Page 66 of Cinder
Even my hands shake.
Needing to do something with them, I grab a beer from the fridge behind me and flip the lid.
“I didn’t think you were due back until tomorrow,” I say, handing him the beer.
“What can I say, I got homesick.”
He takes a long pull from the beer bottle, and I try not to focus on his throat working as he drinks it down. But all that ink on his throat is mesmerizing as it moves.
“Yougot homesick?” I ask.
His gaze meets mine. “Some things are worth riding through the night for.”
The way he says it. Makes me think he’s not talking about the clubhouse.
And a million butterflies take flight in my stomach.
I don’t want to react. Don’t want to read more into it. But wild horses couldn’t stop the grin on my face.
“You rode through the night?”
He answers with a grin. “You think you can take a break and have a drink with me?”
Before I can answer, Demri walks up and stands close beside him. “You’re not distracting my girl, are you?”
“I’m not distracting her, I’m outright stealing her away from the bar for a while,” Lars says.
“Well, before you do, tell me why you and Beast rode all through the night to get back here?” she asks, concerned. “Is everything all right?”
I glance across the bar at Beast and Belle in the corner. He’s towering over her, one arm draped on the wall behind her head, the opposite hand on her waist, while she looks up at him with adoring eyes. His expression is one of pure hunger for her. Which tells me they won’t being staying long.
“We wanted to get back,” Lars says. “The others wanted to stay for a patch-over party.”
Demri looks surprised.
“The Rattlers are having a patch-over party, and you didn’t hang around to enjoy the local cuisine?” She puts the back of her hand on his forehead. “Is my son feeling okay?”
Her son.
“You’re his mom,” I say, stating the obvious.
“Yeah, and that blond-haired neanderthal is his father,” she says with a smile, nodding toward Viking who is sitting at a table drinking beer and playing cards with Stone.
Stone is in a wheelchair with his wounded leg extended out in front of him.
“A ride that long is risky,” Demri says, fussing like moms do. Despite her sexy biker-chick vibe, she’s clearly a mom before anything.
“It wasn’t a problem. Beast and I made good time.” He kisses her on the cheek. “And now I’m stealing Ella away, and you’re going to let me.”
“Fine,” she says with a smile. “You two go have some fun.”
He reaches for my hand and guides me out from behind the bar.
“Where are we going?” I ask, enjoying the warmth of his fingers clasped around mine as he leads me away from the bar and into the clubhouse foyer.
He’s taking me to his room.
Where he’s going to kiss me.
