Heart of Steel (Demon Riders MC Book 2) (6 page)

Dane clenches his fists against his sides and stands bolt upright, taking a few steps towards her, stopping just out of reach.  “Lance is the asshole that got physical with you?  The guy that won’t leave you alone?”

Elyse nods mutely, not trusting her voice with him standing so close to her.

Dane throws his hands up, looking down at her angrily.  “Jesus, Elyse, why didn’t you say anything?  Why didn’t you tell me?”

Elyse frowns up at him, his accusatory tone getting her back up.  “When was I supposed to do that?  When you were shouting at me for being at the bar or when you were ignoring me?”  She crosses her arms in front of her chest, refusing to back away from his intense stare.

Dane rakes his hands through his hair in frustration, leaving him looking all mussed and sexier than he has any right to.  “If I had known that he was the guy, I wouldn’t have let him anywhere near you.”  He steps closer to her again, reaching up and stroking the side of her cheek, tucking a strand of auburn hair behind her ear.

Elyse can’t help but lean into his touch.  There’s no way of telling her body not to respond to him, not to lose its balance around him.  She meets his eyes, all dark and reckless with need, with want. “You can’t beat him up for talking to me.”  Elyse feels a smile twitch at her lips at the knowledge that Dane had wanted to do exactly that.  It can only mean one thing…that he still cares.

“I saw you were a little shaken when you left his booth.  I wanted to explain to him that no one upsets you.  Not when I’m around.”  Dane’s voice is soft and low, and it makes her stomach do little somersaults.  He doesn’t take his eyes off of her, as he strokes her cheek with the pad of his thumb.  It takes all of Elyse’s strength not to purr.

“I can take care of myself.”  Her voice is husky, filled with need that’s pooling between her thighs.

Dane’s eyes burn, but not with anger. This time it’s something else, something that’s even more dangerous for her.  “But you don’t have to.” 

CHAPTER SEVEN

In one smooth motion, he leans down and pulls her slightly towards him. She melts against him, as their mouths meet hungrily.  Elyse moans against his lips, as the kiss deepens.  It’s hot and fierce, and she responds eagerly, kissing him hard, kissing him with all the feelings that she’d been dealing with since their fight.  She bites his bottom lip, pulling a guttural groan from deep within his chest.  His hands move down her back, settling on her and gently kneading her through her skirt, pulling her closer against his arousal.  When they come up for air, both of them are breathing hard, their chests rising and falling in unison. 

“You are looking way too sexy right now.”  Dane looks at her, his eyes flaring.

“I thought…I thought you didn’t care anymore, that you hated me.”  Elyse’s voice comes out small, as she looks up at him from under her lowered lashes.  She still can’t quite believe that she’s made it back here, into his arms. She’s waiting for the other shoe to drop, waiting for him to remember how upset he was with her for betraying him, for lying to him.  But she doesn’t see any of that in his eyes. 

He shakes his head, covering her lips with his index finger, as if silencing her lips can quiet her racing brain. “Don’t say that; don’t even think it.”  He kisses the corner of her mouth, tracing a line down her neck, making her shiver.  “I could never hate you.”  His words come in-between the kisses, a whisper against her skin.  “And I couldn’t stop caring if I tried.”

Dane looks at her intently to make sure that she doesn’t miss his meaning, communicating with his eyes just how much he cares about her.  She reaches up on her toes, pulling his head down to hers to kiss him, the heat making the air between them fizzle.  His hands are in her hair, sifting through it and massaging her scalp as he deepens the kiss.  Elyse thrusts her hips up against his, wanting to feel his hardness against her, the knowledge that she’s the reason he’s so aroused firing her up even more.

“I missed you.”  Her words are muffled against his mouth, but she knows that he hears her, as his kiss becomes more urgent.  She sucks on his bottom lip, and it’s as if that is enough to make him explode into action. 

