by Nicole Snow
Firefly reached near his belt. In a flash, his switchblade came out. He held it firm, cold, and menacing against the drunkard's throat.
“We got an understanding? Tell me now. I need to know, before the medics our girl's calling make their way here. Hurry the fuck up!”
Tony nodded, vigorously, his eyes bulging. I'd never seen panic dancing so wildly in anyone's eyes before. Not since daddy, but this time there was no sympathy. No mercy.
Satisfied, Firefly put the knife away, and stood up, giving the beaten animal on the ground one more look of utter contempt.
“Best fucking timing in the whole damned world. Showed up a little early to pick you up, trying to smooth things over.”
I nodded, and walked with him past Meg. They ushered us away with a furious wave, desperate to get us out of there so she could handle the backstage mess we'd left her.
It wasn't until we were outside that I noticed I still had my arm linked tight with Firefly's. He'd saved me for the second time. All the worries and fears I'd had just hours ago melted away in a shot of adrenaline and a chaser of warm, manly body heat.
The thunder in his eyes flashed again as he reluctantly let go, helping me onto his bike. We'd have words at the apartment, no two ways about it.
Unlike before, I was ready.
Lord, I was ready for anything.
“You hungry? Saw this morning we're running low on groceries. We can stop off in town and pick a few things up, if you want.”
I shook my head, hugging him close as we rode down the dark, shadowy streets. It seemed like summer would never come. These spring nights still chilled me to the bone.
I'd have frozen if it weren't for his body heat. I put my face into his shoulder and breathed his rough, masculine scent, wondering what the hell I was doing.
None of this was right. Sheriffs' daughters weren't meant to savor outlaws' heat.
No matter how crooked daddy was, I shouldn't have been riding so close, imagining all the ways he could fling my body around on the bed. I'd never craved anyone as badly as I did Firefly that moment, and it scared the hell out of me.
The ride went by in no time flat. When I opened my eyes, we were back at the apartment, his engine rumbling to a cold stop. He stood up, reached for my hand, and yanked the helmet off my head.
“Last call for better food, or it's pizza tonight, babe.”
“Whatever works.” I felt like a schoolgirl with a stupid crush following him inside.
Damn, why did I feel anything after he'd tried to push me away earlier this week? After he jerked down my pants like he owned my body, smashed his hand against my ass, growling in my ear...
Wet didn't begin to describe the ache between my thighs. No, this desire leaked out of me, caused me to lick my lips secretly while my pussy throbbed, praying to be filled.
Everything pulsed open, slick and wanting, even when I watched him do something mundane like climb up the stairs in front of me. The big, beautiful biker always towered over me. I watched his muscles flex while he climbed, his skin scrawled with the menacing inks I'd see in my most feverish dreams.
Jesus, girl. Keep it together, I told myself. You were almost taken against your will back there.
Nothing sexy about it. I don't care if the sexiest man alive just saved you from getting tainted by a nasty goblin...
Aw, shit. Maybe it matters after all.
Yes, yes I do.
I care. I care about feeling him, tasting him, having him, dammit. More than I'll ever admit.
Down the little hallway, Firefly stopped, jamming his key into the lock and popping the door. He gave me a sharp look, caught me chewing my lip.
I wanted to sink right through the floor. My veins were still swimming in adrenaline, all the shocks I'd suffered over this unbelievable month stacked against me, plus the latest humiliations tonight.
The door jerked open, and he ushered me in. I headed right for the couch while he pulled out his phone, trying to find somewhere to grab dinner from.
He snorted, and I stared, causing him to look up. “Text from Skin. Says that worthless piece of shit I stomped at the Heel's been carted off. Stupid motherfuck had better remember what I said about keeping his damned lips shut...”
“You did plenty, Firefly. You saved me.” I only realized how big and watery my eyes felt when he gave the floor a soft kick.
