From the diminished sound I know the door is closed.
She’s in my locker room. Just a few steps outside this shower. Waiting for me. I’m getting hard just thinking about it.
Bending my neck I let the hot water pour over my face, hair plastering to my forehead under the flow. Images of her holding that card up and shouting at me to end the fight flash like strobe lights before my mind. What a fucking rush that was.
She gave me power.
That woman called me to war and I heeded the cry.
A woman like that needs to be treated right.
And I’ve got a million ways I’d like to make that happen.
Turning off the faucet I reach for the towel and step out into their conversation, buck-naked in no hurry to cover up. Andy grins as Hannah’s eyes flicker with shock at my nudity. I close the towel and tuck it in place as her cousin starts laughing and hits Hannah in the arm. “Yeah, so that happened.”
A veil of detachment slides over Hannah’s face. “If you think vulgarity will impress me, you’re mistaken.”
A smile pulls at my lips as I unhook the towel again, holding it open and pointing to my cock. “I was hoping this would impress you. It doesn’t?”
Andy and Jonas cover their mouths while laughing. Sofia Cocker keeps her eyes averted and mutters, “Men are so fucking stupid.”
Hannah does not look away. She glances down and holds on the eyeful I’ve presented her with. “No, it really doesn’t.” She meets my amused gaze, hers green ice. “Congratulations on your trophy or whatever it is they give you. It’ll be the only thing you go home with tonight.” She turns for the door and pauses. Glancing to me over her bare shoulder, that hot-as-fuck, bright blue dress plastered to her perfect ass, she locks eyes with me and purrs, “I’m sure there’s some piece of trash out here who’d find your cock…iness very entertaining. Not this girl. Bye.”
Hannah unlocks the door to leave but it sticks. Her cousin is right behind her, ready to go. She shoots a look to Jonas. “Dammit, you struck out twice in one night. How’s that even possible?”
His smile vanishes.
I stroll over, wrapping the towel around my waist and tucking it so it stays. “Would you like me to open that for you?”
“I can get it.”
Sofia moves out of the way for me. I lean against the door, frazzling Hannah’s reserve as I say, “Ms. Cocker, would you do me the honor of dining with me tonight?”
Her sharp intake of breath is really sexy. “No, thank you.”
“You can bring your cousin.”
The two beauties lock eyes, but Sofia gives no encouragement.
Hannah fake-smiles, “I’m afraid you wouldn’t know how to use a fork and knife. With me you can’t eat with your hands.”
“Even pizza?” I ask, eyes wide.
Hers narrow. “Are you insane?”
“You’re too good for pizza.”
“I’m too good for you,” she snaps.
I don’t know why but that’s when I pull her to me and crush her lips in a hot kiss. She slams her hands on my naked pectoral muscles, but then softens in my arms, hers slipping around my neck as her sweet-tasting lips respond like she’s wanted this moment the entire time I was in the cage. The adrenaline rush I feel with her in my arms is like nothing I’ve ever felt outside of a match. I just want to pull her closer.
The other three in the room start clapping.
Fuck, I could kiss this girl until our audience became a distant memory.
Pulling away I stare into her hooded gaze. In these heels she’s as tall as I am and I’m diggin’ it. More woman to love. I flash a smile at the group. “You hungry, guys?”
Andy and Jonas nod. “Yeah!” “Hell yes.”
Sofia cocks an eyebrow at Jonas. “You got new life again. Don’t fuck it up.”
His grin falters as he straightens his spine at the challenge.
We all gather our things and when Andy throws me my new flask. “So, you got a new manager, hey? You giving me a shot?”
“No,” I chuckle, eyes locked on Hannah’s profile as she tries to regain her decorum. She steals a look at me and for a split second I see that sadness I glimpsed in the photograph. She turns and leads the way out.
Boy do I follow.
Deflated/Inflated - Hannah
That from-out-of-nowhere, amazing kiss.
It deflated me…then blew me back up.
So weird to be walking amongst this group down the tunnel like I didn’t just have my knees knocked out from under me.
