Read Walking the Line for Free Online

coffee at Circular Quay on a Monday morning. She hated
sports and politics and moths. And she adored city life in
Sydney.
    She’d been so animated at one point, she’d
started spouting facts about the Cross like an encyclopedia and
while I hadn’t been particularly interested in learning the El
Alamein Fountain’s dandelion design done by a New Zealand architect
had been copied around the world, I was riveted to her every word
because she’d come alive.
    Who knew the silent, truculent woman of the
past week loved to talk, and our six courses flew by. During each
and every one, I found myself falling under her spell.
    What made Ellie more alluring was the fact
she had no idea how goddamn gorgeous she was. Strip away the black
leather and the plain singlet tops, the make-up and the chunky
jewelry, and the invisible armor that she wore with pride, and
Ellie was beautiful on the inside.
    I wished I could articulate half of what I
was feeling as we walked side by side, so I settled for entwining
my fingers with hers instead.
    She didn’t pull away. In fact, she sidled
closer, her hip bumping mine, making me a little crazy. Because
while I’d been enthralled by her chatty side over dinner, it didn’t
stop me wanting to take her up against the nearest wall.
    “What are you thinking?” she asked, glancing
at me from the corner of her eye.
    “You don’t want to know,” I said, my grip
inadvertently tightening on her hand and she yelped.
    “Sorry.” I eased back on the grip and held
her hand up, running my thumb over the thick silver band she wore
on the middle finger of her left hand. “Did you know this design
looks Celtic?”
    “Hmm,” she mumbled and removed her hand
quickly, like she didn’t want me studying the ring any closer.
Interesting.
    “You always wear it. Sentimental value?”
    She gnawed on her bottom lip and damned if I
didn’t get a boner that made me lightheaded, that much blood
drained south.
    “Something like that,” she said, looking
increasingly uncomfortable.
    “From an old boyfriend?” I persisted, needing
to distract myself from the increasing urge to push up against her
and let her feel exactly what affect she had on me.
    “To forget an old boyfriend,” she muttered,
shaking her head, sadness down-turning her mouth as I inwardly
cursed for putting a dampener on this evening when things had been
going so well.
    Needing to get us back onto more stable
ground, I captured her chin in my hand and raised it, so she had no
option but to look at me. “I can think of better ways to help you
forget.”
    My implication clear, she stared at me for an
eternity, her expression unreadable in the darkness cast by the
alley behind me.
    When the silence reached uncomfortable, she
did the unthinkable.
    Splayed both palms on my chest.
    Pushed me backwards.
    Slammed her mouth on mine.
    My back hit the wall but the pain ricocheting
down my spine was quickly replaced by a fireball of lust so swift,
so overpowering, I almost staggered.
    My hands spanned her waist and held her tight
as we kissed like two people who hadn’t done this in a long time.
Passionate. Desperate. Frantic. Her pelvis grinding against mine.
My cock straining. My balls aching for release.
    She hooked a leg around my waist and I slid
my hand between us. Wished she didn’t wear leather. Because as I
pressed against her clit through the layers, she growled, a purely
primitive sound that made me want to fuck her right here, right
now.
    Wrenching my mouth from hers was the hardest
thing I’d ever done. “Need to get home. Now.”
    As the madness of the moment passed, I
expected her to pass off what had just happened as an aberration,
something that could never happen again.
    To my immense relief, she nodded. “Let’s
go.”
    I didn’t need to be asked twice.

CHAPTER NINE
     
    ELLIE
     
     
    The taxi ride home should’ve sobered me
up.
    Not that I was drunk as such, because we’d
been at Maik’s for hours and I’d topped up my