Page 55 of Meant for You

Dane nodded and reached over me, grabbing something from the back of his truck. A couple of blankets. He spread one out right by the truck on the long soft grass and sat, leaning against the rear tire, then pulled me down. He positioned me so I was sitting between his bent knees, resting against him.

I could feel his heart racing, so I pressed back and pulled his arms around me, doing my best to calm him down. He leaned in and pressed a kiss to my temple.

It had grown cooler, especially now I wasn’t dancing, so I made a noise of approval when he pulled the other blanket over us.

How many times had we done this? Hidden ourselves away somewhere dark, somewhere no one would find us. Most of the time it was the old woodshed at the back of Wayne and Sonya’s. Curled up in a blanket, usually with chips and sandwiches that Dane had made. He’d pull me against him and tell me to sleep. I knew he never did. He always had that hunting knife by his side, and before he’d saved enough to buy that, a steak knife he’d swiped from the kitchen. His heart would beat hard for a long time after we hid until he was sure no one saw us, that no one followed us.

I breathed in deep, taking in Dane’s familiar scent, letting go of the memory on my exhale. Reassuring myself with the solid warmth of Dane against my back that it was over and that I had him back.

“Warm?” he said against my ear.

I nodded and he made a sound in the back of his throat of approval, contentment. Somehow that one sound said it all, and I knew I was right when he kissed my temple again.

Where we were, I had a perfect view of the party, the bonfire, and what was going on around it. All the vehicles were lined up by us, and we were out of the ring of light, tucked in between Dane’s truck and another one.

His hands tightened around my waist. “You sure you’re okay?”

I threaded my fingers with his. “More than okay. He’s gone. It’s over,” I said, even though my heart was still racing from what had happened. A fight was what took Dane from me the first time, because of his temper, his need to protect me. If he’d beaten Tanner a moment ago, if he’d lost it with him like he had back then…

I shut down those thoughts and watched the party going on around us. As I did, Dane’s hands began to move over me, petting me, holding me, making me feel safe and wanted. Driving me crazy.

Lila was still with Grifter, and I bit my lip when he lifted her and planted her in his lap. She looked more than happy to be there.

We drank our beer and stayed in our cozy, shadowed nook. All the while, Dane’s hands stayed on me but never going where I wanted them so badly.

Things got wilder over the next half hour. Lila was making out with Grifter, and I saw his hand slide up her leg, about to go under her skirt, but she jammed her knees together and pulled away. I stilled, worried he’d get mad, being a scary biker and all, but he just moved his hand to her hip and pressed a kiss to her hair.

There was no missing how heavily he was breathing or the pain lining his face.

Dane chuckled. “Never seen him like that. Grifter’s the kind of guy who doesn’t fuck around taking it slow. The guy doesn’t need to work for it, so he doesn’t. A woman’s not into him, he finds someone else.”

Dane pressed a kiss to the spot between my neck and shoulder as a moan reached us from the shadows.

I spun around, and that’s when I spotted a couple going at it not far from us. They were away from the fire, beyond the vehicles, but there was a full moon and I could see pretty much everything. Her skirt was hiked up around her hips and she was bent forward, using one of the trees lining the clearing for support while the guy she was with pounded into her from behind.

I squirmed.

“They’ve been there a while,” Dane said, low in my ear.

“Oh…I hadn’t…aren’t they worried someone will see them?”

“Guess not. They’re not hidden in the shadows like us,” he said roughly.

My gaze shifted back to the couple and I squeezed my thighs together.

Dane felt me do it.

“You like that, baby?” he said, his voice somehow even rougher.

The idea of admitting I was turned on watching the live sex show playing out in front of us should have been embarrassing. But I was there with Dane, my boyfriend, in a dark corner. He couldn’t see my face, and if I couldn’t tell him when I was turned on, then we already had a problem.

There was also the fact that I didn’t want Dane to keep seeing me as some delicate thing who needed to be coddled or protected all the time. I wanted him to see me as the woman I’d become. Sexual.

Sexy.

I just wanted him.

So I took a steadying breath and nodded against his chest. “Yes.”