He looked at me like I’d grown a second head, but then he answered, “Most of the brothers rode out a couple of hours ago. Me and Carbon stayed here with the prospects to watch over you and Reese.”
I crossed my arms, “How are you watching over me and Reese when this is the first I have seen of you?”
He smirked at me, “One, I don’t have to see you to hear you scream. Two, I’ve got this,” he held his phone out to me.
I took it from him and saw four little squares on the screen. One was the common room, one was the front gates, and the other two were each hallway. “So you’ve been watching these for the last few hours?”
“Something like that.”
“Then where is Reese?” I challenged.
“In Carbon’s room.”
“Oh.” He just took the wind right out of my sails. I don’t know why, but I felt tense and nervous and I really wanted to argue with him. I huffed and turned toward my room. “See ya.”
I felt his hand circle around my upper arm before I was pulled back to him. “Something the matter, darlin’?” he asked, his mouth far too close to my ear.
“No, I just wanted to know where everyone was,” I answered shakily.
“I think you’re looking for a fight.” He placed his mouth right next to my ear, “You need to release some tension, baby?” Oh man, his warm breath felt good on my skin, and he smelled so good, and he… “You want me to help you with that?” Huh? Why was he talking? Oh…
“What do you mean? How would you do that?”
He laughed and stepped back from me. “I have many different ways, but this time I was referring to grappling or sparring in the ring. Didn’t you say you had some hand-to-hand training?”
Oh, goody, goody gumdrops! I loved to get in the ring. I was practically vibrating with energy and my voice came out a lot louder than I intended, “Sounds great! Let’s go!”
“Hold up, princess. Aren’t you going to change?”
Was he stupid? “Why would I change clothes? If someone attacks me, they aren’t going to let me change clothes first.” I took a deep breath and hoped I wasn’t making a social faux pas, “Do you need to change clothes, princess?”
The look on Dash’s face was priceless! I must have gotten that one right. “I was going to go easy on you, but now you’re in for it,” he threatened.
I smiled to myself. Yeah, we’d see about that. “Bring it on, biker boy.”
An hour later, Dash was laid out on his back, again, asking, “Where in the hell did you learn to fight like that? Seriously, I haven’t had my ass handed to me in years and you’re a girl!”
“That’s a bit sexist don’t you think?”
“It’s not sexist. It’s basic logistics. Men are typically bigger than women. Men generally carry more muscle mass; therefore, are generally stronger than women. In this particular instance, I am most certainly bigger and stronger than you. Regardless of your training, logistically, you shouldn’t be able to take me down, repeatedly.”
“Yet I did, so ha!” Dash reached out, grabbed my ankle, and yanked. I landed on top of him so we were chest to chest. The next thing I knew, he had us rolled over with my arms pinned to the ground by his big hands.
He looked down at me and ordered, “I’m sure you know a variety of ways to get out of this and any other time I would love for you to show me, but right now, don’t you dare move.” I was about to ask him why, when his lips crashed down onto mine. He was kissing me. He. Was. Kissing. Me. Crap, crap, crap. I didn’t know what to do. His tongue was licking at my lips. I opened my mouth to speak, but his tongue slid into my mouth before words could escape. Oh, I liked that. I decided I would just do what he did. I slid my tongue into his mouth and he groaned. That must have been a good sound because he started kissing me with more intensity. Yes, I liked this, a lot.
He moved his hands to my hair while my arms circled around his neck of their own accord. He continued to kiss me, lightly biting my lower lip from time to time. He groaned again and pressed his body harder into mine. One of his hands slid down my body to my butt. He gave it a squeeze, then tilted my hips up toward him. He tugged on my hair, making my back arch and ground his hips into mine. I was completely lost in him and how amazing he felt like this.
Suddenly, Dash pushed back and jumped to his feet. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and had the other hand held out to me. “Ember, get your ass up. Now.” Then, I heard it. The unmistakable rumble of multiple Harleys getting progressively louder.
I quickly got to my feet. “I’ll, uh, just head back to my room.”
He ran his hand through his dark hair and looked down at his feet, “Yeah. That’s probably best.”
“Listen, Dash…”
He cut me off. “Just go, Ember.”
And so I did. I went back to my room, confused, a little hurt, and more unsure of myself than I’d ever been.
