Grumbling under my breath, I pulled on a lace G-string and matching demi-bra, followed by jeans that clung to my butt, then weighed my top options. At least they had long sleeves. It was freaking cold. But most of them showed a lot of boob. Some of these tops had been right at the bottom of my drawer. He had to have gone through everything, ignoring the stuff at the top—the stuff I wore most often. My face grew hotter. I guess my big, bad biker wanted his fake girlfriend to look the part.

If he wanted a biker babe hanging off his arm, he should have brought Mercedes with him.

Jesus. I needed to get the hell over myself and get over this…this little obsession I had with Manic. Here I was lamenting over the fact that I was incapable of a relationship when the man I wished I was together enough to be with was himself not a relationship kind of guy.

I shook off those thoughts and grabbed the first top on the pile and tugged it on. It was deep blue with, you guessed it, a plunging neckline. I fixed my hair and put on a little makeup, then forced down my embarrassment and walked out.

Manic turned and his eyes kind of flashed, his bearded jaw working. I’d only been with him that one night, but I knew that expression. He’d looked at me like that when he’d sat on the couch and ordered me to come to him. I shivered, trying to do my best to ignore it, but my brain, knowing that look, went right into,yes please, take me I’m yoursmode, and I went up in flames. “Do I pass inspection?”

I tried to ignore it, but I was pretty sure he caught my little shudder of lust, because the muscles in his forearms jumped, a sure sign that he was holding himself back. Something else I knew from months of being pursued by the guy.

“You look hot as fuck,” he said, giving me another once-over.

I looked down at myself, his praise, the appreciation in his eyes, making me want to squirm. “Well, it’s not exactly what I would’ve picked. You couldn’t have packed me some sweats? Or a hoodie?”

His nostrils flared and he licked his lips. “You want a hoodie, I’ve got a spare in my bag.” He pulled one out and tossed it to me.

I caught it. It was huge and warm and smelled like Manic. When I looked up, if anything, his expression had gotten hotter, that dark gaze sliding over me.

I looked at the sweatshirt in my hands, and my face burned all over again. I’d worn this before, and I wondered if he remembered that as well.

I’d pulled it on to run to the bathroom in between rounds of wild sex during our night together. I decided to wear my jacket instead.

* * *

Manic

I rested my hand on Addie’s lower back and opened the door to the steak house and bar. The smell of amazing food and the sounds of a good time drifted out. The place was full of people, a lot of them, no doubt, taking part in or following the vintage car rally, but thankfully they’d let me reserve a table.

I would’ve planned this shit out if bringing her with me hadn’t been a spur-of-the-moment thing. I was winging it and hoped like hell I didn’t fuck this up.

Addie had really only seen me around my club brothers. The biker who liked a drink and a laugh, the guy who fucked around. A man like that was easier to walk away from, like a bad bet. But I was a lot more than that, and deep down, she knew it. Taking her home to Colorado with me was the only way I knew to make her see the real me, a guy worth taking a chance on.

She said I scared her. I was going to show her she didn’t need to be afraid, that I was the kind of man she could drop her guard with. A man she could trust with every part of her, who’d protect her and take care of her. I’d never wanted that, something permanent. I’d never wanted anything real,until Addie, and I wasn’t going to let her go, not after the things she’d said while she was drunk. Not now that I might actually have a chance with her.

I gave my name to the waitress and she showed us to our seats.

“You made a reservation?” Addie asked, giving me a sidelong glance.

“When you were in the shower. Town’s booked out, cupcake, I like to be prepared. Especially when I got a craving for steak.”

She smiled at me and it was the first one since she woke in my truck that didn’t look strained. “Were you a Boy Scout as well?”

“Nope. I was raised in the mountains, baby. The Boy Scouts were amateurs compared to me.”

She laughed, and I had to stop myself from hooking her around the back of her neck and tugging her forward for a hard kiss, but somehow, I resisted.

I pulled out her chair while the waitress put menus on the table. “Why, thank you,” Addie said, teasing.

“I know how to be a gentleman, cupcake. My mama taught me right.” She grinned as I took my seat across from her and ordered a beer. She ordered a soda.

“What was it like? Living on your mountain?” she asked. “It can’t have been too lonely? You have a lot of family, right?”

“It’s home, always will be. I love the outdoors, and that place is in my blood, it’s part of me, but I needed more.” I’d told her about my family, my cousins, the ones I was close with, at one of the many parties I’d chased her down at, but I didn’t think she grasped how remote we’d been. “The Smiths have been on those mountains for generations. We like solitude, wide-open spaces. Which means, more than a few of us are emotionally stunted and have a complete lack of social skills.” I smirked. “Yeah, I have cousins there, a lot of ’em, but I didn’t see them all that much. Some of them are only accessible by plane, and some I managed to see more than others. Hank and Beau lived closest, and we met at one of our hunting cabins once a year, sometimes twice. We’d spend a week there hunting. Sometimes Cash would make it as well.”

“I hadn’t realized it was that infrequent.” Her lips curled. “No wonder you left, you’re a total extrovert, and you’re definitely not emotionally stunted.”

I grinned. “Beau and I are the outliers. He left for a while as well. And you can thank my mama for loving on me as much as she did…and still does, or I’d be as stunted as the rest. She always made sure we knew how much she loved us. And even after she left, she made sure I had no reason to doubt it. She still texts most days to remind me. My sisters as well.”

Tags: Sherilee Gray Romance
Source: readsnovelonline.net