Page 59 of Mischief Mayhem
She grimaced. “I should have told you before. I’m sorry about that.”
“Sorry?” I couldn’t help myself from digging into her ticklish spots again, making her giggle and squirm and try to get away. “The only thing you have to be sorry for is keeping the best-tasting pussy I’ve ever had away from me for a decade.”
“You weren’t ready for me, Hollywood. Not yet.” She smiled and I leaned down to kiss her one last time, conceding the fact we’d gotten together when it was right and not a moment before.
20
HOLLYWOOD
“What’s got you smiling like a stripper at a stiletto convention?” Leo narrowed his eyes while he ran a towel through his wet hair and limped into the living room.
I rubbed my mouth and read V’s message again.
Verona: Tonight, it’s my turn to fuck you. You better be ready.
After that came a picture of her huge purple dildo hanging from a strap on her wall. I’d marked yes, very much yes, to pegging, and if that was what she meant by fucking me, then I’d do whatever I could to dip out of work early. I’d been eating my fiber bars, and I’d gotten myself extra clean in preparation for this.
“Nothing,” I said, clicking my phone off so Leo couldn’t read it over my shoulder.
“Is it the girl?” He grinned and sat down on the other couch to sip his coffee and antagonize me.
“Yeah.” I couldn’t think about her without smiling, especially after what we’d done last night. It had been magical, making me question everything I’d ever felt for anyone, and it paled in comparison to this steady heat in my chest whenever she came up in conversation.
“Look at you,” he said, holding out his hand to gesture to all of me. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were in love.”
Everything in my brain came to a skidding halt. The train wheels squeaked, the brakes froze, the back end came rearing toward the front.
“What?” I balked. “Love? No, I’m not?—”
Wait . . . am I?
I didn’t know. I’d never been in love with anyone before, certainly not an MC princess who would rather paddle my ass raw than admit to having mushy-gushy feelings for anyone in her life.
“Holy shit, you are.” Leo laughed and clapped, seeming to congratulate me. “Good for you, Hollywood.”
“No, it’s not like that.” Confused, I shook my head and touched the scar on my chest, the one that marked the time I’d saved her life.
“You and I share a life debt. You saved me, and I’ll never be able to repay you for that.”
“But, let’s say that it might be like that. How would I know?”
Leo raised his eyebrows. “You don’t know what it’s like to be in love?”
I shook my head.
He took a deep breath and leaned forward to put his elbows on his knees. “It’s like—” Leo clenched his eyes shut, seeming to reminisce about someone and covered his mouth with his palm. “It’s like your world revolves around them, like you’d do anything for them. You’d put your life on the line if it meant their happiness. It’s like a piece of you had been missing until you met them, and all of a sudden, the world makes sense.”
“Damn, Leo.” I blew out a breath at his words as the rightness of his sentiment settled in my gut. V had become everything to me. I’d gladly lay my entire world down for her in a way I wouldn’t for anyone else. Was that love? Was that being in love?
Because I’d admit I loved my brothers. I loved KC and Bear like family, and I’d kill for them. I’d step in front of a bullet for them any day. But for V—hell, I’d move mountains. I’d survive death and come back to haunt her. I never wanted to leave her . . . ever. Was a few weeks enough to change our relationship dynamic?
“Were you ever in love?” I asked, running my palm over the back of my neck as heat snaked into my cheeks and down my chest.
Leo snorted out a breath and nodded. “Many times, my friend.”
“Really?” Could a person fall in love again and again over the course of their life? And if so, why had it only happened once for me? Was I in love before and didn’t know?
No.