by Elle Boon
He pulled her body flush to his, one hand going to the hair at the nape of her neck. “You both will stay here and let me, and my brothers handle it. You came to me and asked me to help. For me to help you, I need to keep you safe without having to worry about you at the same time as we hunt for these fuckers.”
“This isn’t your problem though,” she denied.
His grip on her hair tightened, the sting made her body quake with longing, an unfulfilled desire she had but had never been able to express. “Ah, Little Dove, that’s where you’re wrong. Go do what I told you, and don’t make me show you just how wrong you are and what happens when you disobey me.”
A tiny part of her wanted to push him just to see exactly what he did, but another part of her didn’t want to learn that lesson in public.
“Good girl,” King praised.
It was her turn to narrow her eyes. “You’re going to be bossy.”
King chuckled. “You have no clue, but you will, and you’ll like it, a lot.” He kissed her hard fast press of his lips on hers, stepping to the side and swatting her ass.
Ayesha jerked, the sting from his tap didn’t hurt too badly, but it made her want more. She wondered how the hell he could get her so fired up. She walked back toward the table.
“Is everything okay?” Tiana asked, worry and fear etched on her youthful features.
Duke sat across from her sister, blocking Tiana from seeing where Ayesha and King had been. “My brother and your sister were just hammering out the details of where the two of you would be staying. Ain’t that right, Ayesha?”
“Um, yes, that’s right. Come on, let’s clean this mess up. We can get ready for bed afterward. I bet you’re exhausted. I’ll need to call your school in the morning and see about getting your homework for the foreseeable future.” Another added problem heaped on their shoulders thanks to the asshole who tried to take her sister.
“I can’t go back to school?” Tiana’s eyes filled with tears.
Ayesha hurried around the table, wrapping her arms around Tiana’s shoulder. Dammit, she hated seeing her sister upset. Even though Tiana was a party to the problem, she was also an innocent young girl. Rico wasn’t a kid like Tiana. He was a grown man who was used to manipulating innocent young girls, and probably even boys. She shivered at the thought of what could’ve happened, her arms instinctively tightening.
“Ayesha, you’re hurting me,” Tiana choked out.
With effort, she relaxed her hold. “To answer your question, no you can’t go back to school until Rico is caught, T. He isn’t just going to let you walk away. You can pick him out of a lineup. You know where he lives, and probably even where some of his friends or employees live. For that alone, he’ll be looking for you.” Ayesha wouldn’t sugar coat the truth no matter how scary it was. If telling Tiana kept her sister from being stupid and possibly putting herself in danger, Ayesha would do it over and over again.
“We have options, places for her to go and start over. You too,” Duke announced.
She glanced at King’s brother, noticing how much the brother’s resembled each other, his words registering. “You mean like witness protection?”
“Sort of, only not funded by the legal system.” He sat back, placing his hands on his stomach.
His relaxed pose didn’t match his eyes. “Kind of like the underground railroad or something?” she asked.
He nodded.
She bit her lip. Leaving her life, what she’d worked to build, her salon, clients who booked appointments months in advance just to have her do their hair all left behind, felt like she’d be cutting off a limb or something.
“I can’t ask you to do that, Ayesha,” Tiana gasped, her head shaking back and forth.
“You both may not have a choice.” Duke shrugged.
“You don’t know that.” Ayesha glared at the other man.
King walked back in tucking a phone into his back pocket. “Let’s go, ladies. A couple of the boys are on kitchen duty.”
Ayesha eyed the door to the kitchen, thinking of the big tough looking bikers being elbow deep in soap suds. “Are you sure?”
The man who was coming to take up too much of her thoughts raised one dark brow. “I don’t say what I don’t mean. Come on.” He held out his hand like he expected her to take it, and like a good little girl, she took a step toward him, halting as Tiana gripped her arm.
“We’re not going into some witness underground, Esha.” The nickname her sister called her when she was upset slipped out.
“T, we’ll do what we need to keep you safe.” Ayesha wouldn’t argue with Tiana about her safety. If she had to cut off her hair and wear baggy clothes or dress like a man, she would.
