Say It's Forever (Redemption Hills #2)(48)

Finally, I stretched out my hand. “Come with me.”

She wavered for only a second before she accepted my hand.

Heat streaked up my arm.

Salem made a needy noise, and I knew I wasn’t the only one who felt the force.

Gravity.

We should fight it.

Turn our backs.

But I led her down the sidewalk to where I’d parked my bike.

Salem came to stand beside it.

All black hair and tempting curves and unrelenting eyes.

My dick wasn’t the only thing that stirred.

Had to fist my hands to keep from reaching out and taking what wasn’t mine.

Still, I edged that way and freed the helmet I’d left dangling from the handlebars, my regard unflinching as I placed it on her head and fastened the strap. I had left my Harley facing out, and I climbed on, guiding the girl on behind me, loving the feel of that tight body pressed to my back.

Way her form fit against me like she was molded for my shape.

A tremor rocked through her, and her arms were shaking as she wrapped them around my waist.

My hands squeezed hers, then I started the engine. The roar filled my ears and sent a crash of adrenaline pounding through my veins.

I pulled out onto the main street that ran through downtown Redemption Hills.

The air was warm, but crisp enough up high in these mountains that shivers raced our flesh.

Or maybe it was just this feeling that wrapped us tight.

The sense that the heavens hugged us in an embrace.

That there was a reason for this insistent attraction.

This feeling that I couldn’t let go.

Emotion grew with every mile that passed beneath us. As the road blurred and the night deepened and her spirit caught me in a trap.

The truth that I didn’t want to be anywhere else than here with her when I eased into the Iron Ride lot.

Blasphemy.

Still, I slowed and tapped the button to open my garage bay.

Easing inside, I spread my feet out to keep us steady then killed the engine. Silence bound the dense, dense atmosphere. The only sound was the panting of her breaths and the thunder of her heart.

Shit.

What was I doing?

Bringing her here like this?

But I couldn’t stand the thought of dropping her in front of her house without at least making her understand the way she made me feel.

What I saw.

The beauty she sparked in my heart and mind.

I helped her off, and I climbed to standing, grinning at the way she quickly unwound the strap and handed it to me, girl all nerves while she stood there like a vixen in the middle of my shop.

This enchantress that held me in her sweet, sweet spell.

“Fuckin’ fantasy, you standing there.”

Her throat tremored when she swallowed, and she fidgeted with her hands. “I have no idea what I’m doing here, Jud.”

“Going to show you.”

I reached for her hand again, and we crossed the space, her heels clacking along behind me as I led her to the stairs. Shifting, I ushered her ahead of me. “Up you go, darlin’.”

Warily, she took the first step, and I couldn’t do anything but lean in and breathe near her ear as she passed. “Don’t worry, baby. I’ll catch you if you fall.”

Thunderbolt eyes struck me from over her shoulder. “And what if you’re the one who sends me tumbling?”

I quirked a teasing brow. “Now why would a friend go and do something like that?”

Deep laughter rolled up her throat. “Friends, huh?”

I gave her an exaggerated nod.

Pure innocence.

Girl saw right through it.

Fact I needed her here. A hunger had lit, and I wasn’t sure I would ever get my fill. How I’d ever be sated. How I’d ever stop wanting more.

That kiss had only evoked a feeding frenzy.

We climbed the stairs to my loft, and I punched in the code on the keypad and opened the door.

Dusky, hazy light echoed back.

I held open the door so she could step inside my home.

A home that normally felt vacant and vast.

Artificial warmth in the dark woods and fabrics, but the only thing I ever really felt were the ghosts howling back. The demons that thrived in the shadows.

Salem stepped inside. Immediately, her attention went to the floor to ceiling paintings hung on the far wall.

An expression of my dreams.

The nightmares that chased me into sleep.

My sins I could never escape.

Could feel the questions rush from her skin, the way she looked back at me, asking me to let her see what lived in the recesses of my mind.

I set my hand on the small of her back. Severity zapped through the connection. “I’ll show you.”

Salem leaned down and removed her heels the way she’d done the last time she was there.

It dropped her four inches.

This barefooted girl sexy as fuck.

She hooked them in the fingers of her right hand at the same time as she wound the fingers of her left with mine.

Peace.

It whispered beneath my skin.

A slow burn that flooded my veins and threatened to seep all the way to my soul.

A motherfucking fool, but still I led her across the loft, through the open living room and along the far-right side of the kitchen, to my bedroom double doors.

Stalling, Salem swung her attention to me, her tone incredulous. “Your bedroom?”