Adler (The Henchmen MC 14)

"Ya wanna walk 'em?"

"Yes," she said, enunciating perfectly.

"I come with the deal," I told her, rocking back on my heels, hands in my front pockets.

"Obviously," she said, rolling her eyes, and already gathering leashes, trying to untangle them.

"They keep them all pretty straight once ya get movin'," I assured her as one of them wrapped her leg up in his excitement. "Big dog fan, eh?" I asked after she handed cash to Paine, apologized for the dog hair everywhere while paying no mind to it coating her clothes, and we headed out the door onto the street.

"I had one once," she recalled, letting the dogs pull her for half a block before she got more control. "He was old when I was a kid. Kinda just laid around a lot. But I adored him. He died when I was maybe seven? And my mom said she was too heartbroken to get another. So we never did."

"Ya aren't a kid anymore, duchess. Ya could get a dog."

"My lifestyle isn't conducive to having a pet. I am forever out of town. Motels and hotels don't always let dogs stay."

"I'm always in town."

Her head swiveled at that, brows drawing close, making two little lines form between them. "Are you offering to co-dog-own with me?" she asked, lips curving until she showed a sliver of white teeth, not bothering to hide how amused she was by the idea. "Our little mutt trading nights and weekends? Come on now."

"Ya'd get something ya want."

"And you'd get to weasel your way into my life."

"Duchess," I said, tone sharp enough to make her stiffen, stop short, and turn even as I pressed forward, pushing until her back met the wall of the building. Until my pelvis was pressed to hers. "If I wanted a way into yer life, I wouldn't have to bargain my way in."

I watched as she struggled to find something to say to that, and she swallowed hard.

"I don't need any men in my life," she decided to go with, eyes on mine as her chin lifted, challenging.

"Need? Nah, duchess. But want is a whole other matter entirely."

"I never said I wanted you."

"Ya think ya'd have to say it?" I asked, pressing closer, my stomach and chest brushing into hers, actually feeling her breathing shallow out at the contact. "Ya think I can't tell without the words?" I added, ducking my head down closer to hers, watching her lips part, the tip of her tongue swipe out to wet them, whether she meant to or not. In fact, it was almost hotter to imagine it wasn't done with purpose, that she simply didn't have the control, that her body reacted on its own without input.

"Ad..." she started, her voice nothing more than an airless whisper.

"Ya think I don't feel how yer breath is fast and shallow? How yer pulse is speeding just having me close?" I added, lifting a hand to slide my fingertips down the column of her neck, pausing for a second at the pulse point there. "How yer skin responds to me?" I went on, sliding a finger into the dip of her clavicle, watching as goosebumps formed there. "I don't even have to feel it to know yer pussy is dripping with the idea of me sliding my fingers there, rubbing my finger over your clit, sinking inside to torture yer G-spot. Maybe get down on my knees and taste ya until ya are begging for my cock. Try to tell me, Lou, just try," I dared her, my lips brushing her earlobe as I spoke, "that ya aren't thinking of me buried inside your tight cunt until ya scream. Try."

When she pulled air back into her lungs, it made her chest shake, causing her breasts to brush into my chest, nipples hard just from my nearness, a realization that made my poor cock throb with need.

"Adler, we're on the street," she managed to say, even if her voice was uneven as she did it. "And the dogs are pulling," she added as I pulled back enough to keep her from seeing just how lost I was with my need for her.

"Aye," I said, lips twitching when I glanced down to find all fucking five of them sitting patiently, looking up at us. "They are 'bout to rip yer arm off, it seems."

She said nothing to that, just slipped away with the space I had given her, and started walking once more like we hadn't just been having a moment.

She was good at that.

Compartmentalizing.

Hell, maybe even better than me.

And I was fucking good.

There was one thing for sure.

Lou had secrets.

And while I was generally one for leaving people to theirs - seeing as I wanted to be left to my own as well - I couldn't help but want to uncover hers.