Dare To Run (The Sons of Steel Row #1)(53)

He groaned and thrust inside of me once, twice, and a third time. His whole body tensed, and he threw his head back, his muscles straining, as he came inside me. The look of complete rapture on his face was strangely moving, and I moaned.

His muscular arms—the ones I’d admired from the start—flexed, and he lowered his body onto mine, cradling me to him tenderly. “Jesus, Heidi. I . . . shit.”

I nodded, my lips pressed to the side of his neck. “I know. Me, too.”

We both fell silent, and I was glad. I was afraid that if I talked right now, I’d turn into a babbling mess and say something really stupid. Something like how that had been the most amazing night of my life, or how he’d made me feel things I’d never felt before. Or how he made me feel special, even though I knew I meant nothing to him at all. How I loved him, and it was okay that I knew he would never love me back. Or even worse, how I wished we could freeze time in this moment.

Stay like this, naked and joined, forever.

But thoughts of reality kept intruding. His own brother was plotting Lucas’s execution. Living on the streets had made me tough, but my experience with Bitter Hill proved I was out of my depth in Lucas’s world. Quite frankly, his world scared me.

And I didn’t want him to die.

Lucas kissed my temple and pulled back. When his gaze latched onto mine, I forced a smile. He didn’t need to know I was worried, or that I wished I could save him from the choice he was facing. Because I knew how his world worked.

If his brother didn’t kill him . . .

He’d have to kill his brother. And no one should have to do that.

“Regrets already?” he asked, his voice low.

“No, not at all.” I brushed his hair off his forehead, damp from sweat. “What’s there to regret? Mind-blowing orgasms?”

He laughed. “Well, when you put it that way . . .” Pulling out of me, he pushed off the bed and crossed the room naked. “I can’t argue.”

I watched him go, because I couldn’t not watch. My willpower wasn’t that strong. He removed the condom and chucked it in the trash. When he turned to me, his arm folded behind his neck as he scratched his back, the dancing laughter was gone from his eyes. I stiffened. “Don’t start again. I’m not leaving.”

“The sex didn’t change anything,” he said, looking way too serious for what we’d just done together. “It just paused the argument.”

I rolled to my feet and glared at him, his nudity no longer a distraction. “Like hell it was only paused. Nothing you say or do will change my mind.”

“We’re going around in circles.” He stalked over to me, each step angrier than the last. “I’m trying to save your ass, while you seem determined to constantly put it in danger. What is it going to take to make you see reason?”

I crossed my arms. “Since it’s my ass, I get to decide what happens to it. Not you.”

“When you gave yourself to me, it became my ass, too.” That muscle I was becoming all too familiar with in his jaw ticked again. “You became mine the second you said the words I told you not to say.”

I lifted my chin and snorted. “The hell I did. I go where I want, when I want, and you don’t own my ass—or any part of me. Got it, Lucky?”

He gripped my chin, his touch firm yet somehow gentle. “That’s how this is gonna be? That’s your final stance?”

“Yes.” I pulled free from his grip. He let me. “What are you going to do about Scotty?”

His brows slammed down. “You don’t need to know anything about that.”

“I think it’s a reasonable question. I might not be a part of Steel Row, but I know how it works. I know you have to act fast, and I know it’ll be ugly, no matter what you choose.” I bit down on my cheek, trying to select my words carefully. “And I also know that both of our lives count on what you decide to do.”

“They don’t have to.” He gripped my shoulders. “You could leave, right now, and start over. You have nothing tying you here. No family. No kids. No lovers.”

I ignored the small jab of pain his words caused me. Guess that answered the question of how Lucas categorized our relationship: a mutually satisfying lay and nothing more. Not that it was a huge surprise. Yes, I’d admitted to myself that I loved him, but I hadn’t slept with him because I hoped he might love me, too. No, I’d slept with him because I’d wanted to. Nothing more, nothing less.

But still, I felt vulnerably naked.

I crossed my arms in front of my bare chest. “I might not have a man tying me down, but that doesn’t mean I have nothing. I have my bar, the legacy Frankie left me, the only home I’ve ever really known. And I have employees who count on me to show up for work.”

He ground his teeth together so hard that I heard them scraping against each other. “Enough.”

Without another word, his mouth met mine, and he kissed me until I was breathless and clinging. By the time the kiss ended, I’d nearly forgotten what we’d been arguing about in the first place. He lifted me in his arms, laid me down in the bed, and tucked me in. “Sleep. We’ll talk more in the morning.”

“Yes, sir,” I mumbled. His high-handed command made me want to go another round, but truth be told, I was done, too. It was like arguing with a wall. It wouldn’t get me anywhere. “Are you going to turn in, too?”