Page 4

LORA

R ich, absent parents make nights like this easier, I suppose.

Had I been a struggling student, getting Knight out of his comfort zone would have been harder.

Instead of a fancy restaurant, it would be a burger joint in Boulder.

And while I find nothing wrong with burgers, fries, and draughts out of shoe-shaped tankards, I’d never know if he would actually follow me anywhere and everywhere.

Getting him out of his comfort zone isn’t to take control, however. It’s about lowering his guard and getting to know the man beneath the thick leather jacket. Learn more about James Knight, the man, not the monster, who runs his motorcycle club.

So far, everything’s going exactly to plan. He’s even started relaxing and smiling more.

After two glasses of wine, Knight moved on to whiskey.

Shortly after the first arrived, so too did our dinner.

Steak and confit potato fries for him, and a quarter chicken with vegetables for me.

We ate in moderate silence, savoring the food, though I suppose Knight still hadn’t found his groove in the new environment.

“Gotta say, as skeptical as I was coming in here, the food’s pretty fucking good,” Knight says, taking a small sip from his glass.

“Good meal, better company, how can we complain, right?” Try as I might to fight a smile from growing on my face, my cheeks lift anyway.

“I haven’t had much to complain about since…” He pauses, reluctantly taking another swig from his glass. “Well, since I met you.”

There it is. Exactly what I wanted to hear. His interest was evident from his haphazard following, but getting confirmation that he’s more interested in me than just the damsel in distress on our first meeting is music to my ears.

“Is that right?” My smile widens, and my cheeks immediately start to burn.

Knight nods and fights away his own forming grin.

“It does make me wonder, though.” He sets his glass down on the table and leans forward, staring past my eyes and into my soul.

His smoldering gaze is enough to make my heart melt into a puddle between my thighs, but with ever-burning cheeks, I wait for him to finish.

“Why a pretty little thing like you has any interest in a guy like me.”

Being this forward is out of character for me.

I’m better suited to burning the midnight oil, buried in a stack of books, rather than being out and taking what I want.

But James Knight has broken down those barriers without needing to try.

Where I’ve pushed him out of his comfort zone, he’s doing the same to me.

Making me do and say things I could never imagine, out of fear of losing him to the next pretty girl who might catch his eye.

“Because a guy like you is every girl’s fantasy at some point in their life.” An involuntary wink accompanies. “Tattoos, leather jacket, a scowl so deep it could kill.”

Pure. Fucking. Badassery.

There’s no better way to describe it. Him.

He drips intensity and raw aggression from head to toe, and I want it all directed at me.

From the second I saw him, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it.

Knight’s strong hands wrapped around my waist, pulling me into an unforgettable kiss that leaves me weak-kneed and desperate for more.

Or the scent of his musky cologne as our bodies tangle and twine across his bed.

“You should be careful, Lora.” He smirks, running two fingers over the rim of his glass. “Flattery like that might make me lose control.”

“So?” I wiggle an eyebrow at him, joining him in leaning closer over the table. We’re still in a very public setting, and I feel our conversation is heading in one direction. It’s definitely not for their ears. “Why try and stay in control when letting loose is all the more fun?”

“It’s like you’ve got a direct line to what my soul craves, y’know that?” Knight chuckles, as one of his hands slides over the table, resting over mine.

The heat from his fingertips sends a warm jolt of electricity up my spine.

And there’s a look in his eyes I can’t quite place.

It’s so inviting, tantalizing, as if he wants to lean over the table and kiss me where I sit.

Kick off whatever I planned for the rest of the night, right here in front of everyone.

I want him to. And if he’s not going to, I want to do it myself. Fully surrender to this strange mix of feelings and emotions that came out of nowhere, and haven’t released me since the night we met.

“Is that a good thing or a bad thing?” Shaky words pass my quivering lip. Knight has barely done anything, but I’m the one left in a mess.

“It’s better than you could ever imagine,” he says huskily before releasing my hand and pulling himself back.

Once he’s leaning back in his chair, lifting his glass back to his lips, do I notice the reason for his sudden retreat. Our waiter has returned, with his silver tray in hand and a chocolate pudding sitting on top. Two spoons, four strawberries circling the ramekin coated in icing sugar.

“Is there anything else I can get for you?” the waiter asks as he places the dessert between Knight and me.

“Not for me,” the big man says.

“Nor me,” I add.

The waiter steps away, leaving us to our treat.

Knight grabs a spoon and gets a big scoop of the pudding onto it. He grabs one of the strawberries next, carefully placing it on top of the mound of gooey chocolate. I expect him to take the big bite himself, but instead he leans forward again, offering it to me.

With another wave of heat flushing my cheeks, I open my mouth wide and accept his offer. It fills my cheeks to the brim, and a devious smile tugs at the corner of his bearded face.

“Better not fill up too much,” he teases, scooping another bite onto his spoon before taking a bite himself. “You should save some room for me.”

And as good as the chocolate pudding is, that sentence sends me over the moon. Having lost all need for pretenses, Knight’s crude joke is exactly what I needed to hear to know that we’re in sync.

Chewing and swallowing the portion he gave me as quickly as my cheeks will allow, I wipe away any remnants of chocolate and icing that may remain and stare him square in the eyes.

“Then how about we skip the dessert and get to the fun part?” I say with as much seriousness as I can muster, feeling butterflies swarming in my belly.

Without another word, Knight drops the spoon and jumps to his feet, offering a hand to help me up from the table. I accept, and he whisks me out of my chair, basically sprinting from our table to the front door. He doesn’t stop until we’re outside, next to his bike.

“You must think I’m all sorts of desperate.” There’s a playfulness to his tone that makes me giggle.

“I’m the one who pushed, aren’t I?” I snake a hand over his shoulder. “If you’re desperate, what does that say about me?”

Hooking the same hand around his neck, I swing the other around his waist. I’m practically hanging onto him with how tall he is. Trying to keep this position, my feet barely stay on the ground, but Knight rests his hands on my waist and lifts me a little higher to ease the strain.

“That you’re fucking perfect,” he says.

Knight doesn’t give me time to process those words before he flings himself at me for a hot, passionate, and breathtaking kiss.

Thank fuck he’s holding me up. Otherwise, I’d have fallen to my ass by now.

Yeah, I knew I made the right choice in pursuing this. James Knight is everything I could’ve asked for and so much more.