by Em Petrova
He froze.
Eight heartbeats passed and then ten and twelve.
A frustrated sigh escaped her, washing across his lips, and she stepped away, pain pinching her beautiful face. She started to twist from him, and on reflex, he grabbed her wrist.
He pulled her around, yanked her to him and claimed those perfect, forbidden lips.
Her breathy moan flooded his mind with all the goodness he didn’t deserve, especially after he just jeopardized her. When her brother found out, he’d kill Blade. Hell, he’d kill him for kissing her too.
He couldn’t stop.
Raising a hand, he cupped her face the way he dreamed of doing. Her skin was softer than silk. He tipped her head up and pressed on her delicate chin with his thumb to open her to him.
As soon as she parted her lips on a sigh, he swept in. With his fingers woven into the strands of her hair, he deepened the kiss. He plunged his tongue into her sweet mouth and filled his head with her sweetness.
He drew from her, thrusting his tongue in again and again, deeper on each pass. She shook in his arms, fisting his shirt as she dug her other hand into his hair, and kissed him with all the passion he woke in a dead sweat after dreaming about.
I shouldn’t be touching her.
Damn if he could stop.
Easing his hands about her hips and curving his palms to fit her ass, he lifted her. She snapped her legs around his middle and her arms around his neck, levering her body into his while the kiss raged out of control. Heat blasted through Blade, and her little moans were driving him fucking crazy. His erection swelled to unknown proportions.
If he didn’t stop, he’d sink balls-deep in her and damn the consequences.
He walked to the door with her still wrapped around him and pressed her against it. She cried out and sucked at his tongue the way he knew her pussy could be sucking at his cock.
Stop.
He couldn’t. Wouldn’t.
He had to.
Releasing his hold on her ass, he let her slide down his body, savoring every inch of her curves rubbing against him as her feet lowered to the floor.
This time he did step back. “Go to bed, Jules. I’ll stand guard outside.”
Her chest heaved, and a pink flush climbed her throat. Those freckles stood out in sharp contrast to her complexion, and he realized she’d grown pale at his words.
“You’re…leaving?” she choked out.
Looking at her standing in front of him, so fragile and vulnerable, brought it all crashing down on him.
“I shouldn’t have brought you into my world, Juliette.” His voice came out dead and emotionless.
She blinked rapidly, and his heart dipped at seeing the sparkle of tears. “Well, you did. And I don’t regret it.” She reached for him again, but he sidestepped her.
She dropped her face into her palms and went still for a long, agonizing moment.
He could easily end both their suffering and take her. But what then? It could go nowhere beyond sordid sex. A one-night stand with no hope of a relationship. They were too different. She taught little kids…and he broke into houses to steal evidence that would land his cousin in prison for crimes he didn’t commit.
He waved her off. “I can’t stay.”
She dropped her hands and looked straight at him—through him, deep into his soul, the way she always did. Soul bound, some might call what lived between them.
When he didn’t move toward her, she nodded as if coming to the conclusion that he really was no damn good.
“If you stay, at least tell me what we just did tonight. You owe me that at least.”
“You took a drive, Jules. You were restless…”
“Damn right I’m restless! You just kissed me like no man’s ever kissed me, and now you want to walk away. The way you always walk away from me. We’ve been circling each other for weeks. Months! Then you come here asking me to drive you somewhere, stop and let you out. You disabled the power at that house and what? Broke in? What did you steal—”
He covered her mouth with a hand. Over his fingers, her eyes widened and then narrowed in anger. Good—at least if she was angry, she wouldn’t want more kisses.
Gazing down at her, he said the only thing he could to make her stop asking questions. “I’m a son of a bitch, Jules. I shouldn’t have allowed you to go with me, and I’ll regret this night for the rest of my life.”
Her eyes adopted hints of pain. Slowly, he peeled his hand off her mouth and stepped back.
Without a word, she walked off. The entry opened onto the living room, and she sank to the couch and curled her legs underneath her. He swallowed hard, watching her. What the hell was he doing to her—to them both?
He didn’t realize he’d closed the gap between them until he knelt in front of her. “You should go to bed. I’ll stay out here while you sleep, at least until Rio comes home.”
She compressed her lips, and he couldn’t shake the plump feel of them moving under his. “Rio won’t be home.”
“I’ll stay until morning then.”
She locked gazes with him. “I’m nervous after what happened tonight.”
“I’ll keep you safe. I vow that much.”
She nodded and shifted to the front of the couch. He moved aside to allow her to stand. After a moment loaded with energy and sexual tension galore, she skirted around him and hurried to her bedroom.
Blade didn’t follow.
When Juliette woke, Titus was gone. A look at the sofa showed her no trace of the man at all. Other than the tingles he raised in her with his kisses, she’d think she dreamed it all.
The weekend sped by. Rio came home Saturday afternoon, but she didn’t ask him where he’d been or tell him what happened. She didn’t go to the club that night or the next, and when Monday morning rolled in, she had no choice but to continue her routine of waking up and going to school.
Shower, dress, spritz with perfume, down some coffee and toast and jump in her car. The minute she gripped the steering wheel, all her fears from that night slammed down on top of her.
