“WAKE UP, SUNSHINE.” I pull the comforter off Luce and snap open the blinds.
“Evil bitch,” she groans throwing an arm over her eyes.
“No, you don’t,” I tell her in a singsong voice as she replaces her arm with a pillow and buries her head. “We need to get a move on before they ride back. I need to visit the cemetery now that my bodyguards are gone and you’re treating me to that manicure.”
“Ughhhh, what time is it?” She moans.
“Seven. Come on. Coffee’s done,” I slap her butt hard.
“Oww!”
I shake my head in envy at how Luce doesn’t need to work out to have a killer bod. She’s petite, naturally slim and I’ve seen her eat half a pizza and still have a flat stomach the next day. Her honey colored hair is naturally wavy and she’s tan from spending her weekends at the lake.
“Someday.”
“What?” She asks.
“Someday your prince is gonna come, Luce.”
“He better,” she grumbles sitting up. “And then, I’m gonna come.”
“Dirty slut.”
“You know it,” she winks.
“I’m so sorry.” Her hand comes up to my shoulder.
“It’s stupid. I don’t even know why I’m crying.”
“Yes, you do. She was… she gave you, life.”
“Then she gave me up,” I mutter wiping my face. “The new stone looks good though. No one’s been here to deface it,” I half-joke drying the rest of my tears on the bottom of my T-shirt. “You know what? I think you’re right and I’m going to call my mother today.”
“Good. What are you going to do about Roger? Are you going to tell him who you are?”
Hands twisting the ends of my shirt up I answer on a whisper, “I don’t know. I’m afraid. I’m afraid he won’t look at me the same way.”
“Like he wants to devour you?”
I nod.
She sucks in a breath. “I can’t wait to meet this guy. Come on, the nail salon opens at nine.”
“Hold on, I need to visit my father’s grave first.”
Luce shakes her head. “What tragic lives they had. Did you find out anything about him?”
“No. Not yet. I thought it might be suspicious if I started asking about them both at the same time.”
“I just hope that if… when… you reveal your identity, it doesn’t blow up in your face.”
“Me too. But if it does, it does. I need to keep reminding myself that I came here for answers not romance.”
“There’s nothing wrong with finding both.”
“I wish it were that simple. But I’m not sure Rog is going to understand.”
“I’ll kick his ass if he doesn’t.”
“Yeah, okay,” I snort. “You haven’t seen the man yet. Ten men couldn’t bring him down. He’s built like a tank.”
“Fine. I’ll mess him up somehow. No one hurts you, Dev. Ever.”
“I’m so glad you’re here. It means so much to me that you came. Not just to see Springdale, but to see why I don’t think I’ll leave.”
“Whoa. What? I thought the plan was to stay a year then come back. Hell, half your stuff is in my basement.”
“I don’t know. It’s only been a month but somewhere, somehow, this town feels more like home than Chicago ever did.”
“Yeah, until Creed boots your ass out.”
“No way. No way am I going to let them. You’ll see they might be as large and menacing as a Scottish army in the highlands but they’re all softies at heart.”
“Scottish army?”
“What? You now I like my Regency Romances…. men in kilts, with long hair and cocks as big as a horse. Hells yeah, sign me up for that shit.”
Luce rolls her eyes, “You need to get laid.”
“Probably,” I answer with a laugh as we walk toward the only nail salon in town.
My bike glides into the back lot. I climb off feeling my heart pound like a goddamn teen about to pick up his date for prom. She’s already here. I checked in with Federico every day I was gone. I almost fell off my damn bike when he told me she’s hot for me. I mean women throw themselves at me on the regular but they’re mostly drunk. Devon… with Dev, I wasn’t sure if she was just flirting with me because I’m her boss or if there was something more.
God damn, there’s something more.
I wipe my sweaty palms on my jeans. I’m not sure how to act around her now. Do I pretend that I don’t know? Do I haul her in my office and kiss the breath out of her? Maybe I should just do it the good old-fashioned way and ask her on a date.
I open the back door and walk silently down the back hall leading to the main room of the bar and restaurant.
She’s bending over a long table wiping it down, the back of her white shorts riding high, showing miles of tan leg. Her hair’s down her back hanging in long loose curls. If I close my eyes I can still remember the way it smelled when I held her and the scent of it filled my nostrils. My fingers itch to rub the silky strands, my dick’s swelling in my jeans wanting an introduction to the honey pot between her thighs.
