“I love you, Poppy.” He cupped my face with both hands. “Been falling since you called me ridiculously attractive before you realized you said it out loud. I’m in love with you. All the way. No going back.”
A sob-laugh escaped me. “I love you, too.”
His lips crashed down on mine. I kissed him back just as hard, my fingers fisting in his shirt to tug him closer. His handsslid under my tank top, his palms warm against my bare skin as his thumbs brushed the undersides of my breasts.
I moaned into his mouth, and he growled low in his throat. My hips rocked instinctively against the hard length of him. One of his hands tangled in my hair, and the other gripped my hip, guiding me in a slow, grinding rhythm that made heat pool in my core.
“Colter—”
He nipped my bottom lip. “Say it again.”
“I love you.”
“Fucking love you so damn much, baby.”
Before he could kiss me again, I pressed my palms to his chest, panting. “Wait.”
He froze instantly, his eyes searching my face. “You okay? Feeling nauseous?”
“No, it’s not that.” I bit my lip, my cheeks heating. “It’s just…I realized this all happened so fast that I haven’t really had the chance to talk to Clara about what's been going on. She’s going to murder me if she finds out I’m pregnant with a hot biker baby daddy and didn’t tell her about any of it. If you kiss me again, I’m going to lose track of time, and then who knows how long it’ll be before I remember to call her.”
“Clara?”
“See, you totally just made my point.” I poked his rock-hard abs. “She’s my best friend. I haven’t spoken to her properly in weeks. I’ve been texting her dumb memes and ‘I’m alive’ updates, but now that we’ve said those three little words to each other, I’d be breaking girl code if I don’t fill her in, like immediately.”
Colter stared at me for a beat before he laughed. “You’re killing me, baby.”
“I know, I’m sorry.” I leaned my forehead against his. “But she’s literally the only person before you who accepted me for who I am.”
“Then call her, baby. I can wait.”
I loved how that was all the explanation he needed, that he got why Clara was so important to me. Like his club brothers were to him.
Grinning, I kissed him quickly, then scrambled off his lap before I changed my mind.
My phone was on the coffee table. I grabbed it, hit Clara’s name, and put it on speaker. I didn’t have anything to hide from Colter, so it didn’t matter if he could hear us. We’d be talking about him mostly, anyway.
She answered on the second ring.
“Finally! I was about to file a missing person’s report. Where the heck have you been, ghost girl?”
I laughed, cheeks burning. “Hi, Clara.”
“Don’t ‘hi, Clara’ me. You’ve been radio silent for weeks except for those cryptic ‘all good here’ texts. I was starting to think a cult had kidnapped you. Or worse—a really boring accountant.”
Colter snorted.
Rolling my eyes, I murmured, “He’s not an accountant.”
“Oh my gosh, there’s really a ‘he’?”
I winced. “Yeah. He’s a Hound, and he’s kind of amazing.”
Clara had grown up in Riverstone as well, so telling her he was a Hound needed no further explanation.
Her shriek was loud enough to make me lean back from the phone.
“Poppy Fairbanks, you met a biker and didn’t tell me immediately? I need details. Right now. Is he hot? Does he have tattoos? Tell me everything!”
