Sinner nodded. “And what is Balthazar’s excuse for sending a club member onto our territory? Is he gunning for a war?”
Mav shook his head. “No idea what that old fucker is thinking. He won’t pick up his damn phone. But once we find out where this branch is holed up, we’ll make noise so loud he’ll hear it all the way in Kentucky. It was already going to be ugly when they encroached on our territory, but now that they’ve tried to kill one of ours?”
Sinner cleared his throat. “I got no problem with you eliminating the bastards, but we do need to talk to Balthazar. At least to get it straight from his mouth. They’ve got allies, and before we end up at war with them too, we need to make it clear we were provoked.”
Mav threw his hands in the air. “I hear what you’re saying, Prez, but that’s kinda hard to do when he won’t answer my calls.”
Sinner leaned back. “Then I guess somebody’s taking on a road trip to Kentucky.”
I clapped my hands together. Finally, a chance to get some answers. “I’ll leave first thing in the morning.”
12
LEXIE
Iwas dreaming of cartoon devils in a burning-hot land when I awoke with a start. Did the air conditioner trip off again? I’d talked to the management office about that, but so far they didn’t see it as a big deal. But dang it was hot. As I kicked off the blanket and tried to sit up, I was pulled back down and found the source of the heat.
Holy crap.The previous night’s events flooded back into my brain. Finding Tracker at the dumpster. Helping him by taking my shirt off.Oh no.I groaned.
“What’s wrong, pixie?”
I groaned again. Where could a girl find a sinkhole when she needed one? Moonlight filtered through a high window, illuminating the truth I’d briefly forgotten. I’d gone to sleep in Bear’s room. The smoking-hot biker from Costco. I should’ve realized he’d have to come back in here at some point.
He snuggled into me, and I could feel something hard pressing into my back. I froze. This was it. The end. Death byembarrassment. I hoped the ladies at the assisted living home would find my banana pudding recipe.
“What’s got you moaning and groaning this morning? I wish I could take credit, but we’re not there. Yet.”
Yet?I’d ignore that for now. “I was remembering yesterday and thinking about how many people saw me in my bra.” I flipped over on my stomach and buried my face in the pillow.
Bear laughed. “Is that all? Don’t worry about that. You saw how the bunnies walk around, and that’s during daylight hours. Once night hits, you in a bra is like wearing a nun’s habit. Besides, you saved Tracker’s life. I can’t say I’m happy that the guys saw you like that, and I’ll be damned if they see it again. But you did what you had to and should be proud, not ashamed.”
I groaned again. “I am proud. It’s just that…” I sighed, wondering why I was spilling my guts to the hot biker. Maybe once he knew this about me, he’d run twenty miles in the other direction and I could get over this crush. Although, with the way he was stroking my hair, that crush wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon.
I turned my face toward his, cheeks flaming. “No one’s ever seen me like that. And now I’ve gone and flashed a whole biker clubhouse.”
His hand stilled. “No guy has seen you in a bra before?”
I blinked, looking into his eyes, gathering my courage. “Or out of a bra.” I turned my head back into the pillow, unable to look him in the eye as he worked out what that meant.
“Look at me, pixie.” His voice was scratchy with an early morning rasp, making things happen in my nether regions.
Last night, I’d used his shower and borrowed a t-shirt from his drawer that came to my thigh. There was no way I was putting on dirty underwear, so I’d washed by bra and panties in the sink. But that meant they were hanging over the shower curtain rod,leaving me completely bare under his shirt. Leaving nothing to soak up the wetness that was pooling between my legs.
With another groan, I turned my head to look back at him. What I saw took my breath away. He was on his side, his head propped up on his bent arm. The cute, sleepy gaze was gone, and he was staring at me with an almost feral intensity.
“Um, yeah?” I gulped.
“We didn’t have time to talk about this last night. But I gave you my cut to wear.”
“And I appreciate that. I wasn’t trying to be out there half naked.”
“I could have given you my t-shirt. I could have had a prospect bring you a blanket. I gave you my cut because I wanted everyone to see who you belonged to. And now”—he grinned as he brushed the hair from my face—“now you’re wearing my clothes and sleeping in my bed. I thought you were a cool chick when we met at Costco. I thought you were an incredible woman when I watched you work your passion in the kitchen. But I knew you were my old lady when I saw you bathed in moonlight and blood, saving my brother like a fucking Viking queen.”
His fingers drifted through my hair down my back. I trembled as his hand kept moving lower, spreading molten heat throughout my body until his palm reached my butt. And stayed there with only the thin t-shirt between us.
“That would be more than enough for me to want you as mine, but then to find out you haven’t been with any other man? It’s like somewhere deep down you knew I was coming and waited for me.”
His hand squeezed my ass cheek, and my core clenched. I rubbed my thighs together, desperate for a little friction.
