Heartless (Steel Demons MC #6) - Crystal Ash Page 0,70
as he got closer. I closed my fists until my nails bit into my palms. It was all I could do to not drag him off to another room and rip every piece of armor off of him.
My newest man didn’t stop until his gloved hand reached my face, the other one drawing me against him by my hip. Our lips came together in the most fluid, natural way, like we were made to be linked together. My palms rested on his wide shoulders, toes barely touching the ground like his kiss would send me floating. With the vest between us, it felt like I couldn’t get close enough, no matter how much I pressed my body to him.
“Wait,” he said when we parted for a breath. With a turn of his head, he bit the fingertip of his glove to pull it off. The warmth of his bare hand against my cheek drew a shaky sigh from my chest. It hit me hard then, that this would be the last time in days that he’d touch me.
I leaned into his palm, reaching for another kiss, which he freely gave. The whole room was probably staring at us, but fuck if I cared. I wrapped around his neck tighter, tongue melding with his as I realized he didn’t care if anyone watched us either.
“Keep kissing me like that,” I whispered, forehead pressed to his. “And I really won’t let you go.”
He let out a soft hum as he kissed me again, slow and decadent, scar-tissued fingers caressing my cheek. “I’ll be back before you know it.”
“Not soon enough.”
Our surroundings melted away, and I committed all of my senses to memorizing this man. Everything, from the slight flavor of coffee on his tongue to the scent of gunpowder and leather on him. The texture of his skin under my lips and hands and those mismatched eyes drinking me in like he wanted to memorize me in the same way.
“Tell me what you said last night.” My hands trailed down and slid under the stab-proof vest. “I need to hear it again.”
Shadow pulled his other glove off and cupped my face with both hands bare. “I’ll never leave you.” His breath hitched in his chest as he hesitated, then continued. “Because…I’m yours.”
“Say it again,” I pleaded shamelessly, desperately. My chest already ached with missing him. He didn’t have the most dangerous job on the mission, but I knew my stomach wouldn’t stop clenching until I saw his motorcycle riding into Four Corners again.
“I’ll never leave you,” he repeated. “I’ll always come back.”
Jandro walked up next to us at that point, hands behind his back and his face apologetic. “It’s time, man.”
Shadow nodded and slowly unwound from me, our fingertips the last to break away from each other. He pulled his gloves back on, then he and Grudge followed Andrea and Big G out the door.
A crowd of no less than thirty people watched their motorcycles take off just as dusk gave way to night. Shadow kept his headlight off, perfectly capable of seeing in the dark, with Grudge keeping his light dim as he followed Shadow’s red brake light.
Jandro hugged me from behind as their lights and rumbling engines faded away into darkness.
“Did you tell him?” he asked with a warm kiss on my cheek.
“No,” I sighed. “Maybe I should have, but I didn’t want it to seem so…final.”
“It won’t be,” he assured me. “You will when he comes back.”
Nineteen
SHADOW
We rode exclusively at night, with Grudge and I avoiding the main roads. Andrea and Big G took the highways like normal, with us keeping watch from a distance. We even camped separately to not appear as though we were traveling together, which was fine with me. I didn’t know Andrea well and didn’t care for Big G’s company. I appreciated Grudge’s silence, although he was a chatty fucker with a pen and paper. And apparently, he loved terrible jokes.
What’s orange and sounds like a parrot? He shoved his notepad at me, snickering.
“I dunno, Grudge. What?”
A carrot!
I choked on my drink, going into a coughing fit while he fell over with that silent laughter of his.
“Why haven’t you picked up sign language?” I asked him one night. “Might be easier than writing all the time, right?”
I knew from our mission in Blakeworth, he and the Sons used hand signals to communicate quickly between each other. Beyond that, he made gestures for simple things and wrote down any thoughts that were more complex.