by Anne Malcom
“A little late to be sitting out here on your own isn’t it?” A deep voice shocked me out of my sensual dream.
“JESUS CHRIST!” I yanked my hand out of my underwear, sitting up and sending my wine glass flying.
“No sweetheart, don’t think anyone has mistaken me for that do gooder before.” Cade moved onto my porch, hands in his pockets looking too good at this hour. What was I thinking? He was probably up to all sorts of dodgy shit, like casing the neighborhood.
“What the FUCK are you doing on my porch at 2 in the morning?” I whispered angrily, hoping the commotion had not woken Amy. Unless Cade was here to murder me, or kidnap me and sell me into white slavery then I hoped Amy was awake and in the process of calling the authorities.
“I think the more appropriate question is, what is a woman doing out on an unprotected porch in the middle of the night, not even aware enough to know when someone is within ten feet of her?” Cade shot back angrily.
I flinched back in surprise, was that concern in his tone?
“What do you care?” I replied, recovering quickly. “Isn’t this like a prime opportunity for someone like you, poor defenseless women, out alone in the dark?” I spat at him.
“No baby, I like my women willing and aware.” He said, slowly advancing on me.
I stepped my bare foot back trying distance my ovaries from his body, not noticing the glass surrounding me, a sharp pain erupted in my left foot.
“Shit!” I cursed. I lifted my foot to see blood spurting out of it.
“Don’t move baby, you’ll make it worse.” Cade strode forward, glass crunching under his boots, before I realized what he was doing I am in his arms.
“What do you think you are doing?” I screeched while squirming and slapping at him. “Put me down this instant” I commanded, trying to sound firm.
“Quit moving.” Cade opened the door, somehow directing us into the kitchen.
“Where’s you first aid kit?” He asked.
I ignored him. “Get out of my house and put me down, or I am calling the police.” I threatened, trying to deny that the proximity of his body was turning me on. I should be committed, this stranger turns up on my porch in the middle of the night and somehow I managed to get horny.
“Now how are you going to call the police when I have you in my arms, seems to me that’s a very empty threat.” Cade gave me a squeeze, his face far too close to mine.
For a second I forgot everything but the attraction between us. I knew he felt it too because the humor on his face was gone and with a primal stare. He leaned in, nose brushing mine, preparing to kiss me.
“Fuck.” He whispered, face inches away from mine, I felt his warm breath on my nose. He pulled back and I let out a little moan. I clamped my hand over my mouth and began to regain coherent thought.
“Babe. First aid kit. Tell me where it is.” Cade ordered, voice hoarse.
“Cabinet above the sink.” I replied automatically, my brain still foggy from the almost kiss.
“Right.” He set me down on our kitchen island. Cade then lifted my feet up so I was fully up on the counter, brushing my bare leg. I gazed into his grey eyes and then back to his hand, which was resting on my upper thigh. I then glimpsed down at my foot, which was leaking a fair bit of blood. Cade followed my eyes, his face turned hard, focus moving to the first aid kit.
I regarded at him from behind, his faded jeans fitting him like a glove, I checked out his ass, it was pure male perfection. Then I got a look at his cut. It’s like someone splashed ice water on me. What the fuck is going on? How have I let him in my house? A stranger and a biker! A biker who I was far too attracted to and was loosing all sensible thought around. I swung my legs down, jumping off the counter, preparing to grab the phone, or maybe a weapon of some sort. I was not prepared for the blinding pain in my heel, the pressure I was putting on it pushing the glass further in.
“Ouch” I hissed.
“Whoah there sweetheart.” I felt Cades hands at my waist, lifting me back up into my previous position. I ignored the tingle where his hands met my skin.
“Probably not the best idea, trying to walk with glass embedded in your foot.” He pointed out.
“Well I think it’s probably a worse idea having a biker, whom I don’t know in my house in the middle of the night, so I was going for the lesser of two evils.” I hissed back.
