When Alex’s hands came to the button on her shirt, a raging inferno colored my vision red. Without a second thought, my hands flew out to the table edge, flipping it over and sending cards and poker chips through the air. “Game over,” I growled.
“I still have to pay up, Deacon,” Alex snapped before having the audacity to pop open the buttons on her shirt, revealing a lacy black bra.
Just like a fucking caveman, I reached over, grabbed her by the waist, and then hefted her over my shoulders. “What are you doing?” she demanded as I started stomping away from the table. When I didn’t respond, she smacked my ass. “Answer me, Deacon.”
I didn’t say a fucking word until I was in my bedroom. After I kicked the door shut behind us, I stalked over to the bed and dropped her on it. As her body bounced on the mattress, she hissed like a little hellcat.
“What the fuck were you thinking?”
She glared up at me. “I just wanted to have some fun.”
“By letting my brothers see you naked?”
“I was winning,” she challenged.
“Yeah, well, I don’t give a fuck. No one in this club sees you naked. Do you understand me?”
“And why not?”
I narrowed my eyes at her. “Don’t question me, woman.”
“So don’t tell me what to do!”
To silence her smart mouth, I crushed my lips against hers. Instead of meeting opposition, I felt her return my kiss, her hands coming up to grip my hair, tugging at the strands. In a flash, I covered her body with mine, slamming her onto her back on the mattress. I had this desperate need to claim her, not as some territorial bullshit but out of a stronger emotion. She was my complete and total opposite, but somehow we completed each other. She was the strong, compassionate, stubborn woman I needed to soften out my rough edges. She brought out the best parts of me—the ones that so often had been hidden in the past. For her, I wanted to be a better man, a better father, a better brother, and hell, a better human being.
Alex brought me out of my thoughts by widening her legs invitingly. I didn’t waste a moment slipping my hips between them. As our tongues battled against each other, I rubbed my growing erection against her core. When she groaned into my mouth, I grabbed her arms and shoved them over her head.
Jerking my lips from hers, I glared down at Alex. “You are mine. Do you understand me?”
“Yes,” she panted.
Keeping her arms pinned with one hand, I let my other hand come to her breasts. “These tits are for my eyes and my pleasure only. You got me?”
“Yes, Deacon. Only for you.”
After giving her nipple a teasing pinch, I brought my hand between her legs to cup her mound. “And this pussy is for my eyes, my fingers, my tongue, and my cock only.”
A shiver ran through her at my words. “I only want you. You and only you, Deacon,” she replied.
As I loomed over her, my hungry gaze fell on some of the yellowish bruises that remained on her neck and chest. Just like that, my wood began to deflate. Jesus, what the hell had I been thinking? Dragging her back to my bedroom and mauling her like a caveman after she’d just been attacked and almost raped three weeks ago. “Fuck, Alex. I’m sorry.”
When I started to pull away, her hands flew up to cup my face. “No, don’t stop!” she cried.
I shook my head as shame washed over me. “I’m sorry for treating you so fucking disrespectfully after what you’ve been through.”
“I’m not broken, Deacon. I’m the same woman I was before the attack—the day you had me up against a wall, ready to fuck my brains out.”
“I know that.”
“Then why are you treating me this way?”
I sat back on my knees and jerked a hand through my dark hair. “No matter how hard I try to see things differently, I’m always going to be no good for you, Alex.”
“Why don’t you let me be the judge of that?”
With a glare, I countered, “Are you on some fucking suicide mission or something? A closeted S and M freak who likes pain?”
“No. It’s not like that at all.”
“Then why would you want me to fuck you like an animal after what you’ve been through?”
“Because I want to be with you. And even if it means not making love but fucking hard and fast, I still want it because it’s with you. I’ve wanted you for so long, Deacon. Maybe even before that night in your basement. My head tells me to be leery of you. That I shouldn’t want to be with an outlaw like you. But no matter how hard I try to talk myself out of my feelings for you, my heart and body rage and riot for you.”
“Oh, fuck,” I muttered, staring into her determined face. In spite of all our differences, she still wanted me. Regardless of the fucked-up world I lived in, a good-hearted woman like Alex actually wanted me. And not just with her body to get to see what fucking a bad boy was like. She wanted me with her heart, too. It almost overwhelmed me.
After momentarily nibbling on her bottom lip, she said, “If you can honestly say that you only want to screw me and feel nothing else but some bullshit obligation toward me, then I’ll get up from here. We’ll go on being friends and acquaintances, and I’ll never press you about having more again. And you can go back to Cheyenne, who clearly doesn’t think you two are over. Hell, maybe it isn’t over between you, and that’s why she isn’t letting go.”
“There’s not one damn thing between me and Cheyenne. So you can get that out of your fucking head right now.”