Page 78 of Twisted Steel

She looks pointedly at my bruised ribs, the gun on the nightstand, and the blood-stained shirt discarded on the floor.

“Emotionally?”she asks.“Sure.Very stable.Like a grenade with abandonment issues.”

A rough laugh scrapes out of me before I can stop it, and her face softens.

I lean in before sense can stop me, and she meets me halfway.The kiss is slow at first.Morning-slow.Dangerous because it has no adrenaline to blame.No bullets.No Reaper on the phone.No blood cooling nearby.

Just her and me, and the thing between us, breathing.

Her mouth opens under mine, and the restraint I spent the whole night rebuilding starts cracking apart.I cup the back of her neck, drawing her closer, and she comes willingly, the sheet sliding lower between us.

My eyes stay on hers.Not because I don’t want to look but because I want too much.

Her mouth curves against mine.“You’re trying very hard to be noble.”

“No.”

“Liar.”

“I’m trying very hard not to make you even more sore before coffee.”

Her breath catches.Then she laughs, low and breathless, and it turns into a soft sound when my mouth moves to her throat.

Fuck.

I want that sound again.I want it louder.I want it buried in my sheets until every man in this clubhouse knows she chose me.

The thought is ugly and possessive, and I drag myself back before it can own me.

Harper’s fingers dig into my shoulders.“Don’t stop because you’re thinking too loud.”

“You need rest.”

“I need a lot of things.”

Her hand slides down my chest, over bruises she wants to inspect and I want her to ignore.Lower.Testing.Asking without words.

My hand clamps gently over hers, not stopping, Checking.

Her eyes lift to mine.“Yes,” she says.

“You sure?”

“No,” she says, honest enough to ruin me.“But I still want you.”

My forehead drops to hers.“Harper.”

“If you say this a bad idea, I’m going to bite you.”

Heat punches through me.“You already did.”

Color rises in her cheeks.“That was different.”

“It was effective.”

“Steel.”

I kiss her again because if she keeps saying my name like that, I’m going to forget every reason the world is waiting outside this room.She shifts beneath me, and the sheet falls away enough that my control takes a direct hit.