I don’t.
“You can want me,” I whisper. “You cannot take me. Not one inch I do not give you.”
His eyes darken until they almost look silver in the city light.
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Say it like you mean it.”
“I want you so bad my fucking bones hurt.” His hands curl on his thighs. “And I do not get to have you until you say I do.”
I move before I can think better of it.
Maybe this is me changing my mind. Maybe this is me making a bad decision with both eyes open. Either way, it is mine.
I slide off the sofa and onto his lap, knees bracketing his hips.
His whole body goes rigid. I feel him hard beneath me before either of us says another word, and the knowledge goes straight to my head like tequila. He wants me even now. Bruised, angry, impossible. Not clean. Not easy. Messy. Me.
“Lady.”
“Hands where I can see them.”
He lifts them like a criminal.
I laugh against his mouth and kiss him.
It is not soft.
Nothing about us has ever been soft.
His mouth opens under mine with a rough sound that goes straight through me. I bite his lower lip, and he curses into the kiss. His hands stay raised until I grab them and put them on my waist.
His fingers dig in like he has been given permission to breathe. Not enough to hurt. Enough to remind me that rough does not scare me when I am the one who says yes.
“You sure?” he asks against my mouth.
“No stupid questions, gringo.”
“That is my specialty.”
“Try survival instead.”
His grip tightens. His thumbs press into my robe at my waist, and even through silk, I feel the restraint shaking in him. He could lift me. Flip me. Pin me. All those biker instincts are right there under his skin, snarling and waiting.
He does none of it.
That is what makes me wetter.
Then he kisses me like he has been starving. I forget everything. The bruises. The gossip. Cherry. Carmen. All of it breaks apart under the heat of his slick mouth. His tongue strokes mine, dirty and deep, and I roll my hips once just to feel what I am doing to him.
He groans like I hurt him.
“Fuck, baby.”
“That a complaint?”
“That is a warning.”