Blood & Bones: Cage (Blood Fury MC 5)

She secured her bag over her shoulder, tucked her cell phone and tablet in the bag and went to move past him toward her Volvo.

He reached out and snagged her wrist, stopping her. With a gentle tug, he pulled her back to him. “Don’t go.”

His fucking pulse was trying to thump right out of his neck.

She looked up at him, quickly narrowing her wide green eyes. “I’m starving. I made you a plate.”

He never asked her to do that, she got into that habit on her own, but he was tired of eating alone. He was tired of her rushing out of the trailer as soon as he got home. “There enough for both of us?”

She hesitated. Her chest rose and fell slowly. She was thinking too hard for an easy answer.

He answered for her. “Don’t wanna spend time with me.”

“It’s not that I don’t want to spend time with you...” She bit her bottom lip and not in a sexy way but one that showed her inner struggle.

“Then why the fuck do you bolt every day as soon as I get home? You didn’t at first, and for the past week and a half, you have. What the fuck changed?”

He was trying to tamp down his anger and frustration, but he was at the point he couldn’t hide it anymore.

Her eyes slid from him to her Volvo just beyond where they stood and back to him. She was looking at her escape. She didn’t want to answer.

“Jem...”

“Chris... You...”

“I what? Piss you off? You hate me ‘cause of what I did to Sarah? What? You hate that Dyna’s stuck with me and I didn’t give her up like some people thought I should? That she’d be better off with someone else?”

“I don’t hate you.”

“Then you hate Dyna’s stuck with a father who’s a biker, like me. You think her future’s fucked. ’Cause bein’ a girl raised in a club fuckin’ sucked for you.”

“I don’t know what her future holds, but that’s not it.”

“Then what the fuck is it?”

“She’s done with her tummy time.”

Goddamn it. “Gonna grab her in a sec. Once you answer me. You just think I’m a motherfuckin’ asshole then, that it?”

Jemma shook her head. “You haven’t been an asshole once. Everyone says you are. Jokes about what a dick you can be. Truthfully, I haven’t seen it.”

“Maybe you don’t see it ‘cause you’re used to bein’ around assholes. It ain’t like your brother ain’t one. And your father sure was the ultimate asshole.”

“Judge isn’t an asshole.” She sighed. “Neither are you. Just because you don’t fart rainbows and glitter all the time doesn’t make you an asshole. It makes you human.”

“So, what is it?” he asked in a rough whisper.

She hadn’t tried to pull free of his grip, so he slowly brushed the calloused pad of his thumb back and forth over the delicate skin of her inner wrist.

A shiver shot through her, once again causing visible goosebumps along the skin he could see. Which was a lot. She wore a dark pink V-neck, short-sleeved top that framed her generous cleavage and was also too thin to hide the way her nipples had responded to his touch. He was tempted to slide his tongue along her neck and taste her there.

Fuck the shiver, he wanted to make her shudder.

He also wanted to hear his name on her lips for something other than discussing his daughter. The thought of her moaning his name while tasting her soft skin shot blood south and woke up his dick.

This wasn’t the first time he’d gotten a chubby around her. Most of the time he could hide it from her. This time he didn’t bother. If he went full-blown hard, he wanted her to see how touching her affected him. He wanted her to know she wasn’t the only one feeling whatever it was between them.

He fought the urge to press the hand he held to his dick, but figured she might take offense to that contact and neuter him right on the spot. He liked his dick, as well as his balls, and would like to keep them attached to his body.

“Jem, why d’you keep runnin’ away?” At first he thought she simply needed a well-earned break, but now it was smacking him upside the head it was something else.

Something deeper.

“I’m not running away... I’m just...”

“Just?”

She blew out a breath and the warm air swept over his throat, making his dick twitch and grow even harder. He would soon have full wood.

“I’m just trying to be smart.”

“Smart about what?” He was going to get a goddamn straight answer from her before he’d let her escape this time.

He needed to know why the fuck he was sitting alone eating a fucking dinner she made but didn’t enjoy. Wanting to spend time with anyone and everyone other than him seemed to be the answer, but he needed to hear it from her.