by Rie Warren
“You told me to shut up,” she huffed.
“I know. But then you said you love me so I figure you forgive me.”
“You’re infuriating.” Ashe hauled me down for another hungry kiss.
When her moans turned to whimpers and I was in danger of dropping her onto the floor for a quick dirty screw, I dragged myself away from her.
Panting for breath, she stood in front of me. Her gaze wandered down my body and when she hit my bulging crotch, she lifted her eyebrows.
I groaned in response to her leering look. “We can’t fuck on this table, can we?”
“Cameras are off.” She shrugged.
“What about the evidence?” I asked in a hoarse voice.
“Well, that would be inside me if you do your job right.” Approaching slowly, she trailed a finger down the center of my chest until she cupped my cock in her palm.
I gripped her wrist and drew her hand away. “I can do my job no prob, but this time I’d prefer it to be in your bed where I’ll be staying all night long.”
“Bossy.”
“Those are my terms.” Let her take a slug of her own medicine.
She surveyed me all over with her smoking gray eyes, a small quirk to her lips. Finally, she said, “Deal.”
“No backing out. No walking out. No running scared.” I checked one last time.
“Yes.”
We sealed it with a kiss that spun quickly out of control. A sharp knock on the door thrust us apart, and I gave a throaty chuckle.
Ashe held out her hand for me. “We should probably go.”
“Yeah. Before we get arrested.”
While Ashe collected Cara, I waited in the lobby taking measure of all the police officers in the house. I took special note when an older dude appeared dressed in a rumpled, possibly-from-the-eighties suit. He had hard, unforgiving eyes set inside a worry-wrinkled face. When he entered the room, everyone stood at attention.
Sipowicz. So she did have one after all.
Ashe and Cara caught up with me, and I pointed at the man. “Him. He should be your partner.” At least he looked old enough to watch my woman’s back.
“That’s the chief,” Ashe said.
“Exactly.”
She patted my cheek. “What am I going to do with you?”
Everything, hopefully, tonight, and totally naked.
Ashe slid her arm around my waist, mentioning to Cara, “Brodie’s coming home for dinner.”
Cara walked out of the station ahead of us, stopping only to call back, “’Bout darn time.”
“You’re grounded!” Ashe and I said together.
In the parking lot, Cara scrambled into the passenger side of the car while I opened Ashe’s door and waited for her to climb in. “You need me to pick up anything from the store?”
“Nope. Just grab some clothes for tomorrow so you can spend the night,” she said all matter of fact.
Suddenly Cara’s head popped up next to her mom’s. She held out her fist to me with a loud, “Booyah!”
Ashe peered between her daughter and me before settling her glare on me.
“What?” I asked with my hands up as I backed toward my truck. “You can’t blame that shi—that stuff on me. You raised her.”
It didn’t take me long to feed the cats, give them some love, and throw my stuff into a bag at my house. I texted Boomer and locked up behind me. I opted for the Harley instead of the truck. I wanted to make tracks to Ashe’s before she changed her mind.
Dinner prep was in full swing when I walked inside—Cara singing off-tune as the iPod jammed out something terrible, Ashe working away at the stove. She’d switched into cutoff shorts and a tank top. When I caught a glimpse of her round ass hugged by the denim I had to remind myself to keep my hands off.
Strolling up behind her, I placed a kiss on top of her head. She swatted me away with the spatula.
I grinned. I could definitely get used to this.
They made dinner while I set the table and poured some wine for Ashe and me. Afterward, I handled the cleanup, and they set up the board games tournament in the living room. Carrying another glass of wine in to Ashe, I settled on the couch next to her. I rubbed her shoulders as we played a round of Monopoly. Cara accused me of cheating because I scooped up the railroads just like I told her I would.
All the while, Cara wore a very smug look on her face. I didn’t blame her one bit. I probably spent the whole night gloating myself.
Before Ashe sent her off to bed, Cara swooped down to kiss my cheek. “’Night, Brodie. See you in the morning.”