Fuck the good old-fashioned way, I’m gonna go all caveman on her ass. My breath comes out in hiss, my thoughts causing all the blood to pump south. I’m fully engorged and harder than I was the first time I felt a woman’s hand stroke my cock.
Shit.
I force myself to look away from the heaven of her existence for my own sanity. My eyes flick to the heavy watch on my left wrist. Ten a.m. It’s only ten a.m. and I can’t function. Thoughts of touching her have me all jacked up. I either need to go rub one out in the showers downstairs or hit the gym until I can’t breathe.
I’m not a fumbling boy, far from it. I’ll push through my desire harnessing it into a different kind of pain. Instead of pounding into her sweet pussy, my fists will pound the hell outta the punching bag. I’ll throw down until my fists bleed if that’s what it takes.
I want Devon, but I refuse to lose my head over it. I need to get my shit under control. I can’t make a move when I’m high from her presence alone.
She already has me by the balls, but I’ll be damned before I ever show it. The boys would never let me live it down. I shrug out of my leather cut, holding it over an arm in front of me in an effort to disguise my eleven-inch boner. My lips twitch, remembering the look in every woman’s eye who has seen it. I groan, picturing Dev’s soft brown eyes staring at my cock dying to feel it sooth the ache deep inside her. I’d hit her sweet G-spot until her eyes roll back in her head, and then I’d hit it some more while I’d play with the nub between her silken folds and suck on those sweet ass tits.
Her back stiffens as she looks at me from the corner of her eye. Muttering under my breath, I ignore her, walking on legs as stiff as my dick and slap the swinging doors to the kitchen open. Ignoring Federico helping himself to leftovers, I open the stain less steel walk-in freezer trying to freeze my libido. But all it does is burn. My damn dick is hard and frozen. Jesus, in this state—only an orgy or a three-day fuck is going to calm this beast down.
“Son of a bitch!” I groan punching the wall encrusted with a thin layer of ice. My knuckles split, spilling drops of blood on my boot.
“That didn’t take long.”
“Shut up, Federico or the next punch will smash your face.”
His answer is a howl of laughter followed by something he didn’t think I caught when he uttered it under his breath.
“What did you call me?”
“Nothing,” he denies holding his hands up as I stalk out of the freezer towards him.
“Say it again.”
He darts around the butcher’s block mouthing, “Silver Fox.”
I close my eyes and count to ten, hands clenching to fists, as I pant like a bull looking for a fight, needing to release the anger and lust burning me up on the inside.
“Calm down, Rog. She likes you. Why are you so pissed, man?”
“I’m not pissed. I’m fuckin’ horny you idiot.”
My hand swipes out knocking pans to the floor, they clang so loud my head pounds.
The doors swing open and she rushes in, my head swings her way, our eyes lock. I don’t look away but stare at her… hard. Telling her with my eyes what my hands and body are gonna do to hers. She swallows hard, the pulse in her neck beating so fast, I can see it from twenty feet away.
She brings a hand to her hair, nervously pushing a strand behind her ear, “Is everything okay in here?” She glances quickly between me and Federico who is grinning like a bastard at the fool I’m making outta myself.
I grunt, wrapping a kitchen towel around my knuckles. In an instant she’s right in front of me, cooing all sorts of nonsense. Her tiny hands unwrap the towel to inspect my cuts. My body trembles as I lower my head to inhale the fragrance of her hair. She leads me over to the sink and turns on the cold tap. “Get out,” I snap at Federico.
She bites her lip, dabbing my cut. Her pink tongue darts out to lick her lips and I snap, shutting off the sink and lifting her by the waist in one move. She gasps as her ass slams down on the counter. My hands spread her thighs for me to stand between, my rough hands cup her face gently. My fingers stroke her soft cheeks, I sigh, my breath falling on her face. “Dev,” I groan pressing my erection against the sweet apex of her thighs. I press my forehead to hers reveling in the friction and heat of her pressed tightly against me. “I’m gonna kiss you baby. Kiss you like the world is ending.”
Her lips part on a sigh, my hands cup her chin as my lips explore hers, softly, courting them. My lips grab hers, I pull her bottom lip, slip my tongue in a bit then back out. She scoots closer, wrapping her legs around my waist and throws her head back as my lips travel down the side of her neck and across her collarbone. She clutches the back of my head, my dick pulses, but I can’t take more than a kiss.
“Miss me, baby?”
“Just shut up and kiss me, Rog.”
