Free XANDER (The Caine Brothers Book 2) by Margaret Madigan Page B

hands on his chest and gave him an angry shove. He stumbled back a step from the force of the push. “Why do you have to be a Huntsman? Of all the clubs, why that one? Anyone else and we could be together for one night or forever, and there’d be no consequence.”
    Xander came right back to her and grabbed her by the shoulders, holding her tight and putting his face within an inch of hers. The force of his words washed over her. “I don’t care who your family is, and it doesn’t matter what club I belong to. If we want each other—and don’t you doubt for a minute that I want you—for a day or forever, whatever we want—nothing will stop us. What’s between us is between us, and nobody else’s business. Ever. You got that?”
    His eyes burned with determination and warmed her heart. So at least he didn’t want her just to get back at her father, which was actually a ridiculous assumption anyway since he hadn’t even known who she was when they’d met and had sex. He wanted her for her, the same way she wanted him.
    “But what about Prez? What about the Huntsmen and Ravagers hating each other? Will you leave the Huntsmen? If we both renounce involvement with the clubs, they’d leave us alone.”
    “Prez is never going to leave you alone. You’re his daughter. And he’s never going to leave me alone because he hates me. Now more than ever since I helped beat up his distribution manager. I’m safer with the Huntsmen. They’ve got my back.”
    “Why does he hate you so much?”
    “He and Mel have some sort of long-standing feud. I have no idea what it is. They just hate each other. But a couple of years ago the Huntsmen broke up a gun running racket Prez had going, and I was involved in that. It cost him a lot of money and he’s never forgiven me. Now all he has is the drugs, and he’s pissed at me for interfering with that by hurting Hank.”
    “He has no hold over me. I was never really a member of the club, anyway. When I got old enough to refuse to, I stopped riding with them, and left as soon as I could get away. I can’t tell you how many times Prez and I fought over all the illegal shit he was into, but of course, why would he listen to me? I’m only his daughter.”
    Xander held her gaze, forcing her to look him in the eye. Their blue depths mesmerized her, begging her for honesty. “Now that you’ve found me, the big question is, do you really want to take the chance of shackling yourself to another club?”
    He was right. They were on the precipice of something, and she had the chance to walk away or dive in. If she dove in she might just find something she never imagined possible with someone wonderful, but at what cost? If she walked away, she’d be free of the biker life—the violence, the illegal shit, the ridiculous testosterone-fueled drama—but at what cost? Was it possible that not every club was like the Ravagers? The Huntsmen seemed to care about people, and about their reputation. They ran a reputable bar, and they made an honorable effort to help people who needed it. Maybe she’d just grown up in a bad club and didn’t know any better.
    “Before you’re a Huntsman or I’m a Ravager, you’re Xander and I’m Gracie. That’s all that matters, isn’t it? If there’s anything between us worth exploring, that’s more important than either of the clubs, and we can figure out how to make the rest of it work. I’ve never felt this way about anyone and frankly, it scares the hell out of me, but because it’s so unusual I can’t just throw it away. I want to see what it means. If there’s anything to it.”
    Xander cupped her face in his hands, and leaned his forehead on hers. “I was hoping you’d say that. I’ve known you two days and I feel like someone hit me with a stupid stick for even thinking some of the things I’ve been thinking. But I can’t get enough of you. You’re like some new addiction I don’t want to get over.”
    His breath puffed in her face