Page 66 of Roses Are Dead
KC slapped Fish on the back. “About time you showed up. I was about to send a posse out to find you.” He gave him a side-armed hug and noticed me tucked against the wall. “Rose, this is my best friend. We go way back.”
Shit. Now I had to play nice… or not. “Perfect. Since you’re such good friends, tell him I’m Bear’s.”
KC didn’t strike me as a junkie, or someone who put up with the ultimate betrayals that would happen with someone like that, so those childhood bonds must have a deeply rose-tinted sheen painted on them. I hoped his bonds with the Destroyers ran deeper. Because one day, they’d be tested.
I stood up and sidestepped them both before heading straight for the tavern entrance. I needed to find that big hairy oaf and pretend I was who I said I was, not only to keep up the lie, but to strip Fish and any other horny asshole in the immediate vicinity of such delusions.
The surprisingly bright sun blinded me, and as it did, I hesitated. Why did I care whether KC got hurt or not? I was destined to go back to Carl. And hopefully by then, Beth would be cured, and I’d be the one four thousand miles away.
“Woman, get your ass over here.”
That was Bear’s growl. I blinked the spots out of my eyes and plastered on a smile I didn’t feel.
He patted the seat of his bike. His long legs straddled the back hump and splayed wide, leaving space for me.
Instead of sitting, I stood by him.
“Where have you been?” he asked.
“Out of the rain.”
His scrutiny lingered a bit too long. Sure, I hadn’t answered directly. But that wasn’t as criminal as he implied. “It’s sunny now.”
I set a hand on his shoulder and lifted my leg to straddle the seat in front of him. The maneuver placed my back to the handlebars and my ass landed halfway on his gas tank. I tried to make it as graceful as I could, but he quickly slipped his hands under my thighs and pulled them over his legs.
My crotch brushed his.
The stare grew more intense. He broke the tension by joking, “Now we’re talking.”
With an adjustment and a lot of manhandling, he tugged me so close I felt his dick getting hard between us. He leaned me backwards. The tank underneath me was hot from baking in the sun, and the gas cap bit into my spine. But I knew we’d attracted attention. I wrapped my arms over his shoulders to arch away from the hard metal digging into my back and hovered suspended by his grip.
His hands slipped up my rib bones, positioning to either side of the tank and cushioning the surface as he leaned further forward. My back rested against his arms, no longer in danger. I relaxed a little, trusting he’d figured out why I flinched.
“We should kiss,” I whispered.
His eyes flicked to the men clustered around us. They were loud enough, my hushed worries were too low to be heard. “You good with that?”
I nodded.
Unlike the night before, Bear hesitated. His breath trailed along my skin and a tangle of his braid hid my face from the crowd.
My own fell loose. Likely touching the asphalt. But oddly, I didn’t care. I licked my lips and arched to match his mouth to mine. I started softly. Just a brush of tender skin against his. I wetted my lips again and pressed harder, giving him a piece of my heart as I explored the forbidden. Doing this was safe. I could back off and claim it was good acting. That I intended it to look and feel real because we had to sell this stupid farce.
That didn’t stop me from teasing his mouth open and slipping my tongue along the slightly parted fullness of his bottom lip, dipping inside to prime our kiss for more.
His arms tightened, and I was willingly surrounded by his power. It scared me and thrilled me like no other experience before. The fluttering pulse in my neck was too fast. My breathing hitched.
A long-buried grip of fear clutched at my throat. But my hips canted higher, riding the ridge of his erection with wanton abandon. I reveled in that power, the knowledge that this was too close and too fast. That made me wet. I wanted to throw away the terror and ride the wild passion. Prove that I was far beyond the things that had crushed my spirit and ripped away my trust.
A word crawled up my throat, begging to be heard. It tore from me, half plea, half question. “Bear?”
My fingernails curled into his neck. I needed him to stop. I needed him to rip my clothes off and fuck me right here in front of his friends. I needed safety and promises, and to forget who I’d been. I needed kindness in a world that was too harsh. I needed a man who could stand up to the storms and conquer the skies and coax the sun to come out. Like this man did.
His eyes cleared as our mouths broke apart. His chest heaved and our hips were still pulsing with unspent desire. The tension made his thighs quiver. Mine were far beyond that point and hovering on that cliff’s-edge before leaping into a full body orgasm. My panted breaths were quick.
“Get a room,” someone suggested.
Bear straightened, gently removing the cushion of his arms from behind my back. I held tense, arched away from the hard ridge of the cap. Waiting for him to help me up.
