"I want to know what you sound like when you let go. Really let go. Do you grunt? Will you growl my name? Will you pull my hair?" She tilted her head. "I think about that too much. It's distracting me."
The air between them crackled. There wasn't a shy bone in her body. How could there be when she grew up in the Royalla clubhouse?
She watched him with the eyes of someone who knew what she was doing. He couldn't look away.
He stood there—every muscle wound tight, not ready to admit that hearing her talk that way turned him on.
"Is that all?" he asked, voice rougher than usual.
She had him hard as a rock by throwing pretty thoughts at him. His heart thundered, waiting for her to answer.
Roma smiled—slow, sexy, soft.
"It's barely a start." Her voice softened, making him strain to hear her. "I want to feel your hands on me. I don't want you to be so careful. I don't want you to worry about hurting me. I think about you grabbing me so much that it keeps me awake at night."
Roma dropped her gaze for a moment, like maybe even she wasn't sure she should've said that last part out loud. But when she looked back up, there was no regret in her expression—just that quiet confidence she always had.
"I want all the parts of you I've never seen before." She tapped her temple. "Even in here."
Kodiak stared at her, having never heard her talk that way. Her vulnerability pressed into his chest like a hand, keeping him down, forcing him to listen to her deepest desires.
He wanted to say something, but his throat was dry, and the heat pulsing under his skin was a whole new kind of dangerous.
Instead, he sat beside her on the top of the picnic table. Not close enough to touch. But close enough that he could feel the warmth coming off her and feel her breath on his skin.
"I could hurt you." He swallowed hard. "I don't want to hurt you."
Roma turned her head slowly, her lips curling slightly. "I kinda want you to hurt me, Kodiak."
He looked away, up to the stars she loved to look at. But now he wasn't seeing the sky. He was seeing a different side to Roma. A side that made him wonder if he was protecting himself rather than her.
"Do you know why I like to come out here and sit on the picnic table?" she whispered.
"The stars?"
One lone tear slid down her cheek. "I'm surrounded by Dad's things in the room, in the compound. Everything in there is areminder of him—the people, the motorcycles, the sounds, the smells. But out here..." She glanced at the sky. "I feel like he's near. I talk to him in my head and tell him how I feel about you, and I wait for a sign to tell me I'm silly for loving you and I should—"
"It's not silly, baby girl." He inhaled deeply and looked up at the stars.
"I never get a sign, Kodiak." She leaned her head against his shoulder.
He sighed heavily. She wanted the ability to connect with her dad. And when she couldn't even get advice or a sign after praying up into the sky, she used that silence to guide her in real life.
"I miss him," she whispered
"Yeah." He swallowed hard. "I miss him, too."
She slipped her fingers into his hand. He held on, needing any piece of her he could get.
Chapter 21
Roma sat behind the desk in the garage's cramped office, pretending to do inventory for the third time that hour. Her fingers hovered over the keyboard, but the numbers blurred together, making her recount. She couldn't concentrate with Kodiak away from the compound.
She stood and planted her hands on her hips. It was impossible to sit still and finish any work.
Kodiak had left early that morning, on the hunt for the Deception member who'd threatened Royalla. Since then, she hadn't received a phone call or text. There was no update from the other members. Just empty hours, dragging by.
She should've quit work an hour ago, but she needed to keep busy to keep her mind off Kodiak. But that failed.