King met her halfway, his eyes holding so many secrets, so many emotions, Ayesha marveled the man was single. “Tiana, I made a promise when me and my crew went down to get you. Until I’m satisfied you and your sister are no longer in danger, you’ll both be protected. I don’t give a shit if you like my version of protection, or if you agree to it or not. You’ll do what you’re told, or there’ll be consequences.”
Ayesha stiffened, not liking the way King threatened her sister. Before she could object, her sister shocked her by nodding and agreeing in a soft whisper, telling King she understood.
“Who are you, and what did you do with my sister?” Ayesha asked, her head bouncing between the two of them.
King, smart man that he was didn’t gloat, much. “She’s smart and knows I’m only doing what’s best for the both of you. Don’t you, Tiana?”
Oh, she had a feeling her sister had a little hero worship going on when it came to the President of the Royal Sons. “Where are we staying tonight?”
“You’ll be staying with me.” King tugged Ayesha toward him, his grip strong and true.
She stumbled at his words and the pressure. Shit, she hadn’t bargained on staying beneath the same roof as him. Having seen several homes on the property, she’d assumed they’d put them up in one of the smaller ones, yet his announcement made her stomach flip. Oh yes, she wanted King, had since the first moment she’d spied him that first night, even though she feared him. Now she’d be sleeping under the same roof, her body trembled at the possibilities of what could happen. Slow your roll girlfriend, she warned her inner hussy.
Chapter Nine
King knew women and their bodies. From the moment he’d stuck his thumb into Ayesha’s mouth and felt her delicate little tongue licking over his flesh, his dick had been hard. All his control had flown out the window as her almost untutored like sucking had been enough to almost make him say fuck it, fuck his rules, and toss her over his shoulder like a caveman. He had to fight to rein his control back to a semblance of order, which was a first for him. If it hadn’t felt so fucking good, he might have resented her. Instead, King wanted to see where these feelings took them, he who didn’t do the whole feelings thing with women. If tomorrow came and they were no more than a blip on his horizon? So be it, but he wasn’t a chicken shit who didn’t go for what he wanted, and he wanted Ayesha. And he would have her, on his terms. She may have never submitted like he needed a woman to do before, but she would.
King could see the way her eyes had gone drowsy when he’d given her a command. Her body went lax instead of tense, a sure sign she enjoyed being told what to do. He intended to push those boundaries and see if she matched him.
“Come on, let’s get Tiana settled. She looks ready to drop.” He made sure his voice was gentle, coaxing, like he would a scared animal.
Tiana smiled. “Have I told you thank you…for everything you did for me. I know what could’ve happened. I was lucky.”
A chair scraped across the floor. King met his brother Duke’s stare. “I’m glad we were here to save you. Tomorrow we’ll talk more. You cool to close up in here?” he asked Duke.
Duke waved his hand as he headed toward the bar. “I got it. Goodnight, ladies. Little Bit, you need help with your schoolwork, don’t ask Ki
ng.”
His brother’s joke made Tiana giggle. King ushered the two women out, nodding to the prospects outside. Being an MC they always had several guys on guard as lookouts, watching things in case shit went south. Sure they had state-of-the-art surveillance equipment that alerted them when someone entered the property. However, having men who were prepared to do what was needed as guards was a deterrent they wouldn’t give up anytime soon.
“Who are they?” Tiana asked once they were on his porch and away from the hearing of the others, her thumb aimed the way they’d come.
King glanced backward. “The ones on the front porch of the clubhouse are prospects. There’s a difference between a brother and a prospect. What you need to know and remember is this. Don’t speak to anyone unless you’re spoken to, and only if Duke or I are around. If neither of us are near, you don’t talk to anyone. Got it?” He wouldn’t balk at teaching Tiana that she’d be punished if she broke a rule. While he’d love to put Ayesha over his lap, her firm luscious ass taking on a rosy hue under his palm, he’d fire Tiana’s ass up for a whole other reason and it had nothing to do with sex. The young girl fell under a different category, she was protected as part of his property, but she was a child, and nobody fucked with children under his watch.