My hands cup her face, her eyes close. I take a second to savor this moment, my mind taking a screenshot of her face in this moment before we dive deep and see where this thing goes.
This time, it’s a kiss.
Our lips meet, our bodies a frenzy of sighs and groans and roaming hands. My tongue strokes hers, it’s a sweet torment of twists and thrusts, sucks and nips of teeth. My heart slams against my ribcage. She’s makin’ me feel the kinds of shit women pay to watch on the big screen between actors. But this isn’t a script and I’m not acting. I’m falling fast for this girl and for the first time in years—I let my control slip and give in to the fall.
Damn the man knows how to kiss. He didn’t dive straight into it. He took his time savoring the taste of me. His giant hands cupped my face like it was made of china and his eyes burned into mine with that light blue flamed gaze of his that haunts my dreams as he groaned my name—as if just saying it aloud was a release.
I raise a hand to my lips swollen from his kisses. My thighs rub together sticky and swollen, remembering the feel of him pressed up there.
My hands shake as I straighten my clothing and fix my hair. I moan, in agony not knowing how in the hell I’m gonna work my double shift with wet panties and eyes with stars in them that he put there.
We must’ve kissed for at least ten minutes before his cell rang and we reluctantly broke apart. He whispered, “Later baby,” pressed a lingering kiss on my mouth as his hand dropped from my face and he walked out, presumably to his office.
He was just as affected as I am. I grin, at least there’s that. We’re both miserable and horny. We lit a fire that can only go out one way.
Checking my reflection in the mirror for any lingering evidence that I just made-out with the boss, I tidy up. But there’s nothing I can do about the red flush staining my cheeks or the sheen of desire in my eyes.
My underpants are soaked. The wetness uncomfortable. Entering a stall, I wipe myself up and slide my thong down throwing it the trash.
“Hell,” I moan walking out feeling the seam of my shorts rub against my bare clit with every step I take.
The door to Roger’s office opens at the same time I walk out of the restroom. Our eyes meet in the dim hall. I slow, biting my lip. He growls and barrels forward. He’s on me in an instant, pinning my arms over my head and backing me up against the rough wood paneling.
“We got interrupted before, love,” he rasps seconds before claiming my mouth in a kiss full of passion and promise.
“Rog,” I answer in between breaths.
He pulls back searching my eyes, grabs my hand in his, and leads me into his office. The door shuts behind us with a firm click.
He rakes a hand through his hair and smooths his beard, staring at me like I’m his next meal.
“I-I’m sorry for being all over you like that,” he sighs placing his hands in his pockets and walking behind his desk. Putting it between us like an obstacle. Lord knows we need it, if we’re going to talk not touch.
“In case you couldn’t tell—I liked it.”
He smiles faintly, then looks down tapping his fingertips on the desk. “Still—I shouldn’t have done that. Especially here, when we’re both working. A few years ago, I wouldn’t have given a damn. I’d have hauled you in here or downstairs and would be eleven inches deep—ten-minutes ago,” he stops shaking his head as if to clear it, “I’m different now. I’m sober, quit smoking and I swore to myself I wouldn’t do shit like that here anymore now that I own this place.”
My stomach sours at the thought of him kissing, touching—god—fucking someone else.
“I should go,” I whisper, turning placing my hand on the doorknob. He made me forget why I’m even here. I lost myself in the moment… in the hope of what could start between us. But we can’t move forward without dealing with my past. And I’m not ready to tell him who I am before I find out who John and Dee were first.
“Dev, sugar… wait.”
He walks around the desk stopping two feet behind me. The heat from his body radiates forward as if he’s pressed up flat against me.
“I want to do this right with you. The club… we’re having our end of summer cookout on Saturday. It’s at a lake at the base of a mountain thirty minutes from here. Would you go with me as my date?”
My shoulders drop. I’m screaming inside. It’s the chance I’ve wanted, with the man I’ve wanted, and I can’t say yes.
“My best friend’s in town. She flew in to visit me. Actually, she’s coming in for dinner tonight.”
“I heard. All about it,” he teases.
“Federico has a big mouth,” I mutter.
“Bring her. It’s a large crowd, she’ll have fun.”
“O-okay. We’ll meet you there,” I reply darting out his door before he either hauls me in his arms again, or I cave and tell him all the secrets I’m hiding.
Somehow, I manage to take orders from the steady stream of customers without spilling a drink or tripping over my feet. Thoughts of Rog and his kiss are going to stick with me for a long time.
