“Do you want me to move out of your basement?”

Ruger pulled back, frowning.

“I just told you I’ll kill any man who touches you and you think I want you to leave?”

“That was before I told you what I did. I used you.”

“Answer one question for me—total truth,” he said slowly. I nodded. “Was it real? Yesterday, when I kissed you, when I sucked on your tits and f**ked you with my hand? How about when I went down on you four years ago and you screamed my name? Before Zach found us and it all fell to shit. Was that fake?”

“No,” I whispered. “Aside from Noah, that’s the only part of those years I want to remember, because it was beautiful, Ruger. Whatever else happened, you gave me beautiful.”

“Well, f**k me,” he muttered. I felt his hands tightening on my butt, his hips tilting more firmly into mine, sending twinges of desire washing through me. I’d felt safe in his arms back then and I felt safe in them now.

That’s when it hit me. I didn’t just lust after Ruger.

I loved him. I had for years.

I tightened my arms around his neck, raising myself up to brush my lips across his. He didn’t respond, so I brushed his lips again, sucking the lower one into my mouth and nibbling on it.

That set him off.

One of his hands came up, fingers twisting in my hair as he took my mouth in a long, hard kiss, tongue punishing me in a mixture of anger and desire. I couldn’t blame him for whatever he might be thinking, because I’d used him and it was wrong. My arms tightened around his neck and I tried wiggling my hips, desperate for the friction of his c**k against my clit. He stilled suddenly, pulling back and looking down at me, eyes burning intensely.

“Serious mistake, babe.”

My eyes widened. My body ached for him, the rough leather of his cut torturing my ni**les. Every part of me yearned for his touch, which explained why my brain wasn’t working so well.

“There’s a lot of ways I could interpret that,” I said softly.

“You just admitted you’re mine,” he replied slowly. “I’ve been wonderin’ if I could take you—whether I should take you. I keep thinkin’ about Noah and whether it’s right for him, but now I get none of it matters, because you’re mine already. You’ve been mine for a hell of a long time and I just didn’t realize it.”

“I’ve worked hard to make my own life. I don’t belong to anyone.”

“How many men have you f**ked?” he asked bluntly.

“Excuse me?”

“Answer the question,” he demanded. “How many men have you f**ked? How many dicks have been in your cunt?”

“That’s none of—”

“Now would be a real good time to answer, babe,” he said, grinding into me deliberately. “Seein’ as I’m the one with the power here. This is my club. Whatever the f**k I do to you, they’ll cover my ass. Don’t push.”

I caught my breath.

“You won’t hurt me.”

“No, I won’t hurt you. Answer the f**kin’ question.”

“I’ve slept with three men,” I said. “Zach, a guy in Olympia, and another guy in Seattle.”

“And how was it?”

“What do you mean?”

“They make you come? You dump them or the other way around?”

“I dumped them,” I said slowly.

“That’s because you belonged to me,” Ruger said, satisfaction filling his eyes. “We f**ked around, wasted time, and you’ll never know how sorry I am about Zach. But I’m done now. You’re mine, Soph, and it’s about time we figured that out. I’ll let the club know and we’ll be finished with this bullshit.”

“Are you asking me to be your girlfriend?” I asked. “Because I don’t think anything’s changed. We can’t afford to get involved and then have it go sour. Noah deserves better than that.”

“I’m not askin’ you anything,” he said, deliberately grinding his hips against mine. I groaned out loud. What the hell was it about this man that tied me up in knots? Maybe I had some sort of primitive hardwiring running the show, attracting me to a man strong enough to care for my child …

“I’m tellin’ you,” he continued. “You’re my property, babe. I’ll take damned good care of you and Noah. You’ll take care of me. But only one c**k goes into that pu**y of yours—mine—and that’s the end of it. Got me?”

I blinked at him, confused.

“I thought you weren’t looking to settle down?”

