Dirty Desires (Devil Kings MC #3) - Nicole James Page 0,12
debate. “Want to beat the traffic.”
She wants to argue, but she wisely bites her tongue, dropping her hand. She called, and I’m here. That ought to be enough for her. I may owe her this favor, but I’ll be damned if she calls the shots.
Tess grabs her purse and slides from the seat. I turn and walk toward the entrance, confident in the fact she’ll be right behind me. When I get to the door, pull it open, and step back, she is in fact right there. She moves quickly through, and I follow her out. I lead her to my truck and beep the lock, yanking the passenger door open for her. It seems like just yesterday I’d done this very thing for her. She scrambles in, and I move around to the driver’s side.
I fire the beast up and pull away. It’s not until I’m up the entrance ramp onto the interstate heading south, that I turn to her. She’s been as quiet as a mouse.
“So, Tess from Sandy Springs, long time, no see.”
“Three years to be exact,” she murmurs, gazing out the passenger window.
“That puts you at what, twenty-four now?”
“The man can add. Impressive.” She can’t hold back the lift of her brow that accompanies her snarky comment.
“Cute. You’re a laugh a minute. I forgot that about you.”
“Did you?” She turns to stare at me, her chin in the air. “I bet you remember every detail about me.”
I clench my jaw, hating that she’s right. This girl was stuck in my head for months after our encounter, but I’ll be damned if I’ll ever admit it to her.
At the time I wanted to track her down. Now? Knowing who she belongs to, I wouldn’t touch her with a ten-foot pole. Her father may no longer be our president, but he hasn’t lost his patch, and her and me? That ain’t happening.
I exhale, trying to rein in all the conflicted feelings I have for this chick, and concentrate on the road. The silence stretches for miles until she breaks it.
“That night—why didn’t you tell me you were a DK?” Her voice is soft, hesitant, almost like the question is pulled from her unwillingly.
I glance over, sweeping her from head to toe. If anything, she’s even more beautiful than I remember, and I remember every inch of her young, firm body stretched across my bed, her face staring up at me, her eyes wide and her mouth parted as I sank inside her. “You never asked, Princess.”
“Don’t call me that. I’m no one’s princess.”
“If you say so.”
“I do,” she snaps. “I want nothing to do with my father or his club.”
“That include me?”
“Unfortunately, you’re a necessary evil. I’m just as trapped in this situation as you are.”
“I’m not fucking trapped.”
“Seems you owed Belle a favor, and here you are. I’m sure it’s not where you want to be, hauling my ass to Rutledge and back.”
“And why are you here if you want nothing to do with your father?”
She folds her arms and stares out the windshield. “It’s complicated.”
I can’t stop the huff of laughter. “Right. It always is with family.”
“Especially fucked up ones like mine.”
That’s a whole can of worms I have no intention of opening, so I move on to safer topics. “Why’d you disappear that morning without even a goodbye?”
She’s quiet, then finally clears her throat and gives me a lame excuse. “You were sleeping. I didn’t want to wake you.”
“Bullshit. You wanted to evade me. Is it the club? Is that the issue?”
She turns and meets my eyes. “You want the truth? Yes. Like I told you, I want nothing to do with the Devil Kings.”
“And what stopped you from tellin’ me that? Did I scare you that bad?”
She shakes her head. “You didn’t scare me.”
“Then what was it?”
“It was a gut reaction. I saw your back tattoo and your cut hanging on the chair. I freaked. Getting caught up in you, in the club—that’s what scared the crap out of me. I panicked. So I got the hell out of there.”
I run a hand down my jaw, taking in what she said. “Gotta admit, babe. If I had found out that morning who you were, I’d have freaked, too. You were definitely off limits. Hell, you still are, I guess.”
“So it was for the best, then.” She looks away.
“Was it?” I ask it before my brain has a chance to catch up with my damn mouth.
Her head snaps back around. “What do you mean?”
“Come on,