Burned_Viking Bastards MC

by Christina Phillips

  “You want to give us a hand getting your bike off the pickup?”

  “Sure.” Before I can go tell Jas, she comes into the hall.

  “Hey, Zach.” She sounds a lot friendlier than she did last night.

  “Jas.”

  Gage appears behind his brother and gives her a smile. “How’s it going?”

  “Great. Shall I put the coffee on while you unload the bike? You’ll both stay for a cup, won’t you?”

  What the hell? I don’t want them crashing here, but before I can give them an unspoken command, they both accept her offer.

  As I haul the bike into the garage, I give them fair warning. “One cup, and you’re out of here.”

  “We’ll fuck off right now if you want.” Gage leers at me, and I give him the finger.

  “The hell you will. She’s invited you in. Just don’t overstay your welcome.”

  “Friendly bastard, isn’t he?” Zach says to his brother as they follow me inside.

  The door to the dining room’s closed. Did she shut it because of what I said in the kitchen? I hide a smile, and we enter the kitchen, where the coffee’s brewing and she’s already stacked away the dirty dishes.

  “Shall we take the coffee into the living room?” She picks up the pot and looks around at us.

  I think of the urn, but it’s not the only reason I don’t want to go in there. I love my brothers, but their timing tonight sucked. I don’t want to drag this out. I just want them to take a quick gulp of coffee for appearances’ sake and leave me alone with Jas.

  “Thanks, but Grace is waiting for me. Another time?” Zach sounds sincere. Although Grace probably is waiting for him.

  “Gage?” Jas is as polite as ever but the sharp glance she shoots my way lets me know she’s onto me.

  Gage doesn’t even try to hide his grin. “Sorry, Jas. Big bro is driving me home.”

  When the front door shuts, I catch her eye. “Rude, much?” She raises her eyebrows before replacing the pot on the coffeemaker.

  “Yeah, they’re a pair of rude assholes.” I pick up a couple of cups and do the honors, since she doesn’t look inclined to.

  “I’m talking about you. Don’t think I don’t know you told them to fuck off when you were outside just now.”

  I shrug and hand her a cup. “Are you mad at me because I want to be alone with you tonight?”

  She sighs and takes her coffee. “No. Sorry. It’s just been…one of those days.”

  “Yeah.” I brood on her words. There’s stuff I want to say to her, but tonight’s not the time. Maybe it was a good thing Zach interrupted me when he did. She’s not ready for that conversation. There’ll be time enough in the morning before she catches her flight. “Come here.”

  I dump the coffee, and without giving her the chance to say anything, I scoop her into my arms. She gasps and winds her arms around my neck before giving me a shocked smile. “It’s been a while since anyone did this to me.”

  That’s not what I want to hear. I don’t want to know about the other guys she’s had in her life, but I can’t stop myself. “How long?” I march toward the stairs. It doesn’t matter.

  She kisses my earlobe and sinks against me. “Before I left L.A.”

  That’s more like it. “All right, then.” I take her into my bedroom and lay her on the bed. She leans back on her elbows and smiles up at me, and to hell with it. I always told her things that I’d cut out my tongue before saying to anyone else. “You’re the only girl I’ve carried in my arms. Ever.”

  Her smile turns pensive. “There must’ve been other girls, Ty. I don’t want details, but you don’t have to lie to me.”

  “I’ve never lied to you.”

  “Hasn’t there been anyone special since I left?”

  “Thought you didn’t want to talk about it.”

  She takes a deep breath. “You’re right. It’s none of my business.”

  I kneel on the bed and straddle her hips, before cupping her face. “Do you give up this easy in the courtroom?”

  “Ha. You don’t want to see me in the courtroom. You’d be traumatized.”

  “No, I wouldn’t. I’d want to punch the shit out of anyone who dissed you, though.”

  She smiles and hooks her wrists over my forearms. “You don’t need to worry about that. I don’t take crap from anyone at work. They call me the ball-crusher.”

  I laugh—can’t help it. Ten years is a long time, but she hasn’t changed that much. “You’re joking.”

