Free Strip You Bare by Maisey Yates

a man she didn’t even like. Had never experienced a kiss that stole her ability to think.
    She had to get her shit together. There were no two ways about it. Because it wasn’t like she was giving her virginity to some biker asshole who wouldn’t get the hell out of her house.
    No way.
    Some guy who would only be good for hard, sweaty sex. She didn’t even know if she wanted anything like that.
    Typically, she was anti-sweating, so she doubted she’d feel differently simply because there was a naked man involved.
    She shrugged off the deepening ache that intensified at the thought.
    Sarah had to get her head on straight before she encountered Micah again. He was unpredictable, and he’d implied that he’d be back here tonight.
    Which meant she better leave now while she could. And by the time she saw him tomorrow, the kiss would be forgotten.
    The simple fact was, whether or not she wanted to forget it for a few moments or not, she was a good girl. And good girls didn’t do biker boys.
    No way in hell.

Chapter 7
    “I’m starting to doubt we’re going to find anything out with me just hanging around the Delacroix mansion with my dick out waiting for shit to happen,” Micah said, by way of greeting when he entered the Priory only a few moments after leaving Sarah. The impression of her body burned against his, her lips leaving behind a trail of fire on his skin.
    “Then zip your pants up and keep standing there,” Leon said, leaning against the bar.
    Ajax and Travis were silent. Travis’s girl, Billie, was sitting on his lap, her arm flung around his shoulders, her hand on his chest. The casual contact irritated Micah because he had just cut off some very un-casual contact. And his body was giving him hell about it.
    Sure, she had been the one to stop things. But he could’ve pressed. A few more touches, a few more kisses, and she would have been his. There was no question. She wanted him, he was certain of that. Oh, she didn’t want to want him, but the fact remained that she did. He could have seduced all the resistance right out of her. Turned her no into a very emphatic yes. It’s what he would have done back in the glory days of the Deacons.
    But it wasn’t what Micah Carpenter did. Not the Micah Carpenter who had made a name for himself in business in San Francisco. Who knew how to appeal to sophisticated women. Give them just enough rough to feel like they had an experience, but not enough to scare them away. Micah Carpenter, as he was now, had again, and he knew how to play it. Flawlessly.
    But here? Things were different.
    He was different.
    Whatever was happening between himself and Sarah wasn’t a game. He wasn’t trying to scare her, wasn’t trying to give her a thrill with a bad-boy fantasy. It was beyond him. And that was unacceptable.
    The only person who was allowed to lead him around by the balls was Ajax. And that was only because Ajax would detach his balls and shove them down his throat. Right before killing him.
    “I don’t think my dick being out is the reason we aren’t getting any information. I think it’s because your cousin is nothing more than an empty-headed rich bitch who doesn’t have any hidden depths for us to plumb.”
    Micah was being an ass. And he didn’t care. He was here against his will, taking care of things he didn’t want to take care of, dealing with desire for a woman he didn’t want. He wasn’t exactly in a good space to behave.
    Blue—who was for all intents and purposes the world’s most fucking terrifying monk—rarely reacted to things the way you might guess. Some days he would simply stare at you, shift his weight to the other foot, and let a slight pass him by.
    Other days he would just straight reach down your throat and pull your spine out through your mouth.
    Micah wasn’t certain which Blue he was staring down today. He was pretty attached to his spine, so he had to hope it was the former.
    “Doesn’t much surprise me,” he said,