I was trying hard to resist him.
He reminded me of the men in my family, so confident it was annoying. Just made me want to shoot that ego into dust.
But he wouldn’t let me. And I like that.
Sofia matches my pace and slips her hand into mine. Her eyes ask me if I’m cool with going to dinner. I blink a subtle affirmation and her pouty lips turn into a sly smile. Which only makes things worse for me. I want him so badly.
I’ve secretly wondered what it would feel like to be with a man who scared me a little because around him I felt out of control. Where I didn’t have to teach him. Where if I tried, he wouldn’t hear the lesson and would make me learn one instead.
Sex has always been a cerebral experience, but I don’t think I knew that until just now when my mind vanished and only my body was alive.
Do I look good?
Does this feel good?
Is he liking it?
Does he even care if I am?
Wait, do I look fat in this position?
Is doggy style diminishing my respectability since we’re not actually a couple?
Should I wait to go down on him because he’ll judge me, even though I like doing it and he wants me to?
All these stupid things swirling through my head always block me from enjoying sex.
That gorgeous kiss was visceral.
Primal.
There was nothing else in my mind except how much I wanted him.
And now I’m supposed to eat dinner?
Andy asks Tobias, “Where are we going?”
I glance to him scrolling on his phone as he says, “I’m looking it up right now. You ladies like seafood?” He meets my eyes and I can only nod my answer and face forward again in hopes that he can’t see how completely he’s undone me.
“Love it,” Sofia says as she side-eyeballs the ticket windows. “Don’t look now, Hannah. Our fan is staring.”
Jonas calls out to the kid, “Chester, you want to get some food?”
He perks up. “Yeah!”
Jonas says, “Good. Go get some,” and throws his arm up to hail a taxi, laughing.
Knowing my cousin well, I glance over and see her jaw tighten. She shakes her head like, oh hell no, and crosses to tell the kid in the booth, leaning toward his window and jogging her thumb behind her at Jonas. “Hey Chester. Fuck that guy. You be you and don’t for a second forget that you’re amazing. Find that spark in you and don’t blow it out. Got me?”
He slowly nods, a glimmer of pride replacing humiliation.
She rejoins us as Jonas waits by a bright yellow van, holding the door for her. “You’re out for good,” she says to him.
He stares after her and swallows hard. I pat his shoulder before I slide in. She’s staring out the window, annoyed now. She was hoping she’d be riding his body tonight and she’s completely turned off. He has no idea that her motorcycle club defends the weak. The Ciphers fight battles for those who can’t. She roots for the underdog and the abused, and she takes down those who hurt them. And while that kid needed to be told not to stare at my breasts like the lonely bastard that he is, he didn’t need his hopes at joining our party dashed by a man God made more attractive than he could ever hope to be.
Tobias tells Jonas, “Why don’t you sit up front until this cools off,” then climbs in. He and Andy dwarf the large backseat as they get comfortable with all the power of confident men.
Andy asks, “How �
�bout Boca Landing?”
“I was just gonna suggest it. Tell our guy.”
The cabbie calls back, “I’ll get you there in three minutes.”
“Nice,” Tobias mutters.
We all jolt as the cab lunges forward and never loses speed except for one stoplight that makes our driver twitch in his seat.
“I never got where you ladies were from,” Andy says.
“Atlanta,” I smile.
“Everywhere,” Sofia says, eyes still on the view. “I want to eat somewhere where we can see water.”
“It’s all taken care of,” Andy assures her.
The cab driver keeps his word and minutes later Sofia’s lost smile returns as we walk through an elegant restaurant tucked inside a hotel. The hostess greeted Tobias like she knows him and now she’s guiding the five of us to an open deck overlooking Lake Boca under a starry sky. She tells us the specials and that our server will be with us in just a moment, and then disappears.
Tobias has taken the seat to my right, Sofia to my left. He motions to the placemats and pretty candle. “You planned this?” The colors match my dress.
“I called ahead and told them what I was wearing.”
