***Ramrod***

 

I reach out and help her off my bike, leading her toward my house. It’s not much, a log home I built myself. It’s behind a row of homes that are occupied by my Prez, VP, and two other brothers. There are three steps that lead to a small porch with two chairs and a table in between. When we step inside my house, I guide her toward the sofa; the fireplace sits across from it.

After she sits down with a dazed look on her face, I make my hands busy with building a fire. I’ve got it going with just a few twists of my hands. It’s a routine thing for me. When I glance back at her, I see she’s hugging herself while staring into the flames.

“Simplicity is the key,” I murmur, making her look up. I raise my hands and wave around. “I made this myself. Warmth, fireplace…kitchen for cooking, shower across from it, large bed above us. I like simple things. That’s it, all that a guy like me needs. You can have my bed and I’ll take the couch.”

A small smile paints her lips. “Thank you. And your house is very cozy.”

Cozy? Most definitely not a word I would use to describe my place. I mean, I don’t have shit hanging on the walls, fancy curtains, or even pillows on the sofa that’s a plain dark gray rectangular chunk with linen and wooden legs. I try to look around my home and see it through her eyes. Nope…still don’t…well, maybe if you were walking on a dark road like she was a moment ago…yeah, she’s right. It is kinda cozy.

I jab my chin in the direction of my tiny as shit bathroom. “You can take a shower if you like. Towels are underneath the sink. I’ll grab some sweatpants and a shirt of mine you can change into if you’re okay with that.”

Doll releases a deep sigh. “I would like that very much. Thanks.”

Turning around, I’m across the living room in four steps to open a closet. I wasn’t kidding when I said it was a small house. The top floor literally only has space for a bed, so I keep my clothes downstairs. I hold out a blue pair of sweatpants and a black, worn out t-shirt with the red Broken Deeds patch on the front.

She takes it and heads into the direction of my shower. Well, it’s more of a…

Her giggle fills my house and ignites a shockwave through my cock. “This is your shower?” she asks, laughter lacing every word.

I step up behind her as if to check and see if we’re talking about the same one. “Um, yeah. It does the job perfectly, you should try it.”

Doll turns, and it’s the first time I see her with an honest to God smile on her face. It shoots straight through my heart. Her caramel eyes are sweet and resourceful with a hint of mischief. A breath leaves her body and with that it seems like she releases a load of heavy baggage.

“Thank you.” She gives me those two words as if I just handed her the world on a silver platter.

I shrug my shoulders. “No big deal. I’m just offering what you need right now. Kinda like my wine barrel shower. Tiny, yet fitting.”

Full-blown laughter tumbles from her mouth and in a flash, she wraps her hands around my waist and presses her amazing body against me. I’m actually frozen to the ground by her reaction, because it’s such a turnaround from how I found her a little over an hour ago.

Instead of caging her in with a hug, I choose to cup the back of her head with my palm, placing a soft kiss on her head. Immediately she tenses up and steps back. Her arms are now hugging herself and her gaze hits the floor. Her brown hair, all messy and knotted, falls in wild strings in front of her face. With the light in my bathroom, I notice there are some blonde highlights here and there.

I need a moment and slide my gaze to the left, looking at my own reflection in the mirror. Sun-kissed skin, goatee…I flex my biceps. Oh, yeah. Sorry, not sorry. I’m an addict when it comes to mirrors. It’s my ego’s weakness. Muscles check, because…hello…muscles are distracting. Shit. What was I doing? Right, the goddess standing in front of me, no matter what state she’s in, has got my attention. She even manages to shake me from my ego’s mirror moment.

I slide my eyes back and connect with hers. Caramel color, a swirl of dark brown, like mine. Only hers radiate the sweetness that’s hidden in there. Pure and utter sugary sweet. Although it’s somehow dimmed now, less shiny, and I bet it’s because of what she went through before I pulled her off that road.

“Okay, sugar.” I take a step back and point at the shower. “You go and get cleaned up.”

Soft brown strands bounce a little, and with a timid voice she adds, “Thank you.”

“I’m gonna give you my back now and won’t turn around or peek, I promise. I can say I’m sorry for not having a door, but to be honest, there isn’t enough space and it gets all damp and shit...yeah, no door, won’t peek, but there’s a curtain you can close up. Not much space when you turn on the water, but I promise you I’ve got a state of the art system that gives you hot water in seconds, yeah?”

“Couldn’t ask for more.” She smiles and only now shrugs out of my leather jacket she still had on to cover up her ripped shirt.

That fucking reminds me. “You need a plastic bag or something for your clothes? And I need to ask you, Doll, because this is a one-time are you absolutely fucking sure thing. Positive you don’t need to go to the cops, gather evidence and so on? File a report on the shit that happened to you?”

Her eyes fill with fear again and the quick shake of her head assures it. “No. No cops, I’m sure.”

