Riding Steele: Aftershock Read Free Page A

again.
    Donovan’s words ripped through her brain and she froze. Panic welled in her.
    She shoved away Steele’s arm and pushed past him, scurrying from the shower. She grabbed a towel as she hurried out the door and into her bedroom, closing the door behind her.
    *
    Steele’s gut clenched as the door closed behind Laurie.
    Fuck, he was pushing too much. But he had been careful with her for days, treating her like a fragile doll. Loving, sensitive, and understanding.
    He had only been trying to ease them gently into what he knew they both wanted. And needed.
    When she looked at him, he could see the hunger in her eyes. She wanted physical intimacy just as much as he did. Maybe even more. But she was frightened. And traumatized by that bastard.
    He wanted to help her, but he didn’t know what to do.
    He washed his hair and scrubbed his body, then stepped out of the shower and dried off. With a towel casually draped around his waist, he went into the living room and pulled out some clean clothes from his bag and donned them.
    He could definitely use come coffee. He walked into her kitchen and found coffee and filters in the cupboard then put on a pot. As he waited for the pot to fill, he leaned against the counter and glanced around. A flowery picture was on the wall and a silk flower arrangement on the small rectangular table in the corner. A shelf about a foot down from the ceiling held delicate teacups on saucers, and a bookshelf of cookbooks was adorned with little plaques with homey-type sayings.
    This was definitely a woman’s home. Very feminine and it gave him a very different view of Laurie than the striking woman in the stilettos and short club-style dress—that her asshole ex had picked out for her—and then the jeans and biker-girl Tshirts, which she’d borrowed from Raven.
    He lifted the edge of a frilly, lace-edged pot holder that hung from a hook on the wall and it struck him. He really didn’t know anything about Laurie. When she’d been riding with them, she’d been outside her element. Fleeing from an abusive ex, and the law. Living on the edge and just coping the best she could.
    This—he took the pot holder in his hand, staring at the words HOME SWEET HOME embroidered in a delicate script—was who she was. She wasn’t a woman like Raven who would be willing to give up her life and ride around with a band of bikers, living from day to day. Laurie wanted stability. She wanted a home.
    She wanted to be safe.
    His heart compressed.
    She couldn’t find that with him. He was a nomad. Always moving. Never wanting to stay in one place. When he was younger, he’d stayed in Chicago to look out for his sister, to give her a sense of home, but once Chrissy was gone …
    He shook his head. He wouldn’t have changed those years trying to help her, but they’d done no good. And Laurie was a totally different situation. He was sure she’d learned from her mistakes and wouldn’t get into a relationship with a man like Donovan again. A man who would abuse her.
    Fuck, a man who would dominate her.
    What the hell had he been thinking? She didn’t want a man in her life who would try to control her. She found it exciting, sure, but who was he kidding?
    She couldn’t be in a relationship with a dominant man. Not now. Not after what that bastard had done to her.
    He opened the door to the cupboard and stared at the cups. They were all pretty, adorned with flowers, butterflies, kittens. He grabbed one with a fluffy kitten staring out a window, with another staring in. It was adorable.
    It was totally Laurie.
    He poured a cup of coffee and walked into the living room and sat down.
    *
    Laurie drew in a deep breath and opened the door to her bedroom. She had to face Steele, and explain what had happened.
    She walked into the living room, dressed in her own jeans for the first time in over a week, and a floral halter top. Steele sat on the couch, looking totally incongruous sitting in her distinctly feminine living