She couldn’t look at the others, certain they knew she was seducing Ice and that she was a terrible person. She couldn’t make herself look at him; the guilt was overwhelming, but still not enough for her to walk away from him. He was so caring, and she was grateful to him for that. She’d never known caring. They left the bar, going out into the cool night air.
“Baby, you okay with walking? Some of the brothers will ride, but we’ll have protection. I don’t want you on the back of the bike until I know you can hold on. And I think maybe I drank a little bit more than I should have.”
It was the last thing she expected him to say. “I did drink way too much,” she admitted. She had. And she shouldn’t have mixed her drinks, but she’d do it again. She wouldn’t change one single thing of this strange, wonderful night. “You didn’t drink any more than I did, Ice.” She had to take the blame for that. “I was plying you with liquor, matching you drink for drink, remember?”
“We’re both fine,” he assured.
He kept his arm tightly around her waist, so it was impossible to feel unsteady. The night air was cool, and she hoped it would help clear her head. She’d gone off the deep end. Just because her life was about to end didn’t mean she had the right to screw up Ice’s. This was one night. Seduction. Sex. Fun. Nothing else. She could be the girl she’d always wanted to be. She loved to show off. She craved attention. Was starved for it. She loved to be looked at. Her fantasies had always been safe ones, but the need in her was very real. The only thing that had kept her from being the way she was right now was her sense of responsibility. Where had that gone? Because she was still, in the back of her head, thinking, Would it really be that bad to wake up married to her badass biker?
She heard several motorcycles fire up, the pipes loud, roaring through the night air. She stumbled over an uneven spot in the concrete and staggered a few steps. Ice’s arm tightened around her waist. Maestro and Player, two of his Torpedo Ink brethren, steadied her by gripping her arms. She was surprised. Shocked even. They let go of her the moment she had her equilibrium, but their touch had been caring, not at all handsy. Their touch felt respectful. She knew they thought she’d stumbled because she’d been drinking, but was it awful of her to let them think that when it wasn’t the case?
They had a group of five members walking down the street together. She was in the center with Ice, and they were halfway down the street when she realized they were protecting her. The members of Torpedo Ink recognized that she was afraid of someone.
She had deliberately let her fears about Kevin’s death not being an accident slip out because when she turned up dead in an accident, she wanted someone to know it was murder. Maybe they would remember her and care, maybe they wouldn’t, but at least she’d told someone the truth.
Ice suddenly leaned into her and brushed a kiss along her jaw. That little brush of his lips set her heart pounding. Her body had come to life after being frozen for so long. Blood rushed like a fireball, pooling low and reminding her she was really alive and that not only could she respond to a man, but rockets had gone off. More, he responded to her. He thought she was beautiful and sexy, and he wanted her. She could see it in his eyes and feel it in his touch. See his body’s staggering reaction to her. For the first time ever in her life, she felt everything she had ever wanted to feel as a woman.
“I can’t imagine what your friends think of me,” Soleil whispered. She didn’t care that she’d been bent over a pool table in a bar with Ice’s hands and mouth all over her, but he might. She might have embarrassed him.
Ice stopped dead on the sidewalk, turning to block her forward momentum. He framed her face with both hands and bent until his head was level with hers. “You don’t worry about what anyone else thinks but you or me, Soleil. My brothers have our backs at all times. They won’t judge you. They’ll always look out for you. But you’re mine. I stand in front of you. Some asshole wants to say something to make you feel bad because we make each other feel good, they better know they’re sayin’ it to me too—and all of them as well.”
His glacier-blue eyes stared directly into hers, mesmerizing. Hypnotizing. She couldn’t look away. He had some kind of power or, more likely, he was saying all the right things to her, things she desperately needed to hear. She had told herself a hundred times that she didn’t need anyone. That they were after her money, and time and again that had been a proven fact. She’d all but thrown herself at Ice because he was that prince in the fairy tale and she desperately wanted to be a princess—his princess—if only on what could be the last night of her life.
She couldn’t help it when tears filled her eyes. “I don’t know what happened, Ice.” But she did. She had set out to seduce him and she’d done it. She was still doing it. She wanted him exactly the way he was. She couldn’t help touching his face, stroking the pads of her fingers down his jaw. He was so incredibly gorgeous. Maybe when someone only had one night, they were given the perfect gift—and Ice was hers.
“What happened was perfect. You’re so fuckin’ beautiful I can’t believe it.” He kissed her eyelids. Brushed kisses down her face to the corner of her mouth. This time, when he kissed her, he was so gentle her heart turned over.
She’d never had that kind of caring from anyone. She didn’t remember much about her time with her parents. Aunt Deborah had been gentle and kind with her, but her life after she’d died hadn’t been that way at all. Her aunt Constance had made an art out of slapping her, reminding her constantly that she was costing her money. That she was in the way. That she was an ugly, stupid child that no one wanted. She still felt like that unwanted, ugly child, and Winston had only confirmed her aunt’s opinion of her.
Ice was physically a gorgeous man. He had scars, but they enhanced his good looks rather than detracted from them. He looked scary dangerous, she wasn’t so far gone on him that she couldn’t see or acknowledge that, but with her he seemed unfailingly sweet. She needed sweet. She needed someone to be nice to her. To be kind. Gentle. Caring. Not want to kill her just because she had money.
The liquor continued the buzz through her veins. It rushed along with her blood, hotter than ever before. No one had ever treated her so kindly or said the things Ice said to her, and God help her, she needed that tonight.
“You still with me, princess? You going to come with me tonight and let me have you?”
No one, not even Kevin, had wanted her in their life. No one. She ate alone. She slept alone. She was always alone. Ice had turned the worst night of her life into something wonderful. He hadn’t complained about what she was wearing, even though she clearly didn’t fit in. He hadn’t made fun of her when she didn’t know something and when she’d gone a little crazy in the bar, throwing herself at him. Rather than act like she would be entertainment for his friends, he’d protected her.