She glanced up, her wide green eyes meeting mine, and nodded quickly. “I won’t.”
“Good girl.” Again, my voice was rougher than intended, heat flaring through me as her cheeks flushed once again. The sight made my cock throb painfully hard against my jeans. I forced myself to step back, giving her room to move past me, but even the brush of her body as she walked by sent a surge of raw need rushing through me.
I knew she’d brought clothes, but I stalked to my dresser and grabbed a T-shirt, tossing it at her.
“To sleep in,” I muttered, making sure my tone conveyed that this was nonnegotiable.
Her cheeks turned pink, and she held the fabric to her chest as she nodded, then slipped into the bathroom.
I waited until the door clicked shut before exhaling sharply, dragging a hand over my face as I tried to cool the inferno raging inside me. It was no use. My mind was consumed by thoughts of her standing just on the other side of that thin door, wearing my shirt and likely nothing else. The image made my heart pound, my hands clenching into fists at my sides as I fought to maintain some shred of control.
I needed to meet with the prez—but all I wanted was to shove open that bathroom door and press Linden against the wall. Taste her soft skin, feel her arching against me, and hear her gasping my name. She was innocence and temptation rolled into one, and resisting her was damn near impossible. But I had to protect her, keep her safe. That came first, no matter how much I ached to fully claim her.
With a low, frustrated groan, I forced myself to move. Every step toward the door felt like a battle against my own instincts,the ache between my legs nearly unbearable. Still, I closed the bedroom door behind me with a quiet click that felt far too final.
6
TOMCAT
As soon as I received Linden’s call earlier, I texted King and told him there was an emergency we needed to handle when I got back. After leaving Linden in my room, I sent another message to let him know I’d returned. He replied that he was already in his office and to meet him there.
I strode through the compound, adrenaline humming beneath my skin, my jaw locked tight. The military had trained me to operate with razor precision under extreme pressure, yet the sensation gripping me right now was something far more visceral—a primal urgency, tied directly to Linden’s safety. I wasn’t accustomed to the feeling, but I didn’t have the time to analyze it.
The door to King’s office stood ajar, a quiet hum of conversation drifting into the hallway. I stepped inside, finding King seated behind his desk, his expression carved from granite. Blaze, the club’s vice president, leaned against the side of the bookshelf, his arms crossed and eyes sharp.
The second I stepped through the doorway, I felt the weight of another set of eyes on me. Cerberus, King’s dog, lifted hismassive head from where he’d been stretched out beside the desk.
The name fit. Three-headed hellhound energy in one enormous body.
His dark gaze locked on mine with the kind of silent evaluation that made grown men rethink their life choices.
With his thick neck, broad chest, and muscle layered over muscle like he’d been carved out of granite, the Cane Corso was a damn tank. Most people saw him and instinctively gave the room a wider berth, which was exactly the point. He was trained to guard, intimidate, and make strangers feel like prey.
He held my stare for a beat too long, then his tail thumped once against the floor.
“Don’t,” I muttered under my breath.
Too late.
All one hundred-plus pounds of him pushed up and crossed the room like a freight train disguised as a pet. He stopped in front of me, sat back on his haunches like he had manners, then leaned forward and planted his head directly against my thigh with enough force to test my balance.
Blaze snorted softly.
I shook my head. “You’re encouraging him.”
King just smirked.
Like all his breed, Cerberus was extremely affectionate with anyone he grew attached to, cuddling to express his approval and love. And he seemed to have a knack for demanding attention from the ones he recognized as suckers.
He always seemed to warm up quickly once a man patched—as if he knew the significance of the loyalty that came with it. But he didn’t show that side to the prospects, and it was funny as fuck to watch him scare the shit out of them.
Cerberus made a low, satisfied rumble and shifted his weight, clearly angling for ear scratches like he hadn’t been trainedto look like a demon straight out of mythology. I gave in, dragging my fingers behind his cropped ear, and the damn dog immediately tried to fold himself closer like he thought he weighed twenty pounds instead of a small horse.
“Yeah, yeah,” I muttered. “You’re still terrifying. Don’t let it go to your head.”
His tail thumped harder.
Blaze chuckled. “Got you pegged, sucker.”