“Shit, I'm no hero, Cora. Quit looking at me like that.” He paused, locking my eyes with his. “Did the only decent thing a man should when he walks in on something like that. If Skin's old lady hadn't showed up in time, I'd have killed the fuck and dropped his sorry carcass in the woods. Wrong timing.”
“No.” I stood up, walked over, and put my hands gently on his shoulders. “You did everything you could, Firefly. The timing was perfect. You've given me a second chance, or maybe this is my third. Honestly, I've lost count, but I appreciate all you've tried to do for me. I know I haven't been the most pleasant...”
“Babe, you've been fine.” He reached up, grabbed my hand, and pulled it to his face.
Before either of us knew what was happening, his stubble grazed my skin. He kissed my hand, pressing those lips I'd wondered about a thousand times on my flesh.
A jolt ran through me.
Crazy. Electric. Sensational.
I'd never believed in love at first sight, much less first kiss, and that definitely wasn't happening here. Lust, on the other hand...
His teeth grazed my tender skin before he pulled it away, thrusting my hand back against his shoulder. Oh, God.
Some miracle stopped me from turning into a puddle on the spot. Small favor, really, because now I had a lot more on my mind than lukewarm virgin fantasies.
I saw his lips all over me at once, igniting my skin, pushing me over the edge with just his touch, like the night he'd spanked me stupid.
They were finally coming. I'd have his rough, incredible lips on mine.
Conquering my mouth.
Moving down my throat.
Worshiping my nipples.
Turning my pussy into a hot, taut, sopping wet mess.
“You got something on your mind, or what?” he growled, tangling his fingers around my wrists to keep my hands glued to him.
“Nothing, really. Just thinking about circumstances.”
Yeah. Right.
“What? The shit that brought you here?”
I nodded. With a growl, he jerked me closer with both hands, hanging mine across his shoulders. I didn't resist – quite the contrary when I let go and fell against him – begging to be closer.
“Dust has got me on you full time for good reason. All the dark and deadly fuckery heats up from here, Cora. You know it, don't you? Tell me you feel that shit coming, sure as a mountain wind.”
Yes. Something was coming, anyway. Melting me from the inside-out.
A chill ran up my spine, cutting through the heat. Yeah, I knew it.
Of course I did. And it didn't matter, none of it did, just as long as I had him protecting me.
“I don't know anything,” I whispered. “You won't tell me what I'm really running from, and neither will the other guys. What else can I do except listen to everything you say?”
Crap. I realized how much my voice was trembling.
Firefly looked up. Sparks of amusement flashed in his eyes, before they winked out in the icy blue fire that always smothered them, the same glow that filled his whole face.
“I don't share club biz unless it means keeping you safe.” He drew a long breath, guiding me in front of him by the hands. “Looks like I finally have to. Fuck.”
He stood, guiding us both to the couch, where he sat down first, jerking me onto his lap. “Your old man got himself in some bad shit, and left everybody else to clean it up. Same thing Dust told you. Had a real hard-on for gambling, and he borrowed some money from another MC called the Torches, down in Atlanta.”
My heart beat a hundred miles an hour. He softly fisted my hair, pulling me de
eper into his lap, twisting my head so my ear was aimed at his lips.
I tried not to sweat from the one-two punch of being laid across Firefly's magnificent body like this, while he whispered all the secrets I'd yearned for deep in my ear.
Then he spoke again. His hot breath caressed my earlobe, racing down my neck, almost causing me to explode, just as much as his hand grabbing at my thigh. He held me where he wanted me, open for whatever he wanted to say – or do.
“Babe, listen to me real fuckin' careful. More than you've ever paid attention to anyone, about anything.” I tried not to tremble, feeling his hand moving up my thigh, stroking and teasing. “The Torches want everything your daddy ever owned to pay his debt. That means you, too. You're collateral, Cora. They'll kill you, fuck you, sell you – whatever they think's gonna bring them the most coin, or else the most satisfaction.”
I shook my head, sadness mingling with my lust. Two emotions waging war.
