I damn well am not leaving here without a fight, even if I have to grab the doorframe and cling on. He moves away from it as if he can read my mind and starts toward the elevator. I lift my head as I pass and Lily holds out her hands as if to say, ‘what am I supposed to do?’
“Girl code,” I grunt at her.
“It’s kind of hot,” she says.
Nashville laughs and doesn’t look back, and he is nonplussed when I bang my fists on his back. I am mindful of the neighbors which says a lot about me right now. If I really wanted out of this, I could get out of it by calling for help.
“Put me down,” I say when he enters the elevator.
“Nope.”
“I swear to God, if you don’t put me down right now I’m going to claw my way through this leather vest.”
In answer to that he bites my ass. Literally just sinks his teeth into it, fabric and all and I let out another squeal. He kisses it straight after, then lightly rubs it.
It was not hard enough to leave teeth marks. It also kind of did something to my insides, the kind of thing I shouldn’t be feeling when he is stealing me away in the middle of the night wearing nothing but a pair of thin cotton shorts, and a sweatshirt, with no bra underneath.
“Fine,” I mumble. “I’ll come back with you but put me down.”
“I like you where you are,” he rubs my ass again as the elevator reaches the lobby.
Fortunately, there is no one around to witness the humiliation but there is a camera in the corner. God knows what they will think when they look back over that footage. Outside, Callum walks to his bike and finally sets me on my feet.
He holds his arms around me to keep me steady as the blood that rushed to my head from being upside down starts to run back to where it’s supposed to be.
“You good?”
“No I’m not,” I huff, turning my head carefully to stop the woozy feeling.
“Good.”
He plonks a helmet on my head before I can say anything else and grabs a leather jacket from one of the bags at the side of his bike.He wraps it around me, helping guide my arms into the sleeves like I’m a small child.
It’s kind of sweet he is thinking about protecting me.What am I thinking?He is blatantly kidnapping me. He takes my hips in his big strong hands and lifts, setting me down on the back seat of his bike, and grins at my narrowed eyes, the only part of my face he can see.
Taking his place in front of me, he reaches back and grabs my legs and lifts them, I almost tip backwards and have to grab his shoulders. His laughter rings out and I smack his shoulder while trying to move but he has literally crossed my legs across his lap, one of his hands running over my inner thigh.
This shit shouldn’t be turning me on. I’m mad at him and he will be getting an earful when I manage to get off this bike.
“Hold on, Charley.”
“No.”
“I might be acting playful now, but when it comes to your safety, I’m not screwing around,” he says over his shoulder. “Hold on.”
When the bike rumbles to life beneath us I do as I’m told, tucking my arms under his and clutching them together over his chest. I cannot believe I am wrapped around him like some kind of deranged limpet. He’s right, and I grip tight as the bike takes off and he turns it around heading to his place.
Part of me is impressed. He didn’t back down, but he is also proving once again that my safety comes first. That protective streak of his hasn’t gone away, even when he is snatching me like a god damn thief in the night. I’m going to kill Lily tomorrow, how could she let him take me like this?
All the way back to the house I argue with myself. The devil on my shoulder is trying to convince the angel that this is a good thing. Having someone want me this much is kind of exciting and not something I’ve felt for a long time. I still need to be mad about it, and about what I saw and about my own stupid feelings for a man I barely know.
He uses the fob to open the garage as we get near the driveway so he doesn’t have to stop. I don’t try to untangle myself until we’re moving toward the space beside the Shelby. Callum’s fingers grip my ankles to stop me and he steers one handed into the space and stops the bike.
His shoulders rise and fall like he is taking a deep breath, and he looks down at his lap where my legs are still locked around him. Now we’re just sitting here, the silence of the garage after the shutter goes back down, and the engine has stopped running is suddenly deafening.
I was expecting him to jump off the bike and give a repeat performance of the firefighter lift, some dark part of me hoping he’d carry me up to his bed.
He doesn’t move. Not even when I uncross my legs and lower them so they’re wrapped around the outside of his thighs instead of his waist. I glide my hands up to his shoulders and am shocked by how tense they are.
