The soles of my shoes clacked on the loose gravel pavement, the night all around, the air chilly as it brushed across the flesh of my arms. I increased my pace, almost to the rear of my car when I heard the low grumble of a bike come to life where it’d been hidden at the far end of the lot.
My pulse jumped into a frenzy, and I froze, compelled to turn that way, only to be blinded by the headlight that shined through the darkness.
I didn’t need to be able to see to know who it was.
Intensity sliced through the air.
That dark, provocative aura shivering through the heavens. Twisting me in chains and wrapping me in bows.
The bike eased forward, chugging like a beast chained and on the prowl, held back from the hunt. It slowly rolled forward until it came to a stop behind my car. Trent stretched out his legs to keep himself balanced, tattooed hands wrapped around the handlebars and boots planted on the ground as he straddled the powerful machine.
The bike and the man looked like they’d been forged together. Cut of the same steel. Sewn of the same leather.
Peril and power.
I was a prisoner to the awestriking beauty of it.
Held in a trance that made my mouth water and my knees knock.
Tessa was right. I wanted a taste. God, I wanted a taste, and I was terrified of the cost.
The way I lost my breath as those intense eyes took me in, the ferocity that raved verging between anger and that apology.
He was looking at me like I was the only reason he was there.
His purpose right then.
The man on a mission to devour.
Ravage and decimate.
And still, there was nothing I could do but murmur his name in relief. “Trent.”
He grunted, no softness about it. “Get on.”
Um, what?
My brows shot for the sky as panic took me over. “Are you crazy?” I hissed.
He chuckled a rough sound. “Some would say.”
“I’m not getting on that thing,” I rasped, taking a step back as if it would keep me safe.
“Oh, come on, Kitten, live a little.” It wasn’t playful. Not even a little bit.
It was a challenge.
A demand.
My heart raced and my stomach revolted.
“It’s not the living I’m worried about. It’s the whole splattered across the pavement thing.” I tried to keep it as light as I could and not expose just how out of my element I actually was.
I might have even laughed had that dark face not flashed something ferocious. “You really think I’d let something bad happen to you?”
My spirit flailed. A full out war. Because I did—I did trust that he wouldn’t let anything harm me, which was crazy considering he was the most dangerous man I’d ever met.
“Need to talk to you.”
I wavered, looked left to right as if they’d offer a better solution. “My car is here,” I argued.
“And I’ll be sure your car gets back to you. Just need you to get on.” He seemed to be fighting his own war.
Torn.
This territory unfamiliar because the next thing that came out of his mouth was a grunted, “Please, Eden. Get on my bike.”
Those eyes cut me down to nothing.
Daggers and fire.
Wavering, I looked back at my car.
“Give me your keys, and we’ll take care of it. Promise to get you home safe.”
Flustered, I slammed the keys into his outstretched hand. “Okay.”
Then I stared.
Like, I was supposed to just get on?
“Never ridden on a bike before?”
I let out a self-deprecating sound. “I’m not exactly one for danger. Aren’t you the one who’s been saying I don’t fit in?”
“I think the back of my bike might be exactly where you belong.” Trent extended his hand as if he were asking me to join him in it.
Hazard and risk.
While my mind spun with what he’d just said. With the implication of his words.
I guessed the first time I’d stepped into his club was the first time I’d truly stepped into danger.
Now I was willingly diving into it.
Leaping into depravity.
I slung the long strap of my bag over my shoulder, inhaled a shaky breath, and took his hand.
Fire flashed.
I gasped a needy sound.
His arm tensed, too.
I tried to breathe through it as I let this viper of a man guide me onto the back, fighting the heated rush that blistered through my body at his touch.
At the proximity.
God. What was happening to me? Whatever it was, it felt…good.
I relished the warmth that blasted through my senses when I wrapped my arms around his waist. Loved the racing of my pulse, this unfound beat that drummed somewhere out of time. Loved the way my thighs shook when he tucked me closer to all the rippling strength of his body. The way desire quivered in my belly and everything felt as if it was climbing.
Higher and higher.