Page 34 of Triple the Secrets
“And that’s who you’re running from? An ex that wants to make you his?”
She gave a dark, humorless laugh. “You know nothing about my life, Rogue. You want to know what I’m running from? I’m running from men that make you look like a pussycat. They took me to break me, and did the same to the girls. They have one man after them, and I have a few. We make quite the happy little family, don’t we?” she sneered.
“How long ago did you get away?” he asked quietly.
“Three years. We came here a year ago, and it seems that they’ve finally given up,” she answered after a moment. “I’m not telling you any more, Rogue. Just know we got away, we survived, and that’s enough.”
“It will never be enough as long as they’re still breathing,” he told her calmly. “Give me their names, Scarlett. Let me help you.”
She shook her head. “I don’t know their names,” she said wryly. “If I did, they would have dealt with them long before now. So, in answer to your question, Rogue, I have no clue who is after us. But I know that if they ever find us, I will never let them take the girls. I will protect them until my last breath.”
Her fierceness made him ache to grab her, hold her, and promise her he would protect her. That he would protect them all. He did none of that. He stood still, watching her. “And if they find you?” he forced himself to ask.
She gave him a cool look. “Then we run. It might be the coward’s way, but I won’t chance the girls being taken again. I will do anything and everything I need to to keep them safe, and I don’t give a shit what happens to me.”
He snarled at her words. “You will not put yourself in harm’s way, Scarlett,” he ordered her. “You will let me protect you. Let me protect the girls. That is what we do. That is what my club is good at.”
“You seem to think you get a say in what I do, Rogue,” she sneered. “I think you need to remember we are nothing. I’m the woman who’s driving you crazy, and you’re the man who can’t take no for an answer. Hell, even if we slept together, you’d be done after one night. We both know it. You don’t want a woman. You said it yourself, we’re for nothing more than sex.”
His own words coming out of her mouth left a sour taste in his. “Every woman but you,” he said gravely, stepping closer to her. She gave him a disbelieving look. “You think I focused on any woman the way I have you? I fucking don’t. I have stayed away from you, because I know that as soon as I have you, as soon as I feel that tight pussy wrapped around my cock, that will be it. I will want no one else. I told you before, and I meant it. I will own you, Scarlett. I will take every part of you, and I will make it so that you either want to run away screaming, or you will get your claws so deep into me I won’t be able to ever get you out. I won’t want to. For a man like me, that is something I never wanted, or thought I could have.”
“I am not the woman you want, Rogue,” she said firmly. “I’m broken, even if I don’t look it. I haven’t had sex in three years because of what happened. Then you come charging in and make me feel things I don’t want. It’s messing with my head.”
His eyes glittered as he looked down at her. “Then we both need to stop thinking,” he growled. “Whether you like it or not, we want each other, and maybe the only way to figure anything out is to fuck and see if that works this attraction out of our systems. Maybe it will be nothing more than a good fuck.”
“You want to fuck me out of your system?” she laughed wryly. “Gee, way to make a girl feel special, Rogue.”
He narrowed his eyes. “Don’t act like you don’t like the way I talk to you. You might try to convince yourself you don’t, but we both know you’re lying. You don’t want those pussies with their suits and menial days. You want a man. A real man that will make you scream and cry out in pleasure, that will understand the darkness you crave, and will never judge you for it. That will accept you for who you are and never try to ruin it.
“Make no mistake, Scarlett. If you want me in your bed, you’re going to know that I will let nothing and no one hurt you or the girls. I will be demanding, domineering, and a straight up pain in your ass. But I will also make you feel alive for the first time in your life, and you will finally be free.”
“So you want a relationship with me? Not just a roll in the hay?”
He wanted to wince at the term, but really, what else could it be called? He wanted her, and he was tired of pretending that he only wanted her for sex. He wanted to know what made her tick, what made her laugh, and maybe, just maybe, if she could help soothe the monster inside him to be a man good enough for her. “Relationship isn’t the word I would use,” he finally answered. Her eyes narrowed and he could all but see the steam coming out of her ears. “Relationship implies that it will be partnership in everything, and that is nothing like what we would have, Scarlett.”
CHAPTERSIXTEEN
SCARLETT
She was vibrating with fury. How dare he sit here and talk to her this way and then basically tell her she would be nothing more than a damn booty call whenever he felt like getting his rocks off?
“I am a man that needs control,” he continued, eyes stormy. “I will never be okay with you getting up and walking away. Make no mistake, Scarlett, if I take you to bed, if I finally give in to what I’ve been fighting, you will never be able to just leave. I will follow you and drag you back. I will own your body, and I will give you mine in return. I will protect you, I will protect the girls, and I will give you everything you could want. But I will never be an easy man you will be able to control.
“In my world, when a biker takes an Old Lady, it’s a marriage without the paper. It gives you and the girls the protection of my club and our allies. If anyone from your past, or the girls’, is stupid enough to try and to take you, they will not only feel my wrath, but the wrath of my brothers. Because there is no doubt in my mind that you will wear my patch, and you will become the one thing that I will never let go.”
“I’m not a possession,” she rasped angrily. Even if the words were making her long for things she had no business even thinking about. How many women wanted a man to say these things to them? To lay it out on the line and claim them? It was completely the opposite of what she wanted, and yet, it made everything in her stand at attention. Made her crave it.
“But you want to be,” he said calmly, seeing far too much. “You want to know that you belong to me. That you can give up control in a way you never thought you could. You say those men tried to break you? Tried to control you? Well, here, with me, I will take that control, but only because you freely give it. Because you know you’re safe with me.”
“I don’t know you,” she tried to protest.
“Knowing someone’s favorite food or what they do on the weekend isn’t what I’m talking about,” he snapped. He reached out, cupped the back of her neck with his hand, held her head steady as he spoke. She should struggle, but she melted into him instead. God, what was wrong with her? Why was she allowing this?
“You know enough to understand that I am a man that doesn’t give up easily. You know I am a man of my word, and I will stand behind you no matter what obstacle is in your way. You know you have my full attention, that I will never look at another woman ever again. That I will protect you and the girls with everything I am. Those are the makings of a true man, Scarlett. A real man that will never let you fight alone. One that will give you the control you need, and take it away when you’re ready to hand it over. The one who will let you finally be yourself.”
She licked her dry lips nervously. God.God. Why did he have to be this way? Why couldn’t he be an overbearing asshole that was easy to hate? One she could despise instead of wanting? “We’ve only known each other for a few weeks. How could you possibly know you want all that with me?”
“Because a man knows when he finds the woman that is going to be his entire world,” he told her calmly, gaze directly on hers. “Even when he fights it at every turn and uses every excuse in the book. Time means nothing to men like me. Fury and Savage met their women and claimed them within a matter of days. They knew, and they let their women know it, too. As far as I’m concerned, I’ve given you too much time. I should have manned up and claimed you weeks ago.”
