Outplayed

by Rose, Lila

  From that day on, no matter how many times I tried to dodge Talon Marcus, I still managed to bump into him and make a fool of myself—something that he greatly enjoyed. I could tell from his small teasing smirks or laughter at my expense because he knew what he did to me and my libido. He enjoyed playing games with me… and okay, sometimes I even enjoyed them, deep, deep down. Because every time something happened, he made me feel desired.

  However, feeling that scared me, and in turn, caused me to become a chicken, so to avoid the man who invaded my dreams I spent a lot of time with my daughter at Deanna’s.

  An example of why I had to steer clear of such hotness was what happened four days ago. Maya was at Deanna’s while I quickly ran home to do a few errands and clean the house without my daughter making more of a mess. I had just gotten out of my car when Talon magically appeared out of nowhere.

  “Kitten.” He smiled.

  Upon opening my eyes, I squeaked, “Talon,” and tried to walk around him. He wouldn’t have it of course and stepped in front of me.

  “What are you doin’ tonight?” he asked, and I watched as his hands slowly rose to tuck my long wavy hair behind my shoulder. My eyes stayed glued to his hand as his fingers gently ran down my arm to my hand. There his fingers wrapped around mine and tugged.

  “Kitten,” he chuckled.

  Shaking my head, I looked up and glared at the bad, bad biker man.

  God, he loved playing with me.

  Still, even though my body loved to be played with, I was no longer that woman.

  The woman who risked.

  And it was a guess, but I was sure it was a good guess that Talon Marcus, president of the Hawks Motorcycle Club, was one huge risk to my heart.

  “I’m,”—I licked my dry lips, my eyes widening when his beautiful eyes watched my tongue—”I’m busy, um, it was, ah, really nice to see you, Talon, but I have to go,” I blurted, and then to my… disgrace, practically ran to my front door with his deep chuckle following me.

  As soon as I was inside my door, I closed it quickly and leaned against it, my breathing erratic. In the last six months I had frequently seen Talon popping up out of nowhere wanting to talk to me, to ask me what my plans were, and every time I acted like a freaked-out teen whose boy crush had just spoken to her.

  No matter how my body wanted to jump his bones and get jiggy with him, my mind stayed strong and reminded myself that a relationship came with too much trouble.

  At least that was what I kept telling myself.

  * * *

  “Zara?”

  I blinked back into the now and answered, “I—ah. No, I don’t think. I mean, I’m not good company, and I have a friend coming over—”

  “That’s fine, just means we’ll have to be quick.” He winked.

  Rolling my eyes, I walked off, but not before he slapped me on the behind and then strode past me laughing.

  I grumbled under my breath all the way up the steps, ignoring the other bikers across the road at the compound laughing, yet again, at me.

  * * *

  Two hours later, I’d had a bath and gotten into my pink-with-black-kittens flannel PJs. Deanna texted an hour ago saying, Hey, twat head. Not sure if I can make it. I’ll let you know.

  So I sat down at my small, four-seater wooden table by the kitchen’s large bay windows to eat my reheated Chinese. I had always found that Chinese tasted better when reheated.

  Only then the doorbell sang. Maybe Deanna made it after all. I walked through my small lounge, which was furnished with a floral couch and one chair. A television sat on a long black unit against the wall, and a wooden chest acted as a coffee table in the centre. Nothing matched and that was the way I liked it. I’d saved and bought all of it myself, so I loved every piece of furniture in my house. I smiled before opening the front door.

  “Kitten,” Talon said as he looked at me from top to bottom. With a grin, he moved fast, because the next thing I knew, he was kissing me. My eyes sprang wide when his hot mouth touched mine.

  “Talon,” I mumbled around his lips, trying to shove him back. Unfortunately, well, not really, but still, yes unfortunately, when I spoke it gave Talon’s tongue the chance to sneak in. As soon as it hit mine, I melted on a moan of abso-freakin’-lute pleasure. My abdomen clenched and my nether region quivered. I wrapped my arms around his neck and gave back as good as I was getting. In return, I received a groan. He picked me up, stepped inside, and kicked the front door closed behind him.

