Ryder (Savage Wolves MC) #3

Chapter Forty

"You sure you're ready for this?" Her emotions are all over the place with her brother's surprise drop in. I don't want her to rush into this if she's really not up to it.

She spins back on her heels. "I'm sure." She looks down, dragging her foot through the gravel, the solid rough edged pieces grating against one another under her foot. "Between my dreams and my brother showing up, I need to feel something other than what I'm feeling right now."

Nodding, I push her hair back over her ear, the soft strands slipping freely against my fingertips. "We can do that."

Both of us get on my bike, her clutching tightly to my back. I can't stop the thought that her behind me like this on my bike feels so right. Like she was meant to be there, her hands wrapping around my waist. I'll never feel comfortable with another woman. If she ever leaves me or this earth, that spot will remain empty. Talia is the only one that can ever fill it.

When we get closer to the cabin, I grab her hand with mine, carefully guiding my bike with my free hand. I squeeze and she mimics me, tangling our fingers with each other's against my naval.

Cold wind blows against my face, drying out my already chapped lips. I wet them when we pull up outside of the cabin.

It looks as if no one has been here. Even their tire tracks from whatever vehicle they came in have been swept away. Their attention to detail is immaculate. Probably why they've never been caught or even come close to it. They're ghosts. I've only ever seen them in person once and even then, they wore masks that obscured what they look like.

"You sure they're here?" She asks, slipping her leg over my bike and standing to my side, pulling her helmet off and handing it to me.

She shakes out her hair and I smirk at the way her face twists in agitation at having to fluff out her dark locks. She really should just start braiding it back.

"I'm sure. I've never doubted them when I've needed them and they've always come through. If they said they'd be delivered this morning, they were delivered."

She gulps, crossing her wrists on top of her head and spinning around until she can overlook the empty desert around us. Her eyes are closed and I know she's not entranced with the view, but rather deep in thought.

"Tell me what you're thinking," I whisper, coming up behind her and slinking my arms around her waist to clasp my hands together around her abdomen.

She flinches only slightly, more from not knowing I was coming up on her than actual fear.

Sighing, she lays her head back on my right shoulder and slides her hands down from her head to my shoulders and up into the back of my hair. Her nails dig into my scalp pleasantly, scratching and making my stomach fill with tingly butterflies.

I moan at the sensations and she stretches her fingers out, running them completely through my hair and brushing out any tangles.

"Tell me," I prod, kissing her right under her ear, leaving lingering little pecks and nips all down her soft neck.

It draws a moan out from her as well.

"You're distracting me from the matter at hand."

I smirk against her skin. "Me? Distracting? I could never." I know she needs to keep her head here, but she's too tense. She's going to go in guns blazing if she doesn't take a breath.

Talia chuckles, turning around in my arms and grabbing the sides of my face, bringing our lips together in a chaste kiss. "They're down there." Her eyes flick to the ground and I nod. "They're restrained?" Nod. "They're awake and alive?" My eyes crinkle at the edges before I tilt my head to the side in a halfway nod.