Atlas. He’s come home.
He looks surprised when he sees Temper and me laughing together at the bar.
“Something I should know about here? Does Abbie need to be worried?” he teases, and walks toward us. It’s like slow motion, only I don’t know what to do. Do I hug him? Do I kiss him? Do I wait for him to come to me?
Temper stands and pulls him in for a man hug, but Atlas’s eyes do not leave mine. Temper looks between the both of us. “I’ll leave you two alone,” and he walks away.
We stand there staring at one another, neither knowing what to do.
“Hi,” I say.
“Hi,” Atlas says back.
In that instant I throw myself at him, climbing him like a tree, wrapping my arms and legs around him. He puts his hands on my ass and squeezes. I pull back a little to look at him and kiss him. He walks forward quickly and I feel myself up against a wall. I grind on his hard cock, realizing how long it’s been since I’ve felt him inside me.
“Your room,” I murmur between bites and kisses.
Five seconds later I’m on his bed and he’s pulling at my pants. “I want to enjoy you later, but right now I have to feel you.” He growls as he rips the buttons off my shirt to get to my breasts. “You ready for me?” he asks as I hear his zipper pulled down.
“Always,” I say in anticipation. And just like that he thrusts inside me and it’s pure fucking bliss.
The world is right again.
After our quickie, Atlas turns to me. “Want to go for a ride?”
I nod and attempt to get dressed. He owes me a new outfit. I grab a T-shirt from his drawer. We both get our leather jackets on and head outside. I slide up against him on the back of his bike.
I might be used to riding, but being behind him? I don’t mind it one bit.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Atlas
Her hands hold on to my leather cut, her breasts press up against my back, her thighs touch mine. I’ve missed this, her touch, her scent. It’s my happy place. I’ve always loved riding, loved the rush it gives me, but riding with Natalie makes me feel proud and free at the same time.
I fucking love riding with her.
I take a longer, scenic route from the clubhouse, and head toward the beach.
We both pull our helmets off, and I want to kiss her so badly right now, but I don’t. I owe her a lot of things, but first an explanation.
I take her hand and we walk closer to the water. When I sit down, she settles between my legs. We’re quiet for a while.
“I’m sorry I didn’t call or text. I just needed to be alone. I needed to feel what it was like to be alone and not have Aries by my side. I needed...” I start to tear a bit at the thought of never talking to my brother again.
“I’m not mad,” she says, and I’m confused. How could she not be mad at me for that? I ghosted her.
“You’re not?”
She turns around so we’re face-to-face. “No. Sure, I could’ve been, and I see why people might think I am. But I know you leaving wasn’t about me. You needed to do what you did and I wasn’t going to stand in your way or make it harder on you. I only wish you knew you could tell me that so I could’ve been there for you.”
I fucking love this woman.
“Losing Aries was something I had never considered having to deal with in my life. At all. I wasn’t planning on leaving. I just went for a ride. But then one hour became two hours. Two hours became a week. A week became two weeks and so on.”
She runs her hands through my hair. “Where did you go?”
“To all the places Aries and I never got to go.” I grimace. “Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, Mount Rushmore, Graceland. I toured the continental US for him.”