  “No, I’m not. I’m a bitch when it comes to fighting for my clients’ rights.”

  I’m intrigued, but it doesn’t matter how proficient she is at crushing the opposition in the courtroom, she’d never be a bitch. She’s too classy and clever for that. “I need to see you in action. You know that, right?”

  “Whatever turns you on.” She leans forward and brushes a soft kiss on my lips. “Did you bring me up here to talk about work?”

  I pull her T-shirt over her head and toss it onto the floor. “What do you think?”

  She unbuttons my shirt, and even though I don’t need to be naked for what I have in mind, I’m more than willing to oblige.

  “I think I’m going to have double digit orgasms in your bed tonight.”

  “Double digit?” I shrug out of my gear and loom over her until she flops back onto the bed. “Do you really think you’re going to be in any state to keep count of them?”

  “Ooh.” She gives a delicate shudder and scrapes her nails over my pecs. “I hope not.”

  I slide my hands beneath her and unhook her bra. “If you can count them, I’m doing it wrong.”

  She wriggles so I can sling her bra aside. Her gorgeous tits distract me, and I almost change my plans.

  Don’t get distracted.

  “You’re definitely not doing it wrong.” She fumbles with my buckle, and I drag my gaze back to her face. Maybe getting naked isn’t such a bad idea.

  I follow that thought through with action, and she sighs as she reaches for me. I stifle a groan as her fingers glide along my dick, but I have a plan, and I’ll stick to that fucking plan if it kills me. I imprison her hand into the pillow above her head. “No touching.”

  “But I want to.”

  “Later you can touch me all you want.”

  “After I’ve had countless orgasms.”

  Not sure I can wait that long. “Have a heart. I’ll give you a couple. How’s that?”

  She bites her lip, but it doesn’t hide how much she’s trying not to laugh. “Okay. If that’s your best offer.”

  I release her hand and slide my fingers through her hair, gently massaging her head. Her teasing grin fades, and her eyelids drift shut, and she gives a breathy sigh. Her hair’s soft and silky, and I can’t resist grasping some in my fist as I trail kisses over her cheek and along her throat.

  She tastes so sweet and sexy it’s easy to forget we were apart for so many years. They don’t matter anymore. I stroke her tits and tease her nipples with my tongue until she can’t keep still. “Ty.” It comes out a tortured moan.

  “You should see yourself, babe.” My voice is raw with need. “Your hair spread out across my pillows like a black waterfall. You want me to take a photo to show you?”

  She chokes out a laugh. “Don’t you dare.”

  I graze the tips of my fingers along her waist, and she shudders, her nails digging into the sheet. “You know better than to dare me.” Not that I’d do it if she wasn’t willing. But hell, even the thought of having a photo like this on my cell is driving me crazy. I’d have an endless hard-on.

  “No photos.” Her voice is slurred as I suck her nipple into my mouth and flick my tongue over her. I can’t resist, and relax my muscles just enough so my cock sinks against her thigh. Feels so good. It’d feel even better if she was naked.

  I have her jeans off her before she has time to do anything but arch her back. Her lacy black thong is another distraction, and I press an open-mouthed kiss on her pu
ssy, just as a teaser.

  For me or for her?

  “Don’t stop.” She groans and flaps her hands in front of my face, careful not to touch me. “I promise I’ll only come twice.”

  “Don’t make promises you can’t keep.” I raise my head and give her an evil grin.

  “You’ve so much to live up to tonight.” She stirs restlessly, her fingers stroking her thighs, and I can’t resist dropping a lingering kiss on her soft skin right above the band of her thong. “God, Ty, just take the damn thing off.”

  “No.” I stop her from tugging it off. “Leave it on. I like the way it disappears up your ass.”

  “What?” She shakes with silent laughter. “You’re not even looking at my ass.”

  It’s too easy to roll her over onto her stomach. I admire her naked back and perfectly curved ass. “I am now.”

  …

  Jasmine

  I pillow my face on my folded arms and give a provocative wiggle. “Well, I hope you’re enjoying it.”

  He traces his finger along the band of my thong. It’s a barely there touch but shivers race over me, magnifying every teasing stroke. “I must be a masochist.”

