One More Step

by Colleen Hoover

  Now I shifted, rolling to the back of my heels. “I know whose blue eyes you inherited yours from, yes.”

  One nod from him. “He’s my uncle.”

  His uncle was the president of the entire Red Demons MC. Max Raith.

  Royalty.

  I noted, “And you know my uncle.”

  A second nod. “I do.”

  Mine was not. He was a member, but I knew he was important to the original charter.

  So I knew his uncle.

  He knew my uncle.

  We knew each other, but we didn’t know each other, and still standing, staring, I knew we both wanted to know each other.

  FOUR

  Christopher

  KESS FOSTER.

  They never told me how gorgeous she was going to be, but she was. My dick had been hard for an entire year straight, and she was standing here, done with high school, and she never had a clue she’d been in danger.

  ‘Club business.’ That’s what her uncle said he told her.

  Club business, my ass. She had a right to know her life had been threatened and that she was the reason I was even here. All year. Her uncle was at the house until I got situated. We had a security system put in place, and I holed up close in the house next door. She never knew. Ever. When I rode my bike up, I went into the backyard. I asked Heckler, her uncle, if she wondered about the bike sounds. His response was she didn’t. There were other bikes riding up and down their street but none of them were MC bikers.

  I guess it worked.

  As for the other reason I was here, I’d been the one chosen. A year older than her, I’d already graduated, and Max had been adamant I get my degree. Then this situation came up where there’d been rumors of someone trying to push in on a territory that wasn’t quite ours, but we also didn’t want to let anyone else in. Mix that with a few whispers that came down the pipeline one of ours had a niece in Roussou, California and how pretty her head might be as a trophy.

  Max hadn’t waited.

  I got the order to head out immediately.

  Word was worked out with local law enforcement. There were other players in town, a whole ‘crew’ system in the school so I hadn’t needed to be around during the day. Not much. Not until the last semester. Things got dicey, and she had no clue, so I started hanging out a bit more than she realized.

  But I was there, watching, and feeling like a creeper.

  The threat was recently eliminated, so I got the call to head back to headquarters.

  I waited, wanting to actually talk to her for once.

  And I was back to this: Kess Foster. Beautiful and she was the kind that didn’t know it. And what was more, she wasn’t a common beauty; she was unique. Her hair was so blonde, it was almost white. It looked like she dyed it with some dark roots, but that was just her hair.

  Heckler had the same hair, and it was weird.

  If we were told that aliens came down and had been walking among us, I would’ve instantly thought Heckler and Kess were from them. That was in addition to their eyes. I had clear blue eyes. I knew this, and it was something I got a fuck-ton of attention from. They were my weapon. I could yield them how I wanted, but in her school, I kept my head down and my mouth shut. No one messed with me, but that was a testament to the school itself. The dynamics had been interesting here.

  But my eyes weren’t like hers.

  Hers were an ice blue. Almost gray, almost just white too. I’d never seen eyes like hers.

  One woman giggled over Heckler, saying his eyes were like a vanilla chai latte with a dash of light blue in them. Eerie.

  But Kess didn’t know.

  She’d been in a crew, and those five guys had been protective of her. That was, until a storm went down and their crew disbanded. I watched it happen.

  I watched as each guy left and were now already doing their own thing. One guy remained, but he’d shunned her, and I had no idea why.

  She was alone, and she just graduated high school.

  She shouldn’t be alone.

  This was the summer she was supposed to have a last hoorah with her friends before heading to college. That was one thing I had been proud of, because she was smart. She was going to school. Some in our life, my life, didn’t do academic institutions. They were looked at as weapons for the ‘other’ way of life.

  Max didn’t view them that way, and I was glad that Heckler said his niece didn’t either.

  She was going to a fancy sounding school.

  I was happy. I was proud.

  She was smart. She was self-reliant. She wasn’t a big fighter, but if push came to shove, she’d pick up a gun. She had good aim. I’d watched her at the gun range.

  She’d be just fine, but she was alone, and I didn’t like her being alone.

  I also didn’t like that she wasn’t prepared for what kind of attention she was going to get moving forward. That made me worried, and my dick grew, calling me an asshole, because yeah, I was one of those guys.

  I wanted to give her a whole bunch of attention.

  FIVE

  Kess

  HE WAS STILL staring.

  I hated to admit this, but it was just making me hotter and more bothered.

  What was wrong with me?

  I’d never been this girl. Ever. It’s not that guys hadn’t been interested, but once I joined my crew, those guys went away. There’d been a time I had dated one of my crew members, but it would’ve gone bad fast so that stopped immediately. After that, we’d been a no-dating crew. I loved my guys, or had loved them. They were my brothers. My family. We joined our freshman year, and our crew name had been Shane’s Crew. Nothing fancy and named after Shane Lorenzo. He’d been our leader, but the rest of us all got along. There’d been problems, which was why I felt so blindsided.

  They’d been my security blanket, and now, nothing.

  Shane went to Alaska. Kemp and Gorrup were on their backpacking trip together. Johnny was still here, but not speaking to me. I had no clue why. And Curtis was probably face first in his girlfriend’s pussy since we’d disbanded. She’d been eager for the end of us and now that it happened, I guess she was his new crew in the whole girlfriend/boyfriend thing.

