Page 49 of Chalk Outline

“I left my entire life behind and signed a secret contract. Let strangers drug me and take me to... nowhere. Crazy, right?” I stick my chin out as I pace along the ledge.

“I get it, but that’s part of the game.”

An interesting choice of words.

“So I’ve heard.” I count my steps. “If I tell you, I will have to kill you.”

“You’re already getting the hang of it,” he replies, and I can feel him staring at me without looking his way. “And if I’m calculating this right, I’ll take my chances.”

I hop off the bike and move to the front. My bodyguard lifts me onto the fuel tank without a word. Raindrops begin to dot the road before the rain intensifies. He removes our helmets and sets them on the handlebars. Together, we gaze at the ocean from that spot on the road we claimed the first night he took me for a ride.

I can’t believe it’s been two years already.

That was our thing, riding around aimlessly. No destination, just us and the open road. Our bodies wrapped around each other. Our little awkward laughs and hearty ones. Just us under a sky speckled with stars, dancing to a playlist he made for us on his phone.

Rainwater cascades down our faces, soaking our hair.

It doesn’t bother either of us.

When I glance at him, he seems to be deep in thought, and I sense that something else is troubling him, weighing down on his stiff shoulders.

“What’s wrong?” I ask.

A moment passes before he opens his mouth.

“Winona, I’m not a deal or a business transaction. When you insinuated that, it made everything you said at the bar seem meaningless,” he says, his voice low, and the pain threads through each word.

Concern clouds his perfectly sculpted features, and it hurts me to see that he feels diminished by the deal I made at the bar. He has been around me for days, giving me his attention, all while he has been hurting.

I never meant to hurt him.

I cradle his face, and he gradually allows himself to meet my eyes. “I know that. You mean more to me than you realize.” My gaze flickers between his, capturing the hurt that flashes across them, and it shatters my heart knowing I caused it, even a sliver of it. I recognize the sadness he holds within. He carries it daily, and he doesn’t deserve it. He shows up for me. While he can be overprotective, it’s part of his nature, and I understand the dangers that loom outside. “Stay. Don’t go. I don’t want you to go. I don’t want that stupid deal, either. I want you.” He lowers his head between us, and I press my forehead against his. “Please stay.”

The oxygen I breathe in feels like it burns all the way down my lungs.

I realize that losing him means I’ve lost my best friend.

I don’t have anyone in this world who understands me like he does, knows me like he does, and will be there when I need him.

A tear trickles down my face, and just before it reaches my chin, a thumb wipes it away.

“All I wanted from you was to tell me you wanted me to stay.” He whispers, grabbing my hip firmly. He kneads my flesh, craving to touch me after years of resistance. My body molds beneath his pleasurable fingers. “I’m not going anywhere.”

I softly moan as he brings his other hand around my neck, caressing my jaw with his thumb. Then, he pulls me closer and crushes his mouth against mine, forcing a moan that gets swallowed between us.

I tilt my head to the side. The heat of his lips sears me in the best way possible, and I savor him, intoxicated by the sweet taste I discover. Urging me to open for him, he delves past my lips when I allow him, coating my tongue with traces of him and the desire he holds for me. It’s not enough. I want more. As if he heard my unspoken wishes, he pulls me to sit on his lap,and I grind my center against his stiff shaft. We moan together, our tongues rolling in sync with our hips.

He gently nibbles on my bottom lip before fiercely biting down on it.

He pulls away, and I grasp the collar of his shirt to pull him back in. “More,” a plea escapes my needy mouth before I meet his silky lips again.

We breathe each other in, fully immersed in our own world.

Palming my ass, his mouth finds a sensitive spot on my neck to torture sweetly with nips and kisses until a mark forms. Moving back to my lips, he sticks his tongue out, swiping it across them slowly.

This pull between us. This attraction. The passion. The lust. The respect. The acceptance. The yearning. It’s… it’s… astronomical and…

I.