“I won’t. I promise.” Tiana made a show of crossing her heart with one finger over the place where her heart was on her chest. He shook his head, grinning.
“Good,” he grunted. “You have a little more leeway, but not much. You’ve met a few of the brothers, but until Church, I don’t want either of you running around talking to just anybody unless I’ve given the okay, or Duke has.”
He pushed the door to his home open, the red light of the alarm blinking. Using his body as a blocker on instinct, he punched in the code only he and his brother knew, turning the system off. Ayesha had been allowed to stay at his house while he’d been gone, but since she had left to cook, he’d gotten an alert on his phone. He’d set the system immediately, not leaving an opening up to chance. King never left his home unarmed, which was why it was locked and secured now. He saw the question in Ayesha’s eyes, but he wasn’t one to explain himself to anyone.
“Ayesha, did you make yourself comfortable while I was gone?” He had cameras in his home, but he hadn’t wanted to spy on her. Besides, she would be a terrible poker player the way her emotions were written all over her gorgeous face.
“Not really. I mean I used the bathroom and sat in your living room, but I was too nervous to do anything else. I really regret not going through your stuff now though,” she teased.
King tugged her body into his, using one hand to tip her face up to his, uncaring that Tiana was watching. “Hmm, it was probably a good thing then. You’d have been shocked right down to your…sensible panties.”
She opened her mouth only to shut it, opening it again, probably looking like a fish out of water. “How do you know what kind of panties I have?”
He grinned, a teasing light in his stare. “I didn’t. Care to enlighten me?”
“Oh, Ayesha, he is gonna be so disappointed since you like the sexy undies, and he clearly has a weird fetish for granny panties.” Tiana snorted, jumping backward as King made a grab for her in a mock swat.
“Little Bit, you’re not too big for a timeout,” he warned.
“I second that,” Ayesha agreed.
“Hey, you both can’t gang up on me.” Tiana crossed her arms, but joy was in her words.
King didn’t know how he knew it, but he was sure the younger girl was going to be okay. They just had to ensure Rico didn’t get his hands on her before they could take care of him.
“I’ll fill you in once we get Tiana settled in the guest room. I’m sure you have questions,” he murmured quietly while Tiana walked ahead of them.
Ayesha nodded. “I think she’s going to be fine. From all appearances, she’s relatively unharmed thanks to you guys.”
He put his finger over her mouth, resisting the urge to feel her tongue on him again. No, the next time he did that, it would be a whole other body part she had in her mouth, and they sure as shit wouldn’t have a young girl for an audience.
After he showed Tiana the guest room and they made sure she was settled with a bottle of water, her eyes were already drifting closed as they shut the door. He and Ayesha went back out into the hallway, his hand holding her much smaller one. He made sure the alarm was set and sent a text to Keys, giving him a heads up to let him know they were in for the night. The other man had monitors on that would wake the fucking dead if they were triggered.
“Do you want a drink?” he asked Ayesha, leading her into the large family room where he and his brothers would hang out.
“Water would be nice.”
He couldn’t help but smile at the polite request. Oh, he had no doubt she was well-mannered, liked it in fact. But he had a feeling she would be a little less formal after spending a little bit of time around his crew. From the small bar in the corner he snagged a water for her and a beer for him. Before handing her the cold drink, he unscrewed the cap, tossing the plastic into the trash, doing the same to his, he gave her the drink, their fingers brushing reminded him how soft her skin was. “Have a seat.” He indicated the large sectional that was meant for comfort.
Ayesha eyed the supple leather, turning to look at him again with a look that he couldn’t help but tease her a little. “I don’t bite, Little Dove, unless it’s what we both desired. Trust me, you’ll know when and where I’m gonna nip your little body and you’ll love it. Now sit down before you fall down.”