He runs his fingers along her sides, over her breasts, making them pucker and harden immediately under his touch.  Elyse reaches down to yank his t-shirt up, wanting to touch his chest, his hard abs, to feel the muscles underneath her hands.  They move apart just long enough for him to shrug his top off and throw it unceremoniously onto the floor.  Then, he pulls her back towards him again, as if he can’t be apart from her for more than a few seconds.  She knows the feeling. All she wants is him; all she needs is him.

Dane’s hands are working their way down the buttons of her shirt.  He fumbles with the penultimate one and curses at the delay.  Impatient, he pulls the rest of the fabric apart and two buttons fall to the floor, but there’s no time to think about that as he pushes the shirt over her shoulders.  It doesn’t even reach the ground before his mouth has closed over the fabric of her bra, making her moan.  He reaches behind her, unhooking her bra with practiced ease that she didn’t want to think about now, or ever.  His mouth on her body is making it impossible to follow any train of thought other than how good his mouth feels against her.  He suckles at her nipples, making her arch against him.  But she needs more, so much more than just his mouth. 

Elyse’s hands find the button of his jeans, and she pulls, needing to feel him against her.  In an answering growl, Dane grabs hold of Elyse’s ass, pressing her against his arousal, making her squirm in anticipation, in need.  He shucks up her skirt so it’s around her hips, exposing her to him.

“Hold on.”  His voice is a commanding growl, and she obeys without even thinking twice about it, wrapping her arms around his neck.  He lifts her up. Automatically, she encircles his waist with her legs, kissing his jawline, his mouth, breathing in the scent of him, as he carries her over to the bonnet of the car he’d been working on and sits her down on top of it.  He kisses her hard, greedily, his eyes dark and full of need.

He slides his hand along her inner thigh, making her body tingle.  “Stockings.”  He groans the word out, as if it were the sexiest thing he’s ever seen.  Just as he’s about to reach the apex of her thighs, his hand stills and he watches her expectantly.  Elyse moans and wriggles against him, desperate for his touch.

“Dane, please.” Her voice is a plea, and she twists underneath him, grabbing his waist to bring him closer to her, but he stands fast, enjoying the teasing.

“Please what, Elyse?”  He says her name in that silky way of his, and it makes her even wetter.

“Please, Dane, touch me.”  Her voice is strangled, as she looks up at him, licking her lips and watching as his eyes flare with arousal.

“Please is good, Elyse, very polite.”  His fingers draw small circles over the soft skin of her inner thigh, edging closer to the hot pool of need between her legs.  “Is this what you want?”  His fingertips brush the lacy material of her thong, and he takes in a breath as he feels her.  “You’re so wet, Elyse.”  He says the words reverently, his voice strangled, and Elyse knows that he’s hanging on by a thread, that he needs this as much as she does, that he’s missed this as much as she has.

“I’ve been thinking about you.”  Elyse’s breath comes in short gasps.  Her heart is pounding so hard she feels like she can’t quite catch her breath.

“Oh baby, I was hoping you’d say that.”  Dane’s voice is a low growl, as he roughly pushes the material of her panties to one side and plunges his fingers inside of her. 

Elyse cries out as his thumb circles the sensitive nub of her pussy, his fingers pumping into her at the same time.  She grips hard onto his shoulders, helpless to do anything else but hold on for the ride.

“Come on, Elyse. I want to see you.  Come for me.”  Dane’s fingers slide over her wetness, pushing her on, leading her towards her climax.  Elyse throws her head back and cries out, letting go as she rides the wave of her pleasure.

Consciousness slowly seeps its way back into her.  But Dane is far from finished.  He looks down at her, breathing hard, his eyes full of intent.  She swallows hard, watching him, his fingers wet with her pleasure, unbuttoning his jeans and letting them drop, along with his boxers.

Greedily, she reaches out to take his length in her hand, twisting and tugging him gently, watching as his eyes flutter closed as he tries to regain some composure.  He plants his hands on the bonnet of the car on either side of her, his chest rising and falling in shallow breaths.