“Jesus. I can't believe he left me like this. Still, why'd he have to do it?” Firefly's hold fanning the smoldering desire in my blood was the only thing that stopped me from crying yet again.
“Dunno, Cora. Everybody screws themselves one way or another, some worse than others, especially in this world.” He paused, kissing at my neck, before he brought his lips back for talking. “Your old man's not the only one who fucked up. Truth is, I did, too. Tried to fight this shit happening between us. Treated it like a miserable goddamned hangover I could shake off by distracting myself with booze or work or getting my dick wet in other girls...”
I tensed up.
Oh, God, now was not the time to tell me about other women he'd slept with. If he was about to announce how he'd been screwing around the whole time I'd known him...my hand went stiff, ready to hit him across the face with all my might.
“Don't even think it, babe,” he growled, sensing what was coming. “Haven't fucked anybody since you showed up. This is all I'm after. All I fuckin' need.”
His hand crisscrossed the top of my thigh and then wedged between my legs. I sucked my bottom lip hard, desperate to stop myself from crying out. He'd start rubbing anytime, or else pull my panties aside and take everything he wanted.
“Yeah?” I whimpered, all I could manage when his fingers felt the wetness.
Oh. Oh, holy shit!
“Yeah. This pussy's all I've been thinking about getting up inside since the day I saw you, sad and suffering in that shitty garage. You're all I wanna taste on my tongue, babe. All I want that's hot and pink and wrapped around me. I can't do the shit I loved before since you walked into my life. Not without thinking about first, second, and last. I'm goddamned obsessed.” He sucked in a harsh breath, slowly cupped my mound through slick fabric, and squeezed.
I practically died.
“You want the truth? My full fuckin' confession?” Firefly's stare went full primal. “I'm gonna go fucking nuts if I don't get you under me, on top of me, legs wide open and begging for my cock.”
Total. Goner.
I couldn't stop the moan hissing out my lips when he put his strength into his fingers. He squeezed my pussy in his hand so hard I thought I'd explode on the spot.
It took everything I had not to buck against him, just hump his fingers like an animal in heat.
“You mustn't have a lot to think about,” I whispered, wishing I could chew off my own smart tongue. “All just me? All the time? Really?”
His free hand caught my hair, twisted my face, until I looked at him, eyeball-to-eyeball.
“I've got plenty. Already thinking about the fucking shield I'm gonna have to stuff down my pants to keep Prez from taking my dick off after it's been inside you.” Two stiff fingers reached around the center of my panties and began to pull, dragging them down my thighs, exposing me completely. “Before, I just wondered what the fuck was wrong with me. Why I couldn't let go of the urge to lay you down and fuck you with everything I've got, baby girl. You've got a mouth like dynamite and that's what drags me in like bait. That sweet fuckin' ass I felt the other day, and those tight, beautiful tits do the rest. You're a lucky girl, darlin', and I hope you know it. Everybody else I ever fucked, I was lucky to know their names before I tasted 'em. Damned lucky if I wanted a second round. All that's turned upside-fucking-down since you, Cora. I want you. Again and again and a-fuckin'-gain...”
Sweet. Baby. Jesus.
His fingers found my naked slit and began to play. Every muscle in my body contracted.
If there was ever an urge to get away, or fight him off me, it totally died when his thumb glided through my wet folds, found my clit, and started to stroke me to high heaven.
Those whimpers leaving my mouth became howls. I couldn't pretend I wasn't enjoying this, too shocked by how stupid good it felt to have his hands where they'd belonged since forever.
“Goddamn, you want this bad, don't you, woman?”
“Yes!” I squeaked. Barely.
His fingers teased my entrance, collected my wetness, and used it to fuck me raw. My thighs quivered. The hold he had on my hair strengthened, feeding fire through my roots, igniting cinders through me, from top to bottom.
“Shouldn't be doing a lick of this shit, babe,” he growled. “You're too good for this. Too damned good for me...”
“No, no, no,” I panted, pinching my eyes shut as he fingered me faster.
