by Blair Grey
“This is Holly,” I said, not giving any other explanation for her. She definitely wasn’t my girlfriend; we barely knew each other. But I had to admit; I liked the idea of her being my girlfriend. “And I didn’t disappear. I've just been busy lately.”
“Too busy to eat?” Monica asked, frowning disapprovingly at me. She clucked her tongue. “Look at you, though. Too much time in the gym, I’m sure. Trying to keep up with those twins, are you?”
I laughed. “I’m never going to come even close to them,” I said. Braxton and Landon were of a different breed, basically. Braxton barely even went to the gym, as far as I knew, but he was still built like a bull. “But if you’re interested in fattening me up, can we get a table for two?”
Monica laughed and led us back to a secluded table in the back. “Our lovers’ booth,” she said, winking at me.
I groaned but slid into place at the table. Holly was still fighting back laughter. I tried to think of some way to explain, but I didn’t know what to say. Monica was Monica—that was the thing. She had known me for years now, ever since I had moved into my first house down the street. If Ray was like a father to me, Monica was definitely like a mother. I was actually surprised that she hadn’t given me more grief about having been gone for so long, but I supposed Holly’s presence had distracted her.
Holly leaned back in her seat, looking around the place. The inside didn’t match up with the outside at all. Where the outside looked like just another suburban house, the inside had been transformed to look like something out of Morocco. The walls on the first floor had been mostly knocked out, and new ones had been put in to make the room over into an octagonal shape. Tables were dotted around the room, many half-hidden behind hanging tapestries, which fluttered in a slight breeze that came from somewhere I couldn’t see.
“This is amazing,” Holly said, shaking her head. She turned back to me. “So what’s the story here? There has to be a story, right?”
I laughed. “I guess so,” I said. “Monica’s husband was Moroccan, and when he died, she didn’t know what to do with this big house all on her own. So she turned the upstairs into her living space and turned the downstairs into a restaurant that would always make her remember him. It’s gotten more and more lavish over the years, but the food’s still the same good stuff.” I eyed Holly nervously. “You’re not afraid to try different ethnic foods, are you? I should have asked before I brought you here.”
Holly laughed. “No, this is great,” she said. “I would honestly have pegged you for a burgers and pizza kind of man, though. I guess maybe it’s the beard.”
I snorted. “Don’t get me wrong, I love a good burger. A good pizza too. I mean, you met me at the diner. To be honest, I go there most days. I just don’t like cooking for myself.” I shrugged. “But this place, I don’t know. It’s just really nice. Like I said, the food’s pretty much world-class.”
“I’m excited to try it,” Holly said. “But I guess I should let you pick for me. I don’t know what half of the stuff on the menu even is.”
“I can do that,” I said, grinning at her. “Anything you don’t like?”
“Nope, I’m pretty easygoing,” Holly said, smiling right back at me.
“Good,” I said, liking that. I was glad she wanted to be here. This place wasn’t one of my oases from Red Eyes. Monica paid her dues, and her husband had been somehow involved with Ray. I still didn’t know how the man had died, and I wasn’t sure that I wanted to ask. Braxton and Landon knew about the place, too. They were actually the ones who had brought me here when they found out how close I lived.
But it felt like a different kind of oasis. Like a safe space, the kind that time never touched. And I guess I wanted to share that with Holly.
I was starting to feel a real connection with her. And that made me nervous, especially since I could tell that she felt the same way. I knew this couldn’t go on forever, and I didn’t want to hurt her. I tried not to think about that, though. Have a little fun for now. Maybe Ray would keep his hold on Red Eyes for years and years. No sense worrying so much.
“How’s the job search going anyway?” I asked, trying to distract myself. “I’m sure that’s part of why it’s hard to move down here, right? You’ve totally changed your life. That must be difficult.”