  Holy crap, Talon’s kissing me. ME. God, he is good. Wait, why is he kissing me? ME?

  “Hot damn. I need some popcorn for this,” I heard my best friend say.

  I pulled away. My arms dropped to my sides, and he let me take a step back. Both of us were breathing hard. I took another step back, looked over Talon’s shoulder, and found Deanna, smiling hugely, standing in the doorway with her hand still on the doorknob.

  “Girl, you said he was fine, but you didn’t say he was fucking F.I.N.E.”

  Talon raised his eyebrows at me and turned to face Deanna, in all his tight jeans and white tee glory.

  “I-I’ve never said anything,” I muttered.

  “Hey, Talon. I’m Deanna, Zara’s best mate. I’ve been waiting for a glance of you for two fucking years. Oh, and I’m the one who will whip out some whoop-ass on you if you fuck her over, biker dude or not,” she said in a pleasant tone, and then smiled sweetly.

  Talon surprisingly didn’t laugh. He looked her over and looked back at me. I knew what was running through his mind. Deanna and I were complete opposites. I was on the short side, had curves and lightly tanned skin from my Mexican background. I was sure Talon had the same sort of mix in his blood, only his skin was a little more like cocoa with a dollop of milk.

  I had long, wavy, dark brown hair, and dark, forest-green eyes. Deanna was tall, thin, and was lucky enough to have been bestowed with a great rack. She had blonde hair, sky-blue eyes, and freckles on her nose to make her look that much cuter. She also had a big case of attitude. Though, it was all a front, of course. We’d both been through our own personal hell. We were just lucky to have found each other at the end.

  “Nice to meet you, Deanna, and you have nothing to worry about,” Talon replied.

  What does that mean?

  Deanna glared at him for a moment and then smiled. I felt, for a second, a pang of jealousy. Her smile had been the end of many men over the years, and right now, in her black pants and hugging tee that read ‘watch ‘em bounce’ she looked great.

  “I better not. Alrighty, wait till I get some popcorn and you two can continue what you were doing.” She clapped her hands together.

  “Uh, no. We can’t. That—nuh-uh,”—I shook my head—”shouldn’t have happened.” My mind was in a whirl of thoughts.

  Talon turned to me and said calmly, “It’s been a hell of a long time coming.”

  “Wh-what?” I shook my head again.

  “Come on, Zara, give the shmuck a chance. Then at least if it doesn’t work out, I get to kick his bad-boy biker arse. A cute one at that; right again, lovey.” She nodded at me.

  I glared at my ex-best friend. “I have never said anything about his behind. Deanna, a word in the kitchen.” I gestured with my head. Then I looked at Talon. “Uh, maybe you should go.”

  “I think I’ll stay, kitten.” He grinned and made his way to the couch. He sat down and propped his feet up on my chest—the wooden one—and turned on the TV.

  I pulled the smiling Deanna down the hall, into my bedroom, and closed the door. Then I frantically got changed into jeans and a tee. Talon had already seen me in my PJs once, and that was once too many.

  I spun to Deanna, put my hands on my hips, and glowered at her as she sat on my bed grinning.

  “Oh, don’t start. You need to live a little, girl. And I think biker boy can help you along the way.”

  “Deanna,” I hissed. “I see nothing but danger with him around; and for God’s sake, I am nowhere near
his type. Look at me,” I said, waving my hands up and down my body.

  “And?” Deanna asked while looking at me like I was a loon.

  “I have hips, I have a pudding belly, and I have dark brown hair. Not blonde and skinny, like he’s always with, and have seen leave his place, and… Jesus, what the hell am I explaining myself for? There’s danger all around him. Danger, Deanna. I can’t go back to that. You’d have a better chance with him. Not that I want one.”

  She ignored my last statement. “You sound like that fucked-up robot off... shit, what’s that show you like?”

  “Lost in Space.”

  “That’s it.” She took a deep breath. “Zee, hun, you don’t know that. Sure he’s a badarse, but he ain’t nothing like that other jerk-off. Nothing.”

  I threw my hands up in the air. “You don’t know that. I have to think of Maya. She’s my number-one priority.”

  “What about you, though? When will you let yourself be happy?”

