Helpless (Steel Demons MC #5) - Crystal Ash Page 0,104
kissed between his eyebrows. “Because you were the most handsome man in the room to me.”
His hand on my back drifted forward, pushing my hair off my shoulder and gently stroking along my jaw. “You don’t mean that.”
I leaned into his touch, encouraging him to cup my cheek. “Do you trust me?”
“Yes,” he answered quickly. “With my life.”
“Then you know I wouldn’t lie to you.” I brought his hand to my chest, over my pounding heart. “There’s no faking this. This is real, Shadow.” I returned my palm to his chest, feeling the matching beat of that muscle through his shirt, skin, and the tattoo that bound us together. “It’s always been here, and I don’t want to fight it anymore.”
“Neither do I.” His gaze lowered, the arm around my waist running down the side of my thigh.
“But you’re still uncertain,” I ventured, clasping my fingers over his on my chest. “Tell me why.”
“Your men,” he admitted, meeting my eyes again. “They…they know how to do this. Take care of you, treat you like you deserve.” He swallowed. “They know how to…to please you. Why would they share you with me?”
“Oh, Shadow…”
I leaned in, dropping a kiss on his brow. He released a sigh, eyes closing softly, so I kissed each of his eyelids. I kissed his cheeks and his nose. When our mouths met again, his lips were parted, waiting. I melted into his taste, curling up small as his arms came around me in a tight, protective embrace.
When we parted for air, he kissed my forehead, stroking my cheek with his thumb. I expected him to be gentle, maybe even overly careful and a bit clumsy, but these touches damn near brought tears to my eyes. His tenderness sent my heart and hormones running wild and I wanted to drown in it. I wanted to peel back the layers of him with kisses instead of violence, to uncover and protect this man who deserved all the love in the world.
“My men,” I whispered, tucking my head under his chin, “care about both of us. They’re letting us explore this because they want us both to be happy. Is it so hard to believe that can happen if we’re together?” I skimmed my fingers along the collar of his shirt, touching the skin around his throat. “Jandro is your best friend. He loves me. Don’t you think he might want this for us?”
Shadow’s broad chest rose and fell with each deep breath, his caresses soothing and delicious on my back. If I hadn’t promised Gunner I’d come to bed, I could easily fall asleep on him like this.
“I just never thought I’d be good enough.” He shifted his weight, but held me in place against him. “Never normal enough, I guess.”
I raised my head with a soft laugh. “If I wanted normal, I never would have hooked up with those three in the first place.”
“Yeah, I guess you’re right.” He smiled again and my heart skipped. Jesus, he was just so beautiful.
Our lips touched together again, but I pulled back at the last moment. “You are enough,” I whispered, bringing my hand to his scarred cheek again. “And whatever you don’t know, I’m willing to show you, okay?” I couldn’t help the grin that followed. “Although if your kissing skills are any indication, I don’t think you’ll need much guidance.”
“Hm, I don’t know.” His eyes brightened as he cupped the back of my head. “I think I need more practice.”
He kissed me through my laugh, his confidence shining through as he pulled me close. Not a stitch of clothing was removed, and our lips didn’t travel anywhere beyond each other’s faces. There was an innocence to kissing Shadow that I loved, like we were two teenagers learning the basics. We had already crashed together once and it burned us both. Now, coming together slowly, organically, seemed like a much better idea.
We kissed until my lips felt thoroughly bruised and my eyelids could barely stay open. I must have dozed off for a moment because Shadow was rousing me with kisses in my hair and gentle shoulder shakes.
“Should get you to bed,” he murmured with a kiss to my temple.
“Mmhm, I promised Gunner…”
My legs slid to the floor, the rest of my body peeling away from his warmth, his solidness. I didn’t like this, the feeling of cold night air with no solid bodies sandwiching me, but crawling into bed would soon alleviate that.