This Savage Love: A Bad Boy Romance Boxed Set

by Kathryn Thomas

  From the first moment she had laid eyes on him, he had radiated an almost feral sex appeal that was heightened by his complete unconcern towards that fact. Kristina had no doubt that Keith was aware of his effect on women, he just wasn’t consumed by it, nor was he impressed by it. It was this attitude that had been the deciding factor. It lent itself to his almost translucent blue eyes, and under the heat of their gaze, Kristina found that her will turned to putty.

  When he pushed himself inside her without invitation, Kristina questioned her own sanity in allowing this to happen, but her doubts were sucked out of her with every thrust, as Keith rammed into her with single-minded purpose.

  Kristina had never been with a man like him before. He was not gentle or tender. His touch was not soft or caring. He was hard and brutal, creating little spasms of pain in a great turmoil of pleasure. Strangely, Kristina welcomed the sting of pressure with each unexpected move that Keith made. It made her feel as though she had been forced awake from a long sleep and now she was finally living.

  The music ripped around them like a tidal wave, but Kristina was only aware of her own breathing mixed with his. His breath was low and focused, while hers kept rising in pitch until it became a scream. She could only grab at the hard muscles of his back and ride out the tendrils of ecstasy that were rising within her.

  His hands felt impossibly large, as they gripped at her hips, hiking her legs around his waist so that he could grab her ass. No man had ever touched her that way before. Kristina wondered whether she would have even allowed it with another man. Somehow she had expected this from him; it was why she had allowed herself to be so easily convinced. She wanted the danger and the animal lust that he promised with his intoxicating eyes, his ripped body, and the tattoos that graced his arms and chest.

  Suddenly and without warning, Keith pulled out and stepped away from her. Breathing heavily, Kristina could only stare back at him and wonder what she had done wrong.

  “Remove your clothes,” Keith commanded, as though she had no choice in the matter, and by the way he said it, Kristina felt as though she didn’t.

  It didn’t matter in the end, because the lack of choice did nothing to take away from the desire she had to obey him, at least in this one thing. She looked down at the dress she was wearing. It was pulled down at the chest to reveal her breasts and pulled up at the waist to reveal her cunt. Kristina pushed it down over her hips until she was standing naked in front of him.

  He took only a second to gaze at her body, and then he approached her again. He grabbed her hard around the waist and turned her around so that she was facing away from him. Then he pushed her against the cold table that Kristina had not even noticed was there and entered her from behind. Her breasts were pressed against the raw wood when Keith grabbed at her entangled hair, making a ponytail with his hand to steady himself as he pushed himself deeper and deeper inside her.

  Kristina closed her eyes as her body shivered with convulsions of pleasure. She had come only a few times since she had starting having sex, and even then, she had never come so quickly or so violently. She could feel his hands on her ass, squeezing hard and unapologetically. Kristina expected him to slow down once she had climaxed, but he seemed oblivious to her satisfaction. He kept ramming himself into her until Kristina felt the wave of heat and passion build inside her again and she realized she was going to have another orgasm.

  She felt a strange wave of panic overwhelm her as she wondered how she was ever going to fuck another man again. Keith had shamed every man who had come before him, and he would probably shame every man who came after. Kristina understood suddenly why so many people succumbed to dangerous choices. The dangerous choices were the ones that offered the most pleasure and freedom and passion. They were the things that left you breathless and delirious and craving for more. They were the things that sucked you in despite your better judgment because the thought of going back to an ordinary life where responsible decisions were made just seemed mundane and tedious and soul sucking.

  Kristina realized in that moment that she had wanted Keith to fuck her the moment she had set eyes on him. Instinctively, she had made the choice before her conscious mind had ever become aware of the fact. Which was why when he had taken her by the hand and pulled her away from the flashing lights of the party, Kristina had followed him without question or complaint. She could tell from the way he pushed her through the door that he had not planned to do this. He had desired her in that moment, and he knew that he could have her. It had been written in her eyes.

  Kristina could feel the trail of heat he was leaving on her skin every time his hands moved over her; she could almost feel the bruises that his lips left on her breasts and neck. He left a trail of imprints in his wake, as though he were leaving his mark, making sure that Kristina would never have the chance, or the choice to forget him.

  Chapter One

  Kristina

  Kristina blinked her eyes open, wondering momentarily where she was. The floor was cold and dusty beneath her, and for a wild moment she thought she had fallen off her bed onto the dorm room floor. Once her eyes focused, she started to remember the night before and the unexpected turn it had taken.

  Slowly, she pushed herself to her feet, realizing that her muscles were sore and her body ached from the uncomfortable way she had slept. Still, despite the discomfort, she could feel the pit of satisfaction that rested within her. She did not care that Keith had left her alone in the dusty backrooms of Lee and Seton after he had finished fucking her. She had never expected anything more than sex from him. It was the unspoken deal they had struck.

