Hatchet rubbed the red bloom beneath his eye. His face lit into a savage grin. “Fuck, I love it when you fight me.”
One massive hand pinned both my wrists above my head against the tree. He kicked my legs open with his boot as his free hand dove between us, snaking into my waistband. His fingers found my clit, and I tipped my head back, gasping as he drew slow and merciless circles against my core.
“Someone might see us,” I rasped, even as my hips bucked against his hand. “We can’t do this here.”
Hatchet pushed me further into the shaded woods. “It’s dark. No one’s coming out, and I don’t give a fuck if they do.”
He unbuckled his belt and let his jeans drop to his ankles. With one hand, he wrenched my tight shorts and panties down my legs in a brutal tug. They fell, and I kicked them aside. Hatchet released my wrists and gripped my hips, hoisting me up like I weighed nothing. I wrapped my legs around him as he sank into me.
The bark bit into my back, but the pain only sharpened the intense pleasure. He thrust hard into me with punishing strokes, seemingly fueled by his annoyance at the hypocrisy of my dismissal of us in the same hour as my jealous rage.
“We’re. Not. Friends,” he grunted, each word punctuated by the snap of his hips against mine.
I whimpered as my orgasm approached, hard and fast as his piercing grazed against my clit.
“You’re everything to me,” Hatchet continued, his possessive gaze on me. “I fucking love you, and it’s about time you admit that you love me, too.”
“I love you,” I whispered as I began to shatter around him.
“Say it again,” Hatchet demanded.
“I love you,” I said, the words ripping from my throat as I came harder than ever before.
He shuddered, burying deep with a guttural groan and spilling into me.
He set me on the ground gently and bent over, reaching for mydiscarded shorts and panties, and stumbled into a bush with his pants wrapped around his ankles.
“Goddamn it,” he said as he struggled to stand and pull his pants up.
I stifled my laughter and reached out to help steady him.
“So, just friends, huh?” he asked with a smirk.
“Shut up. I hate you,” I said.
He kissed me. “Pretty sure you just said you loved me.”
I leaned my head on his shoulder and sighed. “I don’t want to tell Merrick yet. I just want to enjoy us for a while longer.”
“We can wait as long as you want. I’ll follow your lead, Hellcat.”
I clung to him, wrecked and raw. I loved Hatchet. He loved me.
And we were so fucked.
Chapter Sixteen
The next morning came too damn early with a call to the lawyer Everest recommended. My voice still sounded like gravel when I answered, half-awake, coffee burning my tongue as the suit explained the steps.
Turns out getting custody of Jessa wouldn’t be as hard as I’d imagined. CPS liked to keep orphans with family, and since I had a mostly clean record and steady income from the garage and Mavericks Security, it was just paperwork and a home inspection away.
Easy enough on paper, but my gut still churned with worry. Nothing in my life came easy.
“Where’d you disappear to last night?” Merrick asked as he poured a cup of coffee in his kitchen.
“Went home.”
It was the truth, technically. Merci returned to the clubhouse to hang out with the old ladies, as if we hadn’t fucked against a tree and professed our love for each other. But I’d left—choosing to go home and wait for Jessa and Chaos to get back from dinner with her friends instead of having to keep my distance.
