Diamond must have noticed Splice’s lack of response because his face turned serious and he leaned forward on the handlebars. “Brother, listen, I’m not ripping the fuck out of you. If you like this woman, I’m pleased as fuck for you. You haven’t shown interest in anyone for a long time. I think the sweet bottoms have mourned your loss.”
Splice scoffed, amused.
He didn’t have anything to say about Lisa, yet. So he didn’t give Diamond a response, but he slapped his brother on the shoulder and told the bodyguard he’d see him at the clubhouse tomorrow.
Once home, he kicked off his boots in the mudroom and left his denim jacket and leather cut on the kitchen island. Then he connected a call and plonked his ass on the edge of the couch arm. He’d ridden by Lisa’s place, and he saw lights, assuming she was still up, but he was over forty minutes late for their call.
It wasn’t a standing arrangement, but Splice hadn’t missed a night since the first call.
“I thought you must have fallen off your skateboard.” That was her response when she picked up the phone. The softest, sweetest voice rolled the tension right out of Splice’s shoulder blades, and he exhaled slowly, thankful she was joking with him.
“Would you nurse my wounds, sweetheart?”
“Only if you weren’t pouring with blood. I don’t do well with blood. We’d both end up fainting.” She chuckled. “I was just going to climb into bed. Have you just finished working?”
“Yeah,” he replied automatically, but his brain’s energy had focused only on that one word.Bed. Putting Lisa and bed together was always gonna rearrange his fucking imagination. He was only a man, after all. He was pretty much one-track-minded. And though they kept their conversations surface-level, it didn’t mean his thoughts didn’t veer off-kilter while he listened to her voice every night.
“Climb into bed,” he told her, and wondered what she was wearing. Would she cut off the call if he asked? “I’ll grab a shower and wash the day’s grime off me. Do you wanna sleep, or are you good to talk?”
“I can talk.”
“Okay. I’ll leave the line open. I won’t take long.”
He took the phone up to the upper level, leaving it on speakerphone on the bed while he stripped off his clothes and dumped them in the laundry basket. He went to boil his cold bones in the shower. Well aware of who was waiting for him, he didn’t take long. He didn’t even jerk off as he might have—as he’d been doing every night once he got off the phone with Lisa, because he wanted to talk to her more than he wanted a climax.
“Are you still with me, sweetheart?” he called out, rubbing a towel over his wet hair. He could see the phone screen; the call was still connected, but she might have fallen asleep.
“I’m here.”
“Did you get comfortable in bed?”
“Yep.”
Fuck. Great.
On his best behavior then.
Because as much as he was trying to befriendlywith Lisa, he needed little provocation to turn the charm on her. Biting the inside of his cheek, he finished drying off, dumping the towels in the basket. He put on some boxer briefs and flopped onto the comforter, feeling the heater warm him up.
“What kept you busy tonight?” Lisa asked. He heard her moving around and swallowed his groan, imagining her in bed. Remembering how she’d let him curl around her back after sex. He really missed cuddling. “Or is it one of those ‘don’t ask’ biker situations?”
Splice chuckled, having explained in some of their previous conversations that he couldn’t always share what his job entailed.
“Yeah, sweetheart, one of those.”
“Can I... no, it doesn’t matter.”
“No, tell me.”
“I was going to ask if there was ever a time that you got hurt doing one of those ‘don’t ask’ moments; would you be able to tell me that, at least? But I realized it’s not my place to ask for that.”
Without knowing she was doing it, Lisa shredded his resolve, and if she asked him to ride to her house right now, he’d be out the door before the last word left her lips.
“Are you worried about me?”
“About you getting hurt, of course, yes,” came her immediate response, and it jerked Splice’s heart under his rib cage.
“I’m good, sweetheart. But if it ever came to it, I’d let you know.” To lighten the sudden thick air in his lungs, he added, “Then you can look after my wounds, yeah? Pat my head and tell me it will be okay.”