  Kristina peered around for the dress she had been wearing last night. It was a simple black mini that she had thrown on at the last minute when she had decided to accept the invitation to the party the previous day. She found the dress discarded by the door of the room, and she remembered how she had stepped out of it meekly the night before.

  Kristina picked it up and put it back on before she peered through the blinds of the room. It was early, and she wondered if she could get back home without anyone noticing she was still there, and in the same clothes she had been seen in last night. Gingerly, she pushed open the door and tiptoed out without putting her shoes back on. She slipped into the bathroom a few doors down and locked the door behind her.

  The mirror was a little cloudy, but the reflection looking back at her was clear enough. Kristina had expected bags under her eyes and creases on her face, but she actually looked pretty decent. Her dark blue eyes were wide, without any trace of weariness, and her cheeks looked flushed and pink. Her dark brown hair lay in tangles around her face and shoulders, but she was able to smooth out the knots with her fingers. Quickly, she splashed water on her face and brushed her teeth with a finger before she put her shoes on and slipped back out of the bathroom.

  The long garage of Lee and Seton Motors was as quiet as she had ever heard it. Kristina moved into her cubical and sat at her tiny desk for a moment while she stretched out her muscles. She knew she couldn’t walk home in her heels, so she picked up the phone and dialed Marie’s number. As she got connected, she waited for five rings before she gave up and put the phone back down. She knew that Marie had been at a party of her own and she had probably come in late last night.

  Kristina sighed and leaned back in her seat. She closed her eyes and took a moment to appreciate the silence, and almost immediately, images of the night before starting popping into her head. It was the kind of night that demanded a playback, the kind of thing that required long hours of replay. Kristina was thankful for her vivid memory. She was able to picture exactly what Keith Lee had looked like when he had first seen her from across the room of Lee and Seton.

  The party had been held in the largest room adjacent to the garage and the atmosphere had completely transformed. The lights had been turned down low and pulsing music swamped the whole building. There were tables for booze set up in the corners of the room and not much else. As
the night wore on, the party had spilled into the smaller rooms of the building, and as the crowd thinned she had caught sight of Keith.

  She wasn’t sure what had initially made her accept the party invitation she had received. She had been working at Lee and Seton Motors for all of two days as a receptionist and she barely knew anyone there, but her upcoming graduation had spurred a sudden thirst that Kristina herself could barely understand. It was as though she realized she had come to the end of a huge milestone in life and she had only a handful of experiences to boast of.

  This realization had filled her with panic, and she had sat on her bed in her empty dorm room and reflected on her college experience and all the years that had passed her by. Her childhood had been uneventful, and her teenage years had been spent being a model student, striving to get into a good college. Now with graduation looming, an inexplicable fire had been lit in the pit of Kristina’s stomach. She had no specific experience in mind; it was simply the need to feel something. It was the need to feel some sense of freedom, elation, wild abandon that she knew for certain had evaded her.

  It was practicality that had led her to the interview at Seton and Lee Motors, but it was her new mindset that had led her to accept the job—even after she had heard about the rumors that the auto repair shop was actually a front for shadier dealings. She had passed the shop a few times while walking to campus, and she had seen the intimidating, large motorcycles parked outside. She had always been curious, but this was the first time she had ever had the inclination or the opportunity to pursue that curiosity.

  The first time she had seen Keith, he had been standing in the middle of the body shop and she had been sitting behind her desk, hidden from view. The sight of him had sent a jolt through her body; the attraction was instant and unfamiliar. She had found other men attractive before, she had had crushes before, but this was different. The attraction was so pronounced, so filled with lust that it was almost a living thing inside her. It coursed through her with powerful wanting, and Kristina had felt herself moisten.

  Within minutes of seeing him, Kristina found out that the auto shop doubled as meeting grounds for a motorcycle club called the Iron Dragons, and Keith was their vice president and road captain. The name of the gang was not unfamiliar to her; she had come across the name occasionally on the local news, but it was always sporadic and it had never managed to hold her attention. Faced with Keith’s rugged good looks and careless nonchalance, Kristina had cursed herself for not paying closer attention.

  Seeing him again was another great motivation for accepting the party invitation, and the moment Kristina had watched Keith notice her at the party, she knew that something was about to happen. He had stared her down for what seemed like an eternity, and then finally he had approached her. There was no subtly to the way he moved or the way he spoke to her. It was direct and completely transparent.

  “Come with me,” he had said.

  Then, without even waiting for her reply, he had reached out and taken her hand by the wrist. He walked her straight into the back rooms of Lee and Seton, and the moment the door closed behind them, he had pushed her up against the wall and pulled up her dress. Kristina had let him take control, something she wasn’t altogether used to, and she had found that the experience was unlike any she had had before. Usually, she was not as docile with her sexual partners, but instinct told her that she had reason to be where Keith was concerned. It was obvious he was well practiced. He knew what he was doing, and obeying him would only serve to heighten her pleasure.

