My vision was blurry from the tears, but I wanted so badly to explore him. It would sadly need to wait.

Time escaped me as I lay curled in his arms, but the tears finally dried up as my body molded against his, completely relaxed. Deke never said a word and continued to slowly stroke my shoulder. It was exactly what I needed, and damn if my heart didn’t swell in that moment.

Raising my head from his chest, my cheek stuck a bit. I quickly wiped it with my hands, trying not to let the embarrassment show.

“You okay?” he drawled smoothly.

Staring in his eyes, I knew I was lost … again. “Yeah. I’m sorry.”

“You’ve been through a lot.”

“I shouldn’t have said those things.”

“They were true … at least at the time.”

“Why didn’t you ever call me after I left?” I whispered, resting my hands on his chest with my chin on top, staring at him. My hand instantly found the key that was dangling from the rope on his neck.

“You wanna talk about this now?”

“Yes.”

Blowing out a deep breath, Deke looked up at the ceiling. “I was pissed. I couldn’t believe you left me.”

“I’m sorry.” My voice was so quiet, but I couldn’t speak louder.

“Why did you go? Why didn’t you stay with your grandma?” The pain in his eyes tore me up. I wanted to erase all those years of hurt for him.

“I couldn’t. Mom was flipping her lid, saying that I was just like my father leaving her. I had to go.” I tried hard to hold the tears back as they were lurking in the back of my eyes.

“That’s why I didn’t call. I was pissed at just about everything in life already, then when you left, it got worse.”

“I wanted to stay, ya know?”

“No, not really,” he grumbled. “How was California?”

His abruptness at the question caught me off guard. “Okay.” I turned my head; resting my check on his chest, I felt the steady rise and fall with each breath. “Mom and Aunt Tennie drank most of the time, so I pretty much had to fend for myself. School was horrible. My Southern accent didn’t fly well with the kids, so I continued to immerse myself in books.”

“Is that why you started writing?”

Looking at him I smiled. “I just started one day. It was kinda crazy actually.”

“Why’s that?” I couldn’t help but be touched that he wanted to learn more about my writing.

“I didn’t have normal stories running through my head. Mine were adventurous and sexy. Then they began to have a life of their own. I didn’t know what to do with them. I sat on them, tucking them away in my drawer. I didn’t start pulling them out until college. Then I showed them to a professor of mine who encouraged me to put them out there.”

“Where did you go to college?” Deke’s fingers pulled gently through my hair.

“USC. I got in on a lot of scholarships that my high school counselor helped me apply for. I took classes year round and graduated in four years.”

“Good for you.” His arm squeezed me tight, and I relished in his embrace.

“What about you? What did you do after high school?” I asked, knowing he didn’t go to college, at least from what the girls told me.

“I went to the academy. After my mom overdosed, I wanted to find the fucker who gave her the drugs. So I thought it would be the best way.” I turned my head so I could see him, but stared at the ceiling.

“You did it just for that?”

“Yep.” The void of emotion coming from him was almost scary.

“How’d that work?” I was quite surprised that a man would go through all that training just to hunt down one man.

“Found him, beat him up, almost killing him with my bare hands. My partner had to drag me off of him. He’s the reason I’m now undercover.” Deke said it so flippantly that it didn’t seem to bother him.

“Wow.” I couldn’t help but be a bit stunned. I’d never seen this side of him.

“I’ll take him out, but first I have to find the boss. Once I cut him off at the balls, then I’ll take the asshole out.” I lay there, still not knowing what to say. Fear ripped through me at what could happen to him. I’d never thought about the danger before this moment. “It’ll happen, hopefully sooner rather than later,” he continued.

“Then what will you do?” My curiosity peaked.

“Don’t know yet. I love my bar, so probably just that.”

“Why did you start Sully’s?” I happened to love the fact he named it after himself.

Deke turned to face me, the spark back into his eyes. It was a relief. I didn’t like that void. “Dad wanted me to come work for him and go to college after I lost my job, but there was no way I was gonna be cooped up with him any longer than absolutely necessary. I needed a cover, always wanted to have a bar, so I did it. It worked out well.”

“What about the band?”

“That’s just for fun.”

“I didn’t know you played.”

“I played when I was a kid, stopped for quite a while, but after Mom died and you were gone, I needed to do something besides punching everything at the gym. I got out my old guitar and started playing.”

“You looked hot up there.” I smiled remembering the way his muscles flexed as the lights shined down on him. I moved off him to lay my head on the pillow, facing him.

“I did, huh?” He smirked, making my panties wet.

I moved to straddle his hips. Looking down at him, he was still the most gorgeous man I’d ever laid eyes on. His strong face and sparkling blue eyes sucked me in. “Yeah. You did.”

Laying my body down on top of his, I began kissing him. It only took him a second to begin to kiss me back. Our tongues danced back and forth, entwining and caressing. My hands began to roam his beautiful chest, and I needed to explore.

Venturing down, I began kissing, sucking, and nipping his neck and pecs—his body was incredible. Moving my tongue flat along his nipple, I heard him groan. The power I felt from that one noise was amazing and caused me to push forward.

As I moved to the other side, I crossed over the key he had hanging from his neck. “Where’d you get this?”

“God, that feels good,” he groaned. Feeling that power surge again, I went back to work kissing and nipping his body. Finding my way down to his abs, I licked each one individually, paying special attention to his light dusting of a treasure trail down the center.

As my hands went into his waistband, Deke grabbed me under my shoulder hoisting me up. “Ahh …”

“Get up here and kiss me.” Deke entwined his hands in my hair, pulling me to him hard. We kissed and kissed as if our lives depended on it.

Involuntarily, my body began rocking on his. My clit rubbed repeatedly on his hard cock still covered by his jeans. I couldn’t stop moving as my body was lit on the verge of exploding, my need growing.

Breaking away for breath, I said, “I need you, Deke.”

“I need you, too, but I’m not having sex with you.”

My body instantly froze. “What?”

“I want to prove to you that you’re not my plaything … that I’m yours.”

I stared down at him, tears welling in my eyes. “Vann, I want to watch you come.”

I crashed my lips against his, trying to convey to him every emotion that was coursing through my veins, hoping he was feeling it, too. My body started grinding against his again, pulsating through me. Deke’s hands fell to my hips as he helped grind my body on his, taking me further than I could have gone myself.

There was no stopping the lightning crash that flew through my body enveloping me into a world of euphoria. I smashed my body onto Deke’s, laying my head on his chest. His heart was beating so fast like it wanted to jump out and take off.

As my senses came back, I felt Deke’s hard erection between my legs. I started to get up to rectify the problem, but was immediately pulled back down to his body, his arms wrapping around my mine tightly, holding me in place. “What are you doing?”

“Holding you,” he teased.

“I can feel you.”