Not waiting for her to do as he said, King went to his favorite spot, the corner with the recliner. On nights he was too damn tired to go down to his bedroom, he crashed on the sectional. Those times were few and far between, but if it made Ayesha comfortable, he’d sleep there for her…for a night. After that, he’d convince her to sleep in his bed.
“You’re used to getting your way aren’t you?” Her question was said with a teasing quality he liked.
King lifted the beer to his lips, taking a healthy swig before answering, locking his gaze with hers. “Yes,” he said, not denying the truth.
“Why does that not surprise me, and why does that turn me on?” She turned her face away, her hand going over her mouth.
King sat his drink down on the side table. “C’mere,” he rasped.
Ayesha took a deep breath. “Said the spider,” she muttered.
He didn’t pretend not to understand what she was referring to. “I’ll only trap you if you want me to. Now, come here.” His tone brooked no arguments. He was a man used to getting his way, and this time was no different.
She lifted the bottle of water to her lips, gulping down a long swallow, coughing as she took too much in. With one hand she wiped away the excess that dripped down her chin, sitting the half empty bottle on the table. King spread his legs, making room for her to step between them. He didn’t straighten from his relaxed pose. Although his dick was ready to burst out of the tight confines of the denim. He tried not to draw attention to that very obvious fact. Once she was within arm’s reach, he tugged her onto his hard thigh, her eyes going wide at the move. “I like your ass. No, I love your ass. Nice and round. Not tiny as if you worried you couldn’t eat a plate of pasta ‘cause it would go straight to your hips and shit.” King let his hand trail down from her shoulder to hip, memorizing the feel of her.
“I don’t know what I’m supposed to say to that.” She sat stiffly on his lap.
King maneuvered her so that both her legs draped over his, positioning one arm over his shoulder, the action bringing her closer to his chest. “Say what you mean, or don’t say anything at all has always worked for me.” He smoothed his right hand up and down her thigh, wanting to get her used to his touch.
“No man has ever said the things you do, like you do, to me.” She sucked in a breath as his fingers skimmed the inside of her legs, the tips grazing the seam near the V at the apex o
f her thighs.
“That’s good. Do you like it?” He teased the juncture with his thumb, watching her expression as he did so. When she didn’t answer right away, he did it again, enjoying the emotions that flitted across her face. The rosy color highlighting her cheeks also colored her neck. “I asked you a question, Little Dove.” With a little more pressure, he ran his finger down the center seam, before moving back up. Her shiver would’ve been answer enough for most men, but King demanded more.
“Yes, I like it.” She turned her head toward the hall where her sister slept. “Do you do this often?”
It took effort for him to pull his eyes from the twin points of her hardened nipples to meet her gaze, but when he did, there was no doubt she had insecurities. “Are you asking me if I’m a virgin? ‘Cause the answer would be no. If you’re asking me if I’ve fucked a woman on this couch, I’d have to ask you if you really wanted to know. But let me tell you something, and I hope it settles some of your fears. First, I do want to fuck you. And I will, but not tonight. Second, whatever I’ve done before meeting you has no place in what’s happening between you and me. If you’re not drawn to me the way I am to you, then by all means let me know. I’ve never forced a woman into my bed, or wherever I’ve taken her, and I sure in the fuck won’t start with you.” King stood easily with Ayesha in his arms, lowering her to the ground as he got to his feet.
“It’s late, Ayesha. Let me show you to the room adjoining Tiana’s.” He made to step around her.
“Please don’t be mad at me,” she whispered, reaching her arms around his waist to hold him. “Everything is so out of control I don’t know what’s up or down. Why would you even look twice at me?”
King gripped Ayesha’s hips in his palms and stared down at her. At her question, his heart nearly tumbled out of his chest. “What do you mean? Why wouldn’t I look twice at you? You’re gorgeous. You’ve got curves for days that are made for…well, I don’t want to make you blush. Plus, you’re one of the bravest, clearly loyal women I’ve ever met. If those aren’t good enough reasons, let me strip you naked, and I’ll show you.” He ended his words by pulling her into his body, letting her feel exactly what she did for him.