She even made that sound sexy.
He grunted.
“You look amazing,” she mouthed at me from across the kitchen.
“I . . . um . . . are you sure you’re going to be okay with the kids?”
Tamar laughed one of her sultry sounds. “Uh . . . if you’re worried it’s your children who are tearing down the house, look behind you. I think two more aren’t gonna make a difference.”
I worried my bottom lip, glancing behind me, back to her.
“Maybe I should stay.”
“Let me think.” She tilted pursed lips toward the ceiling for one second, tapping her chin, before she dropped her attention back to me. “Nope. You shouldn’t. Go. Have a blast. We have them.”
“Got them, Mia,” Lyrik reassured me. “You don’t have anything to be concerned about. All of us have them under our watch.” My brother lifted his chin. “Tamar is right. You should go. Have a good time. You deserve a night just for yourself.”
I gave him an unsure nod. “Okay.”
“Just . . .” He glanced out the windows to the backyard. His muscles twitched. The meaning of his real concern clear. He moved toward me. Slowly. The words quieted and only for me. “Be careful. Don’t take shit from anyone. But more than that? Go after what you want, Mia. What your heart tells you. Don’t you dare feel guilty for chasing down what makes you happy. You got me?”
There was something in his statement that impaled me deep. My chest stretching tight in appreciation, those nerves going for another tumble.
“Thank you.” The words trembled.
I moved in to give my brother a quick hug, but he didn’t release me, instead muttered at my ear, “He hurts you, he can kiss his dick goodbye.”
“Lyrik,” I mumbled, subduing laughter, pushing away from him.
He chuckled and squeezed my hand. “Have fun, baby sister.”
“I will.”
I gave a timid wave to everyone, all those eyes on me, feeling exposed. I moved to my babies, hugged my sweet girl. “Have fun tonight.”
“Don’t worry, Mom. We’re fine. I promise.”
I kissed her forehead, loving the child that she was.
I had to chase down Greyson to get one of those hugs, the kid squirming all over the place, laughing like crazy as he played hard to get.
Finally, I pried myself away, and I sucked in a steeling breath as I released the latch way up high on the backdoor and stepped out into the stagnant heat of the late afternoon.
Sunlight blazed down through the bluest sky.
A wicked grin slid over his face when he saw me coming into view where he stood on the patio of the guest house.
Waiting.
Watching for me.
Need boiled my blood.
Instant.
Man wearing jeans and a tee and sex on his skin.
All that terrifying beauty rippling under the sun.
My stomach tipped to the side, want sloshing over.
He stepped down and headed my direction, radiating this natural arrogance that had me shaking at the knees.
He cocked a grin when he was two feet away, and he slowly roughed a hand through his hair, voice filling up with a lusty declaration. “You really are tryin’ to kill me, aren’t you, Mia?”
I fidgeted, messed with the hem of my leather jacket.
He eased forward.
Flames lapped.
He shocked me by looping an arm around my waist and pulling me flush. A tiny gasp sped up my throat. He buried his face in my hair, and I nearly died right then when his lips tugged gently at the lobe of my ear.
“Knew the second I saw you that you were the sexiest woman I’d ever laid eyes on, Mia West. But dressed like this? I changed my mind—it’s you who is going to ruin me.”
The blush took full bloom, and I was chewing at my bottom lip that was painted red when he edged back. He reached out and tugged it free, the pad of his thumb sending a crash of chills down my spine. “Don’t mess with that lipstick. I plan on kissing it off later.”
Those nerves skittered. Shivered and leapt.
Unprepared to find him like this.
Lighthearted for the first time.
Confusion knitted my brow. He just laughed, stepped back, and took my hand. “You ready to get out of here?”
“I’m not sure I could ever be ready for you,” I admitted.
His expression softened, and he traced the angle of my jaw with the pad of his thumb.
Tenderly.
So at odds with the man I’d come to know.
“Know the affliction.”
We stared for a beat.
Lost.
Hearts drumming out ahead of us.
He blew out a breath and snatched my hand. “Come on, let’s go before I say fuck to this show and have you in my bed.”
Turning on his heel, he started for the gate, leading me by the hand. Every so often, he glanced back at me with this look on his face.
One so different than I’d ever seen him wear before.
Like . . . like . . . he was almost happy.
Like he couldn’t believe I was there.
Like the fact that I was meant everything.
I raced to keep up with him. My heeled boots clicked on the walkway, and I clung to his wrist with my free hand while my other was clutched in the massiveness of his. He punched the code for the gate, and he held it open for me to go ahead of him.
He’d already pulled his bike out of the garage, all that gleaming metal sitting there waiting to be tamed.
I inhaled a shaky breath.
“Are you nervous?” The warmth of him suddenly hit me from behind, his breath skating across the sensitive skin of my neck.
“Nope, not nervous,” I squeaked.
Positively terrified.
Terrified this bad boy was going to strip me bare. Leave me broken and mangled and beaten.
I was nothing but a willing participant.
He wound around me and grabbed the helmet he had hanging from one of the handlebars, turned back, and carefully situated it on my head.
Brown-sugar eyes never left mine as he fastened the strap.
My stomach quivered, and my knees knocked.
“Perfect,” he murmured. He touched my chin. Gently.
Oh man, I wasn’t quite sure how to keep up with him when he was like this.
Slinging his leg over the motorcycle, he balanced it, and his booted foot came down hard to kick it over.
God. How was that sexy, too?
This man oozed it.
Bled it.
The roar of the engine coming to life sent vibrations up the back of my legs and crawling across my flesh.
Taking over.
This low buzz that grew louder and louder.
Amplified when he pulled back the throttle and revved the powerful motor.
He sent me a cocky grin, angling his head for me to climb on. “You ever ridden before?” he asked.
“Once or twice.”
“Most important thing is to relax and let your body follow my movements. Don’t fight it. Enjoy it.”
“That’s easy for you to say.”
He chuckled a low, grumbly sound, at one with the bike, and I was swinging my leg over and tucking myself close to the strength of his body.
I wrapped my arms around his waist.
Sensation raced, and my heart thundered at his back. No question, he could sense it, feel it, as if the man had a direct line connected to me.
“Hang on,” he shouted.
It was becoming clear it was going to be impossible to let go.