by Franca Storm
“That was sweet,” she murmurs.
“What, babe?”
“Cleaning me like that.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah. I’m not used to sweet.”
I feel my chest tighten. “Never?”
She shakes her head.
I bury my face in her neck. “Well, beautiful girl, I’ve got you now. You hear me?”
She pulls from my hold and turns to look at me, her eyes wary. “I don’t need people, Neil. And I don’t…do this. Cuddling, you know?”
“Yeah, I know, babe. I know.”
“But you…you’re breaking all my rules, all my barriers. And it—”
“Scares you?”
“Yeah,” she says, surprised that I’m right there with her.
I stroke her cheek and tell her, “Scares me too, Rox. This ain’t how I roll. But you’re under my skin. And you’re worth it, so I don’t give a shit. You make me feel things, woman.” I take her hand and press it to my heart. “You’re in here, Rox. It’s always been ironclad—shut up tight—and for good reason. But, with you, none of those reasons matter. And now you’re in there, I ain’t letting you out. Not for nothing. You feel me?”
She grins.
“What? That funny to you?”
“It was really…romantic.”
“Romantic?” I scoff. “Like hell, babe.”
“It was,” she says, ruffling my hair.
I laugh. “Come here.”
She launches herself at me, driving me to the floor. I pull her on top of me and hold her tightly.
She tries to shift off me after a bit, but I tighten my grip ‘round her back. “Just relax and lay here with me, beautiful girl.”
Chapter 22
~Roxana~
“Is that burning?” I ask, peering over Neil’s shoulder at the stir-fry he’s cooking.
He throws his hand out, pushing me back gently. “Backseat cook,” he mutters. “It’s all good, babe.”
“Well, what can I do?”
“Lay the table. After what went down earlier, ain’t comfortable with you doing much else.”
“Hey! That green pepper was wet and slippery. It wasn’t my fault.”
He turns from the frying pan and grabs my right hand. He traces his fingers over the Band-Aid wrapped around my index finger. “You almost took this off, babe. Yeah, staying back is best.” He releases me and turns back to his cooking. And then he scoffs, “Can’t believe you dunno how to cook.”
“Cuz I’m a woman?” I ask, hearing the edge in my voice as I say the words.
He tenses, obviously sensing the fight in my tone. “Ain’t what I meant,” he says over his shoulder.
“I’m not housewife material, Neil.”
“Yeah. Already got that, babe.”
“Is that a problem?” I ask, leaning against the worktop beside him.
He shrugs.
What the hell does that mean? “Neil?”
He blows out a breath and eyes me. “Look, I do wanna settle down one day. But who’s to say what that really means? A bunch of the boys got the traditional set up. Woman’s at home. Got their dinner on the table, clothes cleaned, housework done and shit. Seems kinda boring to me, though.” He smiles at me. “I want more spark. Fire. A spunky bitch who don’t take my shit. A woman who gets my dick hard standing up to me, challenging me. That’s what I’m into. Never known a woman to come close to that ‘til you, babe.”
The raw honesty in his words, the way he just laid it out like that, shocks me. Wow. I thought he was gonna tell me that he didn’t know what he wants. I figured he was a one-day-at-a-time guy. But, no, he’s thought about all this stuff. Oh shit. I wasn’t prepared for this. I haven’t thought about any of it.
“Um…cool,” I manage to respond, realizing he’s expecting me to, when he keeps staring at me.
He laughs and turns back to his cooking.
“What?”
“Loosen up, babe. Stop thinking so much. Just let things happen as they happen. Stop tryin’ to control everything. Ain’t nothing to worry ‘bout. I already told you, I ain’t here to clip your wings. And, by the way, your I run free statement up at the clubhouse?”
“Yeah?”
“Those are the words of a goddamn biker if I ever heard ‘em. So, yeah, I get where you’re coming from. That’s my mission statement too.”
“Speaking of biker missions statements,” I say, folding my arms across my chest. “I wanna talk about that whole claiming bullshit you pulled up at the clubhouse.”
He eyes me over his shoulder. “Yeah?”
