Reaper's Fall (Reapers MC, #5)(47)

Painter broke free from the kiss.

“Holy f*cking hell, you’re gorgeous,” he gasped, lifting me and wrapping my legs around his waist in one smooth movement. The contrast between our skin—him all pale and me dark from the sun—was striking. We’d make beautiful babies together.

Wait. Where had that come from?

Before I could explore that disturbing thought any further, his mouth took mine again. I was squirming all over him, and then his dick was pushing against my opening and I was sliding down over him.

It hurt more than before, which startled me.

It was a good hurt—more like a stretch—but I was definitely sore from the night before. Then his hips pulled back for another thrust, and it struck me just how strong he must be to hold me like this. I mean, who does that in real life?

Each stroke pushed him deeper. Kissing was too complicated now—I needed to focus everything on the sensations building between my legs. I bit into his shoulder instead, feeling and hearing him groan at the same time. Everything was moving so fast, but I was almost there. Close. Really damned close. All I needed was a little more—

Ice-cold water hit us with the force of a truck.

“Motherf*cker!” Painter shouted, slipping. My legs were all tangled around his and then we were falling toward the tub and all I could think about was how hard that bitch Jessica would laugh at me for this. I closed my eyes, bracing for a hit that never came because Painter somehow managed to twist midair, protecting me. Then we crashed into the side of the tub together, in a tangle of body parts and very cold water.

“Are you okay?” I gasped, trying to push myself up. Painter blinked, looking a little stunned.

“Yeah, I think so,” he said, raising an arm to the side of the tub. “You know, that was pretty f*ckin’ good until the cold water hit.”

Jessica burst into the bathroom, lurching to a stop in front of the tub, Taz right behind her.

“Are you guys okay?”

“We were taking a shower,” Painter said, his voice dry. “Now we’re taking a bath.”

“Nice rack,” Taz chimed in.

“Pervert,” I snapped, trying to pull the shower curtain in front of me. That’s when the oval hoop that suspended it from the ceiling collapsed, sending curtain and metal bars down and around us in a giant clatter.

Then the water went from icy cold to burning hot and I screamed. I’m not entirely sure what happened after that, but I do know it involved Taz laughing, Painter wrapping a towel around me, and Jessica getting carried downstairs over Taz’s shoulder.


PAINTER

Well, at least Taz enjoyed himself.

Fucker.

I followed Mel toward her bedroom after our bathroom clusterf*ck, her all wrapped up in a towel and me buck naked, clothing in hand. Despite the whole shower-collapsing-on-our-heads-while-the-water-tortured-us episode, I was still horny as hell and ready to go at it again.

So much for keeping things in the friend zone.

This might be a problem, because I had the feeling that Mel wasn’t the friends-with-benefits type and I wasn’t exactly the king of loving relationships . . . yet the thought of walking out of here and setting her free wasn’t working for me. We probably needed to have a serious talk to resolve these issues, but I’d gotten a message an hour ago from Gage, saying he needed me up in Hallies Falls by the early afternoon. That left me about twenty, thirty minutes max before I had to kiss Mel good-bye with no idea when I’d be back.

So we had to talk fast.

Of course, I could just f*ck her again instead.

Might be my last chance.

I processed all of this as we stepped up into her room. It felt like another world in here, our own place where reality couldn’t touch us and things were perfect.

“Hey,” she said, turning to me and smiling, playing with the edges of her towel where she’d tucked it in across her breasts. “So, we have to leave for the carnival in about forty-five minutes. Got any ideas how we might pass the time until then?”

So much for getting laid again, because I was about to piss her off even more than I’d realized. I’d forgotten that I’d promised to help her, although I’d remembered to stop off and get more face paint, thank f*ck. I’d burned through an entire carnival’s worth last night.

I sighed. Time to grab sack and do the talk.

“My plans have changed,” I said, feeling like an *. This wasn’t a new sensation for me, but the guilt that came with it was. Not that I ever went out of my way to be a dick—it just came naturally, you know? Melanie frowned, tightening her towel.

Definitely not getting laid. Fucking Gage.

“What’s up?” she asked carefully. “I mean, I know you didn’t make any promises about us, but I kind of thought—”

“No, this is about the club,” I said. “You know how I’ve been traveling for the club? They just called and said I need to head back out. Like, I need to leave in half an hour, and I gotta go pack a bag and shit. So I can’t do the carnival with you.”

Mel cocked her head at me.

“Are you blowing me off?” she asked, her voice very serious. “Because I’d really prefer it if you had the decency to do it directly, rather than leading me on.”

“No, I’m not blowing you off,” I said, wishing I had words to explain how I felt about all this. “Look, I’m a jackass. I get that. But I really have to go and I’m not even sure how long I’ll be gone. I promise I’ll stay in touch and text as much as I can. I’m hoping you’ll wait to make any judgments about us and what happened until I get back. I know that Jess is probably just waiting to fill your head with shit about me, and I’m sure a lot of it will be true. But this is between you and me, nobody else.”