  I fully expect him to inch off my thong, but instead he looms over me, bracing his weight on his knees, and sweeps my hair to the side, leaving my neck bare to his gaze. There’s no reason why that should be such a turn-on, but it is, and I wriggle again to try and ease the heavy throb between my thighs.

  The length of his cock sinks along my butt crack, hot and heavy, and I’m so wet I just want him inside me, right now. Except his mouth is loving my neck as though that’s the sexiest part of my body he’s ever tasted, and I couldn’t speak even if I wanted to.

  His hands caress my waist and hips while his lips and tongue explore my shoulders. His teeth gently graze my flesh, but he doesn’t bite, and it’s like a thousand tiny electric shocks are exploding beneath my skin.

  He eases up and massages my shoulders, and a blissful groan escapes me. “That’s so good…” I’m not sure he’ll understand me—I sound drunk—but he leans over me again and breathes against my ear.

  “All part of my plan, babe.”

  “I’ll come if you keep this up.” Please don’t stop.

  “That’s the idea.”

  “I like it.” My eyes close as he works on the knots in my muscles, unraveling the stress of the last week, even as my body melts beneath him. Where did he learn to do this? I don’t want to know. Not when I’m floating in a haze of lazy pleasure, soaking up every tiny stroke and kiss.

  He slides down me, never losing his rhythm, and palms my butt before lavishing the same attention on my legs. I’m boneless, yet my entire body tingles, and I want him so much, but I don’t ever want to move again.

  He hooks a finger into my thong and tugs it off before rolling me onto my back. My arms flop onto the bed, and I watch, riveted, as he knees my thighs farther apart. Fists on the bed beside my hips, he catches my gaze.

  “Guess you enjoyed that, huh?”

  “Always.”

  His satisfied smile kills me, and when he trails kisses along my inner thigh, I’m ready to beg. “Ty.”

  For an answer, he kisses me, and his tongue swirls inside, so unexpectedly my hips thrust in desperate need. His unshaven jaw brushes against me, and I can’t help it—I grip his hair with both hands, keeping him right where I need him.

  He doesn’t tell me to back off. Not that I could. My head falls back onto the pillows as he tongue-fucks me, his arms rock solid against my thighs, keeping me locked in place.

  He teases my clit, and I buck mindlessly, not caring that I’m coming in his mouth, that he’s eating me like ice cream, that I never want this night to end.

  I can’t breathe, can’t think. I suck in air and it doesn’t reach my lungs, but I cling to Ty because he’s all I need, anyway.

  He leans in close, tension etched in every feature, but he doesn’t grab a condom and sink deep inside me. He grasps my face in a rough embrace, his breath mingling with mine. “There’s never been anyone special in my life since you left.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  Jasmine

  I grip the edge of the bathroom sink and stare at my reflection in the mirror. In one hour, I need to leave for the airport. My case is already in the trunk, and Ty’s fixing lunch downstairs. He hasn’t said a word about cooking me dinner again.

  Thank God. That’s one conversation I can do without. Even if what he was offering is what I want most in the world.

  You’ve no idea what he was offering. He might’ve just been flirting, and sure, he can flirt like a pro when he wants to, but deep down I know it was more than that.

  Yesterday, when he turned up at Mom’s memorial service, it became more than a brief fling, a reunion hookup to heal old wounds.

  It was more than that almost from the first night.

  So why hasn’t he said any more about it? Did I totally misunderstand what he was saying? Shouldn’t I be relieved that he doesn’t think there’s a chance for us to get back together?

  I give a shaky sigh and steel my nerves. One last hour. I’m not going to ruin it by crying now. Plenty of time for that when I’m home again.

  He meets me at the kitchen door. “Thought you’d gotten lost.” He briefly cradles my face, and it takes all my willpower not to crumble right then. “Hungry?”

  “Starving.” That’s a lie, but I’ll force down whatever he’s prepared even if it chokes me.

  “I even made you hot chocolate. No extra sugar.” He grins as he picks up a cup for me and a coffee for him, and my chest aches so bad it’s hard to speak.

