Page 28 of The Devil's Scars

And yet…

He called to her somehow, called to her like no man ever had in her life before. He called to her in ways and places that she’d long ago pushed aside and denied.

Dealing with Hailey’s brutal murder, figuring out how the hell to raise a baby all alone, working her ass off to try and keep a roof over their heads and food on the table… these things had been her focus for a while now, and they’d keep being her focus for the foreseeable future. And she was good with all of that. She really was.

And yet… and yet…

She was lonely, she finally admitted to herself as she sat there. More than that, she was bone-tired from fighting and struggling. She’d been on her own for so long now, and she was exhausted. She wanted to lie down, just for a little while, and she wanted a large, solid body there when she did – and not just any body. She wanted Scars’ body… only his.

She wanted Scars to be there with her when she let go and let loose. She wanted his arms around her, his lips on hers, his hot breath in her ear. She wanted his hands moving over her curves, his cock driving deep inside her as she trembled and tumbled into oblivion.

She wanted Scars Innis for herself, wanted everything that a man like him could offer her, no matter how temporary or limited.

Even for just one night, she wanted it.

She wanted him.

To hell with him being in an MC. To hell with being just one of the many women to get in to bed with him. To hell with thinking about anything beyond the next hour or two.

A tiny part of her brain slammed on the brakes right about then, asked her if she was really going to be safe with him. This was a big question, not one to be taken lightly or shaken off, just because she was lusting after a devastatingly sexy man. This was the question… the only one where the answer truly mattered, in the end.

The truth was that Scars was – to all intents and purposes – a stranger. Oh sure, Wolf had talked about him quite a bit, and Zoe knew that her best friend thought the world of Scars. Said over and over that he was a straight-up, honest guy, one who was hard-working and loyal. One that Wolf trusted with his own life, and with the life of his MC members.

Scars was, after all, the man that Wolf had tapped to be his VP… that wasn’t an honor that was bestowed lightly or randomly or on a whim. If Wolf had seen something in Scars that inspired that kind of confidence and faith, then Zoe was prepared to think well of Scars just based on that.

And that was what made up her mind at last: if Wolf trusted Scars, then so could she, so would she. She’d trust him with her body and its needs, just for one night. Just that, nothing else, nothing more. Nothing of her, really.

No, he wasn’t a ‘forever’ kind of guy… but that didn’t matter. What mattered was that Scars wasn’t going to hurt her, not for anything. He knew what Zoe meant to Wolf, and there was no way that he’d lay crude or violent hands on her. If he did, Wolf would kill him without batting an eyelash, bond of brothers be damned.

Zoe took a deep breath, got to her feet. Her shaking had stopped as soon as she’d faced and acknowledged her own desires, and she unlocked the door and walked over to the sinks. She washed her hands, patted the cool water on her flushed cheeks and around her eyes. She stared at herself in the mirror for a few seconds, asking herself if she was going to be OK with this… if she could really do this.

If she could be with Scars, just for one night. If, after it was all over, she could pull away and walk away from that body, from those lips.

From those eyes.

Hecould be with her just this once, she knew that for sure. Hell, she was sure that he was more than capable of banging her with great enthusiasm – and hopefully great skill – in the back room, sending her home to bed, and then picking up some other chick within moments of Zoe’s ass heading out the bar door. He may well have been a good man in most ways, but he was a womanizing bastard the way that Wolf was, and she knew that damn good and well.

And that worked for her, if she were being honest with herself. She wasn’t in any position to be with any guy quite yet – not even a decent guy – so why not just enjoy some safe, consensual, strings-free sex? If she did this with no expectations and went in with her eyes wide open about Scars not wanting more from her, then it would just be a bit of fun. It’d be a fantasy. It’d be meaningless.

Yeah, she could do meaningless. Just this once, before she got back to her real life. Back to her non-fantastical, non-fantastic reality.

Her mind made up, she turned and walked out into the hallway, ready to go back to the bar and respond to any signal that Scars sent out. And she stopped dead in her tracks.

He was standing right outside the bathroom, leaning up against the opposite wall. Massive arms crossed, those eyes so blue and bold, his dark-brown hair tousled and falling over his forehead. His broad shoulders looked even wider in his leather cut, his scarred face looked even more fierce in the semi-darkness.

He was just standing there, all casual in well-worn jeans and a tight black t-shirt; just standing there, all sexy and smoldering. Just waiting.

Waiting for her.

“I wanted to check on you,” he said, his voice dark and rough. “You OK, baby?”

It was him calling her baby for the very first time that did it, in the end.

Zoe took two breaths and then – before she could change her mind, before she could start to feel afraid, before she could talk herself out of any of this insanity – she moved to him.

Scars uncrossed his arms, and Zoe just stepped on into them like she’d been born to be there. She pressed herself against his large frame, clutched his t-shirt between her fingers, lifted herself up on her tip-toes.

And she kissed him.

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