His eyes are so earnest in the lamplight. I don’t think I’ve met a more genuine person. But everyone else? We’re so busy hiding our pain and building up walls to keep people from hurting us again—but Shak just puts it all out there.
“I don’t want to be a game to you either,” I whisper. And then I go up on tiptoe, grab his cheeks, and kiss him.
He freezes. Turns to absolute stone.
Oh shit. I read that moment all wrong. What the hell am I doing?
I start to pull away when his arms suddenly fly around me and he is kissing me back. Clumsily. Unsure. Unpracticed.
But hungrily.
His hand tangles in my hair and I feel the shudder go through his entire body when I peek my tongue through the seam of his lips and make contact with his tongue.
The sexiest growl comes from low in his throat. His tongue goes wild and performs absolute gymnastics against mine, like he can’t get enough of me.
In seconds I’m panting and pressing against the thigh he has slid between my legs. Oh God, we’re in public, we’re in fucking public. We need to stop.
But then his tongue does this little swirl-flip thing that makes my stomach swoop and a spasm rock throughout my entire body. Oh. Oh.
I shudder in his arms and grip his shoulders hard as the wave crashes through me. Ohhhhhhh—
I gasp for breath. Holy shit. I just came. I just came on the sidewalk outside my favorite pub. From a kiss.
I finally pull back from Shak and press my forehead into his broad chest. “Holy shit,” I pant. “Holy shit.” Literally I have no other words.
His hand is still gripped in my hair and he too is breathing hard. “Holy shit is good?”
I laugh, wrapping my arms around his huge body and squeezing. My arms don’t even make it all the way around, his shoulders and chest are so broad. “Holy shit is really, really good.”
I feel him nodding above me, his chin bumping my head. “Really, really good,” he echoes.
Okay, we’ve already caused more than enough spectacle. I grab his arm, much tighter than before. “Come on, Casanova.” I tug him back down the sidewalk. “Time to get me home before I turn back into a pumpkin.”
He is silent a moment and then, “Now you are just intentionally spouting gibberish to confuse me.”
I laugh so long and so hard and it is the most amazing feeling in the world.
No, scratch that.
His tongue driving me to orgasm with only a kiss—now that’s the most amazing feeling in the world.
Or maybe just spending time with Shak at all, no matter what we’re doing.
Oh shit. I can’t be jumping into a new relationship right now.
I entwine my fingers with Shak’s anyway as we walk back down the street.
Chapter Ten
Juliet
My heart feels so light as I slowly walk up the stairs to my apartment. Did that really just happen? The most perfect date of my life with the most perfect man? He’s quirky, funny, sweet, and kind.
Stuff like this doesn’t happen to me. I attract assholes. Guys like my dad. Like Robbie.
Shak gave me the sweetest kiss downstairs and didn’t even try to invite himself up. He looked at me like… I don’t know. Like I’m special. Precious to him, even though we just met.
I breathe in deep and then let it out slowly. Could things actually be turning around for me? Finally?
When I get to my apartment, I pull my keys out of my purse and unlock the door. I frown when the lock doesn’t turn. Did I forget to lock it? That’s not like me. Then again, I was so nervous and excited to go on the date, I might have forgotten.
I push open the door and drop my purse, flicking the lights on at the same time.
And then I scream and scramble backwards.
But Bull, Robbie’s brother, doesn’t let me get a foot into the hallway before he’s grabbing my arm in a crushing grip and yanking me back inside.
He slams the door shut and throws me to the floor. Pain explodes up my side.
“Where’s my brother, bitch?”
I scramble back from him but then notice the four other men lounging around my apartment, all in the leather cuts that signal they’re in the Devil’s Sons MC. The same as Robbie.
Oh shit.
“Robbie broke up with me,” I babble frantically. “My phone is in my purse. You can see for yourself.”
“Bullshit. You were Robbie’s old lady. He talked nonstop about knocking you up. The dumb fuck was crazy for your stupid cunt.”
No. No, what he’s saying can’t be true. It’s my worst nightmare. Robbie talked about kids sometimes but I always changed the subject. A lifetime with Robbie… I shudder.
“What? You think you’re too good for my brother?”
Shit. Being with Shak has thrown me off. Usually I’m so much better at hiding what I’m feeling.