  “Great. Thanks.”

  “Want to eat outside?”

  “Sure.” This was a bad idea. I should’ve left first thing this morning instead of dragging out the long goodbye. I pick up the plates of baguettes stuffed with chicken and salad and follow him into the back yard.

  “It still needs work.” He puts the drinks down on a wooden table that’s by the back door, and we sit on the bench. The yard isn’t big, and the grass is patchy and covered in weeds, but there’s so much potential. I take a bite of my baguette in the hope that’ll stop my mind working. It doesn’t.

  We sit in silence. My lunch is full of flavor, but it tastes like ashes, and I can barely swallow the first mouthful. Ty doesn’t seem to have any problem, judging by the way he finishes his in record time.

  “Jas.” He leans his arm along the back of the bench, and his fingers gently caress my shoulder. “We need to talk. You know that, right?”

  Here it comes. I should tell him this was nothing but a fleeting affair, but I can’t. Because it isn’t. For a moment, my resolve wavers. Would it be such a bad thing if he knows that? Could there be a way for this to work?

  I know there isn’t, but maybe—

  His phone rings, shattering the moment. He swears and glowers at the screen before answering. “Hey.”

  His expression doesn’t alter during the brief conversation. “Okay.” He cuts the call and lets out a harsh breath. “Stay here. Mom’s out front. She’s dropping some stuff off. I won’t be long.”

  He disappears inside the house, and I wrap my hands around the cup of hot chocolate.

  Stay here. I don’t know if it’s got anything to do with Ty not wanting his mom to know he’s been seeing me this week, or whether it’s because he knows she never approved of me and doesn’t want to put me in an awkward position.

  It doesn’t matter. I don’t want to face Angie.

  But maybe I need to.

  To prove I’m no longer the broken girl who left L.A.

  I bite my lip and glance back at the house. The woman always scared me. And her put-downs scarred my soul. Hey, Jas, how’s it going? I hear your mom was at the clubhouse again last night. But I’m not a kid anymore, and I’ve faced down meaner bitches than her in my career. I take a deep breath and stand. I came back to L.A. to put my past to rest.

  And she sure as hell i
s a part of my past.

  I pause at the kitchen door and watch Ty pull open the front door. “Hey, baby.” Angie does her usual flamboyant hug and kiss, but Ty doesn’t move out of her way, so she can’t stroll into the house. “I won’t keep you long. I see you have company.”

  “Yeah.” Ty picks up the box at Angie’s feet and dumps it in the hall. “I’ll drop by the house later.”

  “Sure. Well, you have a good time.” She smiles up at him, and even though I can’t see his face, I know he’s smiling back. They have such a great relationship. How could I have considered, even for a single second in the back yard, that there was a way for things to work out between Ty and me? Her brother tried to destroy me. I wouldn’t be able to keep that from Ty forever, and I won’t be the one who wrecks his family by telling him the whole truth.

  Before I can talk myself out of it, I emerge from the kitchen and walk toward them. Angie stares at me like I’m an apparition, and for some reason that boosts my confidence.

  “Hi, Angie.” My voice is cool. “It’s been a long time.”

  For the first time since I’ve ever known her, she appears at a loss for words. Ty sighs heavily and comes to stand by my side, and my heart squeezes with bittersweet pain. He always stood by my side. But in the end, it’s not enough.

  “Jas.” She recovers quickly and steps inside the hall. “I was sorry to hear about your mom.”

  We both know she doesn’t mean a word. She despised my mom and never tried to hide her feelings from me. But now, I can play her game, too.

  “Thank you.” At least my lie sounds more sincere.

  “How long are you here for?” She has the gall to smile at me. It’s all for show, so Ty thinks she’s okay with me being here. She loves having the men’s approval, and they all think she’s so perfect.

  I’ll never forget the time when I was twelve years old and she broke a stripper’s nose for stepping out of line. That’s the real Angie, but Ty will never see it.

  “I’m flying home today.”

  “Have a safe trip.”

  Ty takes my hand, and Angie doesn’t miss a thing, although I doubt he noticed the way her lips thinned for a second before she recovered herself.