My balls feel like they are about to burst. Our little game of cat and mouse is arousing as hell. It is taking everything in me not to bend her over that table, peel down those skinny jeans, and shove my dick in her.

She isn’t ready for that, no matter how much I’m. I go back to my drawing table, and she goes back to her desk. It’s funny how quickly that desk became hers, but it is. She is quiet for a while; I don’t hear the steady clicking of the keyboard that says she is lost in her story.

I need to give her space, time to think, and time for her frustration to boil like mine. She isn’t in a hurry to write any more than I’m in a hurry to get back to sketching, but I push down my need and force myself to work on the tattoo I’m sketching for her.

It isn’t long before clients start coming in and Jaci is typing away at whatever world she is creating. I find it funny that someone so set apart and shy about the world is writing about bikers.

Jaci has no clue she’ll be getting a dose of reality tonight. The bar she is going to is a local hangout for the Vindictive Bastards MC. None of the brothers will touch her, but they’d want to. She is clueless about her own appeal. Tonight will be a lesson she won’t soon forget and hopefully get me one step closer to breaking her walls down for good.

My cell rings pulling me away from the sketch I’m working on, “Buzzard,” I say quietly getting up and moving to the back room.

“The girls know to be on their best behavior tonight. The brothers do too.”

“No. The only thing they need to be discreet about is sex. Other than that, it’s a normal night. She’s got to find out sooner rather than later about my life. I’d rather get this over with now.”

“You’re serious about her Prez?”

“Yes. If any of the brothers want to go flirt with her, they can. Buy her a drink or shoot the shit, but any appendage they lay on her, and I’ll break the damn thing off. Make sure that’s damn clear Buzzard. Not one fucking finger touches her.”

“You want us to hit on your woman, but not touch her, got it. I’ll let the brothers know. The women aren’t going to be happy you’re serious about someone. Giselle’s been coming around since you gave her those piercings. She wants in the club with the women.”

“I don’t give a fuck. She can hang out with the whores all she wants, but I’m out for the time being. Jaci may run the other direction when she finds out just what she’s getting herself involved with.”

“You might want to have Hollywood come to the bar. It might make her more comfortable.”

“Maybe. I’ll shoot him a text.” Unfortunately, Buzzard is right. Hollywood always seems to make women more comfortable. Hopefully, he will make Jaci feel at ease since she’s already met him.

I hung up with Buzzard and go back to work. The club is the other part of my life. We aren’t into anything threatening for an outlaw club. Drugs and guns aren’t a part of our business. We are merely there to be a family, an outlet, and a layer of protection from other groups of the same size and kind.

Women come into the group looking for protection and safety. Sometimes they find something real, other times they are satisfied with sex and being taken care of, the men are all ex-military. They want the brotherhood and bond that they found in the service in civilian life. It's a give and take lifestyle. We all have our lives outside the club. The only time we fight is with each other in the ring or protecting each other. We're Vindictive Bastards because what’s ours is ours and if you fuck with it we will die to avenge it. It is an oath like the ones we gave our country and our brothers.

The bell over the door chimes as Popeye comes in. I close my eyes hoping he won’t open his mouth about me being Prez. I’ve already spread the word through Buzzard that until further notice, I’m Bas.

“Hey, Bash. I want to get that tattoo we talked about the other day.”

“Let me see what’s on the schedule.” Popeye follows me to the lobby. Jaci looks up and scoots the chair back away from us.

Popeye is a gym rat and health nut. Most of the guys work out because it kept us in shape. He works out because he loves it and it gives him a high. When he got out of the service, he used his scholarships to go back to school to get a degree in nutrition and certification as a personal trainer.

“Jaci, this is Popeye,” I smirk at her response to him. If I didn’t know she wanted me, I’d probably be jealous of her reaction to him. He and Hollywood are always in competition when it comes to picking up women.

“Like, the sailor or the chicken?” She looks at him as her eyes go down to his cut it sees his name patch.