“I don’t like it. You don’t own me. I’m not property.”
He growls, switches off the burner and slams down the spatula in his hand and stalks over to me. His expression is fierce, his eyes blazing, his jaw ticking menacingly.
He grips my shoulders and shoves me into the fridge.
He traces his finger over my lips. “These are mine.” He squeezes each of my boobs in turn. “These are also mine.” His hand slips between my legs and cups my pussy through my thin robe. “And this sure as shit is mine, woman.”
I break his hold on me and push him back. “Caveman,” I mutter. “I knew it. You’re all the same,” I say, walking away.
“Get back here!”
I stop and turn. “Why?”
“Cuz I’m tryin’ to explain shit to you! So, shut the fuck up for once and just listen, cuz you obviously dunno shit ‘bout men! Probably cuz you spent your life hiding and closing yourself off to any guy who gets near you.”
“You haven’t known me long enough to make that kind of judgment, Neil!” How dare he?
He approaches me and says, “Ain’t ‘bout time. It’s ‘bout seeing what’s right in front of me. And I see you, Rox. I fucking see you, babe.”
I shake my head.
“Yeah, I do. We’re the same. Been through the same shit. Had the people we love ripped from our lives. Had to bow down to assholes holding power over us. I’m still fucking doing it with Trig. And you’re tryin’ to fight it happening to you all over again, cuz of all this shit with the Mavs. I ain’t blind. I see it. I see you struggling, fighting.”
“I…” Crap, I’ve got nothing. He’s stumped me. Why? Because he’s right on the money.
He takes my hands in his and his eyes lock intensely with mine. “You think me saying you’re mine is ‘bout something it ain’t. Don’t think you’re my property. But you’re my woman. And yeah, I’m gonna do shit like protecting you when you need it like I did last night, like I did with Grit getting in your face. And I don’t care if you don’t like it. Ain’t ‘bout control, Rox. We save that for the bedroom, which I know you like. No, it’s cuz I fucking care ‘bout you and I can’t stomach the idea of something happening to you, of you not being ‘round with me every second of the fucking day. I wanna touch you, look at you, hold you, have you in my bed. Cuz I want you. I’m fucking addicted to you. I can’t get enough of you.” He lets go of my hands and steps back. “So, that’s what it means when I say you’re mine.”
“I don’t want to be tamed, Neil.”
He scoffs. “If I wanted that, I’d take one of the club whores as my Old Lady.”
Oh my God. This thing between us is escalating too quickly. I step back and turn away. “This is getting too intense, Neil. You and me. Shit.”
“Stop running, Rox!”
I shake my head, walking away. “I can’t.”
“Well, you’re gonna have to, cuz I fucking love you, woman!”
I stop in my tracks.
Before I can get a word out, he’s right in front of me. “Show me, Rox. Show me how you really feel.”
His lips crash down on mine.
My body betrays me and I moan into his mouth as his talented tongue tangles with mine. I sink into the kiss and reach up and tug on his hair, needing him closer. He cups my ass and lifts me and I wrap my legs around him. A moment later, he rips my robe open and I feel the tip of his dick at my entran
ce.
I gasp as he sinks into me suddenly.
He tugs gently on my hair, pulling my lips from his. “Look at me,” he urges me as he starts to pump his dick in and out of me in a slow, easy rhythm, making me feel every delicious stroke as his thick length stretches my walls.
I do look at him and it’s incredibly intense. Overwhelming. He strokes my cheek with his free hand and presses soft kisses all over my face, my neck, my shoulders.
It’s really intimate. Raw and honest. There’s no hiding. It makes me feel completely exposed to him. I can’t get out of this one. It overwhelms me, all my emotions that I always hold at bay rushing to the surface in one unstoppable wave.
Tears fill my eyes. I move to wipe them away, but Neil grips my hand.
“It’s okay,” he says softly. “Stop hiding from me.”
He holds me against his chest as he continues to thrust in and out of me. I feel his fingers slide down between my pussy lips all of a sudden. I cry out into his chest as my orgasm hits. I hear him grunt a moment later as he finds his release. He sinks down onto one of the breakfast bar stools with me in his arms. He doesn’t say anything. He just holds me close.
