Page 23 of Devil Within

If she said no right then, he would take her back, and they’d be only co-workers. Except, she didn’t want to be only co-workers.

“I don’t know how this progresses,” she admitted. “But I want to try. With you, Jade. Only with you.”

He smiled, his green eyes shining with warmth, and held out his hand. “May I hug you?”

She nodded.

“May I kiss you?”

After the briefest hesitation, she nodded.

He slid a hand around her neck, slowly bringing her body up against his. Careful not to move too quickly. He maintained eye contact as he lowered his face to hers, giving her every chance to say no or pull back. Her heart thundered in her chest, but there wasn’t fear or hesitation on her part. When his lips finally met hers, it was nirvana. It made all the previous kisses she’d ever had pale in comparison.

Perhaps it was too soon, but this had been the kiss she dreamed about when she was a young girl dreaming of happy ever after. What the fairy tales and romance books all wrote about. The type of kiss that laid siege to her past and rendered it powerless. When he finally lifted his head, all she wanted to do was pull him back for more.

“Wow,” he murmured, bopping her nose with his before leaning his forehead against hers. “You’re one helluva kisser.”

“I was going to say the same about you,” she said, a bit breathlessly.

He pulled back and smiled down at her. “Wanna come to the barbecue tomorrow?”

“Don’t we have to work?”

“The good thing about being the boss,” he mused, “is that I can change the work schedule.”

Chapter Eight

Jade waited with War in the dark shadows of the broken outskirts of Cheyenne. They waited for the dealer War had bought the Red Dust from. His mind kept slipping back to the afternoon ride with Shiloh. He glanced down at his phone for the fiftieth time, checking to see if he missed a message from her.

“Stop,” War muttered.

“What?” Jade asked, trying to sound innocent even as he slid his phone back into his pocket.

“Every time you turn that thing on, it lights up. It’s a beacon right to us.”

“I thought we wanted the drug dealer to find us,” Jade remarked dryly.

“You think he’s gonna come around if he sees it’s the Sons?”

Jade shrugged but didn’t say anything because he knew War was right. They were hoping he’d lead them to where the Red Dust was coming from. Still, he had the urge to check to see if Shiloh was okay at The Inkpot.

“You’re that pussy whipped?”

Jade glared at him. “Horrible choice of words, asshole.”

War raised an eyebrow but didn’t apologize. Not that Jade expected one. Warden Marks was a big, cold bear of a man who didn’t hold one ounce of softness in his overly-muscled body. He was devoted to the Sons, even more so since Cas had been his enforcer partner and the other man had betrayed the club. Cas had fooled them all, but War felt a deeper responsibility for not seeing what was in all their faces. One bad seed could ruin a crop.

“Heads up,” War suddenly said, his intense gaze focusing on their target. “That’s him.”

Jade held up two fingers, knowing Sinn and Saint watched from their vantage point with night-vision goggles. Their mission was to capture the pusher so they could interrogate him. War exited their look-out spot and continuously threw his gaze over his shoulder, as if making sure no one was around or following him. The picture-perfect junkie looking for a hit.

Jade followed in the shadows. His job was backup if needed. The pusher was a thin, younger man with deep pockmarks over his cheeks. The greasy strings of hair touched his shoulders, and the whiff of body odor on the evening breeze only emphasized his desperate need for a bath.

“Hey, man,” War said in a low tone.

“Back for more, I see,” the man greeted. “I got some new, primo dust just cooked a day ago. Guaranteed to make you soar through the skies.”

“How much for a bag?”