Elyse finds his mouth, giving him a hot, open-mouthed kiss, probing with her tongue.  She’s rewarded by his hands taking hold of her butt and shuffling her further towards him.  With a growl, he reaches down and pulls off her soaked panties.  Elyse looks up at him, want burning in her eyes, and licks her lips as she takes his shaft and guides it towards her opening.  Impatiently, Dane pushes her skirt up higher, so that he can see them join together and the thought of that is almost enough to send Elyse into another spasm of pleasure.  Abruptly, Dane grabs hold of her hips and pulls her hard towards him, plunging into her all at once.

Elyse gasps in surprise as he fills her up.  She holds onto him, as he slams into her.  He is moving inside of her, as Elyse lifts her hips, wrapping her ankles around his waist, bringing him even closer to her so that he can get deeper.  He smashes into her again and again. His thrusts become harder and faster, sweat springing out on his muscular chest at the effort, not only of the movement but also of holding himself in check.

“Don’t stop.”  Elyse’s voice is a plea, as she feels herself building up again towards the top of the rollercoaster.

“I couldn’t if I wanted to, ‘Lyse.”  He whispers in her ear, and his voice is so low and sensual that she feels it deep inside of her.

He thrusts into her again and again and the heat in Elyse’s belly spreads out through her body, making her feel as if there’s a furnace inside of her that needs to be quenched.  “Dane, harder.” She’s moans loudly as he picks up the pace, plunging into her, giving her exactly what she needs, taking her up to the crest of the wave.  She cries out, as she tips over the edge, biting his shoulder hard as she climaxes.

A few seconds later, Dane reaches his own peak, thrusting into her one last time before his whole body tenses and his head rears back, the muscles in his arms and chest tight.  He groans deeply, a vibration that she feels inside of her where they’re joined, and falls against her, his head against her chest. 

CHAPTER EIGHT

Elyse wraps her arms around him, holding him in place, listening as their breathing slowly returns to normal.  Dane pulls away slightly so that he can look at her appreciatively.  “I wanted to have you on top of this car from the second you walked in here.”  His voice is husky, as if he’s just woken up, and that’s exactly how Elyse feels, like in the days that they had been apart she had been sleeping and only now was she fully awake again.

She smiles sexily at him, running her fingers along his stubbly jaw and just admiring the gorgeousness of him, and then her face turns serious.  “I never meant to hurt you, Dane.  The thing with the article—that started before I’d even met you.  And then when I got to know you, it was like everything else seemed less important.  I didn’t tell you about being a reporter because I didn’t want you to look at me differently, for you to feel differently about me.” She looks down, suddenly nervous despite the intimacy that they’d just shared.  “I don’t know how to make it right.”

Dane hooks his finger underneath her chin and lifts it up so that she meets his eyes.  “Promise me that you won’t lie to me again.  Ever.”

Elyse swallows hard, knowing that she’s promising something huge.  But it’s something that Dane desperately needs.  He’s been let down so many times and has had so few people in his life that he could trust.  She wants to be one of those few people again.  “I promise.”

A slow smile spreads across his lips.  “Then we’re good.”  He says the three words so simply that an outside observer could have been fooled into thinking that they weren’t significant.  The truth was that there was a whole world in that phrase. 

Unable to stop herself, Elyse throws her arms around Dane’s neck and kisses him deeply, transmitting with her mouth all the things that she wants to say.  “You don’t know how good it is to hear you say that.”

“I think I do.”  He smiles broadly at her, and then his face turns serious.  “What about you?  Can you forgive me for the way I treated you?  I was being an asshole, a hurt, jealous asshole.”  Dane shakes his head, reflecting on how he acted.

“I think I could see my way clear to give you a free pass.”  Elyse looks up at the ceiling, as if she’s thinking something over.  “But you may have to work a little harder with Jen; she was ready to hang, draw, and quarter you last night.”

