Page 12 of Chains
“I should go,” he repeated, but his hand didn’t drop.If anything, he moved closer, his body heat radiating against my skin.
“You keep saying that,” I whispered.
“Yeah, well.”His thumb brushed across my cheekbone, so light I might have imagined it.“I keep meanin’ it.”
But he didn’t step back.Neither did I.We stood there in my doorway, caught in some kind of spell that neither of us seemed willing to break.
Finally I eased back a half step and smiled up at him.“Goodnight, Chains,” I whispered, not trusting my voice at full volume.
He nodded, turning toward the door.His hand closed around the doorknob, but he didn’t turn it.I watched the muscles in his back tense beneath his shirt, saw the slight rise and fall of his shoulders as he took a deep breath.For a moment, he stood frozen, caught in some internal struggle I couldn’t see.
Then, in a movement so sudden it took my breath, he turned back to me.His eyes, which had been so guarded to this point, burned with an intensity that made my knees weak.In one long stride, he closed the distance between us, one hand coming up to cup my face while the other slid around my waist, pulling me against him.
“Tell me to stop,” he murmured, his breath warm against my lips.
I couldn’t speak, couldn’t think past the thundering of my heart and the heat of his body against mine.Instead, I tilted my face up to his, an invitation he didn’t hesitate to accept.
His lips met mine with unexpected gentleness, soft and questioning.His kiss was achingly tender.My eyes fluttered closed as I leaned into him, my hands finding purchase on his solid chest as I sighed in contentment and growing desire.My clit throbbed in time with my heart as he deepened this kiss.Chains slid his hand from my face to tangle in my hair, cradling the back of my head.I parted my lips, inviting him closer, and he accepted with a low grunt that vibrated through me.
When he finally pulled away, it felt like surfacing after being underwater.I opened my eyes to find him watching me, his expression completely unguarded for the first time since I’d met him.Vulnerability shone in his gaze, raw and unexpected, before shutters came down, closing it off as quickly as it had appeared.
He stepped back, his hands falling away from me.The loss of contact left me cold.
“I shouldn’t have done that,” he said, his voice rough.
Before I could respond, tell him that he absolutely should have and that I wanted him to do it again, he turned and yanked open the door.Without another word, he strode down the hallway with purposeful strides.
I stood frozen in the doorway, my fingers touching my lips where the ghost of his kiss still lingered.My cats gathered around my feet, Binx meowing softly as if asking what had happened.Salem rubbed against my leg while Lucifer sat a few feet away, his tail swishing back and forth as he watched the retreating figure of Chains.
“I don’t know,” I whispered, answering Binx’s unspoken question.“I don’t know what that was.”
But as I watched Chains disappear around the corner, his shoulders set in a rigid line, I knew something had shifted between us.Whatever wall he’d built around himself had cracked, if only for an instant.And I wanted nothing more than to find those cracks again, to slip through them and discover what lay beneath.
I closed the door slowly, leaning my forehead against the cool wood.My heart refused to settle, my skin still humming where he’d touched me.One kiss, and I was undone.One kiss from a man who clearly regretted it the moment it ended.
“What am I getting myself into?”I asked my cats, who offered no answers, only silent companionship as I tried to make sense of what had just happened, and what it might mean for tomorrow.
Chapter Four
Chains
I leaned against the bar in the common room, nursing a lukewarm beer I had no intention of finishing.The room pulsed with music and laughter, but I only had eyes for one person.Ellie moved through the crowd like she belonged there, her black hair falling loose around her shoulders and down her back instead of in that braid she usually wore.We hadn’t spoken since that night in her apartment two days ago, when I’d kissed her, then walked away like a Goddamn coward.Now I watched her smile and laugh with my brothers, and something primal crawled up my spine.
“Christ, man.Just go fuckin’ talk to her,” Knuckles muttered beside me, his face creasing with amusement.“You’ve been staring for an hour.”
“Fuck off,” I growled, but didn’t take my eyes off Ellie.She wore tight black jeans and a blood red top that left her milky white shoulders bare.The clubhouse lights caught on something glittery on her cheekbones, making her skin glow.
Hawk appeared on my other side, his massive frame blocking my view for a second.“Move,” I snapped.
“Touchy tonight.”Hawk grinned, but shifted.“Never seen you this worked up over a woman before.”
I took another swig of beer, grimacing at the warm flatness of it.Across the room, Ellie threw her head back and laughed at something Griffin said to her.The sound carried over the music, wrapping around my chest like a fist.
“She kissed me,” I admitted quietly.
“Bullshit,” Knuckles said immediately.“You kissed her.”
I glared at him.“How the fuck would you know?”