  “I’ll wait till Maya’s twenty. Then I can think about myself,” I said, and crossed my arms over my chest.

  “I bet—” Deanna was cut off by a knock on the front door.

  I looked at Deanna and raised my eyebrows. I didn’t know why, maybe I thought she magically knew who was at the front door. She shrugged, and then we both heard Talon growl, “Who the fuck are you?”

  We bolted from my bedroom and ran down the hall. Coming into the living room, I focused on who was at the front door.

  Oh, hell.

  “Um, hi, Michael.” I waved over Talon’s shoulder because he hadn’t moved from the doorway. He still held the door with one hand, as if he were ready to shut it on Maya’s teacher from last year’s face.

  “Hi, Zara.” Michael smiled.

  “What are you doing here?” I asked, and tried to open the door wider to get it from Talon’s grip. But he wouldn’t budge, so I gave up.

  Michael produced a bunch of wildflowers from behind his back. “I saw these and thought of you.”

  “She doesn’t want them,” Talon said.

  “Talon!” I scolded.

  “And who are you?” Michael asked.

  “Her man.”

  I coughed and sputtered. “Ah, no you’re not.”

  “Hot damn,” I heard in the background from Deanna.

  “Yes. I am.” He turned to me, his form blocking my view of outside and Michael.

  I put my hands on my hips. “Since when?” I glared.

  “Kitten.” He smiled. “Since I stuck my tongue down your throat and you curled your body around mine, moaning for more.”

  I was sure my eyes popped out of my head and walked off, then skipped with my heart down the path.

  “Hot-double-damn!” Deanna laughed. “You’ll have to give her a minute. Sorry, Mike. I think you’re about ten seconds too late.”

  Talon shut the door in his face, which broke me out of my trance.

  “Goddamn it, Talon. That was rude. And I am not your woman!” I opened the door and stomped down the front steps after a retreating Michael.

  “Michael, I’m so sorry about that Neanderthal. That was very sweet of you to bring me flowers.” Though, I didn’t understand why since I’d told him “no” fifty times already when he’d asked me out.

  “Don’t ever do it again,” Talon warned from the front porch.

  I glared up at him. He winked and smiled down at me.

  “I can see I’ve come at the wrong time. Maybe I should come back?” Michael asked.

  “Uh…” was my response.

  “No,” came from Talon.

  “I wouldn’t bother,” from Deanna.

  I turned to them and sliced across my neck with my finger. Really, I was prepared to kill the both of them.

  Spinning back to Michael, I smiled. “I’m sorry, Michael, but right now, at this time, I’m not ready for anything—”

  A scoff came from Talon.

  I continued, “The thought was very sweet, and I think you’re a great guy—” God, I hated doing this; I always felt bad. Especially with a guy who was still holding flowers for me. “And you never know, maybe in the future—”

  “Try never,” Talon growled.

  “Ever.” Deanna giggled.

  I winced. What was with the running commentary from the loco-train people? “Sorry, Michael.”

  “That’s okay, Zara. I’ll come back in a couple of weeks, see how things are.”

  I stopped myself from rolling my eyes. Is that the future?

  “You come back, I’ll kill you.” Talon started moving from the front porch toward us. I quickly ushered Michael out the front gate and closed it.

  “Everything okay, boss?” Griz asked. Griz was short for Grizzly, his biker nickname because he was built like a bear, in a cuddly sort of way. Not that he had a belly; he didn’t. He was just tall, with very wide shoulders, arms, and legs. Griz was stalking across the street toward us. Two others, whom I hadn’t met, were standing on the other side of the road, legs apart, arms folded across their chests, looking menacing. I’d only met Griz because he helped me one day when I was attacking my lawn mower with a sledgehammer when it wouldn’t start. He’d jogged across with an amused expression and asked, “Can I help, lady?” I let him, of course, or I’d be in jail right now for murder. I would have found a gun somehow.

  I saw Michael studying Griz who was in his full motorcycle ensemble, including his black leather vest with a Hawks patch sewn onto it, their club’s name.

  “Y-y-you’re a member of Hawks,” Michael stuttered.

  Griz stopped beside Michael and stared down at him. “Yeah, what of it?” he snapped.

