Under an Endless Moon (Moonlit Ridge Book 2)

Listening to Raven moan around the forkful of spaghetti she put into her mouth was some kind of special torture. The sound wasn’t close to ladylike, and my dick was straining so painfully in my jeans I thought I might black out.

She slurped up the last bite and pushed her empty plate away with a satisfied sigh. She was sitting across from me at the square table under the windows that overlooked the lake in the distance.

Twilight weaved through the heavens, and the last rays of the sun slanted in over the soaring pines and through the panes of glass. They cast her in this glittering glow that made her appear ethereal.

Impossible.

Too beautiful to be real.

She’d undone those locks of lush black hair and had let them cascade around her shoulders. The ends dipped down to mingle with the black polka dots of the dress that threatened to knock me senseless.

She’d fully ditched those sky-high heels, which would have been a travesty if it weren’t for the fact those dainty bare feet kept brushing my leg from under the table.

Raven could have hailed from the 40s. A perfect pinup with the sole purpose of enticing the lesser sex. This girl so high above she might as well have been propped on a pedestal where she could never be reached.

Except I had a hunch that was not the way she wanted it. She wanted to be reached. She wanted to be touched. She wanted to be adored.

Exactly the way she deserved to be.

Too bad I was the sorry fucker who would never be good enough for the likes of her.

What made it worse was she kept looking at me like I might be worthy. Like I was some fucking hero with a cape when I was bred of nothing but corruption and calamity.

“Okay, I’m never making spaghetti again. Tonight proved I’m nothing but a hack,” she said as she sat back and patted her belly.

I pushed to standing and grabbed our plates. “It’s just spaghetti.”

“Says the man who just knocked my socks off.”

If she only knew the way I really wanted to knock her socks off.

“Used to make it back in the day when I was a prospect for the MC. Pretty sure it was the only thing that got me patched in.” I gave her a wink.

She rolled those mesmerizing raven eyes. “I’m sure you had plenty of other attributions that made you a shoe-in.”

Yeah. Like killing and maiming.

She sure as shit didn’t need to know that, either.

Raven had a romanticized idea of what me and my crew really were. We kept it that way to protect her from the horrors of our truth. Of course, she had a clue, no question about it. She was far too intuitive and intelligent to be completely in the dark. But until you saw what was going down in real time? Firsthand? You could never truly grasp the barbarity.

She stood, too, and reached for the dishes. “Here, let me do those since you cooked.”

“Not gonna happen, darlin’. You go sit on the couch and relax, and I’ll do these dishes up real quick. It will only take me a second.”

She scowled at me. “You keep spoiling me this way, and I’m never going to want to leave.”

She really shouldn’t fuckin’ tempt me.

Raven roamed into the living area and flipped on the television while I loaded the dishes into the dishwasher and wiped down the counters, then I sauntered over to where she was lounged across the length of the couch. Her head was propped on a pillow on one end and her legs were stretched out to the other.

I could tell she’d gotten sleepy by the way her gorgeous face had gone laden and soft. That dark gaze lax, her long, long lashes fluttering slowly as she tossed a lazy smile up my direction where I hovered at the edge of the couch looking down at all the beauty set before me.

I wavered, unsure of what to do.

Fuck it.

I picked her legs up by the ankles, sat down, then rested her feet on my lap.

“What are you watching?” I asked, my attention drifting to the giant television that hung on the wall. She had on some show where all the chicks were dressed up in these massive, frilly outfits. Hell, the dudes pretty much were, too.

“Bridgerton.”

“Never heard of it.”

Giggling, she shook her head. “Have you even turned on Netflix recently?”

Nah. Didn’t watch TV much. Spent most of my time out in the shop, tinkering with my bikes and trucks. Doing those bogus deliveries that didn’t mean much.

“Only time I ever turn on the TV is when I’m watching Disney Junior with Nolan.”

It was good shit.

She laughed. “You’re missing out on the best things in life, Otto.”

I gazed over at her laid out on my couch.

No fuckin’ question.

She wiggled her black-painted toes as she sighed and shifted and turned her attention back to the couple who were arguing on the screen.

God help me, but I was only a man, so I started kneading my fingers into the soles of her feet.

The most delicious sound rolled up Raven’s throat. “Oh God, you’ve done it. Now there is no getting rid of me.”

