Beautifully Broken (Reckless Bastards MC 1)

“Fine, Moon. I’ll stop by later this week with some options for you.”

Her face lit up with joy and excitement and I felt a small rush that my answer had pleased her. “Oh honey,” she pulled me into an unexpected hug that felt natural and soft and warm. I couldn’t remember the last time I was hugged like that. “Thank you so much. This will be fantastic, I promise.”

I wasn’t so sure, but these classes had given me contact with the rest of the world and in Moon, I’d found something like a friend. “If you say so.”

“I do. Have a good night, dear.” She waved me off with a knowing smile on her face that I ignored. I shouldn’t have, I realized as I stepped outside and my gaze landed on Max, looking delectable as he leaned against the brick façade, one booted foot on the wall while he stared up at the sky.

“I wondered if you’d gone out the back to avoid me.”

I laughed but the sound was bitter. “Yep, because it’s all about you Max.”

His smile dimmed. “Okay, maybe not all about me. Grab dinner with me.”

“Not hungry,” I told him quickly. Too quickly because my stomach piped in to prove me a liar. “I’m going to eat when I get home,” I quickly amended.

His lips spread into a slow, killer smile that made my entire body wing. I’d never seen a smile do that before and certainly I’d never experienced it. “Come on. I’m buying.” He took my hand and I let him because I was too weak to resist. But a girl had to draw the line somewhere.

“I’m buying dinner.”

“Let’s argue about it later, what are you in the mood for?” He tugged me closer until I was practically nestled under his arm and dropped a kiss on top of my head.

“There’s a steak and seafood place just a few blocks that way.” The place always did a steady business, but it was a higher end place and more importantly it was dimly lit. Max held me close the whole way, his hand still clutched mine as we walked through the restaurant towards our table.

He took the seat across from me and I took a moment to soak in his appearance. Max was best described as ruggedly handsome but tonight his facial hair was overgrown, giving his sharp edges more depth and darkness. It enhanced his whole brooding thing. His gray eyes looked like melted down silver and his lips were lush and pink, making it hard to look away from that bottom lip that I’d learned was imminently bitable. And thoughts of biting Max immediately brought me right where I didn’t want to be, smack dab in the middle of another fucking fantasy, or maybe it was a replay of the orgasm he’d given me last time I saw him.

His lips curled up. “I wonder what’s on your mind, Jana.” His tone indicated he did, in fact know.

I was quiet, but people often mistook that to mean I was shy. Those people were wrong and after a moment of thought, I decided to go for honesty. There was no reason not to be, since we were nothing but former lovers. “I was thinking about the orgasm you gave me up against the door.”

He blinked, choked on the beer the waitress had set in front of him, and wine for me. “Good, because I haven’t stopped thinking about it. Sometimes when I wake up in the morning, I can still taste you on my tongue.”

I swallowed hard and squeezed my thighs together, grateful for the long white tablecloth. “You’re too damn male, I swear,” I told him and I heard the frustration in my voice.

Instead of being upset or offended, Max laughed. “I don’t believe that’s a thing, but I am glad to know that I still affect you.”

“I never said you didn’t. But it’s probably best we keep that night where it belongs.”

“Right here between us?”

Damn him. My gaze narrowed and he laughed again. “No, right here,” I told him and tapped the side of my head.

“Pity. Because all I can think about is doing it again.”

A shiver shot through me involuntarily and I swallowed a humiliated groan. He just laughed, amused and filled with masculine pride at the whole situation. “Max. We can’t.”

His smile dimmed. “I know.” The air between us changed, shifted from lighthearted and shallow to serious. “I owe you an apology, Jana. A real fucking apology. You have every right to be pissed off at me, but I need you to know that it’s me, not you. As cliché as that sounds.”

“It does, but I’m listening.” I was also drinking, because I could only have this one glass of wine and right now I needed it more than the air traveling down my lungs.

His smile was grateful. “The dreams I have, sometimes they fuck me up. Bad. I appreciated the way you pulled me from that dream, it must have been fucking terrifying for you. But my reaction was, apparently, based on embarrassment.”

“Understandable.” I’d dealt with those same feelings in the years after my foster father attacked me, so I did understand. But I couldn’t get over how cold and callous he’d been just moments after we made love. No, we had sex. Maybe we fucked, I wasn’t sure but I would find out from Teddy later.

“So you forgive me?”

“Do you really need my forgiveness, Max?” I didn’t get the feeling I was all that important to him so my opinion should be irrelevant.

“I do. I like you Jana and I would hate it if you thought that careless bastard from that morning was me. It’s not.”