Maybe forever.
I saw him tear out of the lot shortly after I left his office and he hasn’t come back. I overheard that he and Federico went to the gym. In a way I’m glad he left, he sucks all the air out of the room when he’s around as it is. Now that I know what his body feels like under my hands and how he tastes… there’s no way I could work efficiently if he was here watching right now.
“Hey.”
I throw down the tray I was holding and spin around, throwing my arms around his neck.
“Toad! I missed you. Federico was okay, but you’re my fist pick for a babysitter.”
“Ah, it’s good to be back.”
“You might not say that when you find out what I have planned…,” I tell him picking up the tray and heading for the kitchen.
“Yeah… wait until you hear what he’s calling you.”
“My break is in five. Meet me out back? I’ll fix some sandwiches.”
The chef looks at me suspiciously as I run around his kitchen grabbing what I need. He’s skinny. Too skinny for a cook and doesn’t talk much either.
The feeling of mistrust seems mutual as he stops what he was doing and shakes his head.
“If ya’ wanted to eat all you have to do is ask and I’d fix ya’ something. I don’t like people messin’ in my kitchen.”
“Not even Rog?”
“Not even jefe.”
“I’ll remember that next time. Just making sandwiches.”
“You better,” he emphasizes picking up his butcher’s knife and waving it before he slices more onions for the soup he’s preparing.
With a grin, I place all the food on a tray and walk out the back door of the kitchen over to a picnic table placed under a tree in the corner of the back lot.
Toad’s already there relaxing with a cigarette burning between his lips curled in a smirk.
“What?”
“Silver Fox? Rog went nuts. I thought he was gonna have a heart attack or beat the shit out of one of us on the trip. He got razzed the whole way back. Especially when Federico called Smith, telling him how he walked-in on you telling Luce how hot Rog is.”
I place the tray down in the center of the table and take a bite out of an apple. “Federico’s going to pay. He has a bigger mouth than I thought.”
“Yeah, well I’m sure Rog is sparring with him at the gym. He’ll probably give him a few good blows.”
I raise an eyebrow and take another bite, chewing before I drop my bomb. “He asked me out after we necked like fifteen-year-olds this morning.”
Beer spews from his mouth onto the grass, he snuffs out his butt, eyes wide. “No shit? Meat’s never dated. Like ever.”
“I like him. More than I should,” I whisper.
“What’s up with the long face, doll? He likes you too. We’re all waiting for the big romance to unfold.”
“I thought Creed was a Motorcycle Club of badass biker guys. Seems you all are a bunch of girls after all.”
He grins, “Shhh, don’t tell. I secretly love drama.”
“Speaking of drama. Am I safe from that creep now?”
“We didn’t catch him. But he won’t find the sanctuary he was looking for up north. We have a man on the inside at the border. He definitely crossed into Canada. If he comes back south, we’ll be notified with plenty of time to set a trap.”
“Huh. O-kay. I don’t feel safe knowing he’s still out there.”
Toad’s eyes go flat, deadly. I shiver. It’s a reminder he’s not just a man who’s carefree and full of gossip. He’s a killer if the situation warrants one.
“That ain’t gonna happen sweetheart. I don’t want you to even think about it.” He comes around the table and takes me into a quick hug. The sound of tires rolling over the gravel makes me look up. My eyes meet Rog’s through the windshield of his truck. His lips press into a firm line as he cuts the engine and climbs out.
I push Toad away feeling like my lover caught me in an innocent embrace he won’t believe.
He stalks past us without a word, with eyes that don’t look my way again. “Was that just as awkward for you?”
“Nah, Rog knows I’d never stab him in the back like that.”
“Well, why do I feel like I did something wrong?” I ask picking the crust of my sandwich and throwing the crumbs to the birds waiting in the grass.
“Because you got it bad.”
I don’t reply. My mind is confused by all the emotions my heart has grown for these men. Rog, Federico, Toad… they’ve all become family and I know they’d all take a bullet to protect me if it came down to it. I feel as if my very DNA is a betrayal of that loyalty. I swallow hard.
“Toad?”
“Yeah?”
“Promise me you’ll understand.”
“Understand what?”
“If the time ever comes when you might mistake what my intentions were.”
He nods, thinking I’m talking about Rog.
“I better get back inside before Rog has my ass.”
“I think he’s gonna have that real soon anyway.”
“Men,” I grumble with a red face leaving him staring at my backside as I walk back in the bar.