by KB Winters
“I can’t worry about them when I have a wedding to plan and a baby to get ready for. Do you know anything about weddings or babies, because I don’t?” I hadn’t been around babies much in my life other than at amusement parks and restaurants. Not enough to actually take care of one. I was terrified.
Minx laughed and hopped up on the stool beside me, looking amazing in short denim shorts, a plain white tee that hugged her gorgeous breasts and her ever-present cowboy boots. I wondered how many pairs she had. “I know more about babies than weddings. Somewhere in the world I have a kid brother and sister.” She said it so casually, but I could see the wistfulness in her eyes. She missed her family.
“Does that mean you don’t want to be my maid of honor?” She was my only close friend and since she hadn’t ever fucked Mick, I figured we were solid.
She turned to me, big brown eyes looking so vulnerable I wanted to pull her into a hug. “You want me to be your maid of honor? Why?”
“You’re my friend. My best friend, and I want you beside me on this important day. You don’t want to do it?” Tears welled up in my eyes, and I was firmly blaming it on pregnancy hormones and not on the fact that she was rejecting me.
She swiped a tear that I pretended not to see and nodded. “No, I do, it’s just… Don’t you want someone more, I don’t know, someone else?”
I wrapped an arm around her. “No, I want you even though you’re so fucking hot you’ll totally upstage me on my wedding day. I still want you beside me. Say you’ll do it.”
“I’ll do it.” She gave me a long hug, and I felt all the pain Minx had been through in her life. I thought I had it hard, but I didn’t know shit about hard compared to her experiences. Based on her reaction to something I took as a simple request between friends, I knew it was worse than I could ever imagine. I just hoped one day she’d confide in me about it. “How’d you get me a night off for this shindig?”
“I told Mick that the maid of honor had to be at the engagement party.”
“You were so sure I’d agree?”
I barked out a laugh. “No way, but I was hopeful and full of hormones. If that hadn’t worked, I would’ve bribed you with my lasagna. Or tears.”
“Your tacos are better,” she shot back, sassy smile back in place.
“Good to know.” I cooked a lot these days, and I found it was a good way to get things done around the house, whether it was help in my garden or moving things in the nursery. Mick and Charlie never needed bribing, but I enjoyed cooking for them just the same.
“So, I have something for you, but I don’t want you to make a big pregnant deal out of it, okay?”
Minx hated emotions, so I nodded without making any promises. She handed me a tall black and silver box wrapped with a beautiful black bow. I gasped when I lifted the top off and took sight of the shimmery, sparkling black tiara. “It’s gorgeous.”
“Can’t have the VP’s ol’ lady looking anything but fierce, right?” She smiled as she lifted it out and set it on my head. “It’s black rhinestones and Swarovski crystals topped with black pearls.”
“Holy crap, Minx, it’s amazing. Thank you.” I pulled her in and squeezed her tight. “No one has ever gotten me something so cool!”
“You promised.”
“I know I did, but I’m pregnant and I can’t help it. Deal with it.”
“Fine. You’re lucky I love you.”
“I love you too, Minx.” I opened my eyes to see Mick behind her, watching us with a concerned glare. “I’m fine, I promise. Look at Minx’s gift.”
His gaze flared with heat. “It’s nice. Wear it tonight and nothing else?”
“Oh hell,” Minx moaned and stomped off.
“I have a killer pair of stilettos that I can only wear if I won’t be on my feet all night,” I offered with a coy smile.
“Baby, you’ll be on your back all night. I might even rub your feet and kiss those little piggy toes. That’s a promise.”
“Is it too early to leave?”
He laughed and pulled me in close, the way he always did. “Probably, but do you really care?” He saw the indecision written on my face. “We have all night, darlin’.”
I looked up at him and grinned. “We have the rest of our lives.”
***
Mick
My girl looked so fucking beautiful tonight, round with my baby in her belly. Skin flushed in a light sheen that made her look like she was fucking glowing. And man, her tits were bigger and so sensitive it took nothing at all to get her going. “You look beautiful tonight. Did I tell you that?”
With a sassy smile, she nuzzled my neck as I inhaled her hair. Honeysuckle. “Only about a thousand times. Thanks, and you’re looking mighty fine as well.”
I’d opted for a lightweight olive green button up with my jeans and boots. The way she looked at me right now, like she wanted to drop down and gobble me up, had my dick growing hard against my jeans. If anyone would have told me that I’d be so turned on by a pregnant woman, I would’ve told them they were out of their fucking mind. But my woman did it for me. In a big damn way. “Thanks, darlin’, but don’t go sayin’ shit like that or my fiancée might slap the shit outta ya. She’s feisty like that.”
“Yeah, she is. Don’t you forget it.” She adjusted her tiara and puckered up for a kiss. “Have you seen Charlie lately? She left a message saying she couldn’t make it tonight and that she was going away for a while.”
“She stopped by the service station on her way out of town, said to tell you she’s not abandoning you. She needs to clear her head and think about everything. She’ll be back in a couple weeks.” I saw tears building in her eyes, and they gutted me. “If you need any extra help, babe, you know I’ve got you. Right?”