  Mostly we liked to drink beer and laugh together. We did pranks sometimes, mostly on teachers or the principal, or anyone who messed with us. But we weren’t a fighting crew. We weren’t known for that. We were just there in the background.

  Christ.

  They were me.

  I was them.

  That was me.

  I was ‘the background’ and it was hitting me how stupid I’d been.

  There had been conversations over the last year about the summer and next year. The guys had even said they were looking into going backpacking, but I thought they’d talk about it with the rest of us. And Shane had mentioned Alaska. I told them I was going to college. Johnny was doing the same.

  But… just to disband? It hurt. It hurt a lot.

  “Wanna get a burger?”

  His gravelly voice pulled me out of my thoughts, and I tuned back in. His head had remained to the side, those eyes on me, piercing through me, and I was getting all flushed having different thoughts instead. Thoughts like something other than his eyes checking me out.

  “Sure.”

  SIX

  Kess

  WE WENT ON his bike.

  It was glorious.

  It was freeing.

  Barely any words all year, just the awareness of each other, and here I was, feeling like I was meant to be on the back of his bike. My hands were wrapped around his tight chest, my body against his, and I could feel his strength. This guy—whatever the real reason he’d been here—he’d not been a normal student. He just felt more.

  He drove to a small burger café, backing his bike up at the front door. The place wasn’t full, and I wasn’t surprised. Everyone was partying and as I got off his bike first, handing him the helmet, his hand grazed mine.

  A tingle shot up my arm, b
ut I’d been tingling the entire ride.

  I’d been like this since I saw him waiting for me.

  It’s a surreal feeling, your body taking charge and not letting your mind catch up. Because I should stop and question things, but the only question that came to my mind was why did it feel so right when he took my hand and led the way inside?

  He shifted, walking behind me. A gentle hand on my back as we took the booth in the far corner. No one was inside except the staff, but it was a small place. There were only five booths available.

  I slid inside, and Chris sat next to me.

  I raised an eyebrow, but his mouth twitched as he leaned around me to snag the menus. He slid one in front of me. “You need that?”

  I pushed it aside. “I’ve lived in Roussou all my life, been here probably six dozen times.”

  He chuckled. “What are you getting then?”

  “A deluxe cheeseburger with fries and a soda.”

  He nodded. “Maybe I’ll have the same.”

  After we gave our orders, Chris seemed to relax beside me, but he wasn’t. His entire side was pressed against mine, and I felt how tight he was.

  “What’s going on?” I waited until our drinks were served before asking.

  He raised an eyebrow at me, picking his drink up and taking a sip. “What do you mean?”

  “I know you’re not going to tell me why you were really at my school, but you’re tense. And you waited an entire year to approach me.”

  His eyes lit up. “You’re cocky.”

  I grinned slowly. “Maybe. Maybe not.”

  He gave another dry chuckle. “Let’s talk about you. You’re going to college next year?”

  I nodded and told him my plans. It was a good school, and I wanted to get a nursing degree. “My mom’s a nurse. When my dad left, she was pregnant with me.”

  “You two are close?”

  “Yeah.”

  “That’s Heckler’s sister, right?”

  Whoa. He acknowledged knowing my uncle. “Yeah…”

  He caught my reaction. “What?”

  “Just,” a shrug, “I never thought you’d talk about, you know.”

  I was getting flustered. I never got flustered. This was weird.

  He laughed, noting my reaction. “What is this now?”

  Why? Why now? Why today? Why at the end of the school year?

  Screw it.

  I tried to ignore how inflamed my face must have been. “Why were you at my school this year?”

  His grin faltered; his voice got quiet. “I can’t talk about that.”

  Okay. Another push. “Were you even a student?”

  He was studying me, but then a reluctant shake of his head. “No. I wasn’t, but your school’s administration knew I was there and why I was there.”

  I sucked in my breath. That was huge. Huge! And what did it mean?

  The food came, but neither of us moved to start eating.

  He waited until the server had moved from hearing distance before saying, “Let’s just say some people in high positions have a certain fear and debt to the MC.”

  And my last question. “Are you a member of the Red Demons?”

  He wasn’t as forthcoming, waiting a few beats before lounging back. His arm came up to rest behind me, and he moved so he was facing me. “That’s a complicated answer.”

  “Why?”

  MCs didn’t like you asking questions about them, and certainly not someone who’d be Red Demon royalty. I was going for broke here.

  I was holding my breath until I heard, “I graduated high school last year.”

  I was doing the math. “So, you would’ve prospected for the summer, then you were sent here?” That was a whole year, and most of it was spent away from his club.

  “We’ll see how it goes when I head back.”

  So, he was leaving.

  My heart sank.

  “Got it. Yeah.”

  He paused, then leaned forward. “Hey.” His voice, so soft there.

  It wasn’t fair.

  “Hey.” Not as soft. He touched my shoulder, hooking his finger under my tank top strap. He moved it down, his finger balling it up.

