Without Light (New Adult Biker Gang Romance) (Night Horses MC Book 2) Read Online Free PDF Page B

giving up and letting someone else hose him down.
     
    I stepped into the shower and tossed the disgusting dress out. Merle raised his voice a little to be heard over the spray.
     
    It felt so good to be clean.
     
    I couldn’t bear to leave the shower until the hot water ran out.
     
    I ended up clean, dry, and dressed in a pair of men’s pajama pants and an oversized t-shirt.
     
    “ Want to stay here a night?” Merle asked. “I have a guest room.”
     
    I nodded.
     
    It was getting dark, and I was exhausted. I was definitely ready to go to bed.
     
    The thought of going into a strange bedroom, though, and shutting the door behind me, locking myself into a room even deeper in the building…
     
    “ Merle?” I asked. “Can I sleep with you? In your bed, I mean. With pajamas.”
     
    He eyed me for a long minute.
     
    “ Sure,” he said. “Not a problem. Mind if I use my laptop for a bit? I’m not quite ready to go to sleep.”
     
    “ I’m not quite ready for it to be dark,” I admitted.
     
    He took another set of PJ’s into the bathroom. He looked damn fine when he came back, the soft cotton and flannel strained over his hard muscles.
     
    I steeled my courage and walked to the door and shut it myself. I couldn’t ask him to sleep in a room open to the night.
     
    It was awkward, but we ended up in the bed together, under the same sheets, Merle sitting up with his laptop and cell phone, sending quick flurries of texts and writing e-mails and looking at spreadsheets.
     
    I asked him what he was doing, and he ran his fingers through his hair, staring at a column of numbers.
     
    “ Making sure everyone gets paid. Making sure our businesses are running smoothly. Making sure everyone got back safely today.”
     
    “ You sound like my father,” I said with a laugh. “He has his own business and he’s always looking at charts and spreadsheets.”
     
    “ I have my own business too,” he said with a grin. “Just… a little different.”
     
    I stopped smiling.
     
    I’d forgotten, for a minute, that Merle’s different business is what got me locked in a fucking cell for nine days.
     
    I rolled away from him and, after staring at the dark shapes around me for who knows how long, went to sleep.
     
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    When I woke up, it was dark. I flinched and rolled into a tiny ball, trying not to scream.
     
    Even though I knew something was off, I was in a comfortable bed, it wasn’t until I felt my body collide with someone else’s and Merle’s arms wrapped around me that I realized that I was safe.
     
    I turned in Merle’s embrace and buried my head in the crook of his neck, crying into his shoulder as he made sleepy “There, there,” noises and patted my back.
     
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    The next time I woke up, I was still nestled into Merle’s chest, but I was feeling very different. I realized that I was pressed up against him, and my body was responding to his.
     
    And, well, his was responding to mine.
     
    “ Merle?” I said, softly. I nudged his erection with my hip.
     
    “ Oh, sorry,” he said, blearily, He reached between us to tuck himself away, and, in the process, accidentally stroked his hand down my belly, between my breasts, making me shiver.
     
    “ Sorry,” he mumbled again.
     
    I leaned up and kissed him.
     
    He didn't say anything else as our hands tangled in each other other's hair and our lips met.

It wasn't until the urgent fumblings of our fingers slipped south to explore what was, on me, at least, the uncharted territory of smooth neck and sharp collarbone, of the soft swell of my breasts,  that Merle spoke up.

"No," he said, pulling his hands away from my chest, where he'd been cupping my delicate curves, thumbs stroking maddeningly closer and closer to my hard nipples.

"No?" I asked.

I looked up at him through my lashes, hoped that that would be