“Now baby I ain’t evil, well not at the moment anyway.” His eyes flared. “I am not going to hurt you.” He told me firmly and moved to the end of the counter to look and my foot, bending down to get a closer look. His hand gently touched the injured area and I flinched away from his touch. Grey eyes met mine. “I told you I’m not going to hurt you, gonna get you fixed up.”
For some strange reason, maybe the wine or more likely blood loss, I believed him, relaxing into his touch.
“That’s it baby.” He watched me for a second then went back to inspecting my foot. “Yup that’s in there pretty good.” He muttered while grabbing some tweezers and antibacterial wipes out of the kit. “Now this is going to hurt.”
“I think I can handle it.” I informed him.
“It’s in pretty deep and I will have to use anti bacterial spray and that stuff hurts like a bitch.” He said while studying my first aid kit.
“Yes I’m sure you’ve had your fair share of experience in disinfecting, with stab wounds and bullet holes.” I scowled at the top of his head.
“Oh yeah, baby you can only imagine what I have to deal with. I just don’t want to hurt you.” His rugged face was surprisingly tender inspecting my face while cradling my foot in his two giant hands. You know what they say about big hands…wait Gwen focus!
“I’ve had worse.” I snipped, failing to hide the slight shudder in my voice from the closeness of this male who has a disturbing effect on me. I focused on my foot, which hurt like a bitch, but I suffered through it and tried to take my mind off it by interrogating Cade.
“What in hell are you doing outside my house in the middle of the fricking night anyway?” I asked, crossing my arms, mentally congratulating myself for bringing up such a sensible topic.
“Just doing my part for the neighborhood watch baby.” He replied without looking up.
“Yeah and pigs might fly. Seriously why are you skulking outside my house? For the second time in 24 hours.” Even as I relayed this information I realized I should be peeing myself right now, this was like stalker behavior 101. “And don’t call me baby.” I commanded as an afterthought.
“My buddy lives across the road, well for one more night at least. I was picking something up tonight, happened to see you on the porch.” He explained, sounding far too reasonable.
“I think my stalker theory is more believable.”
He didn’t reply, I stared intently at the top of his head, his midnight black hair falling around his face and to his shoulders. I didn’t normally like any kind of long hair on a guy, but man he worked it. His broad shoulders and muscles strained his shirt, thick veins almost pulsing out of his arms. The tattoos covering his arms captivated me for a moment. I thought about those arms wrapped around me, feeling his electric touch all over my body, the wetness between my legs came back. What the fuck is wrong with me? Until now, the thought of any man touching me was repulsive and scared the shit out of me. But it was like my body was finally waking up, with a vengeance. The irony was not lost on me that it was yet another dangerous man wearing a leather cut who turned me on. I had a serious problem. Why can’t I be attracted to a nice accountant with a paunch and a bald spot, someone whose worst crime would be to fashion?
During my mental turmoil Cade had finished nursing me and was now stroking my ankle, the animal look back on his face. I realized I was sitting on a counter, in a slinky kimono with an even slinkier nightie underneath. Damn my addiction to seductive nightwear.
“Baby.” Cade growled, the primal tone of his voice sent shivers down my spine. He straightened and I swung by legs back
down as he moved to stand in front of me, stopping between my legs, his crotch dangerously close to mine. Gulp. He kept staring at me as his hand cupped my cheek.
“You are fucking beautiful.” He whispered.
I stared back at him dumbly, unable to think of anything to say. Work brain!
“So god damn beautiful I want to kill whoever put all that fear behind those eyes.” He declared fiercely.
I jumped up, his words waking me from my mental coma. How could he say this? He doesn’t know me, we haven’t even had a proper conversion.
“You need to leave. Like now.” I ordered coldly.
“Baby…”
“I told you don’t call me that.” I snapped. “Now I thank you for helping me with my foot even though it was your fault that I cut it in the first place. I would appreciate it if you would get out of my house and do not come by here again.” I was rather proud at how even and authoritative my voice sounded.