She needed answers—would demand them from Titus, and she wouldn’t take no for an answer this time.
As soon as she pulled into the school parking area, she refocused herself and directed her energy into what she knew how to do—mold eager little minds.
With her bag containing her lunch, she started across the parking lot. The rumble of a motorcycle engine starting sent her blood racing. She jerked around and saw Blade driving off.
She gaped after him, heart slamming and her knees weak. Had he followed her? She’d been distracted enough on her commute that she wouldn’t have noticed if a big hairy ape in a tutu and ballet slippers followed her.
Without a doubt, she knew Titus had seen her safe to school.
Looking after him, she burned with want. She was already half in love with the man, and she couldn’t see that changing. So she either had to make him stop thinking he’d stain her by bringing her into his life or resign herself to heartache.
Juliette started toward the school entrance, determination and drive in each step she took.
Blade wasn’t the only person who could be stubborn.
Creed stared at the blazing bonfire. Blade held the bag of false evidence over the flames.
“Do it,” Creed said.
He dropped the bag. It hit the flames and started to burn. To help it along, Blade upended a gas can on the fire. Flames shot higher, and he and Creed stepped away from the heat.
“Those bastards know one of us broke in and stole the evidence.” The bag contained a blood-smeared shirt and some forged documents that pointed to Creed owing some very influential people money.
“That was my blood, from when they burst into my house and did this.” Creed passed a hand over his healing chest. “They’re gonna kill someone and pin it on me.”
Blade gave a grim nod. “This isn’t the life either of us wanted, man. How the hell did we get here?”
; Creed leveled his stare on him. “Started with your father.”
He stared into the orange flames shooting into the air until his eyes blurred from the brightness.
“Who helped you break into the house that night?”
Creed’s question slugged him across the jaw. He turned his head, dazed. “What?”
“The night you broke in. Who helped you? You couldn’t have done it alone.”
His chest grew hot and tight, his shirt feeling two sizes too small. “A friend,” he said softly.
“You trust this person not to talk?”
“Yeah, I do,” he said without pause.
“At least somebody knows the real story.”
Blade looked at him.
“In case something happens to one of us and we can’t speak for ourselves or each other, someone else knows the truth. I assume it’s Rio.” Creed lit a cigarette off the flames and dragged on it. He wasn’t supposed to be smoking with his chest wound, but that didn’t stop him.
Blade worked over what his cousin was saying. He couldn’t bring himself to confess he’d gotten Rio’s little sister to drive that night. Now he saw Creed had a point that someone needed to know the truth.
Blade needed to talk to Rio. It meant telling him about Juliette, which meant he had to prepare himself for a well-deserved ass-kickin’.
Running a palm over his face, he turned from the bonfire. “I have to be someplace. Watch that to make sure it all burns.” He pointed to the fibers of the shirt and documents at the base of the flames.
The man gave him a two finger salute of goodbye, and Blade circled Creed’s house to the front where his bike was parked. He swung his leg over the steel and sank to the leather seat. Each time he did this felt like coming home. His only true place in the universe was on his Harley.
Only when he had Juliette in his arms did anything come close to that feeling.
He sighed. Juliette was the biggest struggle of his life. Of all things, a damn woman.
Not any woman—the perfect woman. Perfect for another man, that was.
He’d been following her since the night she drove the getaway car to ensure no heat came to her. When he thought about it, the conviction that he shouldn’t have dragged her into his mess grew stronger.
Time to come clean with Rio. He deserved to know what Blade had done to his sister—possibly placing her in the line of fire.
All the way to Rio’s, he hoped to hell the man was home. He couldn’t face Juliette alone—he didn’t have the strength.
If she looked up at him with those big blue eyes, he’d crack and take her into his arms. He wouldn’t send her to bed while he sat up alone on the couch. No, if he touched her again, there would be no stopping.
She knew he was guarding her too. Since that first day she spotted him in the school parking lot, she got out of her car looking for him. By Friday, he sat there waiting for her to see him. Why? Fucking masochist.
When she lifted a hand and waved, his heart squeezed, flipped, tumbled like some damn kid’s. He drove away without acknowledging her, but he couldn’t deny that having a reason to be near her lit up his goddamn world.
He took a right and pointed his bike toward Mersey. The town stood silent. Even The Painted Pig had an empty parking lot and all the lights were out.
Rio’d be awake, though. He knew his buddy. He only hoped Juliette wouldn’t be—and if she was, that she didn’t walk out wearing that sweet baby pink nightie again.
His guts clenched, and his cock shifted behind his fly. He drove the rest of the distance drowning in fantasies of gliding his fingers up her sleek thigh, catching the hem of her nightie and drawing it upward, over hip, side, breast…
Fuck, she practically begged him that night. She wanted him, and she knew he wanted her too. What she said about them fighting some bond—he never heard truer words in his fucking life.
In front of the house, he parked his bike and cut the engine. Walking to the front door, he steeled himself to come clean with Rio. Though he had no intention of telling him what he’d done with Juliette when they returned to the house.
Putting his hands on her had been a mistake.
He sucked in a stabilizing breath and knocked.
