the dirty clothes strewn across the floor and the disorganized stack of books taking up space on my nightstand. I had planned to clean it all up, but there never seemed to be enough hours in the day. I kicked off my boots and twisted my arm behind my back, struggling to reach the zipper on my dress.

“Turn around,” he commanded, sweeping my long hair over my shoulder before sliding it down.

I shivered as his fingers grazed my bare skin. Every nerve ending in my body sparked to life at his touch despite my exhaustion. I turned to face him, clutching the front of my dress to keep it from falling.

“I should, um...” I gestured vaguely toward the bathroom. “Get ready for bed.”

“Need help?” he offered.

My tongue darted out to wet my dry lips. “I thought we were taking things slow.”

He moved closer, his large frame crowding me against the dresser. “We are. Doesn’t mean I can’t admire the view, though, darlin’.”

Keeping my eyes on him, I slipped my arms out of the sleeves ofmy dress before letting it pool at my feet. While comfortable with the ways my body had changed since having Avery, I was painfully aware I didn’t look like I had the last time he saw me naked. My arms moved back up to hide the stretch marks and baby weight I was still carrying.

Dane’s dark gaze raked over me, lingering on the soft swell of my breasts spilling over the top of my bra before dropping down to the curve of my hips. When he noticed my arms crossed protectively over my stomach, a look of something like understanding crossed his face.

He reached out, gently grasping my wrists and pulling my arms away. “You’re even more gorgeous now than I remembered,” he said, his calloused hands tracing the marks on my skin.

His lips brushed over mine in a tender kiss, and I melted into the warmth of his body. Unlike the encounter in the living room, this kiss was slow and sweet. When we broke apart, I was light-headed and second-guessing my decision to take things slow.

“Why don’t you go ahead and get ready for bed?” Dane suggested. “I’ll be here.”

Slipping into the bathroom, I rushed through my nightly routine and changed into an oversized T-shirt. When I returned, Dane was studying the framed photos lining the bedroom wall. I climbed under the comforter, sinking into the mattress with a relaxed sigh.

“I wish I’d been there the day she was born,” he said, pointing to the picture of me holding Avery in the hospital, my face a mix of exhaustion and pure joy.

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