Page 19 of Savage Outlaw

Not at all.

Tad’s eyes darkened as he approached, putting rocks in her belly and a thirst she couldn’t ignore.

He’d never needed to flirt, not with the slow perusal he always gave her from the toes up over.

“Did you cheat?”

Of everything he could have used as an opener, that one hurt the most. It sent her chin higher and her eyes turned to two disks of ice.

Every time he spoke in that hoarse deep voice—usually when he was whispering dirty things in her ear—her heart and mind went stupid crazy, wanting more of it.

But hearing him accusing her … yeah, that set fire to her heart until it was dust.

She could easily become a man hater if it weren’t for his good dick in the pro column.

“No, I did not cheat. But you can’t have theSoulslosing out, right? Fine, here.” She thrust her little cloth bag holding the cashed out chips into his chest. He didn’t take it. Didn’t take his eyes off her either. “Take it,now you can be the shark.”

His eyes darkened and her thighs quivered.

Ugh, jack that shit in, she warned herself.

Months ago, after her friend was drugged, she’d seen Tad taking care of Poppy and she knew what she had to do. She’d driven to their motel meeting place, knowing he’d follow. She’d known it and anticipated, pacing for an hour waiting for him.

He’d arrived like an avenging demon straight from hell. About the sexiest sight she’d ever seen, and she’d wilted when he demanded to know she had never been drugged before. Under his possessive rage his desire went directly to her head. For a hot second she thought things might be different between them. Until days had gone by and he didn’t call. He didn’t call or come by for her and Roux knew then it was never going to work. Unless she was willing to lower her standards. She deserved better from love than to become one of those stupid women who waited around for a man and accepted scraps of attention. It was accepted now she was never going to be with him in any real way.

She’d let go of him that week and avoided any place where she might run into him. The last thing she wanted to see was his arm slung over the shoulder of a woman.

That would kill her.

Seeing him now with coldness in his eyes killed her.

He bridged the gap between them, pushing her hand into his chest. His angered breaths fanned her lips and dried her mouth. The leather of his cut felt soft and warm,too good. She was a leather whore. To wear it, to smell it on a man. He’d always looked incredibly virile in denim and leather. With his hair brushed off to the side, the thick boots and wallet chain always did a number on her insides. As if they were attached to her sexual organs.

He was a walking, talking outlaw. By all accounts, a bad man if you listened to gossiping bitches who talked a lot of smack about all bikers.

She hated that bad men … one in particular, did it for her.

This confrontation was good, she thought, as she hooked the drawstring around her wrist and let the velvet bag hang loose. Now she could see Tad and decide she feltnothing. She was letting go of a longing that would never come true because he was too chickenshit to ride against the tide of a MC rule.

“Why are you at aSoulstable, Cookie?”

Cookie. Ugh, it held the power to make her breathless and hot at the same time, but she schooled her hormones real damn fast.

We’re not liking him anymore, remember, you dumb shits! Get it together.

“Why does anyone gamble?”

“Because they’re addicts, betting everything they have at 2 in the afternoon. Is that what you are now?”

Oh, he was fucking baiting her. She saw it in the sharpness of his jaw as it ticked…ticked…ticked.

A woman walked by them on the street, glancing at their weird standoff and Tad earned points for not looking at the woman’s perky tits.

Roux wasn’t hurting for self-confidence. She liked how she looked. Her attitude could do with some fine tuning, she was no Karen homemaker, but she received a lot of attention from men.

“Well?” He pressed.

“Don’t be so fucking stupid. I play to win. I won. The end.” He knew she was a career gambler not an addict. She did raid the piggy bank for a fast nickel and she wasn’t cheating …today… in order to appease a need in her.

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