“I’m lookin’ to take care of you and Noah,” he said. “Neither of us wants to f**k up Noah’s life. But you know what? I’m good for Noah. It’s a fact. Boys need men in their lives and I love the crap out of him. We’ve been all twisted up in each other forever and now it’s all out in the open anyway.”

“I won’t be your whore,” I muttered. Ruger grunted, a touch of humor entering his eyes.

“Trust me, I don’t put this much time and effort into whores,” he said, his voice rueful. “Whores are nothing. You’ll be my old lady, my property. I know this is all new to you, but it’s a big f**kin’ deal in my world.”

I turned that over in my head, which was difficult, because he leaned down and started kissing my neck, boosting me higher so he could reach. Not his usual hard and brutal invasion … No, this was slow and seductive, and then he started sucking gently and I wanted to cry, it felt so good. I squirmed against him, my hips desperate for more stimulation, but he wouldn’t give it to me. Instead he nibbled along my chin before finding new places on my neck to suck and nip.

I heard the music from the party in the background, the sounds of people laughing and talking, but here in the cool darkness of the shop it felt like our own separate world. Ruger surrounded me with his smell and strength and the sheer, vibrant energy that defined him as a man overwhelming my senses.

No one got to me like he did.

He pulled me away from the van, carrying me across the shop without pausing in his attentions to my neck. I found myself laid back on the counter behind the panel truck, Ruger’s body covering my own. My hands clutching his head as he kissed down my throat, pausing every few seconds to suck, his fingers reaching between my legs to rub slowly up and down along the inside of my thigh.

I’d worn a black T-shirt with a V-neck, which proved no barrier to him at all. Ruger tugged the shirt up and flicked open the front clasp on my bra with disturbing speed. Then his mouth sucked in my nipple—the hard metal ball in his tongue almost painful—and my back arched up off the counter.

The hand between my legs unzipped my fly, and he lifted my hips just enough to slide off my cutoffs and panties. I felt the cool metal of the counter on my bare ass as Ruger’s roughened fingers rubbed up and down along my clit.

“Holy shit, that feels good,” I muttered, trying to wrap my brain around everything he’d said. This wasn’t the plan, not even a little bit. For one, I hadn’t planned on unpacking and sharing all that old baggage about Zach. Not now, not ever. The girls had told me to confront Ruger directly, set out my requirements and then stand up for myself.

Instead he gave the orders and I melted like a damned puddle all over a dirty bench in a shop.

What if someone walked in on us?

I’d opened my mouth to protest when Ruger pulled away from my breast, shoving his fingers into me hard at the same time. He dropped to his knees, lips finding my clit, and my brain shorted out completely.

His tongue flicked over my most sensitive spot, teasing me with the unholy combination of his soft tongue and that hard metal ball. Throw in the steady suction of his mouth and it was nearly enough to send me over the edge. Then his finger pressed deep, finding that perfect spot on my inside wall, sending shudders racking through my body. He kept up a steady pressure, rubbing back and forth as his tongue drove me slowly insane.

Then Ruger pulled away long enough to say, “Play with your tits.”

It didn’t occur to me to argue.

I moaned and reached up, taking my ni**les and rolling them between my fingers, pinching and tugging like he’d done the morning before. I’d held out against him then—I’d put Noah first, because any relationship between me and Ruger would be a disaster, and the fallout could leave us homeless again.

This time I wasn’t strong enough to say no.

There’s only so much self-control any woman can call upon before she melts. Mine was officially used up. Those fingers of his, rubbing across my G-spot, placing a strange, terrible pressure on me from within … That flicking tongue with its hard little knob … The strength of his shoulders as they supported my draped knees …

I wanted to squirm and kick and push against him. Instead, Ruger took his free hand and held it down across my stomach, controlling me. He drew me to the brink three times, utterly sadistic, and I hated him when he pulled away to catch his breath. Then I heard voices in the distance and reality broke through my haze.

There were people around—lots of people.