Holly shrugged. “Yeah, I guess,” she said, glancing away from me. I suddenly had the feeling that she was hiding something from me. I wondered what it could be. But I didn’t want to press her. I didn’t want to make her talk about things that she didn’t want to talk about or make her uncomfortable. We still didn’t know each other very well.
Besides, I was hiding things of my own. I hadn’t exactly told her what I did for a job. If she didn’t want to talk about the job search, that was her own business. I was probably reading too much into it anyway. It was probably more that I had spent the whole afternoon trying to show her how great Las Cruces was. Trying to get her to forget about her woes in moving here. She didn’t want to be reminded of them now.
I smiled at her. “So what do you do when you’re not running into me at the diner?” I asked her. “You already know my hobby is motorcycles. What do you like to do?”
Holly laughed, and we were back to that same easy conversation for the rest of our dinner. After we were done, we lingered over a bottle of wine, and I suddenly realized that I wanted to take her home with me. What’s more, I was pretty sure she would agree.
So it seemed like a sign when we walked outside, and it was raining.
“Uh-oh,” Holly said, grimacing at me. “What does that mean for getting home? Can you ride motorcycles in weather like this?”
“You probably could, but I wouldn’t feel safe doing it,” I told her. “Especially not with you on the back. There’s a hotel over there. Why don’t we get a room for the night? I’ll pay. I feel bad about stranding you out here.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Holly said, shaking her head. “It’s an adventure.” She grinned and leaned a little closer to me. “Besides, I wouldn’t mind spending a little more time with you. Pretty soon, I’m going to know all your secrets.”
I laughed. “I don’t have any secrets,” I lied. I put a hand at her lower back and steered her down the street to the hotel. The place was a little run-down, but it was cozy and dry inside. Unfortunately, they only had one room available.
“But the business suite only has one bed,” I said blankly, staring down at the pricing chart in front of me.
“Um, yes,” the nervous man at the check-in counter said, looking back and forth between Holly and me.
Holly put her hand on my arm, leaning in toward me. “That’s fine with me,” she said, her voice laden with lust.
I grinned down at her and shrugged at the other guy. “All right, we’ll take it,” I said.
I led Holly upstairs to our room and watched from the doorway as she went over to the bed and sat on the edge of it. She grinned at me and then, her eyes full of molten desire, stripped off her shirt, revealing a pretty red bra underneath. And more of that tanned, tanned skin of hers.
I groaned and joined her on the bed, pushing her back, running my hands over her body. It was like my mind couldn’t figure out which I wanted more: to strip myself down and give my throbbing erection a little more space, or to strip her down and kiss my way along her body.
Fortunately, her hands started stripping my clothes off me, meaning I could concentrate on her body.
I pressed my mouth against hers, heat sparking between us.
16
Holly
I didn’t know how things had progressed so dizzyingly fast, but I definitely wasn’t complaining as Grant kissed me, his mouth hot and needy against mine. His hands soothed away my worries and my guilt. I shouldn’t feel guilty; we were two consenting adults, and I knew exactly what was going to happen when the guy at the desk told us that the only room he had available was one that only had one bed in it.
The main thing was that Grant di
dn’t know who I really was or why I had purposefully run into him at the diner again that day. He thought I was just some girl from Montana who didn’t know the area.
And to be honest, I felt like I didn’t know the area. I had never been to either of the places that he had taken me today. It was all entirely new to me, and I appreciated that. He saw the world differently than I did. He sought out these beautiful places, and then he shared them with me. It was something I never would have expected from him, especially not given the information that Ryan had told me about him.
He just didn’t seem like a cold-blooded killer. I couldn’t make myself believe that he was.
My job was meant to seduce him and get him to spill all his secrets, but now I just wanted to seduce him. Although to be honest, I wasn’t sure exactly who was seducing whom at this point. As he laid me down on that hotel bed, I felt hot in a way that I had never experienced before. Like every touch of his fingers along my body sent jolts of electricity bursting through me. Like the fire in my belly might make me utterly combust.
