She was. He could see it on her face. Skye was glowing. Did she glow like this when he had her? Acidic thoughts gnawed at him. His finger tapped faster as he considered she might be too happy to—
“Hey,” she said delicately, cutting into his thoughts. Her hand rested over his, stopping him from tapping. Her skin was so soft, her touch a pleasant burn. “Talk to me, Leo,” she implored.
He looked at their hands clasped, wanting to tell her how right it felt when she touched him like this. How right they were together.
What would she like for him to say? He thought, conflicted and torn. Would she like him to tell her how miserable he was without her? How utterly lost he felt every morning he woke up and she was not there? How…happy he was, too, that she was withhimbecause…he didn’t trust another man more than Hunter to take care of her.
He finally looked up to meet her gaze, his smile hiding all those thoughts he could not say. “I’m still adjusting, Skye.”
Her face fell. “We’re all still adjusting.”
He wanted to laugh. “Hunter gets to have you. I think he’s doing pretty damn good—”
“Hunter holds me like he thinks I might flee any second,” she interrupted, sighing. “He acts like we’re all damned. Believe me, Leo, he is adjusting.”
He ran his fingers over her palm, savouring her flesh. He didn’t care if this was improper, either. He would have this. He traced his finger over the little scars along her knuckles from when she’d jumped out of the moving car. He wanted to lick at them, kiss them, make the pain he still felt about that time go away for both of them.
After he had his fill, he felt saner, more level-headed. He had to stop brooding. He would not ruin their rare time together by telling her how purposeless he felt without her. He would adjust.
Goddammit, he had to.
He looked back at her, making sure his smile reached his eyes now. “Tell me what you’ve been up to.”
He stared at her lips as she spoke, glued to them, feeling a hot prickle run down his spine every time she lapped her tongue over her lips to glisten them. She was never mindful of how fucking beautiful she looked when she did that. So oblivious of her tiny little habits. Like the way she tilted her head to the side when he spoke, narrowing her eyes at him as she reflected on his words, looking equally as entranced by him.
He wanted to leap across the table and kiss her, but he didn’t want to do it softly. He wanted to roughly glide his tongue between the seam of her lips and taste her beautiful little mouth. He wanted it around his cock, too. He wanted her to taste his longing as he spurted down her throat. He wanted his cock inside her. In all her holes. Fuck, he wanted to take her more than he wanted to breathe. He fisted his hands, willing himself to stay put.
Like the perfect fucking gentleman that he was.
*
One hour went by, and their time was over. They’d had nothing to eat or drink, either. Leo heard her belly grumble as they stood up from the table, and he frowned at himself. He was going to give her back to Hunter starved and thirsty. Fucking wonderful. Such chivalry. Such tenderness.
He helped Skye into her jacket, and then he held her hand and walked her out of there. He wanted to steal every moment he could. He shook his head at Shane, and Shane stayed put in the foyer of the restaurant.
Skye noticed him and stuck her tongue at him, and as they left, Leo heard Shane’s soft chuckle.
The blond biker followed them, but he kept his distance. He joined the biker out front, who was smoking a cigarette. They kept their eye on Leo as he walked her down the sidewalk for a few moments, stopping directly across the street where the dually sat, undisturbed.
Leo turned to her, his heart pulsing through his body erratically. Panic climbed up his throat as he took in her rosy cheeks and startling blue eyes. Their breaths clouded around them as she, too, stared up at him. Her hand went out and she traced a finger down the profile of his face. He closed his eyes, his breaths coming out faster.
“I hate this,” he growled with disdain. “I fucking hate this, Skye.”
“Shh.” She pressed her finger against his mouth, and he couldn’t help wrapping his lips around it, sucking it briefly. She let out a shocked breath as he tasted her quickly, and—Oh, fuck, he groaned deep in his chest. He wanted her so badly…
But he had to go back to his sterile life. Back to plotting and making a name for himself in a world he truly didn’t care to be part of.
What the fuck was he doing?
A tiny voice flitted through his mind, begging him to,stop, stop, Leo, stop it at once and choose her instead…
He was hurting. “Skye…”
She dropped her hand and clasped his, squeezing it tight. “I’m here, Leo.”
He wouldn’t open his eyes. He enjoyed the sting of the cold as it whipped through him—anything to lessen the emotional blow of her impending departure.
He finally opened his eyes and glanced at the truck across the street. He wondered if Hunter was watching them. He wished he could talk to him just then. To ask him how he was. To let him know that the little girl was okay—broken, but okay. That he fucking missed him, and what the fuck were they doing? But Shane lurked nearby, and the bikers watched their every move, and the lines were drawn down the middle between them now, starker than ever.