Page 62 of Iron Hearts

“Well, alright then,” Rob said. We sat and shot the shit, shook on things, and I shot a text or two to Renegade who shot back ‘no problem’ and that we’d sort it out in church the following week.

All in all, it was a good fuckin’ day for everybody, and it was looking like it was about to get even better for me.

CHAPTERTWENTY-FOUR

Rarity…

I caught a glimpse of the way Striker looked at me and I felt a flight of butterflies take off in my stomach the likes should lift me off the ground.

Since our little date in St. Augustine, we’d practically been texting nonstop, and those texts had quickly turned… well… uh…sexually feralis a good way to put it.

He excited me like no other man had ever gotten me going, and part of that was his patience and precision inaskingme. Like literally, he checked in with meconstantlyabout if this was okay, or that was okay, or if this or that was too much and he wouldn’t take one- or two-word answers from me. He sometimes pried until I had to practically author a whole dissertation about how I felt about some of his suggestions, or until I was pretty much spilling my guts about what I wanted or found hot…

Some of it left me flaming with embarrassment at how Iwantedto be riled and defiled – but he never, not onceevermade me feel ashamed for wanting the things I did. Most of the time he confessed he wanted them too, or even went a few steps further.

Some of the things were uncomfortable to think about… at first… but again with him wanting and needing totalkabout things until some of my initial squick either calmed down or in some cases became insurmountable. I didn’t know how to feel about some of the things he liked or wanted – but at the same time, he swore that some of them weren’t deal breakers, like at all.

Some, he asked if we went slow, if I’d make up my final mind after we tried things out.

That sounded reasonable – and so I’d agreed; but then wondered if I was crazy and if things were moving too fast and how bad my mother might freak out and the anxiety would get up there – and still, he would sit with me, across the miles, and comfort me and calm me, and tell me that nothing had to happen, that if it just needed to stay deeply flirtatious and in text, that it could. That it was all up to me…

There was a certain safety and anonymity when texting back and for through that tiny screen, one that I didn’t have now with the way Striker’s hazel eyes bored into mine as he walked me out of the Iron Horse and out to my Jeep.

“You want I should come to your place and we go for a ride?” he asked.

I laughed then and asked, “On your bike, or..?”

He grinned and said, “Yes, on my bike.”

“Yeah, sure,” I said. “Let me just get changed and we can go.”

“Sounds good, baby,” he said and we were both so very awkward standing beside my Jeep.

“I want to kiss you, would, that be okay?” he asked, low and careful.

I tipped my face up to him and nodded shortly and he dipped his lips to meet mine.

God, he had soft lips, and the thrill that slid along my nervous system at the light contact he made sent a shiver down my spine – holy crap.

I felt myself lean into him, and his hands slide along my hips, and pull me closer by my lower back as my lips parted for him.

He tentatively flicked his tongue against my bottom lip, as he closed his gently on my top lip and I felt scalded by the rush of heat that went through me.

I pulled back, breath stolen, and heart racing and felt myself blushfuriously.

“I’ll be right behind you,” he murmured. I just have to go back and untangle my bike from the rest of ‘em.”

“Okay,” I whispered.

“See you soon,” he said, and his hands reluctantly slid from around my body and dropped to his sides.

I opened my Jeep’s door and he stepped in, caging me as I pulled myself up into the driver’s seat, hands up to make sure I got in okay and there to catch me if I slipped. It was silly, I’d never had anything close to it happen getting into my dad’s old rig, but at the same time, it was sweet.

“See you soon,” I called as he closed the door for me, and he flashed a grin at me.

“Drive careful,” he ordered, and I barked a laugh.

“It’s like a mile, if that!” I protested and he gave me a gently chiding look without saying anything and I felt myself color.

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