I whimpered as he nipped at my lower lip, then I moaned as he thrust his fingers inside of me. And still I was begging for more. He finished stripping out of his clothes, and I ran my fingers along his tattooed skin, feeling the faint ridges that the ink had left there. Scars, but scars that he had chosen. Not scars from a rough life, not scars from a violent life. Just marks of who he was.
I wanted to know who he was.
I gasped as his mouth found its way down to my velvet folds, his tongue sliding along past my clit and into my slick hole. He laved at my entrance, making me writhe with desire as his fingers held me open for him. My hands twisted in the sheet, my hips shifting with aborted thrusts, my whole being crying out for more.
He pulled away with a grin on his face, just watching me for a moment.
“Please,” I begged, and I knew that he knew exactly what I was asking for. Somehow, even though we still barely knew each other, we were utterly in sync, our needs as one.
He covered my body with his, calloused hands stroking lines of fire along my tanned skin. I shivered, a line of goosebumps bursting into life behind each tender touch. My lips found his again, my mouth opening immediately, welcoming him in. There was no finesse by this point. We were sloppy, messy, needy. And I loved it.
I felt as though I was laying myself bare to him, giving him every part of my body. But I didn’t feel nervous or ashamed. I could tell that he would be gentle with me.
He edged inside of me, moving slowly, and I groaned, my head falling back. It was almost too much, the burn of the stretch. But I needed it. Oh, how I needed it.
Grant frowned down at me. “Jesus, you’re not a virgin, are you?” He panted, looking actually concerned.
I burst out laughing, startled. “What? Of course not!” I said, still snickering. “Why?”
“You’re just so fucking tight,” Grant said, shaking his head in amazement. “God.” He pressed his forehead into the crook of my neck, and I suddenly realized that he was close, too, and that this wasn’t going to last nearly as long as I would like it to.
But then again, we had the room for the whole night. We didn’t need to make it last.
I rolled my hips, using my heels to pull him closer. He slid all the way into my pussy, his tip hitting the very end, and I cried out, pleasure exploding behind my closed eyelids. My fingers scrabbled at his back, nails digging in, my body desperate for something to anchor itself on because I could barely comprehend the pleasure spilling through me. It was too much and somehow so perfectly right.
Grant began to move against me, thrusting his hips hard, and I forgot how to breathe.
“Oh God,” I groaned, pressing my hands to my face. The heat in my belly spiked to dizzying heights, and still he didn’t relent, thrusting into me again and again and again.
I screamed his name, heedless of the no-doubt thin walls of the hotel room. He continued to pound against that spot inside of me, and my whole body clenched tight for one moment, toes curling, and fingers tangled in the sheets. Until suddenly, I went lax, falling back against the bed, coming for what felt like forever.
Grant gave two final thrusts as I moaned, my head turned in to the pillow. I could feel him spilling inside of me, his dick twitching, and my walls gave one final clamp, my abs clenching hard and then relaxing. Grant collapsed toward me, his body practically scorching with heat. Or was that heat coming from me? I didn’t even know.
I took a deep breath, letting it out slowly, my eyes slipping shut. Grant chuckled and rolled to the side, his fingers coming up to stroke my hair. “Good?” he asked.
“So good,” I groaned, rolling toward him and putting my head on his chest.
But my contentedness couldn’t last forever. It wasn’t long before thoughts started slipping back into my head. What the hell was I doing? I was supposed to seduce Grant, but I was sure, now, that I had gotten too close to him. I had a job to do. There were so many things that I was meant to ask him about. Information that I was supposed to be getting from him.
And instead, I had gone on a date with him and let him fuck me until I was barely conscious. Instead, the feeling of his fingers trailing up and down my spine were soothing me until I was absolutely limp in his arms.
Instead of doing my job, I was finding that I liked this guy. Ryan was going to kill me if he found out. Ryan couldn’t find out.
