Page 32 of Pike
Not totally.
It was Pike.
It was the heat of his hard body. The scent of him. The way his deep voice slid down my spine and curved around to my belly, pulling me deeper into his orbit. How could I be expected to focus on anything when he was all I could think about?
“You good?” his voice came out rough as if he felt the tension coiled between us too.
I nodded but my breath hitched in my throat.
“You sure?” His fingertips grazed my shoulders, making me shiver.
I nodded even though I wasn’t sure of anything, but the one thing that would help was honesty. I hoped. “I haven’t beenturned on like this in a really long time so it’s kind of knocked me on my ass.” I waved his concern away. “It’ll take some getting used to, but I’ll be fine.” My breathless explanation was supposed to make him understand.
It wasn’t supposed to make his eyes go all dark and hot like that. It wasn’t supposed to heighten my arousal either but then he took a step forward.
And then another.
And another until my back hit a large tree. I gasped when one hand braced the spot beside my head while the other hand slid under my tank top in one short, swift move. His fingers found my bare skin and then…oh my god!
His thumb and forefinger squeezed my nipple and I moaned, the sound ripped from my throat in a raw, needy note. “Yes!” He did it again and my hips bucked forward, greedy for more of this pleasure.
As if he heard my thoughts, his lips descended on mine and he kissed me like he was claiming me, like he was making me his. He lips took control of the kiss, firm and hungry as his tongue swept into my mouth, leading the dance. His hands switched positions to give the other nipple the same attention while he devoured me whole.
I arched into him, silently begging for more. I was crazy with desire, which hadn’t happened to me since I was a horny nineteen-year-old who thought I knew everything there was to know about the world. This made no sense, but apparently that didn’t matter because I wanted this.
Wanted him.
I was horny for this maddening, brooding, growling biker who somehow made me feel like I hadn’t been dead inside for too many years to count. That was the sad truth, and it felt like something I should lean into and celebrate rather than run from.
His hips pushed forward, letting me feel that I wasn’t in this alone, he was just better at hiding his emotions than me. The long ridge of him pushed against where I needed him and I gasped into his mouth, feeling him smile against my mouth before he pulled back.
I was panting hard and so was he.
But it wasn’t the panting that got to me, it was that rare, dangerous smile that tugged at his lips. “When you talk like that,” he said eventually. “I can’t focus.”
“Same,” I panted.
He stepped away but some distance between us, even his backwards steps were confident. Smug. Satisfied. “Lesson over.”
I watched him walk away trying to remember how to breathe. How to think. I justexistedin that moment while my body relearned basic functions.
It’s not supposed to be like this.That’s what I kept telling myself as I fought for every breath I took. I should’ve been focusing on staying alive, on building a new life for me and Gemma, not on a man who made me feel as if I might spontaneously combust from needing him too badly.
But he wasn’t trying to control me, he was teaching me. He was giving me the tools I needed to protect myself and that mattered.
It mattered a lot.
“Which is exactly why he’s so dangerous,” I muttered to myself as I made my way back to the cabin.
“Mommy, I made you a unicorn that breathes fire rainbows!” Gemma held up the drawing with a proud smile.
“That’s gorgeous, baby.” It was perfect because she was perfect, because she hadn’t let the trauma in her young life define her.
Yet.
And if I had anything to do with it, not ever.
Chapter Eighteen