“The sailor, Sweetheart. Spinach over fried chicken any day.” He winks at her, and she grins. “If Bash here didn’t have his eye on you, I might make you my Olive.”

“Knock it off asshole, or I’ll make you go somewhere else for your ink.”

“Ah, come on Bash.” He grins down at Jaci, and I clench my fist. “The lady has to know she’s got better-looking options out there.”

“The lady’s made a choice Popeye.” Jaci stands beside me and considers my brother. The way she looks at him like she is deciding on something has me on edge. “I’m not your Olive, but I do have a proposition for you.”

What the actual fuck? “It better not be the proposition you gave me or I’ll gut the fucker, before he so much as lays a lip, on you.”

She touches my arm to calm me, and if it were anyone else, it wouldn’t have worked. Jaci’s soft touch soothes something inside me. It eases the rage I feel thinking about her with any man but me.

“I’m a writer, Popeye. My readers love man candy on their covers, and they would go crazy over you. If you’re interested in another form of income, I know several authors that would love to put you on a cover, myself included.”

Popeye laughed, “Model? I’m no model.”

“You may be surprised. Here, take a look at these.” She grabs her phone and pulls up book covers from her social media account. All of them are guys with lots of muscles and tattoos. Popeye would fit in among the covers. “The photographer could get the right image from you. I promise.”

“You’re serious.”

“Oh yes. Here, may I take a selfie with you?” Popeye looks over her head at me seeking permission. Grudgingly I nod. Jaci has no idea the restraint it is taking for me to let her get close enough to him for that photo.

She takes a smiling selfie with the two of them and posts it on social media with the caption: Hanging out with my new friend and he doesn’t think he can pass for a cover model. She puts in an eye-rolling emoji. Who’d like to see him on a cover? Authors, who’d love to use him on a cover?

“Now we wait.” She turns the phone off and goes to the small fridge to get Popeye a bottle of water. “Before you finish this, I bet you there will probably be at least twenty-five comments from authors and fans wanting to see you on a cover.”

“I can chug this in two seconds, Sweetheart.”

“Chug away.” Popeye opens the water and downs it without taking a breath. When he finishes, Jaci brings her social media page back up to thirty-eight responses. Heart emojis, drool stickers, and ‘Hell Yeah in abundance.

Popeye shakes his head and laughs, “If you decide you’d like to do it, I’d like to be your first cover. I’ll get you set up with the right photographer and get you into the world. Once you’re in its kind of crazy, but it’s a great community.”

I wonder if my brother will go through with this. I also wonder why she didn’t ask me to be part of her world in this way. Jealousy hits me hard. It isn’t something I’m using to feel, but I feel it like a ton of bricks.

“I’ll think on it. Bash, we’ll talk later about an open appointment.” Popeye must’ve sensed my rising anger because he takes off like a bat out of hell.

The second Popeye is out the door I turn Jaci until her back is against the wall and I’m pinning her between me and the hard surface. “You like the way he looks?” My voice is lower and gruff. If she didn’t sense the anger and jealousy in me before, she could see it clearly now.

“He’s a good-looking guy.” Her voice wavers.

“It doesn’t matter how he looks, Jaci. He will never touch you.” Confusion crosses her face, and it settles me. She honestly didn’t know.

“I don’t want him to.” God, she pleases me.

“Good.” I cup her cheek and tilt her head back before kissing her hungrily. She sighs against my mouth, immediately melting at my touch. She is primed for me, not for Popeye. I break the kiss, “I’m not worth putting on a cover baby, but you melt for me.” I try to kiss her again, but she turns her head away.

“Holy shit, Sebastian. Is that what you thought?” She starts laughing, and my ego deflates a bit more. “I’d put you on a cover any day, Sebastian. You are more than worthy of gracing a cover or two or ten. I just don’t want to share you with everyone else.” She shrugs, but I don’t let her pull away this time. I crowd her harder against the wall and kiss her breathless.

It isn’t until the door chimes with my next client coming in that I let her go. “To be continued…” I whisper against her lips leaving her with the promise of so much more.