My voice suddenly grew too gruff to speak. I simply nodded and messed up her hair a little.
“You’re really good with her.” Ashe turned in my arms, crawling into my lap.
I played with the frayed edges of her shorts. “That’s because she’s easy. You done good. Except for that noise she calls music. Oh, and did you know she’s been pestering me to take her out on my bike?”
“That’s not going to happen.”
“That’s what I said.”
Ashe became quiet, burrowing her face against me. When she spoke, her voice was low and soft. “What if I’m not . . . if this isn’t . . . exciting enough for you?”
“Are you crazy, woman?” I lifted her face from where it was tucked against my shoulder. “You have gunshot scars. You ride a bitching Triumph. You’ve got a sweet kid, and a good home, and hell, I do not need any more excitement in my life. I just need you.”
“Do you want to have children, though? Of your own?”
“Christ.” I cuddled Ashe closer. “Here’s the thing. I think so. But not if it’s a deal breaker with you. I don’t know, Ashe. Shit, I’ve already got Boomer and Cat, you and Cara, and the fucking cats. But . . . can we just not talk about this yet? Can’t we enjoy one night without having A Talk?”
“It might not be a deal breaker with me,” she whispered.
Goddamn. I wanted to get that signed in writing. Instead I caressed the nape of her neck, where the skin was velvety as flower petals. “Really?”
She nodded. “But we do have to have A Talk.”
“’Bout what?” Alarm bells went off, louder than the metal detector at the station.
“You honest to God cannot say anything about what I’m about to tell you.” Moving to the opposite side of the couch, Ashe stared at me and I had the feeling she was measuring me up.
“Talk.”
“There’s another reason I broke up with you—tried to anyway.” She drained her wineglass. “I couldn’t be seen to be sleeping with the enemy on my first investigation as detective.”
“Hold up. Enemy?”
“Brodie, I’m investigating Retribution. That’s why that shitheel Collins asked if I was bringing you in today.”
Shock ran through me like an electric current. “What the fuck? My club is clean.”
“Some members are not.”
“Who?”
“I can’t disclose that information.” Ashe stood and headed to the kitchen.
Following right after her, I poured her some more wine and grabbed a beer for me. I swigged it fast.
“I’ll fucking kill anyone who dirties the club.” I slammed the bottle on the counter. “It’s Boomer’s baby, for fuck’s sake!”
“I need you to keep your mouth shut and let me handle it.”
I gritted my teeth. “I’ll find out who it is. I’ll take care of it.”
“You absolutely cannot get involved. I shouldn’t have told you in the first place, but I wanted you to understand.” Slipping her arms around my waist, Ashe leaned into me. “I want you. I have wanted you. I am in love with you. Cutting you out of my life just about broke me, Brodie.”
“Me too,” I whispered roughly.
“But you are a civilian here,” she said with finality.
Jerking back, I scowled. “Retribution is my family.”
“And it’s my investigation.” Her chin took on that stubborn tilt. “S
o you and me? A major conflict of interests.”
“Understatement.”
“So let’s really fuck everything up. Come to bed with me. I need you. I’ve missed you so much.”
My thoughts spun like tires on a wet road, but I shut that shit down. Tomorrow. Tomorrow would be early enough to figure out the who and the what and how quickly I could destroy whoever was messing with my club’s reputation.
We washed up and got in bed. I went with full nudity. Ashe wore panties—a tiny scrap of lace—and a tight little top.
I tugged at her minimal clothes. “C’mon, darlin’. Wanna feel you.”
Her breath faltered. “Could we hold each other for awhile?”
Chuckling low in my throat, I snapped her panties against her ass cheek. “Yeah, but let’s do it naked.”
That was quite possibly a mistake. Ashe sat up, kicked off her panties and slid off the top. She lay down next to me, and skimmed her hands up my chest, over my shoulders, and into my hair to bring me to her lips.
We made out, rolling around on the bed. Pillows ended up on the floor. Sheets fell off the end.
Sometime later, I moved her onto her back, sliding above her. “Something else you missed?”