  Sensations were exploding down my body, inflaming every inch, and I was super aware of his body right next to me. So seriously aware. There was a whole throbbing situation starting, and that was making me all sorts of flushed.

  “Look, I’m going to level with you.”

  That didn’t sound good.

  My throat was spasming as I waited, looking over and holding his gaze.

  His eyes were all stormy looking, focusing on my lips before looking back up. “I asked for the day. I don’t know what orders I’ll get. I will probably get called back to headquarters, but I don’t really know.”

  My tongue felt heavy. “So, you’re saying you have the night?”

  Regret flared over his face, tightening his expression. His eyes flared again in sympathy.

  I hated that look.

  “Yeah. I have tonight.”

  One night.

  His finger started rubbing over my shoulder, moving under my strap. The food was long-forgotten, and he was watching me, waiting for something. I didn’t know what, but did it really matter? One night. The rest of today.

  This sucked.

  I asked, my throat hoarse, “Why’d you wait all year?”

  He cursed under his breath. “I couldn’t.”

  I knew. I mean, I knew. That’s how MCs were, especially if they sent a guy for a long-term mission. That meant he was someone. I already knew that, but he was so young and to be sent away for a nine-month assignment. Those didn’t get handed out lightly. No matter who his uncle was, Chris was meant for big things with the Red Demons.

  One night. Damn.

  I knew my answer to what he hadn’t asked.

  “Got a place we can hang?”

  His eyes dipped to my mouth. “Oh yeah.”

  SEVEN

  Kess

  “REALLY?”

  I gaped at the house when he pulled into a driveway, then turned my head to the house next to it. My house. And I looked back to his house.

  “You were my neighbor this whole time?”

  A low chuckle reverberated from him as he turned the engine off and stood from his bike. “Yep.”

  I was even angrier, but one night. Dammit! I glared at him. “So not cool.”

  He ignored that, taking my helmet off and hanging it on his handle. He took my hand, giving me a tug. “Come on.”

  His eyes were wolfish. His gaze was lingering on my mouth, and just like that, the momentary anger was starting to subside. He hadn’t even touched me.

  Walking to the house, he lifted his arm around my shoulders. I reached up for his hand so they dangled together just off the side of me. This felt nice.

  I was melting against his side.

  Once inside, he stepped to the kitchen. “You want something to drink?”

  You.

  My throat went dry.

  I croaked out, “No.”

  His eyes darkened, and he said softly, “Okay.”

  He took my hand again, leading me down the hallway.

  Were we really going to do this? Was I really going to do this? Just get right down to business? I mean, he had bought me food, but yeah.

  I was nervous.

  I didn’t date. It’s not that I didn’t want to, but there weren’t a lot of guys I was interested in. I had a few hookups, but not many. A girl had needs. That was, until Christopher showed up. Once he did, it was him.

  Only him. All him.

  All year, and I was an idiot for not approaching him.

  His room was sparse. A bed. A chair. A dresser. A laundry basket in the corner. That’s all I noticed before he moved toward me.

  One step.

  He was right in front of me, close enough I could touch him.

  Heat rose in me.

  I was aching to touch him, and he was right there.

&n
bsp; Another step.

  His head folded down. His forehead rested on mine, and I reached out. My hands touched his stomach.

  He was so strong, tight. There was no softness there, and both our chests rose at the same time.

  I slid my hand up, pushing up his shirt, feeling the texture and contour of his muscles until I paused, right over his heart. It was speeding, just like mine, and biting down on my lip, I kept moving. His shirt was ripped off, his hand curling around my waist at the same time his head dipped.

  His mouth found mine—and ooooh!

  I was gone.

  Done.

  He was kissing me. I was kissing him.

  I’d never been kissed like this.

  He was commanding.

  There was no soft, subtle seduction here. We both knew what we wanted. The whole year had been our foreplay, and his mouth opened over mine. I was helpless to do anything except respond. Hell, I was helpless to do anything except what my body wanted. And my body wanted a lot.

  I wanted to crawl up him like he was a pole, and I wanted to feel him slide home.

  Bending as his tongue swept against mine, he grabbed under my leg with one hand and his other hand on my ass. He lifted me. Oomph! He walked us backwards, lowering me gently onto the bed. He came down with me.

  He moved down, his mouth trailing a path south until he lingered over my jeans.

  He looked up, waiting.

  I bit into my cheek and nodded. Yes, please. So many yeses.

  My jeans were unbuckled, lowered, and his mouth moved there. He touched me, kissed me, and I lifted off the bed.

  I was inflamed.

  He explored me, every single inch of me.

  He made me explode, then waited and brought me to the pinnacle again, and right before, he paused. A second. I heard the crinkle of a condom, and then he was back.

  He had undressed me. I had done the same.

  I relished in the feel of him, and then he moved between my legs. His eyes met mine, held me captive, and he slid inside.

  So good. Sooo good.

  As he began moving inside of me, and I was rolling with him, in the back of my mind, I knew it wasn’t usually like this. There should’ve been clumsy fumbling. An awkward maneuver to unsnap my bra. I should’ve been embarrassed at how his fingers slid inside, and then gasped at how good that felt, but none of that happened.