You need anything, Bear?” I ask.
“A beer, when you’ve finished your dinner.”
“I’ll get it.” Isla climbs to her knees and brushes her hands down the front of her pajamas. The pants are pink-and-white cotton. Cute, not sexy. And yet, I still want to curl my hands beneath the hem of my hoodie and feel the warmth of her skin, for a heartbeat.
“Stop there,” I say as she comes within a couple of feet of me.
She looks confused, glancing between me and the fridge. “Why? I saw inside your fridge yesterday.”
“Had a thought, and I was just wondering how you’d feel if I acted on it.”
Her head tilts to one side. “What kind of thought are you talking about?”
I tip my chin at her. “I know beneath that hoodie, you’re wearing a tank top and no bra. Looks good on you. And I was thinking that, as you walked by, I wanted to grab you, slide my hands beneath that hoodie of yours, for a second. Assess first-hand what was beneath it.”
Isla chuckles at the same time pink hits her cheeks. “‘Assess first-hand what was beneath it.’ Are you a health and safety auditor or something? Who talks like that?”
Reading between the lines, I grab for her, smiling as she squeals and dodges. “Yes or no, sweetheart?”
She glances over at Garrett, sunk in the armchair, wincing lightly in pain but watching the two of us with steady and impossibly careful eyes.
He nods. Once.
Whether the nod is for me or for Isla, I’m unsure, but she turns back to me, and I feel my heart thudding heavy in my chest.
23
ISLA
“Yes,” I whisper.
The word leaves my mouth before my brain can interfere with my highly questionable decision making. But I don’t retract it, even when Kai reaches for me and pulls me in so slowly and deliberately, I have time to tell him no.
It’s like he can sense the turmoil beneath the three letters, leaving room for me to be scared and nervous and to change my mind.
His palms slip beneath the hoodie I’m wearing, the warmth of them heating my stomach as he does. They slide slowly to my waist, and he pauses for a moment, studying my face, before letting them move higher. I don’t have a bra on. I stripped as soon as I got home, with plans to shower. My breath catches as his thumbs stroke the underside of my breasts.
I expected hunger. Desperation. Something…wild. That’s how all the other bikers had treated me, something to fulfil an all-consuming urge.
What I get is gentleness.
My fingers gather his T-shirt, knuckles brushing the hard line of his chest. His body is firmer than Garrett’s. And, God, Iwant him close, I want the pressure of him against me, but then a knot unlocks in my throat because I feel Garrett’s eyes on me.
“Wait,” I say, softly.
Kai stops instantly, stepping back an inch and removing his hands.
“I like you,” I say to him, deciding that honesty is the one thing I promised myself, and that Garrett requires. “I like…you both. But I don’t…after the clubhouse and things…I don’t like exhibitionism. It’s something I’ve had to work through. There were things I didn’t really want to do, but I did them anyway, consenting out loud but not in my heart. And I don’t blame Smoke and the others; everything I said and did gave the impression I did like it.”
Kai touches my cheek tenderly. “Oh, sunshine.”
The sympathy washes over me, but instead of floating to the surface, I feel like I’m drowning in it. “I’m fine. Honestly. It’s just?—”
“Hey,” Garrett says, struggling to his feet. “Don’t do that. Don’t pretend it’s fine when it’s not.”
“Says the man trying to walk to me when he’s so injured,” I reply. “Please sit back down.”
Garrett rolls his eyes. “Sitting in that chair hurts more than standing.”
