Splice raised an eyebrow. “I didn’t think you’d wanna be taken on the bike. Do you?”
“Well,” she pondered, and he noted she still hadn’t met his eyes yet. She was looking at his chin. Cute. And shy. “I’ve never ridden one before. It might be fun.”
She wanted to ride backpack behind him.
Something like molten lava poured into Splice’s chest cavity, warning him until he felt a hot pulse in his dick. For a serious biker in his lifestyle, letting his partner ride behind him was a sign of ownership. It went both ways. It was the biker telling his brethren that this person was his. And letting them also know he was taken, too.
“Has Nina explained what that means?” he asked carefully. With his eyes on the road, he took several glances Lisa’s way as she shook her head.
“Should it mean something?”
He told her plainly and looked on as she blushed.
“Oh. I didn’t know it had a biker meaning behind it.”
“Do you still wanna ride with me, sweetheart?” he smirked, waiting for her immediate denial. It came and Splice grinned.
“You know you just challenged me, yeah?”
“How was my saying no a challenge?”
“Getting Lisa on the back of my bike is now added to my list.”
She scoffed but was smiling out of the side window. “You’re crazy.”
Crazy about the woman in his truck. Yep, he could admit that. He’d never gotten over her in all these years. She’d been the one person who’d owned real estate in his heart. And the one person he’d thought about more than not. Those feelings hadn’t even hesitated once he’d seen her again. Like sleeper cells, they’d awoken and gone full steam ahead to claim what he knew belonged to him.
It was as though those years apart melted away, and all Splice could see and feel were the emotions Lisa brought out in him.
He took care of his mom, sure; that was family.
He had his club brothers’ backs, but that was a loyalty he chose to show to the men he trusted.
The protectiveness he’d always experienced around Lisa came from a deep place he’d never felt for anyone else before. It was instinctive, almost as if that emotion had been ingrained in his skin during factory settings before he was switched on.
He still wanted to know what went wrong back then, but the bigger picture meant he could let that go if she didn’t want to revisit old wounds, if only she gave him a second chance.
Looking sideways at how cute she was, sitting with her knees together, hands clasped in her lap, as if she were going to church.
The only church he wanted to take her to was full of sin.
Splice didn’t own a filter, so he asked her, “Are you anxiously waiting to see when I’ll kiss you, sweetheart?”
Her head reared up. “You’re full of yourself, Ryan Gold.” She tutted, and he flashed her a grin, returning his eyes to the road, almost at the breakfast place he was taking them to. “I was thinking about what food I want to eat.”
“That’s a pity. It must just be me thinking about a kiss.”
“I didn’t say you could kiss me. You’re getting ahead of yourself.”
“You didn’t deny me either. I took that as consent.”
She gave him a little huff, but said nothing, just kept staring out the window.
At the restaurant, he told her to wait for him to come around, and he helped her out of the truck. With his hand splayed at the base of Lisa’s spine, he guided her inside.
The server greeted “Splice!” with a radiant smile and sparkling eyes.
Goddamn. Had he slept with this chick? Hopefully not, but her enthusiasm seeing him said otherwise.
