Cilla paled, her face falling. “Wha…what do you mean, Patriot?”
God, she probably thinks you’re dropping her.
“Fuck,” he barked, “it’s not what you’re thinking. This shit with Jaime, with me helping her…people can’t know about you and me. Not yet.”
Cilla went from pale to red in a blink.
“You want me to keep this a secret?” she whispered, her voice filled with the undertones of anguish.
Shit. He just kept fucking things up.
One hand still on her face, he tucked the other one around her waist, drawing her snugly against him. He could feel her heart racing. She was scared of him…of what he was saying.
Goddamn motherfucking shit!
“Not like a secret, baby. I just need to keep this between us until things with Jaime’s situation gets straightened out. Horde knows because that fucker is nosy as shit, but you can’t tell Stephie—and you especially can’t let the women of the club know, because then it’ll be out and everyone in fucking NEPA will know within an hour.”
She started shaking her head and trying to pull away.
Oh, fuck no, she needed to hear him. He couldn’t let her get her head twisted, thinking untrue bullshit. She’d slam up her walls so fast and so high, he’d need a goddamn sherpa to climb them.
“I know this seems like I’m hiding you, and I know your mind is probably telling you bullshit like I’m ashamed of you and keeping things under wraps because I don’t want people to think I’m slumming it?—”
She gasped, hurt burning over her face.
He leaned in, pressed a quick kiss to her lips, then placed his forehead against hers.
“But that’s not the truth, baby. I promise, once this shit with Jaime is over, I will put you on the back of my bike, take you to the club, and slip my property kutte on your back in front of all my brothers. I will claim the hell out of you, baby, and every goddamn motherfucker in the state is going to know about it.”
Her mouth dropped open, her eyes widening in disbelief.
“Are…are you serious?” she murmured huskily.
He smirked, kissed the tip of her nose, then wrapped both arms around her to hold her chest to chest.
“You’re damn right I’m serious. We just have to both be patient. Our time out in the open is coming, we just need to wait. This business is complicating the shit out of my life, but I don’t want it to touch yours. I’m in this, baby, you and me. Trust that.”
Cilla stared into his face, her stunning green and hazel eyes skimming over his face to pin his gaze with hers. She was thinking, weighing what she heard, and considering her options—but that was Cilla. She was an overthinker, but she was also not a fan of drama.
After what felt like eons, she heaved a heavy sigh and pouted. “Alright, we’ll do things your way, but just know you’re gonna owe me for stealing my chance to rub this in Dana’s face.”
He threw his head back and roared laughter into the ceiling. God, he loved this woman—and soon, he’d be able to tell her. He kissed her nose once more and grinned down at her, she grinned back.
“Deal. Now, what do you want to eat, because I need to feed my woman before I ravish her again,” he drawled.
She giggled, the sound like an arrow to his chest. God, he loved to hear her laughter.
He grinned at her, then grabbed the sheet and snatched it away from her, leaving her bare to his ravenous gaze.
“Fuck food, I’ll eat you instead,” he growled, his mouth watering, his cock throbbing.
He threw himself over her, pinned her to the bed, and took her mouth in a kiss so carnal, it made every single one of her bones melt beneath him. And he spent the morning devouring her, and she spent the morning screaming for Jesus.
After dropping Cilla off at work two days later, Patriot parked his bike outside the Boom Burger and climbed the steps to the door. It was a small burger joint, with only a few uncomfortable looking places to sit, but they made a mean cheeseburger.
Grabbing his order of loaded cheeseburger, fries, and unsweetened iced tea, he sat in the table nearest the back wall, which gave him a view of the door and the parking lot out front through the windows. He could see the busy rural highway just beyond the parking lot, the full-service gas station across the street, and the cars pulling in. Since it was just after lunch time on a weekday, he wasn’t surprised that business was slow. Most people had eaten already, or were calling in their orders for pick up for dinner. There wasn’t a single other person in the restaurant, which was fine by him. He didn’t need witnesses for whatever Jaime wanted to talk to him about.
She’d called him the morning after he’d first been inside Cilla, and while that hadn’t totally wrecked his post-orgasm glow, the ten texts she sent throughout the day had definitely put a damper on the mood between him and his woman. Yeah, he’d explained things to Cilla, and Cilla seemed to understand what was going on, but that didn’t mean she liked having Jaime and her persistence in her face all the time, especially since that persistence was all about Patriot. And especially since he knew he’d hurt Cilla with his request to keep things between them a secret…because of Jaime. So, no, Jaime’s calling and texting did him no favors, in reality, it seemed to take a swing at what he was trying to build with Cilla.