“The way we move together.” Her voice pitched high at the end as I circled the hard ball piercing on the tip of my dick against her swollen little clit.
I held her hips to the bed and thrust up and down against her wetness but never inside. We came together with yells held underbreath, our lips locked together, our bodies straining for more.
After I recovered enough to move, I pulled a sheet over us and smiled when Ashe pillowed her head on my bicep.
“If that’s how we don’t have sex, I’m game,” I said.
“Me too,” she sleepily mumbled. “Love you.”
I switched off the light and lay down with her pressed against my side. “Love you too.”
****
The next week, Cara called to me from the deck at Ashe’s house.
I hung my head out the sliding door. “Yo.”
“I got some alone time for you and Mom.”
“How so?”
“I’m going on a slee-eep-O-VER,” she singsonged.
Score. It was official. I loved her more and more by the day. I’d been jonesing for some couple-time with Ashe. Although Cara never carried on when we snuck a kiss or two, Ashe and I were a hell of a lot more discreet with her around.
We had sex, of course we did. We were Brodie and Ashe after all. But it was quiet, contained to the bedroom, with no headboard banging the wall. I didn’t stay every night either, only three or four times a week. Not nearly enough to sate my craving for Ashe.
When the night arrived, I made my own sleepover arrangements. I’d take Ashe out to dinner, and then I’d be all about the free access to her body while she thrashed beneath me, above me, and all over me, screaming as loud as she wanted. In fact, the louder the better.
Our meal at a swanky downtown restaurant was expensive, intimate, candlelit, lingering. Ashe wore a slinky dress the same color as her eyes, which made them appear even more silvery. I’d put on a decent pair of jeans . . . with my biker boots . . . and a light blue button down shirt I’d taken the time to iron.
The extra effort was worth it. I thought Ashe’s eyes would bug out of her head and her tongue roll onto the floor when I picked her up. All part of my master plan.
While we ate dinner I had a hard time focusing on anything other than her legs, and the wicked-looking high heels. Every so often, she crossed and uncrossed those coltish legs, because she knew what she was doing: turning me on to such a degree I wanted to reach out and pull her onto my lap.
Over wine, we touched and kissed and talked.
I pulled back from brushing my lips along her neck. She smiled down at her glass, her glossy lips turning up at the corners. Long black eyelashes fluttered to her rosy cheeks, and I’d never seen her so adorable.
Yeah, adorable.
Coasting my fingertips up and down her bare arm, I watched the goose bumps I created as she shivered.
“Tell me something. Do you have to be a little bit of a headshrinker to be a detective?” The question popped out of my mouth.
“Why? Worried I’m dissecting your psyche every time we have a conversation?”
“What you see is what you get.” I slipped her hand into mine, twining our fingers together.
“Baby, you are the least take-me-at-face-value man I’ve ever met.”
“Is that an insult?”
“No.” She laughed. “No way. There’s the you everyone else sees—big buff motorcycle dude with scary tats.”
I lifted my eyebrows at scary.
“And the . . . um . . . piercings, not to mention the piercing blue eyes.” She reached over to slide her fingers along my jaw. “I really like you, the man you are by your deeds and actions. Sure, you’re sinfully sexy. But then, there’s the guy who’s so sweet and thoughtful. The man who helps out with my daughter, no questions asked. The one who worries about me and tries not to let it show.” She shyly flipped her eyes to mine. “I like that one too.”
“Good answer.” I grinned. “But what about my original question?”
“Ahh. Do I perform psychological warfare on my suspects? Not exactly, but I do have to be pretty good at reading people and teasing out information from them. It’s solving a riddle, making someone pay for the wrong they did that’s the most rewarding part. Oh, and I like carrying a gun.”
“You’re a thrill seeker.”
“I’m with you, aren’t I?”
I barked out a laugh.
“You know, when I helped take down Dirk’s father, that was the first time I fired a gun on a suspect. It was scary as hell. I’ve obviously earned Dirk’s undying hate for it, but getting that man behind bars? That gave me a taste for really going after the bad guys. That’s why I’m on Vice.”
