“Sure!” I said enthusiastically. “As long as I don’t need to nurse my brother back to health.” I’d specifically said it loud enough for Eagle to hear. My eyes flickered from him back to Mac.
He was rubbing the lower half of his jaw, a worried look in his eyes. “You know, honey, Eagle wasn’t solely responsible for dealing out punishment on your brother.”
My brows furrowed, but Mac didn’t elaborate. Something prompted me to drop my gaze to his hands. Just like Bear’s, the knuckles on one hand were red and slightly swollen. All of them against one man? That was hardly a fair fight. And yet, it wasn’t as if they’d ganged up on him in an alley somewhere. No, this had been to punish Ron for his reckless stupidity.
Without involving the police.
I had to remind myself of that.
“I kind of figured that,” I acknowledged slowly. Now more than ever I wanted to see my brother. I met Eagle’s unblinking stare when he stopped at the table, and I managed to swallow my pride. “Will you please take me to see Ron now?”
His grin should have rubbed me the wrong way, but it didn’t, and for all the wrong reasons. He was drop-dead gorgeous when he smiled. I caught myself from smiling back and sank my teeth into my bottom lip when it appeared that he wasn’t going to answer. His eyes went there, flaring with heat and causing sharp awareness in my core. Damn him! Why couldn’t Mac be the one who affected me this way? Or any other man who didn’t already have another woman on their mind?
Without warning, Eagle’s eyes turned harder, and his jaw noticeably tightened, and I knew the moment had past. But it hadn’t passed for me. I unwillingly thought about that steamy episode in his room. His mouth had been demanding and persuasive, and his hands, even over my clothes, had aroused me into wanting more. What would that feel like, his warm, calloused hands moving roughly over my nakedness? Touching my breasts and sliding between my thighs? The hardening of my nipples tore me from my thoughts.
Jeez, I had to stop this!
“We’ll go now.”
Thank God!
I needed something to keep my mind off Eagle and what he made me feel.
Chapter 10
Eagle
I didn’t care if Leo followed me or not. The less time I spent in her presence, the better. Especially after what had happened between us in my room. My dick got hard just thinking about how hot it had been grinding down against her pussy, and she’d been like a stick of dynamite ready to go off. It wouldn’t have taken much. Fuck. It hadn’t been my intention to let things go so far, but I’d snapped once she’d jumped me and planted those plump lips on mine.
All my control had flown right out the window.
There was no question that Leo had made the first move, though I’d thought about it. Her hot, curvy little body against mine had rendered me helpless to resist her. She’d been into it, too, arching those shapely little hips into the cradle of mine. She’d thrust her hot cunt against my dick, and it hadn’t been to throw me off. No. The woman had wanted to fuck, and I’d almost granted her wish. I could still feel how fucking firm and round her tits had been against me, even through her clothes.
Jesus. I had to get a grip. As soon as she saw her brother, I was taking her home. Better still, I’d have one of the prospects take her.
“What exactly did you do to my brother?” Leo asked from behind me.
I grinned at the breathlessness of her voice, realizing that she was having a tough time keeping up with my stride. “We—” and I stressed the “we” because she was determined to put this all on me, “—had him run the gauntlet.”
“The gauntlet...”
I heard her murmur in a puzzled tone as if she were trying to remember what it was. Then she gasped sharply, “You mean like in First Knight?” There was disbelief and outrage in her voice.
I was sure that she was imagining all kinds of horrid things at this point, and I knew exactly what movie she was talking about. I huffed a laugh and paused right outside the infirmary door and turned to her. “Yeah. Only without the axes.”
Those beautiful green eyes flashed at me like hard, little rays that had the power to turn a man to stone. When she wet her lips, I closed my eyes and fought for control. This woman...I wasn’t even sure what it was about her that affected me so fucking strongly. She had the whole package, yeah, but it was something more. It was beginning to annoy the hell out of me. When next I opened my eyes, nothing had changed. Leo was standing there, too fucking close, staring up at me with those mesmerizing eyes.
As soon as I could I was going to grab one of the sweet tarts and get rid of some of the tension in my body.
“Don’t baby him.”
Her mouth dropped. “He’s only eighteen,” she reminded me again. “And I don’t baby him!” She crossed her arms right beneath her tits, thrusting those babies up at me.
I thought about how she’d protected him like a mother tiger. “Yeah, you kinda do, darlin’. And he’s old enough to accept responsibility for his actions. He did that today. If he’d have killed Brew, you’d be identifying him in the morgue.”
I saw the moment the realization of the seriousness of the situation registered with her. It was the truth. We weren’t as hard core as other clubs out there, but we handed out payback to fit the crime. Another MC would have killed her brother straight off, even if no one had been seriously hurt. I’d spoken to Ron before and after his beating, pointing out to him how lucky he’d been. He’d been contrite and accepting, but I wondered if he’d just responded with what he thought I wanted to hear.
Leo released a resigned sigh. “How much money does he have to come up with?”