Page 58 of Bride for the Bikers

“I said, look at me!”

“Why?”

“Because I'm not going to tell you this to your back.”

Slowly, almost glacially, he turns. His dark eyes zero in on me like black lasers, but there's a lifetime of painful memories etched into his hard expression.

“I'm not going to leave.”

“The fuck are you talking about?”

“If you guys will have me, I’m not going anywhere. You’ll have to kick me out. You’ve been through so much more than me, but I know what it's like not to know where I came from. And look at what happened when I tried to find out! But if you can learn to trust Shadow, Thunder and Lightning, what makes me so different?” I have to crane my neck to meet his eyes, but I do my best.

“You just are,” he says softly.

It's enough that I dare take a step closer. “Let me in, Outlaw.”

“And how do you propose I do that?”

I wet my lips, nervous. “I'm a good hugger. So that's a thing.”

“Prove it.”

Tentatively, I wrap my arms around his waist, only to be crushed against him when he scoops me up so suddenly I let out a squeak.

“Anything else?” His raspy voice in my ear gives me chills, the good kind. I squeeze my arms around him, holding tight.

“I’m working on my kissing. I think I need more practice, though.”

Even with one arm, he holds me up and against him easily. With the other, he cups my jaw, his palm pressing against my throat. It forces me to look up at him, to take in his hard features, the deep darkness in his eyes, and something new, something he's never shown me—an almost feral possessiveness. I get the feeling that when Outlaw loves, he does it wholly and completely.

He presses his lips against mine with a ferocity I'm unprepared for. I gasp into his mouth as his tongue finds mine while I wrap my arms around his neck and my legs around his hips, clinging to him for dear life. I find the stud in his tongue and flick it, tracing its base and tasting both him and the metal. The kiss has me tingling from my head all the way down to my curling toes. My core is molten hot, and with his torso against me, all that separates those most intimate parts of our bodies is a couple layers of clothing.

When we finally come up for air, his voice is little more than a harsh breath. “Anything else?”

I swallow hard. “I think we might need more privacy for that.”

“Why?” He grins, the closest I've yet to see him playful since I met him. “Shy?”

“The four of you are different. I don’t want the others to see,” I admit.

“Gotta say, I don’t mind keeping you to ourselves. So what do you suggest?

“Maybe there's a bedroom?”

33

HARPER

“Are you saying I stink?”

“No, I’m saying I don't know what the fuck you and Outlaw crawled through inside the care facility, but you look like extras in a Halloween movie.”

“Fuck off,” says Outlaw. “You got your shower with her, I don’t mind taking my turn.”

Lightning whistles.

“Finally?” asks Thunder.

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