A sexy smile pulls at a corner of his lips as he leans back and spreads his legs a little. “Powerful lady.”
“You have no idea.”
“Yes, I do.”
Rendered speechless I raise my eyebrows a little and turn to the amazing view. Lights from the surrounding marina dance along gently rippling water, but their calming effect has made no impact on the adrenaline rush Tobias inspires. I’m glad we’re not alone because I might have crawled onto his lap right here in public had it been possible.
Jonas’s tension hasn’t abated in the slightest. He keeps looking at Sofia and hoping to be let out of jail but she won’t even look at him anymore. He tries to make up for it by ordering an expensive bottle of champagne. As soon as the server leaves, he said, “I’m sorry. I was trying to impress you.”
Tobias and Andy wait with their friend for my cousin’s reaction.
I’m dying to know what she’s going to say, too.
Sofia’s grey eyes shift away from the view to look at him. “Expensive booze doesn’t impress me. If you apologized to that kid, that would be very impressive.”
“He’s not here.”
She leans forward, suddenly impassioned. “You don’t know what the click is.” She snaps her fingers. “This! The thing someone does that turns your life to hell forever. That boy isn’t like you. He may never be like you. Strutting around, built like this, handsome, turning women’s heads. People like me wanting to fuck you. He knows he’s not that.” Jonas stares at her, because these compliments aren’t to make him feel good. She continues, “And to see what you have, that he’ll never know, that hurts him inside. To have you dig your thick fingers into that wound he’s got and toy with his hope, it’s life damaging. That treatment vibrates into places you’ll never see, understand or feel. It doesn’t just affect him. It affects the woman he was supposed to marry if he had confidence. The child he may never get to raise.”
“I was just fucking with him,” Jonas mutters, irritated now. “You’re fucking crazy.” He balls up the cloth napkin from his lap and tosses it on the table. “I’m outta here.”
Off he goes.
Sofia leans back, watching his exit as she mutters, “Mirrors are a bitch to look at when they’re unclean.”
My gaze flashes to Tobias to see how he’ll react. I’m hoping he handles this well because if not then she and I will find another place to eat, sexy kiss or no.
Family is family.
He and Andy are concentrating as the server arrives with a slender ice bucket and Jonas’s champagne.
Tobias waves a couple fingers, “Just four glasses now. The cream has risen.”
Sofia and I exchange a look.
Then Tobias mutters to himself, “He should have paid for this before his tail tucked between his legs.” He pauses. “I’ve got this. All this.” Glancing to Andy he adds, “except for Andy’s dinner.”
I laugh under my breath and Sofia breaks into a grin.
Pretending to be appalled Andy asks the server, “You hear this asshole?!”
A polite smile flashes on our server’s face, tinted with caution. Shimmering bubbles quickly fill our flute glasses before he makes a hasty exit.
I’m being watched. I know this. He’s been gazing at me while we waited for the man to leave. Glancing to my right I ask in a challenging way, “Why don’t you pay for Andy’s, too?”
“Because he wants to be my manager. Don’t want him to take that as a yes. My paying for his meals and all. He’s not on the payroll…yet.”
Laughter erupts from Andy as he jogs his thumb at his friend. “Can you believe this?” He turns to demand of Tobias, “How many people do you know you can trust in our business? How many? Huh? Tell me!”
I find myself staring at his lips as he licks them and admits, “You can’t trust anyone but yourself.”
Our eyes lock and hold.
Shimmering Potential - Hannah
Glancing to the shimmering marina Andy snorts, “Says the soul of a wounded man.”
Sofia holds her glass high. “To the souls of wounded men.”
We clink glasses and take a delicious drink of Jonas’s apology. But when I glance to Tobias, he’s guarded as he stares off.
What did his friend mean by that?
Is he really wounded?
Or, just like the rest of us, has life not turned out like he hoped it would when he was a child?
“I think you should give Andy a chance,” I hear myself say. Didn’t plan this, but when Tobias meets my eyes I stay the path. “Maybe you need to trust someone.”
