Total pages in book: 40
Estimated words: 37846 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 189(@200wpm)___ 151(@250wpm)___ 126(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 37846 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 189(@200wpm)___ 151(@250wpm)___ 126(@300wpm)
“I—” My throat went dry. Because he got me. And the dangerous truth was that going for a ride with him sounded even better than escaping alone.
His hand came up slowly and slid under my chin. The rough pad of his thumb brushed my jaw, tilting my face until I had no choice but to meet his eyes.
My pulse thrashed against my throat, desperate and traitorous.
“You want out?” His voice was low steel, every word shaped like a promise and a warning all at once. “Say it. Tell me that you don’t want to be mine.”
The challenge slammed into me.
I opened my mouth, ready to throw up the wall I’d been clinging to since the day I met him. If I pushed him away now, maybe I’d be able to keep the last pieces of myself intact.
But the sound wouldn’t come. Because my body already knew the truth.
I wanted to protect myself the way I always had. Except Torin was the first man who had ever chosen me, fully and without apology. So I couldn’t lie to him.
“I—” My voice cracked. I swallowed hard, trying again. “I should—”
His grip stayed firm, holding me steady when I would’ve looked away. His thumb stroked along the edge of my jaw again, patient in a way that undid me more than his roughest touches ever had.
The words withered on my tongue.
Torin’s lips curved into that crooked, dangerous smile that always made me feel like I stood too close to the fire. “That’s what I thought.”
Heat and relief tangled in my chest. I leaned into his hand and finally confessed, “I don’t want out.”
Torin’s crooked smile deepened at my confession, satisfaction etched into every hard line of his face. He dipped his head and claimed my mouth, the kiss rough at first, then easing into something that made my heart clench. It was a reward and a promise, sealed with heat.
When he pulled back, his breath brushed my cheek. “You wanna go for a ride, sweetheart? You do it with me.”
Before I could answer, he moved. Torin swung the ZX out of the bay and rolled it over to where his Harley waited, chrome catching the glow of the overhead lights. Then he turned to me, one brow arched. “Your call. Back of mine…or on your own.”
I should’ve chosen the ZX. My independence demanded it. But when my gaze locked on his—dark and steady—I heard myself say, “With you.”
His grin flashed, slow and dangerous. “Good girl.”
The words shouldn’t have made me melt. But they did. Especially when he patted the seat behind him, casual and commanding all at once.
“I haven’t been on the back of anyone’s bike since I was a kid. Not since I learned to ride on my own.”
The admission dragged up the old memory of my father steadying the handlebars of that clunky dirt bike. For one fleeting afternoon, he’d been a decent dad. But like everything with him, it hadn’t lasted.
I shoved the thought down before it could fester because this wasn’t the same. Torin wasn’t the kind of man who gave you a taste of stability only to rip it away. I had the feeling that when he put a woman on his bike, it was a vow.
His eyes gleamed with approval. “Then I’ll be your first in this, too.”
My cheeks filled with heat at the reminder of the sexier firsts I’d shared with him. “Mm-hmm.”
He swung a leg over the Harley and glanced back with a grin. “And you’ll be the first woman I’ve ever put on the back of mine.”
That admission hit me like a spark catching tinder. He didn’t hand out pieces of himself freely. Which meant this was more than just a ride. It was a claim, public and undeniable.
Sliding onto the leather seat behind him, I wrapped my arms around his waist. Heat radiated through his cut, the hard muscle beneath pressing against my palms. When I rested my cheek between his shoulder blades, the world narrowed to the steady thrum of his heartbeat and the scent of leather, fuel, and Torin.
The Harley rumbled to life, the vibrations shooting through me as he guided us out of the garage. Cool night air whipped against my face as the city blurred past. Neon lights faded into dark stretches of highway, the roar of the engine drowning out every doubt I’d been clinging to.
Pressed against him as the world rushed by felt like the safest place I’d ever been. His hand brushed mine once, a silent reassurance, and my chest squeezed so tight I thought it might break open.
I had thought I needed distance. But the longer I held Torin, the more I understood that running wouldn’t make a difference. I was already his.
14
NITRO
The street hummed like an engine idling before it ripped loose. The Florida heat hadn’t let up all day, and by nightfall, it was clinging to the asphalt, shimmering under the crooked streetlamps that lined the abandoned strip of road we used for races when the speedway wasn’t the place. Smoke curled from grills set up by locals, music thumped heavily out of open trunks, and engines revved as crews tuned and teased their machines for the run. It was invite-only, the kind of thing you didn’t stumble into unless you knew the right people.