Page 11 of Her Feral Biker
I stared back at him, unafraid. “You’d ruin the business of the girl you’re falling for just to prove a point, huh?”
His eyes darkened. “Don’t confuse fucking for loving, princess.” His voice lowered to a bare whisper.
Ouch.But I bit back a smile all the same.
“We haven’t done that yet.”
The stillness in his stance promised me that time wasn’t far away, especially if I kept pushing him like I did right now.
Lake said nothing, only watched me with a set jaw, and an unflinching gaze.
“I did a little research this week.” I twisted around as motion caught my attention in my periphery. I rang up my next sale, still talking softly in between tasks. Lake never moved, but also he didn't leave. “Thank you. I love this one. It’s a really pretty knit and the wool is so soft.” I smiled and bagged up the purchase, adding in all the extra shop swag, and moved to my next customer, still smiling and talking. “My research project? It was motorcycle clubs. Do you know what the most important thing I found was that came up over and over again? It was family. That was the core of every club I looked up. Can you pass me one of those purple bags please from the shelf up there? In the big box. I’m out.”
Lake said nothing as he lifted the box down for me, opened it and loaded the bags into the shelf from where I’d just pulled the last one.
“Thank you.”
I finished with my next customer, and the next while he walked around the back of the store, looking at my stock that I couldn’t reach and lifted box after box down, topping my floor supply up.
Once my trinkets and jewelry gaggle had swooned appropriately and my store was empty once more, I took a sip of my coffee, and turned around to find all my back up boxes were off the shelves above, my bags and trinket boxes completely restocked, and Lake was nowhere in sight.
“That was short lived,” I murmured over the pang of disappointment that hit me all too hard in the suddenly silent shop.
“My mistake.” Lake’s hands rested on my waist. He squeezed me gently. “I thought being here might show you how…incompatible we were. Help you push me away from what’s fast becoming an unhealthy obsession, princess. But watching you work is something else.”
I held my breath. “In a good way or a bad way?”
His hands tightened as he stepped up behind me until our bodies just contacted each other. “A good way, princess. Are you working late tonight? I have a few things to do, then I’ll come back for you. Can you handle that?”
I nodded.
He laughed softly in my ear. “Words, Annalise. Give me all your pretty words.”
“Oh. Yes. I can manage,” I said, resting my hands over his on my hips. “Did I— Did I pry too much?” I blurted, my bravado from before well past its use by date.
“No, you didn’t pry,” he murmured. “Are you sure this is what you want? I don’t do public relationships."
I nodded, staring down at the coffee he’d bought me, all too aware that he stood in my shop in the middle of the day when anyone could walk in. “Yet here you still are,” I whispered back.
“The club is different. Rougher.”
“Like you?” I tipped my head to one side.
“It’s not the same world you live in.”
“I’m sick of my world, Lake.” I swiveled in his arms to face him. “I’ve been trying to get out of it for a long damn time. But I can’t. I bought this shop with all the money I had, from my savings and when my gran died I inherited a little more. I should have bought a house, maybe, but I wanted to build something of my own. So this was it. I never meant to stay with my family but every time Prinze takes from my till, it strips away my freedom to leave. I can’t afford to lose more to him. And yes, you being here is great but that’s not what I want from you.” I squeezed my eyes shut, and my mouth. I hadn’t meant to say all that. None of it. But the words tumbled out all the same.
“I wondered," he murmured. “About why you stay in that big house. I thought maybe you liked the comfort factor. But then when you said that you slept here that night… I knew somethingelse had to be part of it.” He watched me carefully. “I can help you, Annalise.”
“I’m not taking money from you,” I snapped, twisting away from him. Prinze took money from me, and I didn’t want to find myself indebted to someone else so fast.
Lake’s hand whipped out to catch my chin in a pincer grip. HIs touch gentled as he turned me back to face him. I let out a startled cry at the speed of his actions, the violence in his touch. Dark eyes stared down at me, but there was no apology in his gaze.
“I don’t touch a woman roughly, princess. Not unless—” He broke off, still staring at me. His hold eased as he wrapped a hand behind my nape, pulling me toward him until my hands pressed to his black t-shirt. The heat of him blared beneath his jacket. I soaked in his warmth. “That’s not a part of me I ever want you to see, princess. I’ll always be sweet with you, and I’m never going to make you bargain yourself into a bad deal, not unless we’re playing, but that’ll be by your choice. I won’t let you tie yourself to me if that’s not what you want. Do you understand?” His mouth hovered the merest breath from mine.
I didn’t bother answering him, pushing up onto my toes to press my lips to his.
A groan tore from his mouth as he pulled me in closer, sliding his tongue deep, pushing my mouth wide to accommodate him. His kiss was slow and sensual, and I turned to liquid against his chest.
