by Kasey Krane
5
Spike
It took every ounce of willpower still left in me to walk away from that room. I deserved an award for not pouncing on her and taking her right then. As I stood outside her bedroom door, I swung between moments of feeling utter regret for not taking the opportunity when I had it, and then feeling relieved that I was able to walk away.
I knew full well that it was a provocation. She didn’t strip down to her underwear because she wanted me; she did it to provoke me.
She knew exactly what she was capable of doing to a man, and she wanted to watch me suffer.
She thought she was untouchable. She thought she could do whatever she wanted because of her daddy. She clearly didn’t want me around. She wanted privacy, and was trying to do everything she could to get me out of the picture, including seducing me.
I should have seen this coming. I should have known she would pull a stunt like that. Before I first saw Sabrina, I was expecting a spoilt brat, a girl used to always getting her way and treating everyone else like shit. Then I saw her and my mind was warped for a while. I was blinded by how sexy she was. How every inch of her was like a prize to be won. I forgot myself for a while, giving her the benefit of the doubt. I came close to sympathizing with her for having Jeffrey Wyndham as a father.
That was before she tried to trip me up.
I rubbed a hand over my face. This wasn’t going to be easy. If I had to be around this chick twenty-four-seven, force my way into her life, I was going to break. If I saw her near-naked one more time, I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to keep myself in check.
I didn’t want to quit this easily. I didn’t want to walk out of this house, but maybe that was the right thing to do. Maybe someone else needed to guard her. Someone who wasn’t this attracted to her. Someone she couldn’t turn on by just glancing at them.
All I had to do would be to walk over to Wyndham’s office, or better still, find that Jim guy and tell him I was leaving. It would mean admitting defeat. At the hands of a girl? I had been shot at, stabbed, held captive by rival gangs, been in major MC wars and come out the other side still alive. Would I seriously let Sabrina Wyndham bring me to my knees?
But then again, this job wasn’t worth it. I should have been out there with the rest of my MC, trying to locate Eagle and bring him to justice. Instead, I was stuck here.
I pulled out my phone and dialed Ghost’s number. I needed to make a few things clear to him.
“How’s it going?” he asked when he answered the phone.
“You gave me a job to babysit a brat,” I growled, trying to keep my voice low because I didn’t know who was listening. I could hear Ghost chuckling.
“Come on, man, it can’t be that bad.”
“The daughter has started a campaign to try and get rid of me as if I’m her evil nanny.”
Ghost chuckled even louder this time.
“And Wyndham has definitely got some stuff he’s not telling us or his family. He gave me a brief overview of the problem but I don’t think we even scratched the surface.”
Ghost breathed in deeply, as he knew what was coming.
“This is a job for a prospect, man, you’re killing me here,” I groaned.
“You will end up killing yourself if you don’t take it easy for a few weeks.”
“Look, man, I like Mercy, okay? I wasn’t a big fan when you guys first got together.”
“I wouldn’t have guessed,” Ghost said sarcastically. “But I’ve gotten to know her now. She’s not half bad.”
“I trust her professional opinion. She seems to think you need to take it easy. Well, her advice was that you stay off your feet and stay in bed watching crap TV and eating chicken soup for a few weeks, but I didn’t want to kill you from boredom.”
“So you think you’re doing me a favor?” I growled.
“Spike, this is a big job. Do I have to fuckin’ spell it out for you? If you do this job right, the mayor of this city is going to be indebted to us. We will have him in the bag. Our business will be secure from any legal interference. Cops will turn a blind eye. All kinds of different doors will open up for us. All you have to do is give this guy what he wants.”
I had my jaws clenched tightly. Maybe I should have told him what was happening with Sabrina. That it was going to be harder and harder for me to keep my hands off her. That she had launched a personal campaign to seduce me.
“Yeah, I guess you’re right,” I replied.
“I am. This is a small job. Just to tide you over till you’ve made a full recovery. Either that or you get back here and stay in bed. We are not letting you get back in action right now.”
“Okay, yeah, okay, I get it. Geez!” I ran a hand through my hair.
“Try figuring out what is really going on with the mayor,” he added.
“I feel like I’m going to find out pretty soon, without trying.”
Ghost was grinning, I could sense it through the phone.
I asked about the rest of the MC, and he filled me in on what was happening at Fifth Gear, and then the call ended.
It seemed like there had been no activity inside Sabrina’s room. Ideally, I would have liked to keep an eye on her on cameras when she was alone in her room, but I knew already that she would never allow that. So I would just have to stay on high alert instead.
I spent six hours outside her bedroom door, listening out for every possible suspicious sound. Thankfully, the house was huge, so there weren’t many sounds to distract me. No other person came anywhere close to the hallway, which meant I could keep all my attention and focus on what may have been going on inside Sabrina’s room.
My best guess was she was asleep.
I was on my feet the whole time, trying not to succumb to the pain on my side that made an appearance from time to time. I didn’t want to give in to it or admit that I needed a break. It would mean Mercy was right and that I couldn’t even stay alert for six hours on a job.
