He kissed like a man who'd been starving. Like I was water in a desert, air after drowning. Like he'd been fighting this for three days and had finally, catastrophically, lost.
I kissed him back the same way.
His hands slid down my back, gripped my hips, lifted me onto the desk like I weighed nothing. I wrapped my legs around him instinctively, pulling him closer, and the sound he made—low and broken and desperate—sent electricity down my spine.
"Kai." My name on his lips, rough as gravel. "Fuck."
"Don't stop."
"We should?—"
"Don't. Stop."
He groaned and kissed me again, deeper this time. His hands were everywhere—my hair, my jaw, sliding under my shirt tofind bare skin. I arched into his touch, let my own hands explore the planes of his chest, the rigidness of his abs.
Someone cleared their throat.
We broke apart, breathing ragged. A man stood in the doorway—massive, dark-skinned, with a shaved head and the calm presence of someone who'd survived everything the world could throw at him. President patch on his cut.
"Hawk." Axel's voice was wrecked. He didn't step back, didn't remove his hands from my waist. "This is Kai."
"The guardian angel." Hawk's assessment missed nothing—the swollen lips, the mussed hair, the way Axel's body still curved protectively around mine. "Church is ready when you are, brother."
He left without another word. Axel finally stepped back, and the loss of his heat made me shiver.
"What's Church?"
"Meeting. Officers only." His thumb touched his lower lip, and satisfaction flared in his eyes when mine tracked the movement. "Need to brief them on Devil's Dust. Make your protection official."
"I haven't agreed to anything."
"No?" He smiled then—dangerous, knowing. "Your bike's in our garage. You're sitting on my desk. You just kissed me back like your life depended on it."
Heat flooded my face.
"That was?—"
"Perfect." He headed for the door. "Make yourself comfortable. This won't take long."
"And then?"
He paused, looked back over his shoulder. Something vulnerable flickered beneath the intensity. "Then we figure out what happens next. Together."
He left. I sat on his desk for a long moment, touching lips that still tingled, heart still racing.
Through the walls, I heard voices. My name.Protection. Retaliation. War.
My phone buzzed. Unknown number.
You're going to pay for what you did. —Slash
A photo attached. My apartment building. My window circled in red. My hands didn't shake. I screenshotted it, then typed back:Come try it.
The door opened. Axel took one look at my face, at the phone in my hand. "What is it?"
I showed him. Watched his expression go cold. Not angry—lethal. The look of a man planning violence with surgical precision. "You're staying here tonight."
I thought about arguing. About independence, about not needing a man to protect me, about all the reasons this was a terrible idea. Then I thought about that kiss. About the way he'd saidtogether.
