Page 15 of Knuckles

“Isn’t justice enough?” Could the man get any closer to me without touching? I really wanted to find out. Suddenly, everything I’d been doing since Gunnar went to prison seemed like a bitter victory. Sure, I’d won every battle I’d taken on. But at what cost to myself? Then the only question was if I cared about the cost. The answer was a resoundingno.

“It goes deeper than vengeance.”

“You’re imagining things.”

“Fine. We’ll drop that topic for now.” For some reason I didn’t feel like I was getting a reprieve. “Are you scared of me?”

“I already told you. I’m not afraid of anything.”

“Good. So If I did something you didn’t much like, you’d take care of me in a permanent fashion. Yes?”

“Where you going with this, Knuckles?”

He leaned in closer, his giant frame dwarfing my more petite one. “When I count to three, I’m gonna kiss you, Hannah. If you don’t give me a good hard shove or knee me in the balls, I’m gonna to kiss you until you don’t know your own name. Then, if we’re both feelin’ it the way I think we’re gonna feel it, I’m gonna strip you naked, throw you up on this fuckin’ bar, and eat your pussy until you fuckin’ scream my name, little girl.” I gasped in a breath and would have fallen on my ass if I hadn’t been holding on to the edge of the bar. “One.” He started counting.

“Oh, shit,” I muttered. I wasn’t sure if I was scared or eager. Probably both.

“Two.”

“Three.” I sighed, and pulled him down by his beard and met his lips with mine.

Chapter Seven

Knuckles

I… was fucked. In the metaphorical and, Ireallyhoped, the physical sense. There were so many parts of the English language where fuck would be appropriate in this very moment I’d never run out of creative ways to use it. I’d known this was a mistake. Knew it before I told her I was gonna kiss her. But my body had other ideas and little head took over big head. Or something.

I just wanted to push her a little. To see where all those looks she was throwing me were going. More than twenty years in prison made my social skills a little rusty. If I’d ever had any. Women always fell into my lap whether I wanted them or not. My rank in the most powerful club in the area made me a prime target for club whores looking to cash in. It was harder to keep the women off me than it was to keep the police in line. This woman, though…

If I never kissed another woman after this, I’d consider myself lucky to have had the chance to kiss Hannah. And if my brothers ever heard that poetic shit, I’d get laughed out of the club.

But sweet God Almighty, the woman was delicious in a way I’d never imagined. There was the bite of the warrior I’d seen mixed with a strange hesitancy that felt like anxious energy. And then it hit me. And I had my answers. I knew why Hannah did what she did, and as much as I wanted to take this kiss further, as much as I wanted to make good on my promise to spread her out and eat her pussy until she passed out, it wasn’t happening tonight. At least, not until we got a few things straight.

I let her take the lead, which didn’t help my resolve not to take her as far as she’d go. Once the sensations settled around her, she was more demanding, almost desperate. Hannah was punishing herself, and I was pretty sure that now was part of her self-imposed punishment. I absolutely could not let that happen. I would not let her lump me in with any other men she’d slept with because I knew that was what would happen. I also had a sickening feeling, given how hard I’d been told Hannah had taken it when Gunnar had gone to prison, she wasn’t as experienced in mind as she was in body. Which I should have thought of before I kissed her, but here we were.

I pulled back, my breathing heavy, and pressed my forehead against hers. “Fuck, Hannah,” I whispered her name like a prayer.

“Why’d you stop?” Hannah shuddered in my arms. I wasn’t even sure when I’d wrapped myself around her, but she was solidly against me and that’s where I wanted to keep her. She tried to pull me back by my beard. “Please, Knuckles.”

“Much as I want your tight little pussy around my cock tonight, I can’t until we have a serious conversation. The last thing in the world I want is to take advantage of you or hurt you worse than you’ve already been hurt.” My voice was rough with need. I wanted to kick my own ass. Both for not realizing what was going on with Hannah, and for not taking what she obviously wanted to give. Because I had no doubt I could make her feel as good as she made me feel. She’d never look at me again, though. She might not do it intentionally, but taking what I wanted from her would make me just like all the other men she’d been with.

“I’m not hurt, Knuckles. And you’re not taking advantage of me. I know exactly what I’m doing. Like you said, if I don’t like what you’re doing, I’m more than capable of handing you your ass.”

“I know you are. But this conversation has to happen, one way or another, and I’m not fuckin’ you until it does.”

She stiffened in my arms. “What? Why the hell not? You said --”

“I know what I said.” I leaned in and touched her forehead with mine, cupping the back of her head to hold her steady. “I meant every fuckin’ word. You tell me you’re not holdin’ onto some big feelings goin’ back to the night things went to shit when you and Gunnar were kids, and I’ll fuck your ever-lovin’ brains out. But you’re gonna have to make me believe it, and we’ve already established you can’t lie for shit.”

She gave a frustrated grunt before pushing me away. I didn’t let her push me far. I’d get out of her personal space, but I wasn’t letting her more than an arm’s length away from me. “What was the play here? You think you can get me all worked up and I’ll just spill my guts?”

“No, honey. I’m a selfish bastard, though.”

“No! Really?” Her mock surprise made me raise an eyebrow.

“Is that sass?”

“Nope. It’s sarcasm.”

---