Page 111 of Knot What She Seems
I’m certain he can feel my thundering pulse, but all he does is hold my gaze for a long moment before he releases me. I have to fight the urge to lean toward him when he turns and heads back to the motorcycle, throwing a leg over it and starting the engine.
He clearly just expects me to follow.
But he should know by now I’m not the type of woman—the type of omega—to just go with him because he asks. That’s not who I am. Already, I feel as if I’m losing my mind around these four men. They’re consuming my every thought, and it terrifies me. The last time I gave up control to an alpha team…
Brief memories of a diminutive prison cell flash across my vision, but I push them back. Shove them away. Lock them in a steel box.
I take a single step away from Ridge and fold my arms over my chest. I hate how stupidly sexy he looks straddling that bike, exuding an aura of confidence and power I could never hope to replicate.
Amusement hooks up Ridge’s lips.
“And here I thought you turned into a sweet, obedient omega,” he jests, though the heat in his eyes says he prefers when I’m the exact opposite. I think a part of Ridge likes it when I’m a brat, and that shouldn’t make me as wet as I am. Damn him.
“What do I get out of this?” I ask with a bravado I don’t truly feel.
His smile broadens. “Are you attempting to extort me, my pretty omega?”
I shrug a single shoulder. “Or we can look at this likeyoublackmailingme.”
He throws his head back and laughs, and the rich, deep noise rushes through me like fire. “Okay, how about this.” He leans forward on the bike, resting his arms on the handle bars. “I’ll lay off your brother for two days.”
“A month,” I blurt, my pulse racing. A month without Ridge barking at and reprimanding “Teddie”? Sounds like heaven.
“A month?” Disbelief laces his tone as he blinks at me. “How did we go from two days to a month?”
“My mad negotiation skills,” I say with a flippant wave of my hand. If there’s one thing I learned, it’s that you always counter-offer with a ridiculously unrealistic demand. They’ll be forced to meet you halfway, and you’ll end up getting exactly what you wanted in the first place.
Ridge’s amused smirk suggests he knows exactly what I’m thinking and finds it…cute. Ugh.
“How about two weeks?” He licks his lower lip as he stares at me.
“And is it just you, or does this apply to the others as well?”
“Just me,” Ridge says with a nod. “You’ll have to make your own deal with them to get them to back off.”
I want to snort and say I’ll never do that, but…my track record hasn’t been the best. First Luka, now Ridge. These men are chiseling away my defenses, and there’s nothing I can do to stop it. To stopthem.
“Get on,” Ridge instructs, gesturing to the spot behind him.
I do.
The ride is long and winding, and I’m wishing I had sunglasses on as we drive toward the sunset. I hate how conscious I am of my body pressed against his, my breasts smooshed against his broad, muscular back. And with my arms around his waist, I can feel every ridge of his six-pack, every dip and groove that I yearn to trace with first my fingertips then my tongue.
We pull over on the outskirts of Mneme, a small town that’s nearly abandoned now—one that was hit hard a few years back and occupied briefly by the Noths before we could shove them out.
The roar of the bike cuts off when Ridge parks in front of an abandoned gas station and repair shop that looks like something out of the fifties with its red trim.
I glance around, wondering why he’s brought me here, but he doesn’t speak as he gets off the bike and turns to lift me gently off. He’s so strong that he can easily hold me up above his head and then let the length of my spandex-clad body slide down his. The motion makes my body heat, and when I catch his potent scent, I nearly start to perfume—to send off the very intense scents omegas give when they’re ready to be bedded.
It’s hard to resist this pull between us, but I close my eyes and try to think of terribly unsexy things like irresponsible dog owners and abandoned dog shit in the park while he reaches up and takes my helmet off. While he smooths back my hair. While he leans forward and whispers, “I want to show you somewhere pretty special to me. The place I nearly died.”
My eyes fly open, but Ridge has my hand again and is marching determinedly toward the graffitied station with boarded up windows, towing me behind him. There’s a chain and padlock on the door but only boards over the windows.
With one solid kick from his boot, Ridge knocks away the plywood and then steps inside. Those piercing blue eyes cut back to me as he says, “One sec. Let me just clear the space first.”
I watch him walk off into the shadows, boots crunching over broken rubble and tiny shards of glass. But the space is small and once he’s glanced behind the counter, he’s back, lifting me up bridal style through the window. When I’m inside, he doesn’t release me, so I end up with my arms loosely around his neck, glancing around. The place has been raided for parts, so almost nothing remains but a few work benches.
“You know that this place was occupied?” he questions.