“Relax, Doll. No one is gonna hurt you. I’ll make sure of it. You can stay with me for as long as you like, or I’ll tag along if you wanna go somewhere else. I swear I will keep an eye on you from now on because,” I release a quick breath and drag a hand through my spiky black hair. “You just met me, but shit…you gotta understand how protective I feel right fucking now. I’m ready to kill whoever did this to you. And I don’t even know what happened, but I can somewhat guess just looking at you. But it’s not up to me…what I mean is…just know that you’re not alone in this. I’ve got your back. Whatever you need.”

A lone tear slides down her cheek and she does nothing to hide it or wipe it away. “Thank you.”

Aw, hell.

“Stop sayin’ thanks. I’m not a nice person. I’m a biker who loves his own muscles more than his ego. Seriously, there isn’t a soft thing about me. See?” I give a quick flex before I lower my arm. “Hard as fuck.”

I should have said painfully hard, because it feels like my cock would like to show off some pushups, ins, push…fuck. That right there makes me a freak, because she clearly had a rough encounter in her life and I’m imagining stripping her naked and pressing her against the wall as I bury myself deep between the fine heaven that’s located between her legs.

I give my head a little shake to clear it. “I’m gonna make us some tea.” Shit, that didn’t come out manly enough, still painting me off as a softy.

“You might look hard, but everything you’ve done since you’ve pulled me off that road tonight has been sweet.” Appreciation laces her voice. “It’s in the eyes; yours remind me of chocolate, the kind with...”

“Caramel inside?” Please say no, please say no.

“That’s the one.” She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath while I groan. As if we’re both imagining the chocolates right in front of us, taking a whiff to savor them before the goodness melts on your tongue.

Turning on my heels, I throw the words over my shoulder. “Shower first. Then I’ll have that tea, and caramel filled chocolates, waiting for you.”

It’s just a few steps into the kitchen and like I promised her, it’s my back she’s getting. I have to make myself busy and not think about her and what seems like an addiction for caramel filled chocolates. That’s why my mind did an internal chant with ‘please say no’. Because my cabinets are stocked with them.

Hell yeah. That’s the shit I cheat with on my diet. I’m bulking right now, so I’m a bit more flexible when it comes to food. I know women have a link with food for comfort when things turn to shit. I’ve got the kettle on the stove for hot water and grab a bag of caramel filled chocolates and place it on the table. I also add some walnuts and somehow, this isn’t enough.

Walking back into the kitchen, I realize that I have some leftover soup. I have no clue if Doll would like to have some tomato soup, but I’m always hungry, so I decide to heat it up and make some sandwiches to go with it. Besides putting shit she can choose from on the table, I’m also keeping my hands, and with that, my head busy. Because I can’t start to comprehend what she might have gone through.

“Oh, something smells amazing.” Her sweet voice is a soft caress in my ear.

I glance over my shoulder. “Go and give your ass some rest, Doll. I’ll bring you some of my homemade tomato soup if you like.”

“Do you need some help?” she asks as she hungrily eyes the sandwiches. “The soup smells amazing.”

I grab the plate with the sandwiches and hold it out for her to take. “Here, can you carry this one? I’ll put the soup in two bowls and bring them right over.”

She takes them and walks to the couch. I’ve put the tea in two cups and placed them on the table already. I know it might all be overload when I’m eyeing the full table.

I give her a tight smile. “Sorry. I’m a bit out of my element here.”

The corner of Doll’s mouth twitches. “I guess we both are, so that’s actually comforting somehow.”

When I’ve put the soup into two bowls, I stalk over and decide to sit on the floor instead of taking a seat on the couch next to her. I’m a huge dude and would take up more than half the couch. We would be touching at the thigh and that’s not something that will benefit the both of us or this situation. She needs to feel safe, and I don’t need to feel as horny as I already am. So yes, hiding my lower body underneath the table is the smartest idea at this moment.

I’m also itching to make small talk while steering to some down low questions about what happened to her earlier tonight. But that might scare her off too, and fuck “Your toes are adorable.”

Her cheeks pink up and she snatches a caramel filled chocolate and tucks her feet underneath her ass before she says a quick thank you and pops the chocolate in her mouth. The way she sighs in contentment, closes her eyes, and savors the taste of sweetness?

Yeah, my cock went from hard to steel and the level of horny went from thrilling to full-blown need to possess and claim. I force myself to eat my soup and ignore my own body that’s screaming for action. All of this is probably due to the fact that I’ve been craving a family of my own. Not banging chicks by the dozen and saving myself for the one woman I want to spend the rest of my time on this earth with.

It can’t be the pretty damsel in distress with me here; I have to shake it off somehow. She doesn’t need a man with a dream and a planned future. What she needs is to think for herself and get her life back in order. That’s what I’ll be for her, a helping hand. Nothing more, nothing less.