It was very early in the morning now and the hallway I had spent the night in was filling with a dim dawn light. I didn’t know when Sabrina would wake up, but didn’t spoiled rich kids waste all their days sleeping?
I rested the back of my head against the door, just for a second. I closed my eyes for a flicker of a moment and immediately, my body relaxed. I was picturing her in that black lingerie. I could see her nipples through the flimsy material of her lace bra. I knew I wanted her.
That was when I heard a sound on the other side. My eyes flew open. There were more sounds and I couldn’t decipher them. Was it just her waking up? Walking around the bedroom? Or were there more people in there with her?
I knew all about diversions. About breaking in through bedroom windows. I wasn’t about to take a chance with that.
I pushed the door open with my shoulder and looked around the room. Sabrina wasn’t in her bed. The bathroom door was wide open and I ran to it to check. She wasn’t in there either. The bedroom window was open.
Someone broke in here.
“Fuck!” I growled, gunning for the walk-in closet. My first instinct was to regret every miserable thought I’d had about Sabrina. I should have kept her safe. I should have been able to protect her.
But then I saw her at the end of the closet. She was in profile. Naked. Alone. She was looking through some dresses hanging in a row. She heard me stepping in and our eyes met.
“What the hell are you doing in here?” she hissed through gritted teeth.
I was flooded with relief. I glared at her, angry with myself now for jumping to conclusions. My mind was playing tricks on me. Maybe Mercy was right after all. Maybe I wasn’t in the right mental state to do any kind of job.
“I had to come and check on you, make sure everything was fine,” I replied and turned away from her. She said nothing and I was relieved by that too.
It wasn’t until half an hour later that the bedroom door finally opened. I had spent that time pacing up and down the hallway, regretting shutting my
eyes. It was my job to stay awake, to keep an eye on her. My first night on the job and I’d nearly dozed off.
What if there actually had been a break-in? Wyndham seemed to think his daughter’s life was in critical danger. I should have been more alert.
And if I wanted to keep my hands off that girl, I needed to stop walking in on her when she was naked. Fuck!
Now Sabrina was standing on the other side of the door. She was wearing a sleek jumpsuit in a rich biscuit color, which fell like butter on her skin. She had tied her long hair in a shiny ponytail. Her face was glowing and almost golden. There was the slightest hint of shimmer around her eyes. She was wearing that same perfume she wore last night. I cleared my throat.
She was beautiful. It was as simple as that. I couldn’t deny it as much as I tried.
“Did you miss me?” she asked, and a smile was curling her lips.
Once again, she’d caught me off-guard and I didn’t know how to respond to that question. The truth was, I did miss seeing her face. Fuck that. That was bullshit!
“I’m not going to apologize for checking in on you, it’s my job,” I replied.
Sabrina rolled her eyes.
“Yeah, you’ve said that already. I hear you loud and clear. My daddy has given you the job of watching over me like a hawk. My every move. I don’t know what his game is but this is over the top, even for him.”
She was already walking down the hallway and I followed her.
“Where are you going?” I asked, catching up with her.
She had another one of her handbags hanging off the crook of her arm, and was wearing dark leather sandals to match it. There was a thick gold necklace resting just above her breasts. It looked very expensive.
“I’m hungry. I want something to eat. I’m guessing you haven’t eaten anything either,” she said, stopping to turn to me.
“Okay, I can take you somewhere,” I replied.
We walked together and didn’t encounter anyone else in the house. It seemed like we were the only two people here in this big, beautiful mansion. The thought struck me then—was this what all of Sabrina’s days looked like? Minimal interaction with her father, close to no interaction with the staff of the house? Because they were definitely there, somewhere in the background, hiding out of her view. Her father had given me the responsibility of keeping her safe and then disappeared. For all intents and purposes, Sabrina had no family. No friends. No companionship.
Was she lonely?
“Where is this place you want to take me to?” she asked.
“You’ll see,” I replied.
6
Sabrina
It’s happened twice already. The first time, he saw me nearly naked, I did it on purpose to tempt him, but when he walked in on me naked this morning, it was purely accidental.
When I woke up, I didn’t know where he was, but something told me he had stood outside my bedroom door all night. That was the vibe Spike gave off—of doing a job well. No matter how much he didn’t like it.
And both times that he saw me with minimal clothing on, he simply walked away. I didn’t know how he was able to do it, to keep calm, even though the sexual energy between us was palpable. He had to have felt it too. There was a physical connection.
We walked outside the house to the driveway, and I couldn’t see daddy or Jim’s cars anywhere so it was likely they were already gone. The usual. Even though daddy liked to show me off to his friends and probably believed he had a close relationship with me, the reality was far from that.
We rarely saw each other around the house. He didn’t know me at all, and I didn’t believe I knew him either.
Spike had already refused to tell me where he was taking me for food. It was early in the morning, and I was suddenly more ravenous than I had ever been before. I just realized I hadn’t eaten anything since the meal on the flight. Cherie had probably prepared a lavish breakfast for me, but I was going to miss it.
