Total pages in book: 133
Estimated words: 133855 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 669(@200wpm)___ 535(@250wpm)___ 446(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 133855 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 669(@200wpm)___ 535(@250wpm)___ 446(@300wpm)
Was he serious? I had no doubt this guy would gladly rip me to shreds.
He roughed a hand through the longer pieces of his black hair, and for the first time, something genuine filled his tone. “Listen…this isn’t a good place, Eden.”
The air shifted, and I swore I saw the slightest edge of vulnerability slip into his features, and I found myself digging again. “And you’re not a good man?”
There was no missing the bare truth of the question.
Another of my sicknesses claimed by Tessa. I dug around to find the good bits in everyone. Believed it was there. That we all had something to offer, no matter what we’d done in our pasts.
And I felt desperate to find his.
His voice twisted into a threat, that moment of softness stiffening to steel. “What do you think, Miss Murphy?”
“I think we’ve all made mistakes, Mr. Lawson.”
His nostrils flared, and he was moving again, edging my direction, eclipsing me in his towering frame. He stopped right before he plastered his body against mine, and he angled in so close our noses almost touched.
That energy sizzled.
“Tell me, is it a mistake if you make the choice to do it, again and again? If the sins you’ve committed make up the foundation of your life? If they make you who you are?”
Involuntarily…instinctively…stupidly—I didn’t know—I reached out and let my fingertips flutter over the words imprinted on his chest.
“Are you…a biker?”
Like, a real biker? Was this bar a front? Doubt and fear thrashed and boomed, banging through my brain in a flashfire of warnings while I stood staring up at him as if the question had been a plea.
A shuddered breath left him.
A moment held.
Then he reached out and snatched me by the wrist as if it took him those stilled seconds to realize I was trying to dip my fingers inside and discover a little of who he was, the same way as I could feel him doing to me.
Fury filled his expression. “What do you think you’re doing?”
My head shook, and the words left me like confusion. “I honestly don’t know.”
Severity twisted his brow, and his fierce jaw ticked in restraint. In need. In dark desperation. “You should stay away from me,” he growled.
“Should I?” It was out before I could stop it. But I knew there was something there. Something unseen. Something I could feel pulsating in the atmosphere that I’d never felt before.
It stretched between us.
Keening and alive.
Something my spirit warned would ruin me in the end.
“I think you already know the answer to that.”
Gathering my courage, I asked, “Then why is it you have me pinned to the wall?”
“Ah…” A single fingertip trailed down the angle of my face, and he was watching me with those eyes, devouring the way a shiver raced across my skin.
Trent tipped his head to the side, raven hair pitching that way. “Now that is the question, isn’t it? Why I couldn’t look away from you from the start. Why once you were outta sight, I still went to bed thinking about you. Wondering just how soft your skin might be.” His mouth moved closer to my ear. “Wondering how you’d taste.”
He edged back again. “Guess it makes me the fool who woke up this morning still wondering the same.”
Attraction.
It flickered and flared.
A vapid dance in the heated air.
It was such a terrible idea. Giving in to whatever this was would be a crime. A choice I knew full well I shouldn’t make.
Black and white.
But I felt it.
Desire.
And for me, that was a miracle. My own impossibility.
“You’re a dad.” It came out softer than it should as Gage’s sweet face filled my mind.
With a child like that? I refused to believe this man was only carved of wickedness and greed.
Affection left him on a breath. “Yeah.”
“Gage…” His name heaved out of me like a stone. Like a prayer. I guessed that was exactly what it was. “He’s…”
I’d felt a connection to the child immediately. In an intrinsic way. In a way that I should ignore.
“Adorable? A handful? Sweetest fuckin’ thing you’ve ever seen?” Trent said each one like he was checking off the child’s list of As, the slightest smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.
Sweet. Sweet. Sweet.
My heart fluttered in an entirely different way.
God, I really was traversing dangerous ground.
“He is,” I murmured, a smile of my own threatening my lips. “Probably one of the sweetest, most adorable children I’ve ever met.”
“Only good part of me.” He said it like he’d heard me ask the question aloud. Saw it written all over me.
“It seems he sees many good things in you.”
Trent scoffed out a rough chuckle. “Kid’s always singing my praises.”
I glanced away before I brought my gaze back to his handsome face. “Are you…”—I gulped before I forced it out—“…married?”
I realized I was shaking. My breath locked in my throat, terrified of what he might tell me.