“Sit down.” His voice was deeper, harder, and there was that dominating quality laced in his words like there had been when he was inside her. No, she wouldn’t even go there. Hell no. Cadeon stood before she could even say anything in response. He had his hand buried in the back of her hair and her head tilted back, so she was forced to look in his face. “Stella, I can see on your pretty little face that you’re jumping to all kinds of fucked-up conclusions. I haven’t even finished what I was going to say.” He had that sandpapery tenor to his voice, and she clenched her hands at her sides and swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat from her erratic emotions. “Now, what I was going to say was that the MC would kill me if they knew what I did with you and what I want to do with you.”
She blinked, trying to comprehend what he was saying and trying to keep her emotions in check so she could think through this clearly. He didn’t know how deep her feelings went for him and that she had been in love with him since she was twenty years old.
“I don’t give a shit what they try to do to me, because I want you more than for that one time, Stella.” He used his other hand to cup her cheek and used his thumb to run it along her bottom lip. “Maybe I should just walk away. I know what I feel for you might piss a lot of people off.” It was almost like he was speaking to himself, but even if she wanted to respond, she couldn’t find the words. “I wanted you like a fiend before, but I’ve tasted you now, and there isn’t anyone or anything that is going to stop me from making sure you stay mine.”
Her breath stopped at his words. “Really?”
He grinned, and this time it was genuine and heated. “Yeah, baby. I’ve never been surer of anything in my life. I don’t know how your old man is going to take this, or his crew for that matter, but what I do know is that I will fight for you, no matter what.” He leaned in and pressed his lips to hers. “I don’t care about age or connections. When something feels this right, you go with it, hold on tight, and never fucking let it out of your sight,” he murmured against her mouth, and she molded herself to his body.
For several seconds, all they did was kiss. It wasn’t fast or frantic, but it was filled with a lot of heat and need.
“I am not going to let you go, Stella, so we need to decide how we’re going to tell that lot of biker brutes that you’re mine.”
Stella felt her heart jackknife in her chest at hearing Cadeon say those words.
Didn’t Cadeon realize he was just like those MC boys? “Let me break this news to my dad.” It might be easier and smoother if she did it. She looked into his face and lifted her hand so she could smooth her fingers over his stubble-covered cheeks. It wasn’t just his huge size or the tattoos he had or the Harley he rode.
He was a badass all around, but he wore this confidence that told people not to fuck with him unless they wanted to regret it in the end. Maybe that was why she had been so attracted to him. She had lived around men like that all her life but had never seen any of them as more than her family.
But then Cadeon had come around, and she had felt like he was this magnet and could not stop herself from going to him. It might have taken her a long time to take what she wanted, and maybe he had been the one to actually initiate everything, but it was done, and she couldn’t have been happier. But he was right.
She needed to think about how in the hell she was going to tell the MC, because surely shit would hit the fan with this little announcement.
11
Cadeon lay beside Stella and listened to her sleep. After they ate, he had taken her to her room and made sure to show her that she wasn’t just a piece of ass to him. Why did he feel so strongly for her? He didn’t know why having sex with her switched something inside him and made him man-up, but it had, and he wasn’t turning back now.
Being around her this time had this protective side rising inside him, and even if he had kept his distance because he thought it was the right thing to do, that didn’t mean he still hadn’t felt something strongly for her. But this was a complicated situation, because no doubt her father and the club wouldn’t see him as anything more than a bad boy with a nasty reputation that would hurt her in the end.
He’d done a lot of shit when he was younger, and although in his older age he toned down how wild he was, that still didn’t mean he hadn’t done deplorable things. Things like have a rando fuck in the filthy alley behind his shop, or getting drunk and starting shit just because he knew he could kick the other guy’s ass.
All of that and more hadn’t gone unnoticed by the club, or the town for that matter. Reckless was small, and people talked. It was all they could do.
He turned his head and stared down at her. The sheet had
