at her reaction.
Her entire body vibrated with eagerness. She was nearly as coiled with tension and ready to explode as when he played deliberate sexual games with her body. He loved playing. Prolonging that tension. Stretching that time out until he could hear and see and feel her need for him. Right now—and it had never happened before without sex being involved—the tension felt the same way. Whatever Scarlet had done for him mattered so much to her that he knew even if he didn’t like it, he was going to find a way to love it because she had cared this much to give it to him.
Scarlet had talked him into staying at the clubhouse with her for the last three weeks while Maestro, Master, Player and Keys renovated their house at her direction. He hadn’t been allowed to go near it. His brothers had been closed-mouth, refusing to tell him one single thing about what she was up to with her surprise remodel. She’d been the one to design everything and had worked closely with his four brothers. They grinned at him a lot, but they continued to be tight-lipped even when he’d made a halfhearted attempt to bribe them.
She said the renovation was a birthday gift. He reminded her his birthday was a few months earlier. She just laughed and said that didn’t matter, that only meant it was a belated birthday present and she just owed him all the more. Now, watching her hop from one foot to the other while he straddled the Harley, pretending to fiddle with one of the compartments while she was bursting with impatience, it was all he could do to keep a straight face.
“Absinthe.”
He glanced up. Casually. One eyebrow lifted. Bog. She was so beautiful she took his breath. The sun hadn’t yet set, although the fog was beginning to creep in, little fingers of mist drifting on the wind. The rays of the sun caught the brilliant red of her hair, turning it into flashes of ruby, reminding him of the gemstones in the furred tails Ice had made for them. He wasn’t certain she would ever play his kiska again for him and he knew he needed that kitten in his bed at times. He hadn’t brought himself to talk to her about it, not after the disaster of their wedding night.
Scarlet stepped close to the bike, her hands framing his face. “What is it, honey? You suddenly looked so sad.”
He hadn’t thought to keep his emotions off his face. This was her moment and just like that he’d changed her mood. She was that tuned to him. He should be grateful for their close connection. It was growing all the time, but it also made it more difficult to keep anything from her. He had always thought he would be able to know her every thought, every worry. He hadn’t expected it to be a two-way path. She was becoming very adept at reading him. They’d promised each other the truth. In any case, she would hear a lie. Communication was necessary in a relationship like theirs. Sometimes, it was all they would have.
He turned his face so his lips slid along her palm, pressing a kiss into the center. “I was wishing I wasn’t quite so fucked up in my needs.”
She leaned into him, kissing his forehead and then straightening and stepping away from the bike. “Aren’t we both a little fucked up? If you’re talking about me being your little pussycat, I have to admit, I miss being her. I missed our privacy and our home. I hope you like the changes and what I’ve created for us.”
His heart kicked into overdrive at the casual way she announced that she missed being his little pussycat. He decided to take the chance and push it just a little. Swinging his leg over the bike, he stood up and held out his hand to her. “I’m happy to hear you miss being my kiska. That’s never going to go away. Demyan planted that need so deep in me that no matter what, along with the training of my childhood, it’s there for the rest of my life. In reality, I’ve not only accepted it, I enjoy it.”
She took his hand and let him draw her close, right under his shoulder as they walked up the stairs together to the front door. He would have to put his bike up later. Torpedo Ink rarely left the motorcycles out