Page 40 of Stone

I pop my index finger under her chin and tilt it up towards me. Only the tiniest slit of a gap shows between her eyelids as she tries to dodge me. “Open your eyes Oriana, and look at me.” I run my thumb across her cheekbone. “I need to see your eyes, sweetheart. Doctor’s orders.”

“Why are you being so nice?” she splutters. “You should be cursing me out, kicking me out for being so stupid and putting Sasha at risk.” Her eyes are focused on her hands resting in her lap, she twists and rubs them together. I realize I’m still softly stroking her cheek when I feel a wetness on my thumb from the tears spilling from her eyes.

“Hey, shhh,” I take her into my arms and damn, I can’t deny how good it is having her here, safe when things could have gone so catastrophically different. Her hot breath against my naked chest feels pretty good, too. “This wasn’t your fault. If anything, it was mine. I should have put protection on you.”

Tilting back her head, she finally meets my gaze, “Why would we need protection?” Her brow knits together, then quickly un-furrows and shoots up into her hairline like she’s had an epiphany. “Because you’re a Young Outlaw, and part of the council.” The latter part wasn’t a question, it was clearly a statement. How much understanding did she have on what MC life is like, especially when you’re a 1% er?

Damn sure I need to find out, but this wasn’t the time for me to interrogate her further on that matter.

“Don’t worry, I’m not stupid. I know what goes on in the MC, stays within the MC.” Her eyes look up at me knowingly.

“Well, at least I can see your eyes now,” I divert the conversation, not wanting it to continue down the club business path. God damn it, her eyes are like rare jewels at the best of times, but when shimmering with tears, they were nothing short of breath-taking.

Our faces are close, our breath mixing, making the cool air between us instantly heat up. The task of checking her pupils quickly fights its way back to the forefront of my mind.

“They look perfect to me.” I say when I see that her pupils are clear and even, giving no sign of any worrying additional head trauma. But my voice comes out all deep, husky and saturated with lust. I need to get a grip and back the hell off as I’m beginning to teeter on the edge of no return.

Before I get the chance to put some distance between us, Oriana leans forward and places her lips to mine. The touch is soft, barely connecting, as if testing the water.

“Oriana?” I say harsher than I should, but she’s taken me by surprise, and I’m not the fuck sure where the hell this has come from. Sure, I’ve resigned myself to the fact that I’m attracted to her, and there has been the odd sign that she doesn’t find me totally offensive even though, at times, I’ve been cruel.

“Thank you for caring for me.” Our eyes are fixed on one another’s, but when my gaze slips back down to her plump lips, she moves in again. This time her bandaged hand cups the side of my face, the kiss firmer and hovers for longer than it should to be considered a peck. It’s way out of the realms of a simple kiss of gratitude.

I break the kiss, but not wanting to lose her touch entirely, I place my hand over the one still against my cheek.

“Oriana, you need to stop,” I warn her even though every part of me wants to forget that she’s my nanny, ignore the risk of fucking up the sense of normality that we have worked to over the past few weeks, and give in to my urges.

“Why?” she fires back at me. “I see the heat in your eyes, the hardness in your pants. I know that you want me.” I let my hand drop away from hers as I go to move away from her and the temptation, but her hand whips out, and it’s enough to stop me from getting to my feet.

Damn, if the way she looks at me doesn’t make me want to kiss the fuck out of her and devour every inch of her lush body, fuck her until my name is slipping from her lips, but I’m no fucking good for her. Not in that way, and I’d rather have her in my life, albeit at arm’s length, than not at all.

I’m a fucking biker, a killer, a monster deeply entrenched in club life. She’s sweet, my baby girl’s carer and untarnished by the harsh world that lurks right outside my door. It would be wrong of me to blur the lines, upend her life for my own bloody selfishness.

I need to make her understand that this is not what’s good for her, even if my words are hurtful. But damn it, when I inflict that pain, I don’t doubt for one minute that they won’t be just as wounding for me too.

“I fuck club whores on the regular Oriana, not sweet little virgins that think snagging a tattooed biker is going to put some excitement into their life.”

Oriana

“I’m not a virgin,” I put him right. “And snagging a biker, as you put it, has never crossed my mind. Until now that is.” I move forward with intent to place my mouth back on his because that first kiss made my lips tingle. The second, had flicked a switch in me, sending my senses into overdrive. Tiny surges of arousal had shot through my body until they congregated at every erogenous zone I had. Holy fuck, if that was from a simple kiss, I sure as hell wanted to experiment more. Just looking at Gabriel has my heart racing and my body on fire. This is the moment, and it might be the only chance I get to act on my feelings. To show him what I want, and what I want is him.

“You’re deluded.” He stops me just before I make contact by placing his hand around my throat. I gasp at his action, simply because it surprises me how stimulated I am by it. But he makes no attempt at tightening his grip; it’s simply to keep me from closing the minimal gap between us. If I hadn’t been watching him so closely, I would have missed the quick narrowing of his eyes and furrowed brow, because it was gone again in a flash. He must recognize from how I lean into him, keep eye contact and my rapid breaths from parted lips that I’m highly aroused.

“You need to find yourself a nice college boy to fuck, sweetheart, one that might put a ring on it, because if you have any fucked up romantic notion that I’m the relationships type then that bump to the head has done more damage than we thought.”

“Fuck romance.” I snigger. “Fuck relationships. I’m not looking for that. Neither am I looking for a half-wit college jock who wouldn’t know how to find a women’s g-spot even if they had the latest NASA satellite tracking system, a detailed diagram and a copy of How To Satisfy Your Women For Dummies manual.” I lean just that bit closer and add. “For one night only, I want to be fucked within an inch of my life by a real man, not a boy. And if I’m not mistaken, you are the perfect man for the job.”

“Just who the fuck are you, Oriana? Because this dirty side of you is new to me.”

“It’s the side of me that’s being waiting to show its face since the day I walked into the clubhouse and caught sight of the grumpy assed biker, that was so fucking hot I could barely string two words together.”

“How I would use you, the things I could do to your body, you have no fucking idea,” he growls, his voice deep and warning. Goosebumps pop up along my bare arms, but I refuse to show any signs of weakness. I wink, tilt up my chin and pout my lips as I move in to steal another kiss, making it known that I’ve no intention of backing down.

Only this time, he doesn’t stop my advances.

The hand still around my throat hooks further behind my neck, bringing me nearer and crushing his lips to mine. When his tongue pushes against my lips, I open willingly, letting him fully explore my mouth. When my tongue does a twirl with his, we both moan from the crazy erotic explosion it ignites.

“Fuck,” he pants against my lips when we finally break for air. “I’m going to fucking ruin you.” I can still hear a hint of hesitation in his voice.

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