In Crow’s hands.
At the exact moment, he hit a long stretch of straight road and went full throttle. The abrupt increase of speed spiraled Melissa even further into a feeling of pure and utter exhilaration. She tightened her hold on Crow and rested her head easily against the soft worn leather of his jacket.
The sea wall gave way to a wind fence now. Melissa knew that one hard sandy gust across the road would have the same effect as an oil slick and send them into a jagged glide to certain death. But there was no wind today and she could see that the road ahead was clear. Still a measure of relief coursed through her body when Crow geared down. When the scream of the wind became a low howl and the blur of the white line came into focus, Melissa realized that Crow had pushed it to the limit before he pulled back.
She knew exactly how he felt.
Chapter 15
It had been a great day. A perfect day.
And within the perimeter of that great, perfect day, Melissa had not missed the stir that Crow’s presence caused. Even without his colors on,Crow’s long dark hair, chiseled good looks, and inked body screamed beautiful bad man.
He turned heads wherever he went, no doubt about it.
Melissa was not sure what people expected when they saw her behind him, but she was pretty sure she did not measure up. Nor had she cared.
Until lunch.
At the restaurant, Melissa was surprised to find herself wishing that she had applied that extra layer of mascara and had thrown on the red lace push-up bra.
And it was all because of the waitress—“Kitten,” per her name badge, who looked at Crow like he was something to eat and at Melissa like she was something to step on.
Kitten.
Kitten had on a lot of make-up, a shirt and skirt that looked like they were painted on her and stiletto heels that must have had her feet screaming help me about five minutes into her shift. Kitten unfastened two more buttons on her shirt before she even approached the table.
Melissa saw her do it and when their eyes met, the waitress issued Melissa a challenging smile.
As Melissa watched Kitten work the cleaning rag she had no doubt at all that slinging hash at the Checkerboard Lunch Counter was the waitress’s second and much less lucrative job. Melissa watched on with a sort of awe while Kitten concentrated on dipping, arching and reaching past Crow to wipe off the already clean table. When the little performance was over, the waitress was actually panting at him. When Kitten’s eyes finally settled on Crow, they held such a look of intense promise that it made Melissa blush scarlet.
Self-conscious now, Melissa’s hands reached up on their very own to smooth the imagined wrinkles in her demure sweater. Crow’s eyes caught the subtle movement and swept over Melissa. He looked like he was about to say something when the waitress took the opportunity to dip low and get in between their line of vision. Melissa watched on incredulously as Kitten leaned a hand on the back of the booth behind Crow, moved in closer and asked in a sultry voice “What’s your pleasure?”
Crow turned all his attention to the waitress then. He pushed her hand out of the way and stood up, leaning in to say something that only she could hear. As Melissa watched on in mute fascination, the waitress’s smug come-hither look turned into something else entirely. Whatever Crow said to her must have made Kitten rethink her performance because suddenly she gasped, pursed her lips together and quickly began to button up her shirt. Then she turned wide eyes to Melissa, murmured something that sounded like an apology and then off she went.
At a dead run. Out the door.
Melissa watched on in absolute silence while the three remaining waitresses high-fived each other at their co-worker's hasty retreat. Crow ordered a couple of burgers and beers from a smiling young girl who looked at Melissa like she was a demigod. The rest of the time passed smoothly and by the end of the meal Melissa had almost forgotten the incident with Kitten had happened.
Almost. But not quite. She smiled all the way home.
Melissa sighed as she got off the bike, handed the helmet to Crow and vowed silently to have many more of this kind of day. She needed to get out more. She needed to take Jett out more. It was time. Maybe even past time, but better late than never.
“Thanks for a really lovely afternoon. And for the furniture. Jett is going to be so excited. I'm afraid you're not going to hear the end of it.” Melissa smiled at him.
Crow nodded, looked into her eyes and smiled back.
A silence that was at once both awkward and comfortable filled the space between them. Crow was first to break it.
“I’ll walk you back to the cottage. I just want to check that measurement again before they deliver the flooring. I don’t like the feel of that soft spot in the kitchen and I want to get going on that as soon as I can.” Crow explained.
They paused in the yard just outside the kitchen door while Melissa fumbled for her keys. He stopped her with his hand just as she was about to unlock the door and step inside.
“Melissa? Too many dark corners? Too many walls separating one life from another? Was it like that for you with Jesse?” Crow asked.
“I should go…” She stepped away from him.
“Wait.”
Melissa felt her heart race and realized she was holding her breath. Crow hesitated and appeared to choose his words carefully.
“Are you ever gonna tell me?”
“Tell you what?”
“About the life you had before you came here.”
“Why? What does it matter?” Melissa asked.
“I’m curious.” Crow answered.
“I don’t really like talking about myself,” Melissa shook her head slowly.
“Probably why I’m so fucking interested,” he said.
Melissa smiled a bit then and she moved to open the door.
“Come on in and get those measurements.”
Once they were inside Melissa turned to Crow who was watching her carefully and did not look in the least bit interested in measuring anything. He seemed to expect her to say something, so she did.
