Battles of the Broken (Sons of Templar MC 6)

He totally had my number.

“The club is having a party. And you’re not luring me into that sweet, hot cunt of yours,” he rasped.

My stomach dipped.

A lot.

“Well, not yet at least,” he continued, folding his own arms, splaying his legs and pretty much dripping sex all over my kitchen floor. “I’ll be takin’ it before the night is out,” he promised. “Maybe even before we go, if we’re quick.”

“I’ll be quick,” I blurted, my desperate need for him speaking before my brain had time to catch up and realize how pathetic I sounded.

Instead of putting him off, my words made his eyes darken more, the corner of his lip twitching again. “I know you will, baby,” he growled. “Can’t promise I will be when I know how hungry that pussy is for my cock.”

My knees trembled.

“You’re fuckin’ looking at me like that again,” he accused.

I bit my lip. “Well, you’re the one who has control over the sex god thing. I’m just a mere mortal. My reactions cannot be held against me.”

I was in his arms again before I could even finish my sentence, his hand cupping my chin. “Will, there’s no fuckin’ way you’re a mere mortal.” He brushed my hair from my face, eyes reverent. “Nothing but a fuckin’ angel can tempt a devil.”

I moved my hand up to brush the scars on his arms—I had made a point to touch the ruined skin often, hoping it would speak its secrets to me. “You’re not a devil.”

“How do you know that?” He shuttered his eyes, as he did when things got a little too close to those demons he wore on his sleeve yet hid in his soul.

“Because I love you,” I whispered, uttering the words that had been stuck in the back of my throat for weeks. It was terrifying, letting them out. But I had to. “And devils can’t be loved. Only men can. And you’re my man.”

He froze, the hand playing with tendrils of my hair pausing in midair. Never did I think there would be a time when I’d strike Gage immobile. The only inkling that he hadn’t turned into a very lifelike statue was the hot breath on my face and the way his eyes moved over me, as if he was memorizing me.

“But baby, I am a devil,” he said finally, his voice rough. Rough enough to cut through my soul with the burn of an unreturned ‘I love you.’ I tried not to let the sting get to me. I knew Gage was different than any other human being on this planet. Knew this wasn’t going to be easy.

But it was going to be worth it.

I smiled and reached up to stroke his face. “Well, then you’re the exception to the rule, and you’re my devil and my man.”

The hands at my hips tightened and I was in the air, my skirt pushed up and the cold counter kissing my exposed thighs. Gage had spread my legs and was standing between them, his denim-clad hardness pressing into the perfect spot at the apex between my thighs.

I hissed out a harsh breath, his hand grasping my neck, yanking my mouth to his, while the other plunged right inside me. I cried out into his mouth at the exquisite intrusion, and the expert way he knew how to move within me—fluid, perfect.

His fingers left me, and the rustling of his jeans told me exactly what he was doing. “My angel,” he murmured, pausing at my entrance for a sliver of a second, his eyes on me, before he surged in.

Then the world ended, and Gage fucked me in the ruins.

“So we’re going to the club party,” he said after cleaning me up, setting me down on unsteady feet and rolling my skirt down tenderly, like he hadn’t just fucked me hard, fast and brutal on my kitchen island.

I blinked at him, trying to make sure my knees were steady and my mind was clear before I replied.

“I know it’s not the good guy play,” he continued, watching me. “I shouldn’t be bringing you further into this world, tarring you with its brush. But fuck, I’m not the good guy. And I want to bring you in further. I’m selfish, and fuck do I know it. But I want you in my life. I fuckin’ need you in it. Even if you don’t belong.”

His last words smashed out whatever calmness his previous ones had settled in my chest.

“I don’t belong,” I whispered.

His eyes narrowed. “No, fuck, Lauren—”

I held up my hand and stepped out of the way as he tried to snatch me into his arms again. “Seriously?” I hissed, rounding the counter so it was between us. “After everything between us, after everything I’ve told you about myself, shown you about myself, you seriously think I don’t belong?” I yelled.