HIS BRANDED BRIDE: Steel Devils MC

by Sophia Gray

  “Yes.”

  “I understand that someone took your family from you. I understand that someone is in my club somewhere. What has been hard is reconciling what I feel for you with what I feel for my own family, and I think you know that the club is all the family I have. The problem is, my family has betrayed me, maybe not all of them, but some of them. I still don’t know how deeply it runs, but I’m getting closer. I need someone on my side. I need someone I can trust, and I believe that I can trust you.”

  “As long as what you are telling me is the truth, that you didn’t kill my father and you don’t know who did, then you can trust me completely.”

  “That is true. I promise you that.”

  “Then I promise you that you can trust me.”

  “I really hope so, Janessa. I want to. I need to.”

  “You can.”

  He stood there looking down at me, the weight of the world present behind his haunted eyes. How hard it must be to be Damian Diaz, leader of the toughest motorcycle club in the area. It was a big burden to carry for someone our age. I couldn’t imagine having to make the kinds of decisions he must make on a daily basis. Having people working for you who are putting their lives on the line to be a part of your organization was something I couldn’t fathom, yet he did it every single day.

  Brushing a strand of hair away from my face, he leaned forward and kissed me. It was soft but passionate, demonstrating a need that went far beyond the physical. At least it seemed that way as he urgently probed my mouth with his tongue, tasting me as if I were the best dessert he had ever had and lingering on each bite.

  “I’ve wanted to do that again for days,” he breathed as he pulled away for a moment.

  “I never said you couldn’t.”

  “I know. I just had to sort out my head without confusing things any more than they already felt.”

  “I understand.”

  “I hope that you do.”

  “I do.”

  “Let’s go to bed.”

  “Okay. I’ll see you in the morning.”

  “Let’s go to bed together.”

  “Are you sure? I don’t want to make your life more complicated.”

  Of course I didn’t mean a word of it, but I felt I had to say it. I had to give him an out in case the kiss had just been a moment of weakness.

  “Do you know how hard it has been to sleep across the hall from you and want you so much? It’s been all I could do not to just get up in the middle of the night and climb into bed with you, even if it was just to hold you while you slept.”

  “It has been hard for me too.”

  “Then let’s stop talking about it and go to bed…together.”

  “I think I understand now.”

  “Good. We will move your things into my room tomorrow. I want you there every night.”

  “I don’t know about moving in together. I have my own place across the hall and all that.”

  “I’m evicting you. You have nowhere to go but my room now.”

  “You forget that I have my own house.”

  “Hmm. In that case, you are under house arrest.”

  “Now you’re a cop? I’d say that certainly doesn’t suit you.”

  “Stop teasing me, woman. Let’s go to bed. I want to do deliciously naughty things to that wicked body of yours.”

  “Well, since you put it that way. Let’s go.”

  My heart was racing as we made our way up the stairs to his bedroom. D fumbled slowly with the buttons on my shirt, careful not to move his injured shoulder too much as he undressed me. My skin felt like it was on fire even before he touched me, the familiar ache he seemed to instill in me growing more needful by the second. I exhaled deeply as his lips fell on my right nipple and kissed me there before slowly licking his way around my nipple and blowing on it until it was rock hard. His teeth sank into it, pulling and sucking as I moaned aloud.

  He took his time just enjoying teasing my breasts, alternately sucking and biting them as I cooed at his touch. I felt his hand slipping down between us, into the band of my skirt and down the front of my panties until his fingers were slowly circling my clit. The combined sensation of his mouth on my nipples and his fingers on my clit were driving me insane with desire for him. All I could think about was having him inside of me again.

  “D, that feels so amazing.”

  “I love the way you respond to my touch. It’s like you were made for me. I love that about you.”

  Perhaps I was reading too much into it, but I couldn’t help note multiple uses of the word love in what he said. It may have just been my mind playing tricks or possibly even hearing what it wanted to hear, but it was awfully close to him saying something considerably more substantial. I found myself wondering if it were even possible for someone like him to love someone like me. Our worlds were nothing alike. He lived off adrenaline and my life was pretty vanilla. Outside our current situation, could we even exist together?

  The thoughts drifted from my mind as his fingers deftly moved across my clit, their place taken by his thumb as he slipped two of them inside of me and began fucking me slowly with them. I was like jelly with my legs quivering as if fresh out of a form mold. Shards of electricity raced down my legs and heat rose through my center as he skillfully brought me to a series of orgasms that resounded throughout every fiber of my being.

  “Oh, God. Yes. Mmmmmm.”