“There’s really not much to tell. Jesse died, Jett got sick and we wound up here. See? Like I said, pretty simple story and I don’t really want to talk about this anymore.” Melissa said.
“I don’t want to talk any more either.” Crow’s eyes darkened. Then he moved towards her. He held her eyes as his hand lightly trailed her collar bone. It lingered on the pulse on her neck before it moved upward and his thumb settled and grazed on the soft fullness of her lower lip. Then Crow shifted and his fist tugged on the mass of soft curls. He pulled on her hair just hard enough on to tilt her face up to him. His breath blew hot against her cheek. He moved his hand from her hair and pressed firmly against her spine. Then with one quick hard motion, Crow plastered Melissa’s body against him. Melissa shivered and tensed at the full frontal contact. She let out a long low questioning sigh and pulled slightly away from him.
“Easy, baby,” he growled low to her.
Time stood still for her. Every cell in her body cried out to him, but still he waited. When Melissa made a slight shift towards him, Crow was ready. He held her tightly while she arched her back and pushed her breasts against him. He buried his hands deeper inside her hair and began to place soft wet kisses on her neck.
“I should…,” she whispered.
She felt his hand leave her hair and move to her waist. Then he slipped another palm upward to cup her swollen breasts.
“I…need…,” she whimpered.
“I know what you need,” he said against her lips.
At his words Melissa found herself caught in a swirling dizzy kaleidoscope of sensation.
She almost stopped breathing.
She definitely stopped thinking.
Crow’s callused hands and full bruising mouth seemed to touch her everywhere, leaving a wet burning trail on her skin. Her breasts swelled in a soft welcome against Crow’s hard chest while her mouth met his in a dance that went from gentle
to demanding and back again. Melissa whimpered when she felt his teeth bite softly into her bottom lip.
As if on their own, her arms moved up and cupped the back of Crow’s head. She pulled him down and closer as her tongue sought his out again and again. When he lifted her with easy strength and pressed her back against the wall, Melissa wrapped her legs around his waist.
She gave herself to Crow with all the yearning of a woman who had gone without the touch of a man for far too long. He stilled with surprise as he whispered her name in the form of a question against her mouth. She answered by deepening her kiss, widening her legs and pressing her heat against him. Melissa’s hips ground out invitation after invitation, freeing herself from any thought but the way her body felt against his. She gave in to every throbbing need, every heated thought, every lustful pleasure her body yearned for. She became someone else in the arms of this beautiful outlaw man. It had been so long that she’d lived under that heavy blanket of loneliness. She was suddenly unleashed and determined to recover some of what she had lost.
“Gonna take you to bed now, baby,” Crow whispered low into her ear.
Melissa buried her head into his shoulder as he carried her upstairs to the bedroom. He placed her down on the mattress and pulled away just long enough to pull his shirt over his head. Melissa caught a too-quick glance of Crow's bronze muscled stomach before he was back on her. His strong hands grabbed the bottom of her shirt and yanked it up over her head. The motion took her arms with it. They remained captive in the tangled sweater and left Melissa at Crow's mercy. He held her two small tangled wrists in one big hand and unbuttoned her pants with the other one.
In one fluid motion, Crow slid Melissa's jeans quickly down her hips, tossed them aside and settled himself against her the lacy silk of her panties. She twisted and arched her back against the hand imprisoning her and moaned his name when he took her nipple roughly in his mouth. When he released her to stand and tug off his jeans off, she pulled her arms out of the sweater and reached back to unfasten her bra, letting her breasts bounce free.
Melissa knelt on top of the bed next to where Crow stood against it and began to explore him with her mouth. She moved from side to side working her way up his gloriously hard stomach until her lips touched his chest. Crow let out a soft growl as Melissa captured his strong hands into her smaller ones. When she sucked on his nipple and bit it gently in an imitation of what he had done to her, Crow lost all restraint and threw her on her back. Melissa felt the weight of his body cover her and the pressure of his cock push against the soft silk of her panties.
“You ready for me, baby?” His fingers slipped inside the soft lace. Through a haze of yearnings and aches and an emptiness that was waiting to be filled, Melissa felt the cool air hit her hot center.
Crow had slipped off her panties.
She moaned when he pulled away from her and bit her lip to keep from screaming out in frustration of losing the heavy heated promise of his body. When Melissa heard the crinkle of a condom package being ripped open, the sound wrenched her from the whirling sensations of blinding pleasure and sent her spiraling back to earth.
Crashing back to earth.
Back. To. Earth.
Where Melissa landed so hard in a tailspin of emotion that it brought tears to her eyes.
And that is when she began to cry.
Chapter 16
Crow sat on the edge of the bed with his head bent and his hands on his knees. He was waiting for Melissa to come out of the damn bathroom. The minute that Crow had heard that first catch of ragged breath pour out of Melissa he knew it was over.
It was just too fucking good to be true.
Even he knew it was happening too fast for her. It had taken everything he had not to pull her back from her quick retreat and drive into her ready or not. Because as much as he hated to think of his brother right now, Jules had been right. Melissa unwrapped…a damn wet dream.
Absolutely perfect.