I swallowed hard, the last traces of my good humor disappearing. This was the kind of thing that could totally ruin my career. And I was so newly settling into my career that I wasn’t sure that I was ready for that. I didn’t want to screw things up. I didn’t want to get relegated to a desk job for the rest of my life, and I didn’t want to get kicked off the force.
Could I be kicked off the force for something like this? It was unprofessional. Granted, he wasn’t my coworker or anything. But he was a target, possibly a criminal.
Vera would have a fit if she found out too. Suddenly, I felt my blood run cold. Vera. She was going to wonder where I was if I didn’t come home. She would probably assume that I was out with a guy, but she’d want to know who I was out with. And I’d never been much good at lying to her. Maybe I could lead her to believe that this was just part of work, that it was all my plan to seduce him. But she was bound to see something in my face because I could tell I was starting to have feelings for Grant.
And she was bound to disapprove.
Grant shifted, and I looked up at him. “You okay?” he asked quietly. “Not too sore?”
“Not too sore,” I said, but my voice caught in saying it, and I could see the concern on his face. He didn’t ask what was wrong, though. Instead, his hands continued to stroke down my back, as though he thought that he could soothe away all the worry inside of me.
I wished he could. I wished I could go back to just enjoying this time with him. To basking in the afterglow of good sex.
I didn’t know what the hell I was thinking anymore. Risking my career, all because he was sweet to me? I couldn’t let myself be so close to him. And even if it was the only way to get information from him, I knew that I shouldn’t have sex with him again.
I just didn’t know if I could stop myself now. I was having a hard time thinking of Grant as a target. As a criminal. Even as a member of the most powerful biker club in New Mexico. I joined the force to do a job, and Grant was the job.
But I was having a hard time thinking of things that way. Grant just seemed like a good guy in a bad situation.
The problem was, I wasn’t sure there was any way to get out of this with both of our lives still intact. Either my job was in jeopardy, or he was getting wrongly arrested. I didn’t know what to do. And there was no one I could talk to about it.
I needed to keep seeing him if I wanted to keep my job. That much, I knew. I would just have to make sure to keep my feelings out of it as much as I could. If I ended up heartbroken over this, I would have no one to blame but myself.
The s
ex had taxed my body enough, thankfully, and it wasn’t long before I fell asleep. But I didn’t sleep well, and I woke up feeling restless and uncertain, plagued by unhappy thoughts.
17
Grant
On Thursday morning, I woke up with Holly in my arms, her head still pillowed on my chest. There was a feeling I couldn’t describe, deep down inside of my own chest. Like this was right. Like this was what I had always been waiting for. Like she was the person I had always been looking for.
Maybe it wasn’t just her. I didn’t know her well enough to really say for sure. Maybe it was more the situation. The fact that she didn’t know what I really did with my life. The fact that she didn’t judge me. I liked having someone to talk to outside the MC. Someone who wasn’t at all a part of that side of my life.
The thing was, I knew that made our whole relationship something of a lie. She didn’t know who I really was, underneath it all. And I couldn’t help feeling guilty about that. In the stark light of morning, I couldn’t help feeling like I had somehow deceived her.
But things couldn’t have turned out any differently the night before. She had wanted this just as much as I did, and anyway, there was no way I was taking her home with the rain like it had been.
I still felt like maybe I should have given her a heads-up first. Like it was selfish of me to want to be with her just because she didn’t judge me. But I didn’t know what else to do. And besides, it was clear that she had other things on her mind, things that she was keeping from me. I had never seen someone get so serious after sex. Like her mind had been a thousand miles away. I’d wanted to ask her about it, but I didn’t know how. She was already so down, so clearly upset, that I hadn’t wanted to upset her further.
Holly stirred against me, opening her sleepy eyes. There were bags under those eyes, like she had barely slept the previous night, and it made something twist inside of me. She was still nestled against me, so I had to believe that I wasn’t the cause of her unease and discomfort. But I wondered what the problem really was. I had been in too deep of a sleep to notice if she had been tossing and turning.