Page 22 of Cold Hard Truth

I’m not weak. I’m a biker’s daughter. And it pisses me off that it feels like Sage is judging me.

Standing up, I start to storm off, but Sage is too quick. He grabs my wrist and spins me to face him. Our bodies collide and it might as well be a new universe starting. Because the last time I was this close to him, I was too young, and he was a bad decision. Now he’s everything I don’t want and can’t get enough of.

His fingers dig into my arms, but he doesn’t step back. I have to crane my neck back to look at him. The stars frame his face, and the night holds us close as his chest rises and falls against my own.

“What?” My whisper comes out gravelly and choked.

I can’t breathe the same air as him without it getting caught in my lungs.

Sage reaches up and brushes my black hair off my face, looking deep into my eyes. “I think you will go, Lyla. And honestly, I think that you should.”

His fingers trace along my jaw and my skin might as well have never felt anything before him.

“You do?”

He nods, swallowing hard, and I’m mesmerized, watching his throat as my core clenches with every tick of the muscles in his neck. “But I don’t want you to.”

My attention snaps to him at his confession. He’s never been bold enough to admit he cares. That he wants me here. Like he sees that he’s the reason I’m staying, and he can’t risk me slipping away from him.

“Why not?” My voice is soft, but we’re so close, I can’t breathe around him. “You’re a biker now. I told you I’m not getting involved with a biker.”

“And you’re trouble. My biggest fucking headache.” Sage cups my jaw in his hand, all the warmth I’ve ever needed in his touch. “But this is home.”

I don’t know if he’s talking about the compound or us. Because where I live has never mattered as much as the safety Sage brings me.

“You don’t want me to go?” I repeat his confession.

He shakes his head once, slowly. “Destiny, right?”

He doesn’t believe in that kind of thing, which means he’s saying it for my sake.

It doesn’t matter—he said it. A part of him believes meeven if he thinks I’m ridiculous. His stare has my breath stuttering, and I can’t find my balance.

He holds me against him, and I can feel his heart pounding against his chest. He’s holding back because he knows it’s right, and I wish he’d stop questioning it.

His fingers dig into my back, and he refuses to let me go. Holding on. Forcing himself to resist.

My heart wages a war with my head, and his dark eyes blink down at me.

My protector.

My safe space.

One of the few people in this world I trust so much my entire body aches, desperate to hand itself over to him.

My fingers dig into his arms, and he holds me tighter. His face hovers over mine in a question. To give in or let go.

Maybe they’re both the same thing. And maybe they both end the same way. Good, bad. It’s all up to fate.

I press my lips together and a breeze shuffles my hair around on this warm summer night. Sage holds me in his arms, and he stares into my eyes. A decision to make, and I need it to be the right one.

Us until the end. The only ones left.

Sage starts to pull away, and I risk it. I wrap my arms around his neck and pull him to me for a kiss. My heart jumps to my throat as our lips seal together, and I’m weightless.

I wait for him to fight me off—to break my heart. I wait for him to remind me of all the reasons this is wrong. But instead, he arches my back as he pulls my body to his, deepening the kiss.

One hand digs into my lower back while the other finds my jaw. Our bodies pressed tight and beating as one. His tongue tangles with mine. A collision of spearmint and alcohol and the loss of our inhibitions.

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