Annihilation Road (Torpedo Ink 6)
“Riding my motorcycle, especially with the brothers, fast down a highway like Highway 1. The wind in my face, blowing me clean. Your turn.” He carried the supplies back into the bathroom, leaving the door open as he washed his hands.
“I totally love gardening. I have a thing about plants. I like all flowers and potted plants, and the ones I can put in the ground to grow, I love. Someday I’m going to have the most wonderful gardens, and I’m going to design them myself. I’ve got so many ideas.”
She turned onto her side, propping up her head on her hand. “Your turn.”
“Old movies. B movies, or classics like Creature from the Black Lagoon. I like the modern-day B movies as well, although I’m pickier. You go.” He leaned his hip against the doorjamb, enjoying their silly game because she was. He could see it on her face. She liked the exchange between them.
“Baths. Deep tubs and bath oils. Really long, luxurious baths. I like them better than a hot tub. I can read in the bathtub or listen to music. Sometimes I just fall asleep. Baths are the best. All you now.”
She was going to like the tubs at the house he’d purchased. “What kinds of books do you read?” He knew the answer, but he had to ask.
“Romance,” she said without hesitation or embarrassment.
“Where you learned a little about bondage.”
She nodded. “A very little. It’s your turn.”
“My family. My club. Now you. This.”
“That may be cheating, but I like it.” She twisted her fingers in the covers, hesitating. “Isn’t that five?”
He immediately was on alert. “Baby, you know it isn’t. Tell me whatever you don’t want to say. If you do, I’ll tell you what I enjoy that I’d rather not say.”
“I’m certain yours is far more interesting. It’s just personal.” She shrugged. “I like to write songs. I have an entire journal filled with them. Just things I need to get out, you know. Nothing that’s going to move the world, but the words are mine, and sometimes I have to go back and just sing them to the empty sky so they’re out there. I can’t always say things I want to tell people, so I write my truth in songs.”
“I think that’s beautiful, Seychelle.”
She was so damn beautiful. Not just her body, but that soul of hers. He liked her. He liked everything about her, especially the fact that she was comfortable talking to him about anything. Part of that was the connection between them, but part of that was just her. She was honest. She just came out and said whatever was on her mind to him. They needed that between them, and that meant he had to give her the same.
“Your skin. I saw your skin and I knew what it would look like with my marks covering you. I couldn’t get that image out of my mind. I enjoy that, Seychelle. Thinking about putting those marks of my possession on you. Thinking about each one of them and where I’d put it. How I’d do it. Wondering how many days I’d have to enjoy seeing them there, knowing you belong to me, and every fucking time I see them, or you see them, we both know it.” He straightened. “And then knowing, the moment they faded, I was going to be able to do it all over again.”
He kept his eyes on her face. Watching her. He was as honest with her as she was with him, and he wanted to see her reaction. Her gaze moved over him, dropping to the front of his jeans and the bulge he didn’t try to hide from her, and then climbed back to his face. A slow little enigmatic smile curved her lips briefly and she rubbed her bottom, but there was excitement in her eyes.
“I can see I’m going to have to get tougher.”
“I’m never going to apologize for who or what I am, Seychelle. I came to terms with it a long time ago. I don’t have to like it, but I’m no longer ashamed. I don’t want to be with a woman who’s ashamed of me either. Or embarrassed by what we do.” He knew her body was excited, but her mind was definitely very much not.
She sat up slowly, pulled her legs up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. Putting her chin on top of her knees, she regarded him steadily. “I’m going to be embarrassed and maybe even humiliated until I can think the way you do. You have to give me that and the time I need to adjust to what you need in a relationship, Savage. You can’t push to have everything your way and expect me to think and feel the way you want me to.”