“I’m sorry about your foot baby I really am, but I am not sorry that it meant I got to touch your skin, or get close enough to know how fucking good you smell.” Shivers ran down my spine yet again. He didn’t miss my reaction; he tugged my head towards him, his mouth inches away.
“And fuck if I am going to taste you baby, every inch of you. But not tonight, you need to get some sleep and rest your foot. But I will be round here again, not in your kitchen but in your bed.” His voice was firm, he was someone who was used to getting what he wanted.
I yanked my head away from his, fighting both fear and arousal. “I am not some biker groupie who will drop her panties at your say so. I have something that you a probably not familiar with women you fuck, something called self-respect. So don’t flatter yourself into thinking I am attracted to you, and I don’t get how you think it’s appropriate to say something that vulgar to a woman you barely know, but trust me it’s not.”
Cade gave an attractive chuckle. “We both know that isn’t true, I can bet your panties are dripping right now, cause I can’t be the only one feeling this.” He gestured between us.
“I assure you any attraction you feel is one sided, now please leave.” I lied, my nose was going to be as big as Pinocchio’s at this rate.
“This ain’t one sided and you know it.” Cade barked. “You are going to be mine, and in my bed.” Without another word, just another intense stare he turned to leave.
“Don’t hold your breath…oh no wait please do.” I called sweetly to him just before he walked through the door.
He stopped, fixating on the alarm panel beside the door. “I want the door locked, and this armed after I leave.” He commanded.
“Don’t tell me what to do you...” I paused, trying to think of an effective insult.
“Just fucking do it.” He snapped. “I won’t leave the porch until I hear the door lock.”
He strolled out closing the door behind him and I heard his footsteps stop. “Fucksake.” I mumbled under my breath, hopping over to lock the door and arm the alarm, only then did I hear his heavy footsteps walking down the porch steps.
What an infuriating arrogant asshole, I thought, trying as hard as I could not to feel any warmth over the fact he wouldn’t leave until he knew I was secure inside the house.
Chapter 3
After finally getting to sleep after four, only after to taking care of the dull ache in between my legs while unwillingly thinking of Cade, I woke up and looked at my phone.
“Fuckstick.” I muttered in my sleep zombie voice.
“Well hello sleeping beauty.” Amy chirped, leaning against my door, looking fab in her white sundress with a huge turquoise necklace, and matching wedges, two coffee mugs in her hand.
“I thought I might have to organize a herd of elephants to storm through here to wake you from your slumber.” She joked, coming to lay beside me in bed and handing me sweet sweet coffee. I groaned as the previous nights events washed over me.
“I was supposed to go into the store today and sort things out for the opening next week.” I started to stress, taking a huge gulp of the precious nectar in my cup, letting it soothe me.
“It’s Sunday girlfriend, day of rest and hangovers.” Amy laughed. “Lets just chill out today, go grab some brunch or more definitely late lunch, explore the town a bit more and enjoy a carefree day.” She jumped out of bed and waltzed towards my wardrobe.
“Now you grab a shower and I will sort you an outfit.” She ordered.
“Okay.” I sighed, pulling the covers back to get out of bed, forgetting about my foot until the pain reminded me.
“Shit.” I cursed, hoping Amy wouldn’t notice the bandage.
No such luck.
“What did you do to your foot?” She asked with concern.
“Ummm” I tried to think of some convincing lie, even though I knew Amy would sniff it out a mile away, we never lied to each other.
“Ohhh I smell something interesting.” Damn, our unnaturally close bond. “Spill.” Amy demanded.
“Fuck it.” I grumbled. I then proceed to relay the events of last night, in detail. After I finished Amy sat at the end of my bed wide eyed.
“Well fuck me.” She breathed and didn’t say anything else.
Wow, I think my best friend was actually lost for words, that was an absolute first. She always had some response in any situation, even when we bumped into Karl Lagerfeld in the Hamptons one summer. She managed to get us invited to dinner with him. It was awesome.
