Ink covered almost every inch of his skin, where hers was creamy, smooth, unmarked. Kind of like the difference between their souls before she’d been sent to Tennessee. She’d been clean, on the right side of the law, working for justice, then she became involved with the club and him. Now, some of what he was bled across the lines. She’d shined some of her goodness into his world, and he’d darkened hers a bit. Maybe not truly darkened it, that would come as things heated up with Lefty, but he’d shown her more of his reality. And it had changed her. Changed them both.
She might have thought the world was black and white, but Mav had been born in the gray zone and lived there his entire life. Who was he to condemn her being stuck between two worlds?
“I missed you,” she whispered. “I keep dreaming about your hands on me. Your mouth on me. The way you feel inside me. Every time I fell asleep, I woke up wet and aching for you.”
Jesus, the woman played dirty.
“Was any of it true?” He hated how exposed he felt, like his heart was on the outside of his body, defenseless and so easy to harm.
Sliding her hands across his shoulders then down his chest, she tilted her head. “Any of what?” She toyed with the hoops through his nipples. He’d had little to no sensation there before the piercings, now every tug on the metal rings shot straight to his dick, even through his shirt.
“Any of us.”
She froze. “Every single thing that happened between us was completely true. From the second you told me to stare into your eyes in Shark’s basement until I said I love you during the raid. Every second of what happened between us was real.”
He wanted to believe it so badly, wanted her back, but how the fuck did he make his head get on board?
“I want a chance to show you. I want a chance to love you, Maverick. Because I do. I love how protective you are, how you smile, laugh, and flirt. I love how you are with your family, with your brothers. I love how you smell.” She pressed a kiss to his shirt, right over his racing heart, then inhaled a long breath. “I love how you taste. I love how you make me come alive.”
Her forehead rested against his chest. “Please tell me there is some part of you that doesn’t hate me for what I did. Is there some part of you that still wants me? I will work every day of my life to show you that I can be trusted.”
STEPHANIE HELD HER breath.
Well, she’d laid it all on the line. It was up to him now to decide if he still wanted her. And if he did, was he willing to give her a chance?
“It’s not about wanting you, Stephanie. I wanted you from the moment I saw you dragged into that basement hissing and spitting like a pissed-off cat. You were terrified, but so brave and sassy. Then you broke your fucking wrist trying to get King to stop burning me.”
He paused and shook his head as though trying to puzzle through a riddle. “Why did you do that? At that point, you had no idea who I was, and you were committed to the FBI.”
She shrugged and resumed playing with his nipple rings. Every so often, with the right tug or flick, his body would twitch. And somewhere along the line, his cock had gotten in on the action and stiffened between them.
“I couldn’t bear the thought of them doing that to you. Especially not when you’d kept King from raping me.”
“I want you, Stephanie. So much. I want what I thought we were building. I’m just not sure it’s there anymore. Part of me is angry. Fucking furious with you for lying to me. Part of me wants to h—” He shook his head and flattened his mouth into a hard line. “Never mind.”
“No, say it. Part of you wants to what? Hurt me?”
“Just drop it, Stephanie. That’s not what I meant. You were injured tonight, for fuck’s sake.” He stepped back as though her touch was too much to bear.
“Fuck that,” she said making him laugh. “My face is numb and I’m a little scraped up, but I’m hardly the walking wounded. Tell me what you meant. You want to hurt me? Want me to hurt like you did?”
His eyes darkened. Maybe it wasn’t the best idea to goad an already pissed biker, but she needed to break through to him.
“Go ahead, Maverick, hurt me. I can take it. Do your worst.” Christ, anything to get his hands on her.
“Steph, drop it. I’m warning you.”
“What are you gonna do, huh?”
“Stephanie.” This time the words were snarled.