Heartless (Steel Demons MC #6) - Crystal Ash Page 0,41
in public made him feel more confident. He hadn't tried to hide his scarred eye once since we had our lunch date.
"We're here," he said over the roar of his engine with a light squeeze of my hand.
He pulled to a stop under a large oak tree, dappled sunlight speckling over a grassy knoll just beyond it. Some wild lilies lined the clearing, bright orange speckled flowers like small lamps against the lush, dark greens.
"Oh, Shadow, this is beautiful!" I climbed off of the bike before he had a chance to lift me off. "How did you find this place?"
"Just riding during some free time the other day." He shrugged. "It's quiet. A nice place to be alone."
My whole body lit up at his thoughtfulness. A smile split my face as I reached up to kiss him. "You knew exactly what I needed. Thank you for bringing me here."
"I, um..." He trailed off to kiss me some more, planting sweet pecks on my lips as we shuffled our way to a sunny area.
"You what?" I held on to his forearm, placing a kiss on his shoulder while we found a dry patch of grass to sit.
"I was going to say..." He paused as we sank down together to the ground, eyes shyly cast away. "That I wouldn't share this place with anyone else."
I love you.
The words rang out like a bell in my head and formed a heaviness in my throat. Holy shit, I did. I was in love with Shadow, from every beautiful scar on his skin to the pure goodness in his heart. But my lips remained stubbornly, if even fearfully, sealed. I had to take this at his pace, to not overwhelm him with experiences and feelings that were still new to him.
"You're sweet," I chose to tell him instead, sitting across his legs so I could rest my head on his shoulder.
"You've told me that a few times," he murmured, placing a hand on my knees while the other slid across my back.
Because I'm too chicken shit to tell you I love you.
"Because it's true."
I brought a hand to his cheek, caressing his bearded jaw and cheekbone while staring at his full lips. Fuck, did he have a scar there too?
My thumb ran over the puckered tissue on his bottom lip as he closed the ever-shrinking distance between our mouths. Thick arms pulled me closer, wrapping me in safety as our kisses grew deeper. Lips and tongues pressed insistently, losing their finesse and growing clumsy with desire.
I love you. I want you so bad, my head screamed as Shadow moaned softly into my mouth, his fingers curling into the fabric of my shirt. Please, make love to me out here. It's beautiful, it's perfect. You're perfect.
But his hands and kisses never strayed. It occurred to me that he might not know how to escalate, given that his experience was limited to transactional sex and making out with me. When we slowed for a breath, I opted to try something new.
I dragged my lips across his cheek, pausing to kiss his scar before pushing his hair back and continuing to his neck.
"Oh! Fuck, that's..."
Shadow's reaction was instant and more satisfying than I could have predicted. Smiling against his pulse, I kissed his neck again, making a small trail from the corner of his jaw to his shoulder as he squirmed.
"That," he groaned again, shuddering under my lips. "Why does that feel so good?"
Fuck, he was so cute. I could not stop grinning against his skin.
"The neck is an erogenous zone for many people," I explained.
"What does that mean?"
"It means," I said, pulling back, "it's a non-sexual body part that you derive sexual pleasure from." I ran a light touch along the side I'd just been kissing. "The blood flow here makes the area especially sensitive."
"I see," he mused, the idea already forming behind his eyes as he pushed my hair behind my shoulder. "Is it an erogenous zone for you?"
"It is." I bit the inside of my cheek to keep my grin in check.
He leaned in slowly, with a few small moments of hesitation, as if waiting for me to stop him. Like that would ever happen. I tilted my head back, baring my neck like those girls in old TV shows asking for vampire bites.
Shadow's lips landed on my neck with a tickling softness, making light presses with a closed mouth like when I first showed him how to kiss.