“Told you that you could stay for as long as you want.”

“Forever,” she mumbled.

I dug deeper into the soles of her feet. “How the hell are your feet so soft?”

She giggled as I massaged her cute fucking toes. So damned ticklish. “It’s called self-care, Otto.”

My dick perked up at her words, though my eyes lifted in question because I was pretty sure she and I were not envisioning the same thing.

Hers did the same, though it was only because I was clearly clueless. “Pedicures?” She drew it out, nice and slow, like I was dense.

I quirked a teasing brow. “There’s only one type of self-care that I’m familiar with.”

Redness flamed her sharp cheeks, and she picked up a throw pillow and chucked it at me. An oomph left me when it hit me in the chest.

“I did not need that vision in my head, thank you very much. I’ve already been traumatized enough for one day.”

A rough chuckle rumbled out of me, and I dug around in my head for the correct kind of quip that would say playful and not the only time I do it is when I’m thinkin’ of you, except the couple on the screen were suddenly no longer arguing because the blonde chick was moaning loud while some dude ate her out.

Holy fuck.

I was off the couch in a flash because there was no chance in hell I could remain sitting next to Raven and act like a gentleman after that. Because the show was way hotter than it should have been, and I was suddenly all too eager to sit there and enjoy it with her.

Since doing that sort of enjoying was nothing but blasphemy, a line I could never cross, my frustrations were bubbling out, instead. I gestured wildly at the television. “What the hell are you watching?”

She scowled like I was ridiculous, but I could see the redness on her face had ratcheted by a thousand. Sitting up, she pointed the remote at the television and clicked it off. “Seriously, Otto, I think you might be worse than my brother. Twenty-five, remember?”

Good, let her think I was freaking out because I thought it was inappropriate she was watching it. Not because I was pummeled by the vision of getting on my knees, pushing up that dress, and doing the same.

Getting to all the sweetness underneath and sending her soaring.

“It’s not your delicate sensitivities I’m worried about. It’s mine. Disney Junior, remember?” I said it a tease.

She shook her head as she stood. “You’re ridiculous, do you know that?”

“Oh, darlin’, you don’t have the first clue.” I let as much coyness as I could muster coast into my voice.

She stretched those arms overhead, her back curving in the most delectable way. “I guess I’d better get to sleep, anyway. It’s been a really long day.” She glanced at the couch. “I’ll sleep here.”

“You know that’s not going to happen.”

“I don’t want to take your bed, Otto.”

There was no stopping myself from reaching out and brushing the pad of my thumb over the tiny, dark freckle on the edge of her upper lip. That spot that I never ceased wanting to dip in and lick.

She froze at the contact, shocked by my touch. I didn’t even try to go for light. “Want you in my bed, Raven.”

She didn’t need to know what that really meant.

She seemed to sway though, caught off guard by my words, before she slowly nodded. “I’ll find a place soon.”

Clearing my throat, I stepped back. “Come on, I’ll find you something to sleep in.”

She followed me into my bedroom, her bare feet padding up the steps behind me. Even though I could easily toss the girl over my shoulder, I still felt the weight of her like a riptide. Pulling fierce and strong, threatening to drag me under.

I crossed to my dresser, and my attention caught on the picture that I kept on display. A constant reminder of my purpose. The reason I could never give or take.

My teeth gritted, and I pulled open the top left drawer and dug around for a white tee. I turned to find Raven near my bed. Nerves ricocheted from that tight little body and battered into me.

I gulped my reaction down and took the four steps required to be standing in front of her. “Here you go. I’ll grab some fresh sheets.”

Before I could walk out, she reached out to stop me. “That’s not necessary.”

My brow furrowed. “You don’t want clean sheets?”

That lust-inducing mouth quirked, rippling with temptation. “I’m wrapped around you on your bike all the time, Otto. I think I can handle being wrapped in your sheets.”

Swore to God, the woman knew exactly what she was doing to me. She had to know the way my guts twined with a greed unlike anything I’d ever known with the suggestion that was clear in her voice.

But I knew better. She knew better.

I forced myself to take a step away before I did something I couldn’t take back. “Goodnight, Raven. Let me know if you need anything.”

I headed for the door, and her voice stopped me before I made it out. “Otto?”

I turned to look back at her from over my shoulder. “Yeah?”

“Just so you know, you’re my favorite person, too.”