“FUCK ME!” She yelled and I jumped, her tone bringing my thoughts back from the Hamptons.
“No thanks you’re not my type.” I mumbled back.
“Yeah sounds like your type is more tall dark and delicious.” She replied sarcastically. “This is amazing, I seriously can’t believe you were having some kind of scene out of a fucking romance movie right downstairs while I was asleep.” She looked at me with a smirk. “I mean…shit.”
“There is nothing to smile about Ames, last night was a huge fuckup and I am going to make sure I never see him again.” I decided, wondering how the hell I was going to avoid the sexy biker in a town this small.
“Newsflash babe, we are in Siberia you can’t exactly avoid him, he is like 1/10th of the population,” She argued reading my mind.
“Maybe a slight exaggeration Amy.” I rolled my eyes, gingerly testing out my foot, the pain wasn’t bad enough to stop me wearing heels.
“You get the point.” She waved her hand. “Anyway why would you want to avoid that delicious hunk of stud? I mean this is brilliant, you have come out of nunnery.” She exclaimed clapping her hands and disappearing into my closet.
I followed her and sank into the chair I had in the middle of my closet.
“This is most certainly not brilliant.” I groaned. “Don’t you remember last night? Not to mention the last time I hooked up with a sexy biker? Didn’t end so well.” Amy flinched and I regretted my harsh tone.
“For starters, Cade.” She moaned his his name. “Is like a zillion times hotter than He Who Shall Not Be Named, and you can’t just automatically assume everyone who rides a motorbike is a psychopath. Just like you wouldn’t stop wearing Prada if they came out with one bad collection.” She flipped through my racks, pulling out a Givenchy tee.
“Well men who are in outlaw motorcycle groups certainly aren’t involved in church circles or neighborhood watches.” I informed her.
“Honey.” Amy said softly looking up from my shoe selection. “You do not know this man, or anything about his club, and from what you’ve told me he seems decent. Now I am the first one to want to protect you from ever getting hurt again, but don’t let what happened to you turn you into someone who judges someone before you even know them. That isn’t you.”
Her words cut me deep, I knew she was right, I shouldn’t be so bitter. But I also knew bikers and their gangs were trouble, Amy didn’t see what I saw so she couldn’t know.
“Lets just forget about last night for now and not let a man complicate my
first proper day in my new town with my girl.” I gave Amy a smile.
“Okay.” She agreed. “But life would be no fun without men to shake things up now and then and as much as I love my B.O.B nothing compares to the real thing.” She advised before throwing my no doubt fabulous outfit at me.
The late afternoon sunlight kissed the horizon, beginning to disappear behind the hills as Amy and I enjoyed a cold margarita on the back porch. I relaxed into my chair and let my head fall back, feeling the most content I had in a long while.
“That was an awesome afternoon girl, just what I needed.” I told Amy keeping my eyes closed.
We had had a delightful lunch at a cute little café, then proceeded to walk up and down Main Street perusing all the little shops along the way, and generally just enjoying the town’s atmosphere. And to my delight, we did not once hear the telltale rumble of Harley pipes nor see a broadly built man donning a leather cut, so all in all a great day.
“Yeah it was actually kind of great, wasn’t it?” Amy replied. “This little hole in the road is actually kind of growing on me.”
I laughed. “That’s great to hear, since we might be here for a while, owning a home and business here.”
“Oh I almost forgot.” Amy continued. “I got us invited to a party, well the closest this town does to party anyway, a barbeque? Tomorrow night, hopefully there will be some man candy there.”
“What?” I spluttered. “When did you find the time to get yourself invited to anything? I was with you most of the day!” I sat up, turning to look at her.
“Remember when I went to get us some coffees when you were burrowed away in that bookstore?” She asked and I nodded. “Well I got talking to the chick behind the counter, awesome girl and massive babe, she invited me and you to her barbeque tomorrow, you know since we are new in town and in desperate need of some friends?”