“Go ahead. Come closer, fucker,” Ripper said in a deadly voice, only worsening the situation. When Marley stayed where he was, Ripper chuckled. “Thought so. You touch her or even come within two feet of her again, I’ll break all your fingers then I’ll move to your face.”

Lily knew Ripper wasn’t lying. Unlike Bear, Ripper stuck to his promises. Ripper slid a muscled arm over her shoulders and led her outside. Growing up, Lily had always been the chubby kid the boys in the playground picked on. Only after high school did she learn to love her curves, but with Ripper, she felt tiny. He simply towered over everyone else, like some kind of behemoth.

With Ripper holding her close to his chest, she almost felt like a different person. Like she belonged to him. Lily knew the illusion wouldn’t last. Soon enough, Ripper would drop her off home. Ride away. Perhaps forever.

Why did she even ask him that question earlier? What if she unknowingly pushed him into truly leaving?

They reached his bike.

“You remember the time I snuck out of the club house and got on your bike?” she asked him.

“I do. I remember everything you did. You nearly fell off.” Ripper pulled away and began to grab the helmets from the back of his bike. Lily wanted this moment to last a little longer. She didn’t imagine Ripper’s naked look of want earlier.

A test. She needed to find out what Ripper truly felt about her.

“But you caught me,” she finished. “I thought the bike would fall on me but you were there. I was twelve then but I’m no longer a kid, Ripper.”

“No,” Ripper said, voice harsh.

Lily walked up to him and pressed a hand on his chest. His shirt got in the way of their skin touching and she wanted it gone. Lily had never seduced anyone in her entire life but right now, she wanted Ripper to fall for her. Give him a reason to stay. She’d go insane if he left Windsdale. A man like Ripper could disappear easily. Ripper and the others weren’t bound by the law.

Ripper closed in, his jeans brushing against her bare leg. She moved her hands lower, slipped them under his shirt to touch hard muscle. Ripper groaned, wound one arm around her waist, and dipped it lower to cup her ass. So big and warm.

“I never want to see you wearing these shorts again. They’re obscene,” he told her in a reprimanding voice. Who the hell did he think he was?

“The women who hang around the club wear stuff like this all the time,” she said with a shrug, trying to play it cool.

He glowered at her.

“You’re not my boyfriend or anything. You can’t tell me what to do.”

That did it. He undid the button of her shorts. Lily’s breaths came out short as Ripper moved his hand past the waistband of her underwear to touch her pussy. God. The contrast of his rough, big fingers felt good against her cunt. She couldn’t help it. A moan slipped from her lips.

Ripper leaned close to her ear to whisper the words she’d been waiting for all her life. “Then I’m going to have to make you mine. Your pussy, your body, and your heart. They’ll all belong to me soon enough.”