People who could walk into this shop at any minute. It didn’t even have a door. I opened my mouth to tell Ruger we needed to stop, but he chose that exact instant to suck me in again, hard, plunging his fingers deep. Instead of protesting, I felt my back arch as I exploded in a deep climax, trying my hardest not to scream, with mixed results.

Ruger stood up slowly between my legs, running his hands along my body, from my br**sts to my thighs, eyes full of dark satisfaction. I lay there, almost dizzy as he leaned over and caught my hands. He pulled them tightly over my head, whipping out his belt and wrapping it quickly around my wrists, securing them to something behind me.

The whole process took about thirty seconds—Ruger was a little too proficient at tying someone up for my comfort. I tugged my wrists, realizing it wasn’t just for show. He had me. Completely. My eyes widened. Ruger gave me a hard, feral smile as he unzipped his fly.

“Yeah, you’re mine now,” he muttered. “Don’t come until I say you can.”

I heard more voices, turning my head to look for them. Were they in the shop? I opened my mouth to protest, but Ruger reached up and put a finger over my mouth.

“Don’t start with me, Soph,” he said, his voice low and merciless. His hands reached down between us and then I felt the head of his c**k rubbing up and down along my clit, slow and deadly. Holy shit. Kimber hadn’t been lying—there was definitely something metal down there and it felt f**king fantastic.

Given that I’d already come, you’d think Ruger would be in rougher shape than me. Instead I found myself super-sensitized. If I’d thought his fingers felt good, they had nothing on his c**k sliding along my clit. He teased me until I hovered right at the edge again, eyes fixed on the hoist hanging from the ceiling. Then he leaned down, sucking my nipple in so hard it almost hurt, and sensation burst through me. I tried to wiggle my sex against his cock, but he held me pinned and immobile.

“You don’t come until I say,” he repeated, letting my nipple slide free, giving it a quick lick. “We clear?”

I nodded.

“Look at me,” Ruger demanded. I did, finding his face full of grim satisfaction. He slid his c**k up and down my clit again, one, two, three times. I grew wetter with every pass and for the life of me I couldn’t remember why I’d been against this.

Then he centered his c**k on my opening and pushed it in.

CHAPTER TEN

RUGER

He slid his c**k into Sophie’s sweet pu**y as slowly as possible, savoring every inch. She was f**kin’ tight, like a clamp around his dick, the tug at his barbell making things just that much better. He could actually feel her heartbeat. If he didn’t know for a fact she’d given birth to a child, he’d think she was a goddamned virgin—hot and swollen and perfect.

Maybe he should’ve felt guilty, taking her like this.

She was all worked up emotionally, and vulnerable as hell. Understandable. Her little confession about Zach had floored him. He still couldn’t believe he’d been so blind, but he’d already decided one thing.

Next time he saw his stepbrother, he’d kill him.

As for Sophie … He’d f**ked up by not keeping a closer eye on her and Zach, and f**ked up even worse by letting the law step in to fix the problem. He hadn’t been ready to admit Sophie was his responsibility four years ago, despite what’d happened between them at Noah’s birth. He’d spent too long playing the good uncle, ignoring what he felt because he knew it wasn’t the best thing for her. She deserved to be free, and who was he to take that away from her?

Well, f**k that.

He was a jealous ass**le, and the thought of some other man’s c**k in her juicy little cunt … Picnic was right—he needed to claim her or let her go, and that sure as f**k wouldn’t be happening. Ever. Sophie might not be ready for a property patch, but that didn’t matter. He’d patched her a different way, with a ring of slowly purpling marks around her neck. His very own collar, branding her and declaring to the world that she had a man who owned her.

God, he loved the sight of her laid out on the bench, hands tied with his belt, tank and bra pushed high, boobs shaking every time he slammed home. Better than he’d ever imagined, and f**k, he’d spent a lot of time imagining her just like this. He tried to be careful, but when she started whimpering and convulsing around him it was too much. Ruger drove deep, loving the little scream she gave, blowing his self-control. Something primal and powerful broke free.