It took all he had not to go break down the damn bathroom door and finish what they had started.
He scrubbed a hand over his face and glanced at the clock. She had been in there for a while. When Crow had rapped on the door a few minutes ago he had expected to hear remnants of a crying jag. But when Melissa answered in a resounding “I’m okay,” her voice sounded surprisingly strong and steady and not in the least like a woman on the verge of hysteria.
Thank God.
Crow looked up when he heard the door squeak open. He saw Melissa’s small shadow hit the wall as she headed down the hallway. She was wrapped up in a white fluffy bathrobe and her bare feet stopped right outside the bedroom door. Wide golden-flecked eyes stared back at him, while small, white teeth bit down on lips that were swollen and pink. Her hair curled wildly around her. Crow kept his eyes glued to Melissa and he noticed that when she moved into the room she stayed against the wall.
“Wow,” she whispered to him. Melissa hugged herself as if trying to contain the pulsing nerve endings that were still raging through her body.
Crow was up on his feet the minute that she opened her mouth. He didn’t touch her, but he braced his hand on the wall beside her head. Then Crow leaned in until Melissa was caged by the muscular frame of his body.
“Jesus. Melissa. You want to tell me what the fuck just happened here?” His eyes mirrored her confusion.
“Crow. I’m so sorry, but I’m not sure myself.”
“Baby, you gotta give me something.”
He ran a hand through his hair.
“I thought I just did.” She looked at him from beneath wet lashes and a small dimple popped out from her smooth cheek.
And there it was.
The quiet calm and sense of humor that he loved about her.
That he loved about her?
“Melissa…” Crow began.
“It’s been a while,” Melissa interrupted him. Her smile was gone now and replaced with something Crow couldn’t quite define.
He leaned back away from her then. Their eyes locked as her words hung in the air and then settled down soft between them.
“A while?” He arched a brow.
“A while,” she confirmed.
Crow’s eyes darkened and hit her mouth again. His hand moved to pull the lapels of her robe tighter around her. His palms trailed down her covered arms to her bare wrists where he took her small, cold, hands in his.
“How much time is a while?”
She couldn’t possibly mean what he thought she meant.
Melissa took a deep breath.
“I’m not really sure. Since Jesse died and before then it was a while since we had really... ”
Crow pulled himself away . He looked at her with what appeared to be a mixture of shock and surprise.
“I’m not talking about fuc…having a man take you to his bed. When was the last time you were kissed, touched?” Crow asked. A sudden burning need to know filled him.
“I know what you meant.” Melissa blushed the color of a ripe watermelon.
Crow took a step back and scrubbed a hand over his face.
“So this was the …?” he asked.
I was the…? Crow thought.
“Yes, it was.” Her eyes wide and cheeks flushed with embarrassment.
Yes. I. Was. Crow fought the almost irrepressible urge to grin, fist pound the air and shout out a rebel yell.
But he calmed his ass down, kept his face blank and breathed in the charged air that circled around them.
Melissa was the first to break that spell.
“Did you get what you came for?” She looked shyly at him.
“What?” Crow shook his head, confused.
“The measurements.”
Melissa began toying furiously with the chain again.
“Did you get the measurements? Did you get what you needed?” she repeated.
Crow simply looked at her.
She shifted on her feet.
Then he smiled.
“I got e
xactly what I needed.”
“Crow…” Melissa began helplessly.
“Shh, baby. Everything is going to be all right.” Crow pulled her tight against him.
He felt her whole body relax against him then and he held her for a long time. When Melissa finally pulled away from him, Crow didn’t want to let her go. But he let himself be led down the little hallway, to the stairs, and through the kitchen to the back door, where golden eyes met green ones and melted into a pool of heated confusion.
Then he walked out the door to the driveway that separated their two lives.
Chapter 17
Blue. Balls.
Crow swung his leg painfully over his bike and hit full throttle. It took a good ten miles before he felt the throbbing in his dick ease up. He looked up at the sky to see the sun still shining brightly over his path through the goddamn sleepy little town of Havengate. How was it possible that life went on totally unaware that all hell had just broken loose at the house on Primrose Ave?
What the fuck was that?
Mousy Melissa unleashed.
Crow shook his head, trying to erase the picture of that hair, those eyes. Images of her swollen pouty mouth as she offered it all up to him on a silver goddamn platter danced through his mind. She was right there with him, all the way until that shit she carried weighed her down and got in the way. But for a while he had had her. And he would have her again. And again and again. It was just a matter of time.
He grinned.
Crow could still taste her on his tongue. Melissa’s skin reminded him of the lemon slices drowned in sugar that he used to like as a kid.
He could still feel that long soft wild mane of curls brushing against his body, could still smell the light flowery scent that being with her had left on his chest and arms. At the memory of the way she opened to him when he touched her, Crow felt his dick start to throb. He could almost feel her small perfect tits as they pushed against him. He groaned as his body reacted to the memory of her nipples swelling and hardening underneath his hands. Jesus, she had pushed her tight little body into him so close that he had felt the heat of her radiating through her jeans.
Taming Crow (Hells Saints Motorcycle Club) Page 10