  “The way you sound when you cum is such a turn on. I love making you sound that way. I’ve missed it.

  “I want you.”

  We stood looking into each other’s eyes as I unbuttoned his shirt and slowly slipped it off of him, never looking away from one another as I moved down to his jeans to unbutton them and push them downward. He leaned in and kissed me as he slipped off his shoes and shuffled the rest of the way out of his pants. I could feel his erection pressing heavily into my hip as his kiss lingered, the vibration of his moaning into my mouth only making me hungrier for him.

  Pushing me down across the bed, he pushed my legs open, his thumb once again rubbing my clit as his mouth covered my already soaked pussy. My hands tangled in his hair as he lapped at my center. My body responded to his teasing the way it always did, by wanting more and more of him. I writhed and moaned beneath him as he dragged his tongue back and forth lazily through my pink folds, his thumb pressed firmly on my sensitive pink nub above them.

  “God, I’m going to cum again”

  “Yes. I want to taste you. Cum for me, Janessa.”

  His mouth was still very close to my clit as he spoke, the vibrations singing along my swollen button and sending me over the edge as I exploded against his mouth. I was still panting in the after rush of my explosion when he stood and entered me with one fluid stroke, slowly rocking back and forth as he made love to me so slowly, so sweetly that I felt close to tears a few times. I wasn’t sure what was happening between us, but it felt like something was very different, very good.

  He moaned as he sank into me deeply, picking up his pace little by little until he was slamming into me roughly. I only wanted more as my hips thrust forward to meet his with each stroke. I couldn’t believe how amazing he felt. It was like it was our first time again, except this time it felt like more than just lust. There were underlying feelings that weren’t there before. It made all the difference.

  My legs shook violently as I shattered into another series of orgasms that left me breathless. D smiled down at me, enjoying the way my body trembled beneath him. I knew that he enjoyed the way I responded to him. I could tell it even more by the way he became more heated with his thrusts. The room was filled with our mingled grunts, groans and moans as D reached his own orgasm, his body seized with the force of it before falling onto the bed beside me. We lay there looking at the ceiling as he reached for my hand, stroking the back of it with his thumb and forefinger.

  “I’m really glad you are here, Janessa.”

  “I am certainly glad I am here too.”

 
D rolled over and propped himself up on his elbow to look at me. He traced his fingers along the tops of my breasts, careful not to move his arm too much. There was a smile on his face as he looked down at me.

  “We are going to figure all of this out, Janessa. I’m going to help you figure out who killed your father, and they will pay for what they did.”

  “It’s a lot bigger than that, D.”

  “You mean the DEA agent.”

  “Yes. I came here as part of an agreement with him that I’d find out what I could about your drug business if he helped me with finding my father’s killer.”

  “And what did he do for you in that regard?”

  “He provided me with files on every member of the club, including the girls and known associates from other clubs and gangs. I was reporting in periodically but haven’t in a while now.”

  “How long since you talked to him?”

  “Not long, just since you brought me here. I wasn’t using my personal phone. I have a burner at my house that I use to make the calls. So, it’s been a bit difficult here.”

  “Well, I’d say that cat is out of the bag and you can just use your own phone at this point, wouldn’t you say?”

  “Yeah. Just one problem with that.”

  “What’s that?”

  “I don’t know his number. It’s in the other phone.”

  D laughed and rolled toward me, kissing me before getting out of the bed and walking toward the bathroom. I watched his naked figure retreat across the floor, admiring how muscular and beautiful he was. He returned in a moment with a glass of water and offered me a drink, which I accepted eagerly. I had worked up more than a bit of thirst during our session.

  “Let’s get some sleep, beautiful. We have a very busy day tomorrow.”

  “Sounds good.”

  He kissed me again and I felt a stir even though it had only been minutes ago that he was inside me. I knew he felt it too from the way he lingered and the way he looked at me. Smiling at me, he climbed into bed and I curled up to him, my head beside his on the pillow, my hand resting on his chest. This was nothing I had expected, but I realized that I no longer had any reservations about giving myself to D, heart, mind, body and soul.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  The following morning, we arose early and showered together, making love once more beneath the steam that flowed from the large rain showerhead above. Afterwards we both dressed and made our way to a little known dive called Mollie's where we shared a huge stack of pancakes topped with fresh fruit. Accompanied by a generous side of bacon, they might have been the most delicious pancakes I had ever tasted, or perhaps it was just that today something was different.

