Verek (Savage Kings MC - South Carolina #3) - Lane Hart Page 0,74

can’t hold myself up any longer, sated and happy.

I finally had sex.

And it was incredible.

“Thank you,” I say to Verek, brushing my lips over his throat.

“The pleasure was all mine, sweetheart,” he jokes, his mouth moving from my neck and around until our mouths find each other again. “Well worth the wait,” he says. “I would’ve gladly kept my virginity until tonight for the chance to have this one single time with you,” he adds, which is complete bullshit, but exactly what I needed to hear.

Chapter Thirty

Verek

* * *

How did I get talked into a day at the beach as a third wheel? Oh, that’s right. Last night with Tessa was the best night of my life. The sex was so much more than just “sex.” It was the most connected to another person that I’ve ever felt. I’m falling hard for this woman and would do anything she asked.

Even tag along on a date with her and Paul.

Although, I have to admit that it is a beautiful day. The sunshine is glistening off the ocean water, and the sand is cool under my bare toes, not scorching hot like in the summer. There’s no way I’ll be going for a swim, but it’s nice to take my shoes off and sit in the dunes, watching the tide roll in, even if Paul ensures I’m left out of most of his conversation with Tessa. He’s talking about her life back in Raleigh, a time that I don’t know anything about. She’s never really talked to me about her previous home.

Needing a break from their little reunion, I stand up and tell them, “I think I’m gonna go for a walk.”

“I think I’m going to go to the ladies’ room,” Tessa replies. I reach down, offering her my hand that she takes to pull herself to her feet.

“Thanks,” she says with a smile. “I’ll be right back.”

“Okay,” I agree, forgetting where I was going as I watch her walk away with the prospects following close behind.

“Why does Tessa let you touch her?” Paul asks when we’re alone.

“Huh?”

“You heard me,” he says, standing up to talk to me. “I’m not blind, so just tell me what’s going on. Am I wasting my time here?”

Blowing out an exasperated breath, I tell him, “No, I don’t think you’re wasting your time. Tessa is…torn, I think. The biggest thing that’s holding her back is that she’s afraid of not being capable of intimacy, at least not the normal kind.”

“I don’t care about that! I love her,” he says. “I still want to spend the rest of my life with her, even if I never get to touch her again.”

“When I say she’s torn, I mean that she cares about me too.”

“No shit,” he huffs. “She barely lets you leave her side.”

“She trusts me. I’ve fucking earned that trust!” Pointing to my chest, I tell him, “I was the man who carried her out of that goddamn storage facility, and I’m the one who killed the men who hurt her.” With a sigh, I add, “I’m also the man she almost went home with the night she was kidnapped. She’s forgiven me, even though it was my fault she left the club without her friends…”

I didn’t think Paul had it in him, but before I can blink, his fist is flying at my face. I try to duck in time, but his knuckles still land smack-dab on my damn jaw.

“Fuck!” I exclaim as I clutch the side of my aching face.

“You’re the reason Tessa suddenly wanted to call off the wedding?” he snarls at me, finally losing his temper. I admit, it took longer than I would’ve lasted seeing her with another man.

“What? No, I’m not. Tessa called the wedding off because she was kidnapped and raped by those four sons of bitches.”

“No,” he says with a shake of his head. “She called me that night, told me we should postpone the wedding because she wasn’t ready. She said she needed time, but I could tell, what she really meant was that she had suddenly changed her mind.”

“She did?” I ask in surprise. I always thought she ended things because of what she had been through, what I didn’t stop from happening to her. “You think she called it off for a man she just met?”

“Yes! She crushed me, ruined everything we had, all because of you!”

“Me? Really?” I repeat again.

“I don’t know, but probably,” he exclaims, losing his cool again, his arms flailing. “The way