“I do care about you, Neil,” I whisper, breathlessly.
He kisses my hair. “I know, beautiful girl. Just needed you to know it.”
Chapter 23
~Ax~
“Ah, yeah,” I sigh as I sink into Rox’s sunken Jacuzzi tub.
She laughs as she lowers that sexy naked body of hers in opposite me. Mmm. Yeah. I’m liking her wet and naked.
Wow. The bathroom’s like everything else in her mansion of a home: pure fucking luxury. The tub’s set off from the rest of the bathroom, separated by frosted glass walls. The room’s all black tiles and navy-blue walls. Ain’t really womanly. More on the masculine side, really. No surprise there. Rox is definitely a tomboy. She ain’t a fan of frilly, pink, girly shit.
“What?” she asks as I glance ‘round.
“Nothing. Just looking. Your house is something else, babe.”
Her eyes light up. “I know. I designed all of the interior myself.”
“Yeah?”
“Yep,” she says proudly. “I went to school for Interior Design a little while back.”
“You did?”
She frowns. “Surprised? I do have a brain, Neil.” She sweeps her hand over her body. “I’m not just all boobs and ass, you know?”
“Oh, I get how smart you are, beautiful girl. I’m just surprised you’re doing what you do when you got qualifications to do other shit.”
She stretches her arms out over the sides of the tub and sighs as she leans her head back. “I was going to. But then Black Thorns came sniffing around my territory a little while ago. Ralph and my guys needed me, so I stayed here…doing this.”
That makes my blood boil. Fucking Trig. “Ralph couldn’t handle shit without you?”
“Who I am goes a long way in your world, Neil. As much as I hate being tied to my dad in any way, there’s an understanding there. Keeps biker crap off my turf. They usually know better than to mess with me and mine once they realize who I am. Well, until the Mavs decided they don’t care about the rules anymore.”
I nod slowly. “I get it.”
“Because the same thing happens to you as Skinner’s son, right?”
I can only grunt. I really don’t wanna get into that shit, or talk ‘bout him. It’ll just ruin my mood and rile me up. “You ever think ‘bout tryin’ again with the design stuff? Getting out?”
She shrugs. “Maybe. It depends how things play out, you know?”
“Yeah,” I sigh. “I do, babe. I do.”
I float over to her and take her right arm in my hand. “No matter how things play out…” I tell her, tracing my fingers over the scar there, “I ain’t never gonna let him touch you again.” I press my lips to it and she whimpers. “You hear me, beautiful girl?” I look up at her, still kissing the mark, and see tears there in her eyes.
She nods and chokes out in a broken whisper, “Yes.”
I press my lips to hers, kissing her softly. Her arms wrap ‘round my neck, pulling me close.
She grinds against my already hard cock and moans quietly.
Rising up, sliding her wet body along mine, she impales herself on my cock. Her fingers tug at my hair as she starts to ride me in a way I ain’t never felt before from no woman. Slow. Sensual. Intense.
“I need you, Neil,” she whispers in my ear.
I brush her wet hair outta her face and her eyes sparkle at me. “Fuck, Rox. Been waiting to hear you say those words to me.” I wipe her tears away with the pads of my thumbs. “Cuz I need you too, beautiful girl.”
She buries her face in my neck and breathes me in as she continues to rock up and down, taking me slow and deep.
“Ain’t no one like you,” I whisper.
She murmurs happily and wraps her arms ‘round me tightly.
“You’re my fucking ray of sunshine, Rox. You know that?”
She smiles and crushes her lips to mine, showing me that she gets it. She might not be able to say it yet out loud, but she’s still right here with me. Maybe one day I’ll actually hear the three words I wanna hear from her.
Maybe she’ll stop holding back.