“Does it still scare you?” I stroked her cheek, smiling when she turned into my caress.
She pressed a kiss to my palm. “I’d be a hothead if it didn’t. And hotheads aren’t smart or safe.”
I gave her a tender kiss. “I’m glad you’re smart and safe, Ashe.”
“I know.” Her mouth moved warmly over mine, then she pulled back. “What about you? What’s your favorite part about Chrome and Steele?”
“I get to do what I want.”
“The rebel.” Ashe winked at me.
“I get to work with Cat and Boomer, and the club. We’re all family.”
Her eyes turned cloudy for a moment when I mentioned family.
“Working with my hands is another bonus.” I rasped one palm up the outside of her leg.
“I like how you work with your hands too,” she gasped.
“I know you do.” Comfortable in my chair, I motioned the server over to clear our dishes away.
“What’s next?” Ashe asked with a gleam in her eyes. She swung her leg, drawing my gaze.
“I don’t know. It’s such a pleasant evening. Maybe we’ll stay here a little longer, get some coffee and dessert? Then drive over to Sullivan’s Island for a walk on the beach?”
She frowned at me as if I’d grown two heads. The only extra head I’d grown was the one threatening to teepee my jeans.
“Brodie Steele,” she hissed.
I glanced unconcernedly at the dessert menu.
She tore it from my hands, tossing it onto the table. “Get the damn check before I rip your clothes off you right here.”
Double score.
My woman had spoken.
We were out of the restaurant, in my truck, and headed over the Ravenel Bridge just as fast as Ashe could hustle in her high heels down the cobblestone street to the parking garage. She tried to get all over me in the truck—her hand on my thigh, her lips at my throat, her fingers inching ever closer to my jutting cock.
“Baby. I need to keep my eyes on the road and my hands on the wheel.” I was having none of it. Ashe
liked to be in control. Well, so did I, and tonight I was the sarge-in-charge.
“No one said you had to do anything.” She squeezed me through my jeans, and my foot skipped on the gas.
Sparing a glance at her, I said, “If you want to keep your hands busy, why don’t you lift that dress and take off your panties for me?”
I expected her to curse me out. Instead, approximately twenty seconds later, she pressed a warm scrap of silver satin and lace into my palm.
“Already wet for me?” I pocketed the bundle, keeping my eyes trained ahead.
“Yes.”
Nodding as my jaw tensed, I drew in a deep breath, snagging some of the scent of her arousal. “Good.”
She spent the drive rubbing her thighs together. I spent it reciting all the parts of the vintage Victory motorcycle engine I was rebuilding at Chrome and Steele. Guess what? Didn’t help my erection go down one bit.
Once inside her house, I kept the lights low, closed the blinds, and ordered, “Get naked.”
“Right here?” Her voice lowered, hitting me right in the groin.
“Yeah, right here in the living room. I’m gonna get some things upstairs, so you better be completely nude when I get back. In fact, show me what a good girl you can be for me and wait on your hands and knees in the middle of the rug.”
I watched a shiver ripple through her body as she swallowed harshly.
“Okay,” she whispered.
Next time maybe I could get her to say Yes, sir.
I calmly walked upstairs even though all I wanted to do was plunge right inside her sweet cunt. Collecting lube, a condom—okay four condoms, I had a busy night planned—I added a soft blanket. I didn’t want Ashe to get rug burn.
Nudging off my boots in the bedroom, I unbuttoned my shirt then started downstairs.
The visual of Ashe that greeted me made me wish for a metal cock ring snug around the base and balls of my dick to keep my come from spontaneously jetting out.
I rubbed a hand over my mouth, the hand with the smell of her panties still on it. “Look at you.”
At the sound of my voice, Ashe arched like a feline preening for attention. I walked around her, checking her out from all angles. The tiger lily tat shimmered in the low light, its tendrils wrapping around her hips. She stayed braced on her hands and knees, her ass raised, legs spread, tits dangling to the floor.