Page 48 of The Devil's Reward
I’m not sure if she meant to ask me that, but I can’t help the smile that pulls at my lips. “A fucking amazing dream if it didn’t,” I tease.
Her face flames. “I have never done that,” she tells me. “I, uh, I’m not that forward.”
“I like that you are with me,” I assure her. I can see that her mind is working, and she’s working herself up to bolt from my lap so I tighten my grip and quickly add, “Don’t regret this, Quinn. I don’t. I planned on kissing you at some point, this just happened a bit quicker than I expected.”
“I haven’t kissed anyone since Bobby,” she mutters.
I’m filled with the purely male satisfaction of being her first in a long time. Damn right, and I’m going to make sure I do a hell of a lot more. “I don’t plan on that being the last kiss between us, Quinn,” I tell her gently. She doesn’t say anything, just looks at me, but then finally, slowly, nods. I lean forward, testing my luck, and press another quick kiss on her mouth. She doesn’t push me away so I take that as a good sign, and when I pull away, her lips pull up in a small smile. “See?” I murmur.
She gives a soft laugh. “Yeah, I do. Do I give you a rating now?” she teases, making me smile at her. “I’d give you a solid eight out of ten.”
I bark out a laugh. An eight my ass. Still, I drawl, “Then I guess I better make sure to wow you next time. I can’t abide anything less than an eleven, gorgeous. The Council will never allow it.”
She snickers. “The Council? They check to make sure your kissing abilities are perfect, huh?”
I wink at her, glad that she’s feeling at ease enough to joke with me. “They’re a strict organization, but I like to think it’s for the greater good,” I tease.
She leans back, pulling away from me, and I help her off my lap to her feet. “You’re a funny guy, Shadow,” she tells me as I stand, barely holding back a wince at the tightness in my jeans. She glances down, eyes going wide, and her face flushes a bright pink before she quickly looks away and then around the room. I feel like I should make a joke about it, but she might not be quite ready for that. She’s relaxed enough that I want to keep it that way.
“I try to be,” I say casually. “I need to head out, gorgeous. You’re okay being here by yourself?”
She nods quickly. “Yes, thank you. I’m sure the police will catch whoever it was that broke in down the street.”
I doubt it, not with the kinds of cops we have around here, but I don’t say that to her. Instead, I nod and tell her, “If you have a problem, call me, alright?”
She gives me a small smile. “Are you going to come riding in on your white horse to save me if I do?” she teases.
I chuckle. “My horse is all chrome and I’m no knight, gorgeous, but yes, I’ll come if you need me. If not, I’ll see you and Macy tomorrow at five, alright? And then we’ll schedule a time to install the security system.”
“Okay,” she says, smiling up at me. “Thank you, Shadow.”
I lean down and kiss her one more time, because I need to. I pull away and turn to head out the door. I don’t look back, because if I do, I know I won’t leave, and I have to. I need to get to the clubhouse and talk to Bullet, so for now, I need to put my desire aside and get my head back in the game.
I straddle my bike, check my phone and see a message from Viper.
Viper: Told Bullet what we found. Wants to talk when you’re back.
Me: Tell him I’m heading back now. I’ll be about twenty minutes.
Then I put my phone away, glance one more time at the house, where I see Quinn peeking out the window, and give a quick wave before I fire up my bike, back out of her driveway, and head off down the street.
When I finally reach the compound, Crypt is manning the gate and I nod at him before I pull through and head up to the clubhouse. No surprise, there’s a party going on. Music and laughter echo outside when I turn off my bike. I climb off and nod at Dagger, Twigs, and Titan where they’re drinking beers and talking on the porch.
“Finally decided to join the party, huh?” Dagger jokes.
“Had to go and visit your mom first,” I smirk.
They all laugh, including Dagger. “Hope you wrapped it, then. Never know who she’s had in her bed,” he tosses back good naturedly.
I don’t bother answering, just head inside. Good-natured ribbing between brothers. It’s been missing the last week, but it’s slowly coming back. It doesn’t mean we won’t find our mole, but there’s a chance our club won’t fall apart after we do. I nod when a few people call out to me and then head up the stairs towards Bullet’s office. When I reach it, I see Viper is already inside, and I lock the door behind me.
“We’re clean,” Viper assures me when I look at him questioningly. Meaning he’s swept for more bugs and found nothing.
“Viper’s filled me in on the details of what you found,” Bullet says, eyes hard and his jaw set. “I vaguely remember that place, but I had no idea about the hidden spot underneath.”
“It’s possible Dmitri and his men only put that in recently,” I point out.
Viper shakes his head. “That place looked and felt old. I think it was there even back then, but maybe not as fancy with the vault. That looked like it was upgraded. The door anyway. The inside had some carpet lingering, and it wasn’t new.”