I was curious, wanting to know where Spike was taking me.
In the driveway, I looked around for the car.
“How are we going to get there?” I asked and then I saw him walking toward a bike.
A bike?
Of course! He was a biker. Why didn’t I make the association?
It was a big dangerous-looking bike. I had never been on one before and couldn’t picture myself riding one either. When Spike went and stood beside it, I couldn’t help but smile.
“You can’t be serious!” I exclaimed when he didn’t budge or smile. He was totally serious. “I am not getting on that thing.”
Despite our distance, I could see him clenching is jaws. Was he frustrated with me? Was I being a nuisance? While I wanted to get under his skin, I wanted to please him at the same time. I couldn’t remember the last time I had felt this conflicted about someone.
Spike wasn’t all black or white.
“The only way you are leaving the house is if you get on this bike with me.”
“So you’re just going to go ahead and make all the rules? Turn my life upside down?” I exclaimed. Spike was unmoved, totally unaffected by my words or the tone of my voice. He wasn’t going to change his mind about this one.
But why? We had a full fleet of cars waiting in our garages that he could use to drive me around.
A few moments of silence passed between us; maybe we were both expecting the other to crack. Eventually, it was me who gave in. I had to, I was hungry.
“Fine!”
He helped me up on his bike and from the moment I sat behind him, I felt like I was going to fall.
I mumbled under my breath, anxious and nervous. I wanted to scream and walk away. He couldn’t force me on his bike. If I locked myself up in my room and never came out, there was nothing he could realistically do. But I didn’t want to make a fool of myself.
For some reason, I wanted Spike to think highly of me. Maybe I also wanted to shock him a little.
He was in front of me and looked over his shoulder.
“Hold on,” he said, just moments before he kicked his bike alive. I grabbed him with both hands, screeching as the bike roared to life.
I was completely out of my element, unsteady and feeling as though my life was in danger. I had no choice but to cling to him now and Spike gave me a nod before the bike flew ahead.
The first few minutes of my first bike ride had me convinced that I wasn’t going to come out on the other side alive. Everything zoomed past me at supersonic speed. I was clinging to Spike but it didn’t feel like enough.
I had to lean into him, rest my cheek on his back and wind my arms around him so that I was eventually pasted to him. Stuck to him.
I pressed my eyes closed and tried to focus on something else. Anything other than crying out for help, quitting.
I could feel his body against me. His strong muscular body. His muscles were pumped and tense. He was gripping the bike hard, concentrating on the road and I could feel how tough and rock hard his torso was.
Again, there was that tightening feeling in the pit of my stomach. I breathed in his scent. He smelled of leather and smoke and beer. I had never been this close to something so masculine. Was my mind just playing tricks on me?
Would I wake up tomorrow after the fog of jet lag was gone, and laugh at myself for wanting a man like him?
But I didn’t care right now. For now, I could stay stuck to him like this; forget about the dangers of riding a bike, weaving through fast-moving traffic. I felt safe and protected with him. He was so strong. So capable. If there was anybody who could keep me safe on a bike, it had to be him.
I didn’t care where we were going anymore. I wasn’t even hungry anymore. I wished I could stay like this, forever.
I wasn’t really paying attention to where we were riding. The few times that I had peeked, I noticed I didn’t recognize any of the places we were riding through. When Spike finally pulled up in front of a bar with a huge parking lot, I realized we were in the middle of nowhere.
For the first time, a shred of doubt and suspicion crept in. Once again, I couldn’t help but wonder why my father had picked a man like Spike to protect me. A man who hung out in places like these. Was he really going to keep me safe or was he the one I needed to be kept safe from?
He killed the engine and swung himself off the bike. I could feel the color rising in my cheeks because I was in a kind of warm lull this whole time. I didn’t want the bike ride to end, and now that it was over, I hoped he couldn’t see the look of desire in my eyes.
“Where are we?” I asked. Spike gave me his hand to hold, to help me off the bike.
When our hands touched, I felt that pulse of electricity run through my veins again. Was this how it was going to feel every time he touched me now? I was embarrassed, especially since I now knew he didn’t want me. He wasn’t going to make a move on me. I felt like I had already made a fool of myself.
“This is where I hang out,” he answered, confirming my suspicion.
I looked around, and everywhere I turned, there were deserted roads and trees. No sign of any traffic or people anywhere. There were bikes and trucks parked in the parking lot, and I thought I could hear faint music drifting from inside the bar. Loud thumping music. Definitely not the kind I would want to listen to early in the morning.
“This is where you hang out?” I asked, looking past him at the structure in front of us.
It could have been a deserted building if it weren’t for the loud music giving its use away.
“Yeah, this is where I spend most of my time. Where my friends hang out.”
“Is this where you conduct your business, too?” I asked and he turned to face me. He could see I was trying to mock him. Spike searched my eyes.
“I’m not asking for your approval or your opinion on the place. This is where we’re eating,” he replied and walked straight ahead.