  Kristina opened her eyes at the sound of a door swinging back on its hinges. She sat up in her seat and leaned around to see who had just entered the garage. She could make out Miles’s lanky body and slightly hunched posture. He was the garage owner, but Kristina knew that he was also the leader and president of the Iron Dragons. He had been the one who had hired her, and Kristina had been somewhat taken back by his demeanor. He was soft-spoken, polite, and extremely quiet, not at all what you would expect from the leader of a motorcycle gang. Kristina watched as Miles walked into the heart of the garage, followed by Keith.

  Kristina felt herself shrink back into her seat so that she wouldn’t be seen. She allowed herself a moment to appreciate the rippling muscles of Keith’s arms and the way his hair held changing flecks of brown hidden amongst the gold. They were deep in conversation, and neither one noticed her. She was just about to rise when the sound of her phone made her jump. From the corner of her eye, she noticed both Miles and Keith’s head turn in her direction. Without making eye contact, she reached for the phone.

  “Lee and Seton Motors,” Kristina said, making her voice bright but neutral. “How can I help you?”

  “This Becca?” a raspy voice on the other end asked impertinently.

  Kristina hesitated for a moment. “No, it’s not.”

  “Seton hired a new one then?”

  “Is there a reason you called?” Kristina asked, starting to get impatient with his tone.

  She heard him chuckle on the other end. “Yeah, there was a reason I called… I want you to relay a message to your bosses.”

  “I’m listening,” Kristina said pointedly.

  “I would like them to know that I plan on liquidating assets for the Dragons, something I am sure they will appreciate.”

  Kristina wasn’t sure what exactly that message meant, but she didn’t feel good about it. “And your name?” was all she asked in response.

  “Kovic,” he replied with a smile in his tone. “Anton Kovic. I would get used to that name if I were you, little darling… you’re going to be hearing a lot more of it.”

  “Is that all?” Kristina asked bluntly.

  “I like the sound of your voice,” Anton said smoothly. “Do me a favor and describe what you look like?”

  Kristina’s response was to hang up. She sensed that her reaction would only amuse him and that annoyed her further. She glanced up and noticed that Keith was still in the garage, but Miles had disappeared. She got up and walked around her desk towards the garage.

  “Hi,” Kristina said, trying to hide the slight awkwardness she felt in her own voice.

  Keith looked up and nodded at her.

  “I just got a call,” Kristina relayed.

  “I heard.”

  “It was from someone named Anton Kovic,” Kristina told him.

  Keith’s head snapped up towards her, and Kristina knew instantly that this guy was just as much of an asshole as he sounded, at least according to the expression on Keith’s face.

  “What did he say?” Keith asked in a hard voice.

  “He wanted me to tell you and Miles that he planned on… liquidating assets for the Dragons…”

  Keith held her gaze for a moment and nodded. “Thanks for letting me know.”

  Kristina nodded.

  “Are you supposed to be working today?” Keith asked abruptly.

  “No, it’s my day off,” Kristina replied. “I just… never got home after last night.”

  His expression didn’t change; he just nodded before focusing his attention back on the bike he had been examining before Kristina had walked in. She was about to turn away when she remembered that Keith could probably give her a ride home. She debated for a few seconds, but in the end she decided she simply did not want to walk home.

  “Umm…. Sorry, I don’t mean to bug you… but is it possible to get a lift home?” Kristina asked tentatively.

  His expression remained impassive, and it almost looked as though he were deliberating something. Kristina was starting to believe that he was actually going to turn her down when he finally nodded.

  “You live on campus?” he asked gruffly.

  “It’s probably a fifteen minute ride from here,” Kristina told him.

  “With me, it’ll be five,” Keith said confidently as he breezed past her. “Come on.”

  Kristina followed him outside to where his motorcycle was parked. She had never been on one and the idea
of riding one now was exhilarating.

  “She’s a beauty,” Kristina commented sincerely.

  “She is,” Keith said and nodded as he swung one leg over the bike and gestured for her to do the same.

  Kristina settled herself behind him, and she felt another pang of longing overtake her, as she wrapped her arms around Keith’s waist. He was all muscle; she could tell despite the fabric that separated them. He revved the engine, and Kristina felt her pulse race up in synchronization. She wondered if their night together weighed on his mind as heavily as it weighed on hers. Somehow she didn’t think so.

  Chapter Two

  Keith

  Keith had lost the ability to sleep a long time ago. Now days, even if he tried, even if he was truly exhausted, he was always up before the sun, his mind whirling open even before his eyes could. He hated those illusive moments between sleeping and awakening. It was always in those moments when he was most likely to forget the loss in his past, and realization was always a knife in his chest.