  “N-nothing.” Michael turned back to Talon. “He, he called you ‘boss.’”

  Talon grinned his wicked grin and I grabbed the fence for support as Talon said, “Heard that, did ya?”

  “Um.” He looked to the ground. “Zara, I don’t think I’ll be back. Bye.” He quickly marched off to his car. I was surprised his car didn’t fly off, squealing down the road.

  Deanna burst out laughing and walked toward us.

  I sighed and ignored Talon’s presence beside me. Instead, I turned my attention to Griz. “Hi, Griz. How’s things?” He looked from me to Talon and then back.

  “Great, Wildcat, and you?” He smirked. Wildcat had become my nickname from all the bikers since that first night. For some strange reason, no one else was allowed to call me kitten except Talon.

  “Fine.” I rolled my eyes and watched as the other two bikers disappeared into the compound.

  “Now that’s what I call entertaining. Girl, I gotta come to your house more often.” Deanna grinned.

  “Deanna, I think from now on I’m going to be a regular visitor at your place.” Just like I have been.

  “Kitten—” Talon began with a tone of warning.

  “Pfft. Don’t you ‘kitten’ me,” I said with my back to him. He slipped his arms around my waist and pulled me close against his front. I held off a sigh of pleasure and tried to move away. It was impossible. I looked over my shoulder at him and bit my tongue to hold the moan. He looked gorgeous, even though his eyes told me he was annoyed. Still, they were laced with a little bit of lust as well.

  Griz laughed but covered it with a cough when Talon glared at him.

  “Oh, girly, we need to celebrate this. Let’s get drunk,” Deanna said. “Lord knows I need it.”

  I doubted I was supposed to hear that. I looked over at her and knew she was hiding something from me, but what was the mystery?

  “And what are we celebrating exactly?”

  “You and Talon gettin’ it on.” She gave me the duh look.

  I went to move again but didn’t get anywhere. “Uh, no. There is no Talon and Zara.”

  “Uh-huh.” She smiled and looked at us from top to bottom. Okay, so to some it could seem different. Because I may have relaxed against Talon’s warm, hot weight and my arms may be... okay, were resting on top of his, which were still wrapped
around my waist.

  Holy crap, I’m in Talon’s arms.

  He moved an arm from around me and swept my hair aside, then kissed my neck, which involuntarily arched so he could have better access.

  Holy cow, Talon’s kissing my neck. In front of people.

  That didn’t help my side of things. I nudged his head away with my own, and with some force, wiggled my way from his—wanted…so much needed…No!—unwanted and unneeded comfort.

  I made my escape to Deanna’s side.

  Oh, my God, is my breathing heavy again? Yes, yes it is. Damn him and his sinful body.

  “You”—I pointed my finger at him and glared—”stay over there. This”—I gestured between the two of us—”can’t happen.”

  Deanna scoffed. Griz laughed.

  “Kitten, I know you want me. Your body doesn’t lie. It’s only a matter of time before I’ll be in your pants…” He trailed off as Griz’s phone rang.

  Griz flipped it open. “Yo? Yep.” He closed it and looked at Talon. “Business, boss. Later, ladies.”

  “Bye, Griz.” I smiled. It wasn’t his fault his boss was a chauvinist arse-hat.

  “See ya, hot stuff,” Deanna purred, causing Griz to look over his shoulder, confused. He didn’t understand that Deanna was attracted to older men, and Griz was definitely older. Deanna and I both sat at twenty-six. My guess, Talon was mid-to-late thirties, and Griz, with his long, muddy-brown-with-grey hair, and hard-aged eyes seemed to be hitting early forties.

  “Kitten, I have to go. But if you two are having drinks, why don’t you come by the compound later. I’ll have a couple with you.” With that, he grabbed my chin, kissed me hard and quickly, before my knee had the chance to hit his groin, and left.

  Of course, I watched his fine arse walk away, and I was sure he knew it.

  “Yeah, you keep fighting that, hun.” Deanna laughed and walked into the house.

  Also by Lila Rose

  Hawks MC: Ballarat Charter

  Holding Out (FREE) Zara and Talon

  Climbing Out: Griz and Deanna