“Comin’,” he heard from inside.
Rio opened the door, saw him and grinned. “Didn’t expect to see your ugly ass on my doorstep at this hour o’ night.” He stepped aside to allow Blade to enter, then he closed the door behind him.
Last time he stood in this entryway, he had Juliette staring up at him as if he was a god and not a mortal sinner.
His chest expanded, but he couldn’t draw enough air in his lungs.
“Where the hell were you tonight? You didn’t come to the club or The Painted Pig.” Rio ran his fingers through his hair.
“I was with my cousin.”
“Ah. Want a drink? I got the good stuff.”
“No. Look, Rio. I need to speak to you.”
“Sounds fucking heavy.”
“It is.”
“Well, let’s sit at my table. It’s not the club table, but it’ll do.”
He followed Rio through the house to the kitchen. Here, Juliette had started to go for tea and instead grabbed the whiskey. Maybe he needed it after all. The burn of alcohol might help wipe out some of the hate he felt for himself—make him forget, if only for a short while.
Rio waved to the table, and Blade sat, forearms braced on the wood. Rio took the chair opposite, waiting.
Best to get it over with.
“That trouble I told you about at the club that night—I’m in deeper.”
Rio stared at him. “With the law?”
He shook his head. “With the Engers.”
He sucked in a sharp breath like a hiss. “Jesus, Blade. What the fuck did you do?”
“You know about my old man.”
Rio leaned forward, gaze sharp as he followed along. “Yeah.”
“Well, they’re not done with us yet. They want to wipe out our entire family for what my father did. They attacked Creed.”
“Jesus Christ. He okay?”
“Was hurt pretty bad. On the mend now. But at that point, he learned they didn’t want him dead. They want to put him in prison too. So they gathered some evidence to frame him.”
“Oh fuck.”
“And I went into their house and stole it.”
A grin started at the corner of Rio’s lips. But Blade wiped it out as soon as he said, “Juliette was with me.”
For a dead still minute, Rio didn’t move. Blade waited.
Then his friend burst up from his seat, grabbed Blade and ripped him out of his chair. Not even panting with the exertion of lifting his two-hundred-pound frame, Rio glared at him.
“You. Took. Juliette. You dragged my kid sister into your disaster?” His voice ramped in volume.
“I came looking for you. You weren’t home.”
“So you took my baby sister and what? Made her a fucking accomplice to your B and E!”
“It wasn’t a petty theft like breaking and entering. I was stopping a crime from being pinned on my cousin, and you would have done the same.”
Except he knew Rio would never do something to harm another person, let alone someone Blade cared about. Blade, on the other hand, was a selfish prick looking out for himself and nobody else.
“I’m gonna break your fucking neck.” Rio’s oath ran over Blade.
He only nodded. “I deserve it.”
“You son of a bitch!” He lunged at Blade. When he hit him in the middle, launching them both to the floor, he didn’t lift a finger to stop him. He didn’t even brace himself for impact. He hit the floor with Rio’s muscled body pinning him as he cocked a fist and rammed it into his stomach.
He coughed and hunched at the blow but didn’t try to stop the second strike from coming. Or the third. He lost count after Rio’s knuckles glanced off his jaw, rocking his head.
“What the—! Oh my God!” Juliette’s cry fille
d the kitchen.
He pivoted his head and saw her, looking like an angel standing there bare-toed and with another nightgown swirling around her shapely calves. So damn delicate and innocent it broke his heart that he’d marred her with his selfishness.
Rio reared to deliver another punch.
“Stop!” Juliette rushed forward and grabbed his arm. Too out of his mind with rage, he yanked free, which sent her stumbling.
Blade moved without consciously willing it.
He shoved Rio off him and leaped up, stomach a misery after all the punches he took, and he wobbled as he positioned himself in front of Juliette to guard her.
“Jesus! You’re protecting my own sister from me, when it’s you she needs protection from!” Rio stormed forward again, and Juliette jumped between them.
Blade felt his muscles coil in preparation to do real harm to his friend if he didn’t take control—now. He gently swept out an arm, swiping Juliette to the side, and faced off with Rio.
“Stop! Both of you!” Juliette grabbed Blade’s arm.
Rio dropped his gaze over the place where her fingers latched on his biceps and then up to her face. She was staring at Blade with those innocent blue eyes in much the same way as she had that night when he lost control and kissed her breathless.
When he lifted her off her feet and she wrapped her thighs around him so he could grind his erection into her sweet pussy.
“Blade. I swear to Christ, you better tell me I’m wrong to think I see something else going on between you and my sister,” Rio ground between clenched teeth.
Juliette jumped between them again. “It’s me and Blade,” she announced, stunning them both.
Chapter Five
“Same as it is for you and Courtney.” Juliette met her brother’s glare and raised her chin a notch in challenge.
Blade snapped around to pierce Rio in his stare. “You and Courtney? The honey at the club?”
“Don’t call her that. She’s not like the others.”
Rio centered his attention on Juliette. “You know about her.”
“Yeah, I’ve suspected for a while, but then I saw her come into the clubhouse after you, and something about the way she looked at you—I just knew it. Question is…when were you going to tell me?”
