Heart Ties (Club Ties Book 2) by Em Petrova Page A

wall. Seeing those bruises on her delicate skin… Well, it was never going to fucking happen again.
    Placing a hand on her lower back, he guided her to the counter. The kid manning the cash register glanced up and looked twice at Delta. Amused, Drake watched him trip all over himself to ask how her night was going. Delta’s response was short and quiet.
    Drake tossed two protein bars on the counter and passed the kid some cash. As Drake led her back out to the bike, he said, “Kid’s probably in there beating off right now.”
    Delta stopped dead. “What?”
    “Didn’t you notice him? If you’d crooked your finger at him, he would have dived across the counter to get you.”
    She shook her head and kept walking, pulling away from Drake’s touch. When she didn’t respond to his words, he caught her elbow and whirled her around. She went dead still in that way he was starting to worry about.
    “Don’t you have any idea of the effect you have on men?”
    She lifted a narrow shoulder and wouldn’t meet his gaze.
    “Let’s sit at that picnic table and you can drink you coffee.”
    Once she was seated and had half a cup in her, he pressed the issue again. “You really don’t know, do you?”
    “Know what?” She looked at him warily as she opened the protein bar he’d forced on her.
    “That you stop men in their tracks.”
    “I don’t care about things like that.”
    “Don’t care or don’t welcome it?”
    “Both.”
    “Not even if I tell you that you did the same to me?”
    Her gaze flashed to his. “Did I?”
    He bit off a chunk of his bar and chewed and swallowed before answering. “Princess, you know you did.”
    Confusion creased her long, dark brows but she didn’t respond. She finished her bar and coffee. Having nothing to do inside, the interested kid came out to smoke and stare at Delta.
    Drake snorted.
    “What?”
    He tilted his chin at the infatuated employee. “He’s got balls ogling my girl.”
    Her mouth dropped open. “Your girl?”
    Meeting her gaze, he tried to fix what he’d said. “Well, you’re with me. You rode in on my bike. The kid should assume…”
    She stared at the pitted wood picnic table and finished eating. Crumpling the wrapper in her fist, she stood. When she met his gaze directly, his heart did that strange acceleration thing.
    “I’m no one’s girl.”
    •●•
    As Delta walked away, she awaited the blow to come from behind. How had she dared to speak to Drake that way? Of all the times to find her voice, being alone with a man she didn’t know in a faraway place was a bad idea.
    She dropped her items in the trash can and slowly turned.
    Drake stalked toward her, eyes dark, face blank.
    Her heart shivered in her chest. She was probably having a massive heart attack.
    Drake snaked a hand around her nape and his lips crashed over hers. A possessive tongue was thrust into her mouth, stealing what was left of her mind. He bent her under his hands, kissing her until she clung to him.
    When he pulled away, he stared at her with a quirk of his lips. “Let’s ride.”
    She wrapped herself around him and let the feel of leather under her cheek and the hum of the engine lull her for miles. As a thin band of light stretched on the horizon, Drake signaled left and pulled over.
    Five other bikes were parked—Jamison’s among them.
    Delta’s throat clogged with the hope of seeing her sister, but she wasn’t there.
    Jamison moved forward to hug Delta. “Ever sends her best and says she’ll see you very soon.”
    Hating the sudden tightening of her throat and homesickness washing through her, Delta nodded. Jamison released her and man-hugged Drake.
    Their gazes met. “That bad?” Drake asked.
    “Long Branch, Stealth, and the Black Oath are all involved.”
    Delta’s fingers grew cold. Every local Raiders charter in the state was coming after the Hell’s Sons—all because of her.
    She had to give herself up.
    Jamison pounded Drake on the back. “We got it