Chapter 24
~Roxana~
The world whizzes by as Neil and I tear down the road on his Harley. We’re miles away from Brockford and all the bullshit there. For the last few days, our time together has been constantly interrupted by me dealing with the fallout from the Mavs situation. My remaining guys were anxious as hell—for good reason—and I’ve been working overtime to reassure them. I dealt with the shootout that happened at the motel. I had to talk to the cops for hours to get it sorted out. Thankfully, I had a little help from the ones in my pocket. And I also have twenty-four-seven surveillance set up around the entire city now. Anyone either on a bike or matching Broker, Skinner, or Bulldozer’s descriptions riding through will instantly be ID’d and my guys will send an alert directly to me.
It’s nice after dealing with all that crap to finally have some peace and quiet. Neil and I are spending the weekend together. No business talk or dealings allowed at all.
Neil makes a sharp left turn onto a quiet back road. I shift my weight behind him, getting ready to do what we’ve planned.
“Ready?” I call over the roar of the engine.
“Ready, babe!” he calls back.
I slide my hands from his waist, up his back. He trembles at my touch.
I laugh. “Keep your dick under control.”
“Tryin’, babe.”
Taking a deep breath and drawing on the courage I need for what I’m about to do, I grip his leather-clad shoulders tightly. He hasn’t been wearing his cut for the last few days. No club colors. Just his unmarked black leather jacket. He hasn’t said a word about it, but it’s clear there’s something going on with him and his club right now. Him not wearing his cut is a huge sign. But I know better than to push it—club business and all that.
“Go on,” he encourages me.
I muster my courage and slowly rise up behind him until my feet are on the saddle. Then I put my right knee onto his shoulder, followed slowly by my left. I shift my grip to his helmet. He slows down.
“No, don’t slow!”
“You sure?” he asks, worriedly.
“Yeah! I have great balance!”
He speeds up, the fields either side of us rushing by in a blur.
I shift my weight on his shoulders.
And then I let go of his helmet. I hold my hands out to the sides.
Oh my God. The feeling is incredible. I scream excitedly. Neil laughs.
I close my eyes and relish the wind whipping all around me.
I can’t believe it. I’m balancing on Neil’s shoulders as we hurtle down the road at ninety miles per hour on his bike. The rush of adrenaline, the thrill of it is unbelievable. It’s the most freeing feeling in the world.
I can feel it through every part of me.
“Whoo!” I bellow. “Free! I’m free! Whoo!”
Neil laughs loudly and takes his left hand off the handlebar to reach up and hold my hand. He squeezes it gently.
“I love you!” I call to him.
He flinches. I feel it in his grip. It takes him a moment to respond and when he does I can hear the raw emotion in his voice. “I love you, beautiful girl!”
***
She pulls off the helmet I bought her a couple of days ago and hangs it off the left handlebar.
“I can’t believe I agreed to wear this,” she says, frowning at the neon pink thing that has flowers all over it. “I could have just worn my own one I use with my bike.” I knew she’d make a fuss when I purposely picked out the most girly one in the store. Fucking worth the look on her face though.
I pull off my own helmet and hang it on the other handlebar. “I told you: my bike, my rules, Rox. Besides, you look so damn cute wearing it.”
She rolls her eyes.
I grab her hand and jerk her into my chest. “Rolling your eyes at me is just asking for me to spank this sweet little ass,” I growl in her ear as I slide my hands down to squeeze it. “And it’s looking so damn fine in these tight-as-sin leather pants.”
“You like?” she asks, smiling up at me.
“Yeah, babe. You should wear ‘em more often.”
“They turn you on, huh?”
“Everything ‘bout you turns me on,” I tell her, grabbing her hand and pressing it to my rock hard dick.
She glances ‘round self-consciously.
“Ain’t nobody for miles, Rox.”
“What about that house over there?” she asks, pointing to the cottage a few feet away. I parked the bike at the end of its driveway.
“Definitely nobody home.”
“How do you know?”
“Cuz,” I say, playing with her hair. “It’s mine.”
She gazes at it, her eyes wide. “Wow,” she breathes. “Really?”
“Yeah, I know it ain’t much compared to your castle of a home, but—”
“I love it! Wow, Neil. It’s gorgeous.” She spins ‘round with her arms out. “And in such a peaceful spot too. It’s perfection.”