“I trust me. What are we ordering?” He pulls up his menu, conversation closed.
Andy drinks from his glass and exhales before changing the subject so we don’t bring the evening to a close before it even starts. We start talking about the city, only pausing when the server takes our dinner orders.
“No, I’ve never been here,” I answer Tobias, as soon as we’re alone again. “Have you, Sofia?”
“Once, about five years ago.”
Andy asks her, “Vacation?”
She snorts, “This is the first vacation I’ve had in…” Her beautiful grey eyes travel to the sky as she searches her memory. She returns back to him and admits, “Since I was a little girl and our family went to Myrtle Beach. But I barely remember it.” She glances to me. “Do you?”
“Yes, it was so rare that you were able to join us on those trips, I can’t forget that one. You and Ben buried me in the sand, remember that?”
She lights up at the forgotten image. “Oh my God, yes!” She stares off as her memories slowly return. “And Ethan wanted to kick sand at your head because you couldn’t fight back!”
“But Emma pushed him so hard he fell! He couldn’t believe she did that.”
“She’s very protective of you,” Sofia smiles.
“She is.”
Tobias asks, “Emma’s another cousin?” his deep voice reminding me of his presence. I’d gotten caught up in the past. I miss my family a little, if I’m honest. This is the longest I’ve been away from them. But then again, I never get to spend quality time with Sofia Sol…this has been a gift.
At my nod, he asks, “She older than you? That why she’s protective?”
“No, that’s not why.” My gaze drops to my lap.
He doesn’t push me for the reason. Instead he asks, “How many cousins do you have?”
“There are sixteen of us. No, sorry, seventeen. I meant sixteen besides me.”
“Seventeen!” Sofia nods with pride. “That’s a whole lot of crazy right there.”
Andy makes a face, blown away by such a number. “I’ve got two cousins.”
She focuses on him, “How many aunt and uncles?”
“Dad’s an only child and my mother has a sist
er.”
“My dad has five brothers, that’s why!” she proudly informs him, leaning forward like she won a contest.
Just to add more confusion I add, “Oh, and our grandma’s sister had four kids who live in Savannah. They had kids, so they’re our second cousins! But they’re very tight, too, so they stick together like we do. We saw them on some Christmases, a few Thanksgivings, but the rest of the year it was just us.”
“Just the seventeen of you, you mean,” Tobias laughs. “Huge family.”
Sofia Sol and I both settle a little, feeling lucky. “Yeah.”
She hits the table. “Emma’s coming tomorrow!”
“Oh my God! I forgot!”
Tobias rests his hand on my leg, half on my hem and half on my bare thigh. We lock eyes as his fingers start stroking my skin. “She’s the one who pushed Ethan?”
“You remembered his name. I’m impressed you were listening.”
“I always listen when I’m interested.”
Biting my lower lip, I murmur, “I like that.”
“What else do you like?” he asks, his finger dipping to glide under my hem.
I hold his sexy gaze. “If I told you, I’d have to kill you.”
His smirk deepens. “Then I’ll just have to figure it out and never let you know I did.”
Andy asks Sofia, his vibe friendly, “What are you going to do once she’s here?”
“I’m riding my bike to Fort Lauderdale to pick her up. After that, who the fuck knows?!” She starts digging in her purse for her phone. “Forgot to check for her flight time.”
“I could take you in my car.”
Her eyelashes slowly rise as she regards him. “What kind?”
“Alfa Romeo.”
“Convertible?”
“Yep.”
“Still not as hot as my Harley,” she mutters, reading, and then shows me the phone. “How excited are we about this?”
I’m laughing now. “Don’t worry, Andy. Sofia’s like that with all men.”
“I like a challenge,” he smirks, taking a sip of champagne.
Our server places appetizers in the middle of our table for everyone to share — crab cakes and fried calamari that make my mouth water on sight.
Cocky Senator's Daughter: Hannah Cocker (Cocker Brothers of Atlanta Book 8) Page 7