“It's bullshit!” He spat. “All of it. You come off so fuckin' innocent, and you ain't, darlin'. You've just been begging for my hands, my mouth, my cock up inside, balls deep, all along. Fuck!”
Firefly's breath hitched, and his hard-on rubbed against my ass, straight through his jeans. “Lucky you, Cora. So fuckin' lucky. I'm gonna taste everything when you come your brains out all over me tonight.”
His mouth crashed down on mine. Our first scalding hot kiss happened with his hands pushing me over the edge.
My clit swelled, hummed, and burned against his thumb. Damn!
No more holding back. My back arched as much as it could with his death grip on my hair, jerking my face to his. I came, screaming into his mouth.
His tongue probed deep, twining with mine, sucking each time pleasure pulsed through me. A whole new world was blown wide open.
Twenty-two years a virgin, gone. Now I needed him to take my cherry good and proper.
My nipples throbbed hard as stones beneath my bra, my blouse. The fabric became pure torture, when they ached to be in his mouth.
Hell, every single part of me wanted him. Surrounding him, or surrounded by him.
Licked, fingered, fucked, filled so deep I'd finally have the itch welling up inside me for what seemed like a million years scratched.
Pleasure pulsed through my brain for a small eternity before I wilted. When I did, his kiss softened. The bad boy's lips roamed mine more gently, almost tender.
“Fuck the couch,” he said, standing and lifting me up in his arms. “We're moving somewhere I can get you naked and horizontal.”
I moaned as he threw me over his shoulder, jerked up my skirt, and took my panties away over my feet. It was only a few footsteps to the bedroom.
He'd already forced me to come twice, and I still blushed like the shy, silly virgin I was when he threw me down on the bed.
I moved a shaky hand toward the lamp because the room was dark. He crossed the bedroom faster, kicked the door closed, and punched the light switch before I could do anything.
“Don't even think we're doing this in the dark, under the blankets, like fuckin' monks. I wanna see you squirm every second I'm licking your pussy. Gotta see your face when you start screaming, darlin'.” His hands moved to his belt, and I heard the buckle clatter as he jerked it through his denim loops.
“Firefly...” I lost my words, everything except his name, heavy on my lips.
“Take the rest of that shit covering you and throw it on the goddamned floor. Now. 'Cause if you leave it up to me, I'm gonna shred half your fuckin' wardrobe.”
I watched the l
eather cut that always lined his chest fall. His shirt peeled away next, and I could barely remember my own name.
My eyes were glued to the huge, rock hard, heavily tattooed torso coming into view. A body built like an angel, a statue, nature's best craftsman.
His chest swelled when he inhaled. The winged skull with two blazing pistols next to it poured fire across his muscles. Every part of him rippled, glistened.
This body wasn't cut from pumping iron in the gym or running – though I knew he did plenty of that too – he'd earned his strength by actually using those muscles.
For fucking. For killing. For dropping men with ease, wiping the arrogant smirks off their faces, just like he'd done earlier tonight with Tony the drunk.
He smiled. “Fuckin' knew you'd like what you see. Go ahead and touch. Follow the inks as far as you want.”
He never asked twice. Firefly grabbed my hands, spread my fingers, and put them on his abs, the same strong ridges I'd hung onto all along, riding on the back of his bike.
Now, they beckoned under my fingertips. Naked, magnificent, and hard.
God! Would it be wrong to just stick out my tongue and lick this man?
Firefly reached out with the same two fingers that brought me to heaven a few minutes ago. He gently pushed them beneath my chin, tipped my face up, capturing my eyes for the millionth time with those stern blue eyes.
“Dig your nails in,” he growled, shoving my hands against him. “Might as well get used to it, baby. You'll be drawing blood when I'm between your legs, fucking you over and over...we're fuckin' 'til kingdom come. Been wanting it forever.”
My fingertips bent. I reached up to his breast, pivoted my nails into his skin, and dragged them down. I whimpered as they fell, tracing the dark, deadly symbols scrawled all over him like a dark, human canvass.