The morning sun is streaming through the window, a stale, unfamiliar scent filling my nose. I open my eyes slowly, trying to get my bearings. Where am I?
A soft exhale from a bare chest beneath me has all my memories flooding back. Every breath, touch and feeling buries me—until I blink out of it and meet Kolter’s sleepy gaze.
“What’s wrong?” he rumbles, his voice rough.
“Nothing. I just… I was trying to figure out if everything from last night was a dream or not.”
He tilts his head to the side in curiosity and maybe a touch of amusement.
“Like the club,” I say. “And the… guy. You… removing him. Then…” I swallow. “And then back here, and all the things we said to each other after we?—”
Kolter leans forward, squeezing my cheeks in one of his hands as he presses his lips to mine.
Okay. Confirmed. Definitely not a dream. All of it, definitely real.
Holy moly.
“You know, Peaches. I get that you were a sweet virgin about twelve hours ago, but you better get used to talking about the way I fuck you into oblivion because it’s gonna keep happening.”
“It is?” I ask, not even attempting to keep the hopeful lilt from my voice.
A crooked smirk lifts one side of his mouth before he places a quick kiss on my forehead. “Yes. A lot. I’m giving you the day to recover, but that’s all I’m giving you.”
“I’m fine,” I say quickly, causing him to laugh and shake his head.
Slowly, Kolter untangles himself from the bed and pushes to stand. He’s completely naked, and in the light of day, I can’t help but admire his bare butt as he slides on his boxers and jeans—more or less dry now. My God. Men are blessed with being pretty enough not to need makeup and they also have better butts than us? Where is the justice in the world?
He rifles through his drawers before tossing me a pair of black sweatpants and a T-shirt. “Here, put these on.”
“Why?” I ask, peeling the covers away from me and sliding out of bed.
Kolter’s gaze moves to me, his eyes slowly raking over me from head to toe, a lustful haze clouding his features before he shakes his head and curses under his breath.
“Because if you go out there in your ‘come fuck me’ little black dress, I’m gonna have to kill every last goddamn man in this MC.”
I can’t help but flush. “It wasn’t a come… F me dress,” I mutter in defense.
Kolter finishes pulling on his own T-shirt then closes the distance between us. “Trust me, Peaches, that’s the signal you were sending. That’s why a man is dead this morning and you’re in bed with me instead of tucked back home.”
My eyes widen. “He’s dead?”
Kolter scoffs like I just made a joke, but when he sees the look on my face, he frowns. “I thought you knew.”
I did. Deep down. There was too much blood. He went too still. I knew Kolter didn’t call 911 or have a medical team rush to his aid. Of course he was dead. Still, hearing it—hearing him say that it was my fault—unsettles me.
“So, I killed a man?” I ask tightly.
What looks like empathy crosses his face before Kolter cups the back of my head in his hands. “No, Peaches, I did. I killed him for touching my girl.”
“But I wasn’t?—”
His finger comes to my lips, freezing them in place as he levels me with a hard look. “Are you honestly going to lie to me and tell me that you haven’t been mine since the moment I set eyes on you? That I haven’t been yours in return?”
“I…”
That’s all I can manage to say. That’s all I can manage to think because what the hell else am I supposed to think or say when this man is telling me all the things I used to dream about? And now he’s here, in front of me, melting me in my place.
Kolter reaches for the shirt and sweatpants, then slides both onto me—dropping a few kisses against my skin along the way—before rising to his full height once more.