Page 14 of Covert (Ruthless Love #2)

Chapter eleven

Diesel

M y girl's mad at me.

She's not really, but she's pretending to be, and it's cute as hell.

After she stormed away, she found Leana and a couple of the other girls from their book club and chatted it up with them.

Hawk, Ghost, and I simply watch them from the other side of the makeshift boxing arena.

I nurse my beer bottle slowly. If I have any luck at all, she'll be coming home with me tonight, and I will not drive us home drunk.

She keeps peeking over her shoulder at me to find me already watching her.

Ghost nudges me. "You've got it bad, eh?" he comments like he doesn't already know the answer to that.

We bullshit some more about club logistics, where we're going next, the new exhaust Hawk put on his bike, and I wait until finally, I watch as Nikki waves goodbye to Leana and walks back over to me.

"Talking to me again?" I tease. My girl's not the type to bail when something gets hard.

That little skirmish with Maddox needed to happen, and I think deep down she knows it, too.

She surprised the hell out of me when she didn't balk at the bare-knuckle boxing.

She seems so polished and proper, I'd worried about bringing her out here.

But the idea that she would bury her face in my chest to avoid seeing the violence was too good an opportunity to miss.

But her gaze slid over the bleeding men, beating each other senseless, uninterested. It digs at the urge I have to learn more about her history - where she came from, and why she resisted me at first, what the danger in her life might be.

She slides her arm around my waist and tucks herself under my arm, and she has no idea how that simple act makes my chest feel like a balloon.

She's out with me, under my arm, letting everyone know she's mine.

She feels so good tucked in at my side, like she was always meant to live here.

I wrap my arm around her shoulders and pull her in against my chest so I can hold all of her.

Her arms wrap around my lower back, and we stand there for a moment, breathing each other in.

"I was never not talking to you," she grumbles against my chest. I chuckle.

But she tilts her head up to look at me. "I just don't want you guys fighting over me. This isn't going to work if you guys can't figure out how to share." Her face falls sullen. "I'd rather not even begin if it's going to end badly."

I tuck a strand of hair behind her ear and tip her chin up to look at me. "I'm happy to have you anyway you'll let me, and for however long you'll let me."

I drop my lips down to hers in a chaste, reassuring kiss.

She yawns, and I take that as my cue to leave. "Let's get out of here." She nods and follows me to my bike. I mount and kick up the kickstand, steadying it so she can get on behind me. But I turn to look at her when she hesitates.

"Are you sure?"

I shrug out of my leather jacket and throw it around her shoulders. We need to get her actual riding leathers for protection. But tonight, I'll go slow. We're not far from our home, but that's not what she's asking me.

I smile.

I knew she read MC romance novels, but I wasn't sure how accurate they were. Her hesitation makes me think she knows the significance.

I take her hand in mine and tug her closer to me. "Am I sure I want a beautiful, sweet woman as a sexy little backpack? What do you think?"

It's dark, but I swear I see a blush creep across her cheeks. She swallows but gives me the tiniest of nods.

"Put your foot here, and your hands on my shoulder, and swing your other leg over. Now, when we start going, I need you to hold onto me and lean when I lean. Okay?"

She nods and does as I said. I guide her delicate arms around me, pulling her front against my back. The front of her thighs tucks in snugly against the back of mine, and it gives me a flash of what it would be like to be little spoon with her, naked, in bed.

Yeah, that needs to happen.

She holds me the fifteen minutes back to the club grounds, and she's a good girl the entire time. She doesn't tease me or touch me or distract me.

Maybe it was presumptuous to bring her back to my place, but I just want more time with her. More talking, more touching, more kissing. I don't even care if we have sex, no matter how much I want to. I just want more of her.

And, of course, my pretty girl calls me out on it. "Awfully presumptuous, bringing me back to your place, isn't it? "

A shy blush creeps up my neck, and I raise my hands defensively. "Say the word, and I'll take you home whenever you want me to."

She hops off the bike and waits while I kill the engine and kick out the kickstand, before she tilts up on her toes and presses a hand to my chest, gifting me a sweet and short kiss to my fuzzy cheek.

"I know you would," she says sweetly, before turning on her heel and walking up the stairs to my cabin. "So, come inside and show me what you want to happen tonight, big guy."

She lets herself into my cabin with an extra sway of her hip, and I trip up the stairs in my rush to get to her.