“I wouldn’t have found him without backup.”
“Is he really that fast a runner? He doesn’t seem stronger than you,” I said.
Ghost turned to me again.
“Okay, yes. If you weren’t there, I would have gone after him.”
“So I’m slowing you down. You wish I wasn’t here so you could get the job done.”
“Yes!” he growled and stood up. Suddenly, Ghost looked angry. I wasn’t sorry I’d provoked him. I wanted him to make a decision, tell me what he wanted from me and then we could just move on with our lives.
“I should go back to Fifth Gear. I should get out of your way. You can assign someone to take me to check on my grandma, right?”
He came toward me and I didn’t step away. Ghost towered over me, tall and strong and powerful. I had nowhere else to look but deep into his eyes.
“If it wasn’t for you, I wouldn’t be this close to finding that motherfucker either,” he said in a low guttural voice. His eyes searched my face. I was transfixed by him, wanted to hear more. Admit it…his feelings…
“And besides, none of that other shit matters, Mercy. Your safety is my priority. I’m never going to put your safety on the line again.”
I gulped. My heart was leaping in my chest. I couldn’t believe I was actually hearing those words. They seemed too good to be real. What did this mean? He cared about my safety because he had feelings for me…or he was just a concerned and considerate friend?
“You should finish that sandwich and drink your iced tea. You need to keep your energy up,” he said and turned from me abruptly. I gulped as I watched him return to that door.
So close. He was so close to saying more. But for now, I would just have to make do with what he was willing to give.
* * *
I could hear the hammering out in the front. Ghost was still working on the door while I slipped into the bedroom and stripped off all his clothes. My red dress was still lying in a corner of the room from yesterday. I wanted to take a shower and get the filth of Eagle off me. Besides, my face needed some tender loving care.
I also made a mental note to offer to do the laundry and dishes and maybe cook dinner tonight. Ghost had opened up his home to me and I didn’t want to rudely take advantage of that.
I felt like I had nothing to give him in return for all the kindness he was showing toward me. In return for the fact that he’d rescued me.
I stepped into the shower, enjoying the sizzle of the hot water on my skin, cleaning my face and my hair. In those hours that I sat crouched and huddled in the room where Eagle held me, all I could think about was how relieved and safe and happy I would feel to be in this shower. To be surrounded by his things.
The fact was I didn’t really know Ghost.
I knew very little about his life, but he wasn’t a stranger to me. In the short time that I had known him, I was sure I knew who he was.
And I also knew he was feeling everything I was feeling too.
I lathered up and washed the foam away. Once again, I was clean, and the soreness on the side of my face was beginning to subside. I ran my tongue over my bottom lip that had bled, but now it didn’t sting anymore. I was healing. And all it took was for Ghost to show up and rescue me.
Was it possible for us to be together? Ghost was not the kind of man who would want to commit to one woman. And I needed loyalty. I needed reliability. I needed him.
But how much was he willing to give?
I had a sudden fear that once all this was over—once Eagle was caught and their MCs weren’t at war anymore—Ghost would stop looking at me the way he did right now.
I had my back to the door while I continued standing under the shower. Even though I hadn’t heard him come in, I could sense his presence behind me. I looked over my shoulder at him. He was leaning against the door with his arms crossed over his chest.
I turned to him so he could see me. All of me. Naked and glistening glossy under the shower.
He came toward me with his hooded dark eyes. My arms were up, covering my breasts but he reached for them, prying them away so he could look at my breasts too. No other man looked at me like this. No other man was capable of making me feel like this.
15
Ghost
I saw her naked, fully naked for the first time, under the shower. She was shy at first, which surprised me since she was a stripper, but then I remembered how she’d insisted she was bad at her job. I believed her now. Under the hot stream of the shower, Mercy stood with her cheeks burning bright red, her golden hair like a silk curtain pasted to her face.
The more I stared at her perfect petite body, the more self-confident she seemed to become. She stood with her breasts thrust out, her nipples rosy pink and perky. Her legs were shapely and long and finally, my gaze rested on her pussy. Perfect.
My first instinct was to lunge at her, pick her up on my shoulder and carry her to my bed so I could take her in my mouth and make her come over and over again. But she looked so beautiful standing in the shower, glistening and glowing. I wanted to look at her some more.
I reached for her body, running my hand over her shoulder, down her arm, till I cupped the front of her torso, down her abdomen, till I could feel the warm stickiness of her pussy.
I rubbed a