  I no longer felt like D was my enemy. He was my lover and my friend and together we had a mission. Today we would begin a methodical cleansing of the motorcycle club to weed out and rid it of anyone who did not have its best interests at heart. It wouldn’t be easy and there would be hard feelings from some guys who could play very not nice if they wanted to do so, but D would handle that.

  For my part, I would be pouring back over the personal books with D and Simon to find what they were missing. There had to be a track back to the missing money. There had to be a tie back to whoever set my father up to take a fall for who knew what agenda. Together we would find it.

  Walking into the casino that morning, I felt more alive than I had for a very long time. I felt powerful and happy. With D by my side, I had no doubt that there was nothing impossible for me to achieve. I could rule the world if I wanted. Okay, perhaps that was a bit over the top, but I definitely felt an unfamiliar surge of energy that was unmistakable. I couldn’t wait to get started.

  “Knuckles, I’m afraid you are out a bar maid,” D told the bar keep as we approached him.

  Knuckles looked at me quizzically and back to D.

  “Why is that?”

  “I’m pulling Janessa to help me with some things back in the office.”

  “Some things, huh? I suspect she’ll be good at them, then. Just keep your eye on her, D. She’s a bit uppity, that one.”

  “Don’t I know it. As high strung as they come!”

  The two men shared a laugh as I stood looking from one to the other.

  “I’m right here, you know?”

  That only sent them into another short fit of laughter before Knuckles returned to the bar and D continued on to his office with me in tow. He was still chuckling as we entered his office space.

  “I’m glad you boys think I’m such a great source of amusement.”

  “Ah, come on, Janessa. You know we adore you. Are you ready to start pouring through the books?”

  “I am looking forward to it. The quicker we get it done, the quicker we solve two mysteries that are of the utmost importance.”

  “That’s my girl. Okay, here are the general ledgers and these are the petty cash logs. Simon will be here in about an hour to pitch in. If you want to just get a feel for things and decide how you want to go about it rather than sinking your heels in just yet, then that is okay too.”

  “I’m all in. I’m not climbing out of these books until I figure out something. The answers have to be in there.”

  “We’ve looked, but if it is, we can’t find it. I’m hoping that a fresh pair of eyes like yours looking through it might push something to the surface that we haven’t been able to latch onto. Just be careful. I’ve told no one but Simon what we are up to and I’d like to keep it that way. I don’t need anyone knowing that you are privy to this sort of information, and neither do you.”

  “I’ll keep it under my hat.”

  “I bet you look completely adorable in a hat too.”

  “Now, D, we’re not going to get much done if you are going to compliment me like that while I should be getting to work.”

  “Compliments are only the beginning. I am looking forward to doing incredibly wicked things to you in this office now that you are a part of my team.”

  “Is that what I am, D? A part of your team?”

  “A part of my team, a part of my family, a part of me.”

  I stood looking at him for a moment, a little taken aback by what he was saying. It was so unlike him, yet I found it sounded like the most wonderful thing I had ever heard. I knew now that, beyond a shadow of a doubt, I was falling head over heels in love with D. I wasn’t sure how it had happened, certainly could have never imagined it when I had spent all those months studying him and his club, preparing to bring them down. Now, it just seemed like the easiest, most natural thing in the world.

  “You are a part of me now too, D,” I replied finally.

  Leaning forward, he pulled me into another kiss. It was heated but sweet, and I found myself melting into him just like I did every time he touched me. Whatever was happening between us was magical, beautiful. It was perfection.

  “Making out with the boss. I hope that isn’t the new protocol for getting a bit of a bump in pay around here, because I just don’t really fancy him that much.”

  We jumped apart like two school children caught kissing on the playground as Dodger let out a little laugh. He waltzed into the room and took a seat at the table where some of the books were already spread out.

  “Oh, don’t let me stop the two of you. Feel free to strip down and just go at it atop the books if ya like. I’ll be happy to film it and post it up on some of them social media sites you Yanks are so stuck into all the time. I bet I could be the next internet porn sensation with the likes of you two on film.”

  “You’re such an ass, Simon.”

  “Ain’t I just that though? If you children are done with your neckin’, I suppose we could get started on these books.”

  “Let’s do it,” D replied as the three of us sat down and began the process of catching ourselves a thief.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  “Okay, I think we know who to start with now,” D said as he closed the last of the books we had just finished combing through. It was th
e same name on every entry that tied to a fake job application like my father’s.

  “Seems so,” Simon said with a dark scowl. “The question is whether he is the top or just a bottom feeder.”

  “That’s what we are going to have to figure out. If we take him out and there is someone above him, we tip their hand and shoot ourselves in the foot.”