“She’ll have to get in line behind Suzi.”  He rolls his eyes dramatically and laughs lightly, his eyes soft.  “But I’ll try to work my magic on Jen.”  He shifts slightly between her legs.  “Now, much as this was fun, I think I’d like to do it again in a bed, where there’s less chance of someone walking in.”

Elyse blinks as if she’s suddenly realized where they were and the fact that anyone could have turned up when they were in the middle of it.  She flushes at the thought, but she can’t deny that it’s a turn on.  That’s when she remembers that it wasn’t just Rick that could have walked in on them. Lance could have as well and that would be worse in so many ways, bringing her to the reason that she came there in the first place.

“There’s something I have to tell you.  It’s about Lance.”  Elyse feels Dane’s body stiffen at her words, and she can read his expression perfectly.  “Nothing like that.”  She waves away the thought that she knows was the first to occur to him.  “It’s worse.” 

Dane looks at her, his eyes hardening.  “Tell me.”

“The exposé that The Gazette wanted me to write about the Riders…well, it turns out my editor didn’t just send me to infiltrate the club.”  Elyse gives Dane a meaningful look and watches as he connects the dots.

“Lance.”  He says the name as if the other man were a sworn enemy, which at this point probably wasn’t completely incorrect.

Elyse nods slowly, gauging Dane’s reaction and setting a calming hand on his shoulder.  “I don’t know how much information he has, but he’s persistent.”  She bites her lip, still feeling like she’s part of the problem for the Riders, and she wishes yet again that she had never agreed to write the article.  But if she’d done that, then she would never have met Dane.  And that wasn’t even worth thinking about.  “What do we do?”

Lance’s expression is one of determination as he pulls away from her slowly and starts dressing.  “We call a meeting.”

Elyse follows suit, grabbing her bra and shirt, wishing that Dane pulling away from her hadn’t made her feel so bereft.  “Of the Riders?”  Her voice comes out more like a squeak.  “If you do that, you know what’ll happen to him, what they’ll do to him.”  She plants her hands on her hips, looking at him in shock. 

Dane gives her a look, as if to say that he couldn’t care less what the motorcycle club decides to do with Lance, but he just shakes his head.  “We can’t go to the club with this, not yet, not until I know I can keep you out of it.”  Elyse swallows hard, as she realizes that although she’s come clean with Dane and Rick, the club would have more than a few choice words to say to her if they knew she had been planning to write an article on them.  She was still very much involved in all of this.  Dane pulls his cell out of his pocket, turning away from her and speaking low into the phone.  Just as abruptly, he shoves the iPhone back into his pocket and reaches out to take her hand.

“What’s happening?  Who was that?”  Elyse takes his hand and lets him lead her towards the front door.

“Rick.  We’re meeting him somewhere safe.”  Dane gives her a meaningful look.

“Here isn’t safe?”  She can’t help but look around, as if she expects someone to jump out at her.

Dane lowers his voice and pulls her towards him, speaking in her ear.  “Not if the person we’re talking about has a key.  We don’t know what he’s planted in here so, for now, we don’t say anything in The Shop that we don’t expect someone else to hear.”  He pulls back and looks at her to make sure that she’s understood.

Elyse nods slowly, poised to tell him that Lance wouldn’t bug the body shop, that he wouldn’t know how to, and that apart from that it was unethical and Lance wouldn’t do something so underhand.  But if her conversation with her ex from the night before had taught her anything, it was that she clearly didn’t know him anywhere near as well as she thought she did.

“Good.  Let’s go.”  Dane locks up behind them and leads her towards his bike, all without letting go of her hand at any point.  “And for the record, whatever Lance has planned for the club, it can’t be any worse than me thinking he would do something to you.”

Dane doesn’t give Elyse a chance to respond, handing her the helmet, which she takes wordlessly. It’s only when they’re riding through the streets that she realizes the significance of what Dane has just said to her.