LJ stalked back to her and placed his palms on either side of her head. “You think this will go away if you ignore it? If you deny it and pretend it doesn’t exist?”
Her large tits rose and fell as she breathed with force. “I-ignore what?”
A smirk curled his lips and turned into a full-on grin as Holly’s gaze zeroed in on his mouth.
“Tell me you don’t want me.” He spoke just inches from her upturned mouth. “If I work that tight dress up over your curvy hips and ask you to spread your legs, tell me I won’t find you wet and ready for me.”
She sucked in a startled breath, and though she shook her head, she didn’t speak to refute his claim.
Time to end this shit. LJ sure as fuck wasn’t about to start something up with the daughter of a sheriff who wanted to tear his club apart. Screw had mentioned the idea of him getting close to Holly to work her for information, but that wasn’t LJ’s style.
“You better scurry home,” he said as he finally gave in to temptation and licked along the column of her throat. Sweetness flooded his tongue, even more delicious than the treats she’d shared with him.
Holly whimpered.
“I’m sure you’d be a good fuck, sugar, but I want a woman in my bed. Not a child who can’t go against Daddy’s wishes.”
This time her gasp was of shock and horror instead of desire. If she was going to hate him, reject him, it was going to be because he was a shit instead of her father having a hard-on for his club.
“LJ—”
He held up a hand. “Pretty sure you can find your way out. See you around, Biscuit,” he said, bending to give the dog one last scratch before he put Holly out of his mind and headed down the hallway. As he walked away from her, her phone rang and LJ couldn’t help the harsh laugh that left him. “Looks like Daddy’s calling. Better get that before he sends someone to arrest me for talking to you.”
A quick glance over his shoulder revealed her frowning at her phone as she silenced it. When she lifted her gaze, a mixture of red-faced mortification and disappointment stared back at him.
And damn if that look didn’t have him feeling like shit. He forced himself to ignore the unwanted emotion and continue down the hallway. If all Holly saw when she looked at him was a good-for-nothing biker, then she could fuck right off. Nothing riled him more than being viewed only at surface level. She and her father knew jack shit about him and what he’d endured in his life, accomplished, fought for, and lost. Fuck them for seeing nothing but leather and motorcycle grease. And fuck them for judging him for it. His club was his fucking family, and he’d die to protect any one of them.
No matter how desperately his body wanted her, he didn’t need someone in his life who looked at him with disgust. He got enough of that each time he glanced in the mirror.
He’d begged off after just a few hours out with his brothers earlier. Just couldn’t jerk himself out of his mood. Didn’t matter how many women Screw had paraded in front of LJ, his cock and his fucking brain only wanted Holly. Now he wished he’d let one of them suck him off, at least. He’d still be in a piss poor mood, but at least he wouldn’t be hard as fuck.
Oh, who was he kidding? Holly had been in his apartment looking like a wet dream come to life. He could have had six orgasms before seeing her, and he’d still stiffen in an instant.
After stroking himself to completion in the shower, LJ collapsed into bed and let the allure of oblivion drag him under. At least in sleep he wouldn’t have to relive the fear and unease on Holly’s face. Or the devastation when he’d sent her away, because for all his righteous indignation, that look stuck in his mind, giving him the ridiculous urge to apologize to her.
“No. Stay back. I got this…What are you doing? I said, stay the fuck back. Nooo!” Heat from the blast traveled faster than the powerful wave of wind that launched LJ into the air. His body flew ten feet up and careened back toward the earth so fast he wasn’t able to brace for impact. His heart pounded in an erratic rhythm, and though his body sped through the air, time seemed to slow in his mind. Seconds before he connected with the ground, LJ saw it. Mick’s body charred and burning. Unrecognizable save for the metal bracelet a village child had gifted him the previous week.
“Mick!” he screamed as his body slammed into the unforgiving ground, shattering in pain.