“I know, and I’ll be fine. I just hate that she’s going through all of this. I mean, I kind of feel what she does right now and I never knew Magnus, but she’s loved him for years and years, and the people she thought were her friends killed him.”
“You’re kind of too good to be true, you know?”
She shrugged and pressed her nose to my chest and inhaled. “You smell like a dream. Every time I sniff you I get all kinds of wet.”
“Damn, baby, you keep saying things like that, and I’ll have to take you behind the diner and have my way with you.”
Talon backed away from me, a teasing grin on her face. “Behind the diner like I’m some hussy?” She frowned and shook her head, eyes alight with amusement. “No, I have a slightly uncomfortable two-seater in my office that I think will be much more comfortable for both of us.”
In one step, I was in front of her, one hand low on her back and the other palming the spot where our child grew. “I like the way you think.” I slanted my mouth over hers and she opened up right away, slicking her tongue across mine in a naughty way that had me picking her up and walking straight into the diner. “Can we use some of that whipped cream you keep in the fridge?”
She laughed, skin flushing at the thought of what we’d done when she brought home a way too large bowl of fresh whipped cream. “I’ve created a monster!”
“Hell yeah, baby, a trouser monster!”
Fingers hooked into my belt loops, she pulled me through the diner and down the hall where her tiny ass office was located. “You know, Mick, I love you. I really, really do. But I think tonight, I’m going to have my way with you.”
I smiled while she undressed me, her slick pink tongue stuck out of the corner, deep in concentration as she undid my belt, then my button before lowering the zipper. “Damn, woman, I don’t know if I could love you more than I do right now.”
“Let’s see if I can change that.”
Looking down into those sparkling silver eyes filled with love, I knew every day we spent together would fill my heart with more love for her. For our baby and however many other babies we made together. She was a one of a kind girl, and I was pretty fucking sure Magnus had sent her here just for me.
Thanks, Magnus, you old dog.
* * * *
~ T H E ~ E N D ~
I hope you LOVED my first MC Romance! I had a blast writing it! Grab the next insta-love MC story Cash, available now! You don’t wanna miss it!
Cash
CAOS MC
By KB Winters
Copyright © 2017 BookBoyfriends Publishing LLC
Published By: BookBoyfriends Publishing LLC
Copyright and Disclaimer
This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2017 BookBoyfriends Publishing LLC
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the copyright owner. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of the trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.
Prologue
Minx ~ Two months earlier
I left Talon and Mick happily canoodling in front of all of Brently at their engagement party. Talon was the nicest woman I’d ever met, and no one deserved this happiness more than she did. She’d come to Brently months ago to claim the inheritance from a father she thought died years ago and found love with a really great guy. A stand-up guy who’d never hit a woman or mistreat her. Who would make sure her happiness and safety was his top priority.
As happy as I was for her, I also felt a pang of longing for what she had. Not Mick, but the stability and love he represented. I wanted someone who’d look at me and see a beautiful woman who could be their forever. The problem was that my past made that difficult. I didn’t want someone to look at me and see a project to fix. A problem to correct. And for some reason the one man who got my juices flowing, also seemed to have a hero complex. I’d only met one real hero in my life, and his own crew took him down.
Not that it mattered what kind of man I wanted or needed since all the guys in Brently and CAOS saw me as a little sister or a club mascot or some other condescending bullshit. All but one and he saw me as someone who needed to be saved. Fixed.
“Got one of those for me?”
I looked up from my cigarette into deep green eyes that always seemed to be smiling, kissable pink lips that urged a girl to forget his flaws. And my weakness, silky blond hair that hung just to his shoulders and usually, a leather strap kept it from covering up his gorgeous face. “You don’t smoke.” Because Cash “CJ” Johnson was a Boy Scout, a goody two-shoes who would never do something to ruin his All-American good looks or his G.I. Joe physique.
“I don’t normally but I figured if I asked for one of your smokes you wouldn’t run away from me.” He leaned against the brick wall of Talon’s diner, Black Betty, smiling at me as though I was the answer to his prayers. I wasn’t the answer to anybody’s fucking prayers.
“Can’t take a little rejection, Cash?” I didn’t know why I was always so bitchy to him, but I couldn’t seem to help myself.
He shrugged but that piercing green gaze never left mine. “I can take it, but I don’t think that’s what you’re doing. Is it?”
I wanted to say yes. To say something so hurtful and cutting that he’d leave me the hell alone for the rest of forever. But I wasn’t a liar. “Why don’t you tell me since you seem to know so much.”
“I can’t figure out if it’s me specifically who rubs you the wrong way or any man who shows interest in you.” His gaze trailed down my body heavily as if it was his hands, and I felt the telltale signs of desire lighting up all of my pleasure spots.
Handsome bastard. “I don’t need to be fixed, Cash.”
“I’m not trying to fix you, Minx. I think you’re perfect even when you’re prickly as hell.” His lush mouth curved in a lazy grin that sent heat scrambling around my body. “I just want to know you.”
“Fuck me, you mean,” I jutted my hip to the side, full of sass, as my brow cocked into my hairline. That’s always what men wanted. Hell, I’d been taken from a park and turned out because men wanted it so bad they were willing to pay for it, to break the law to have it.
He laughed and dammit the sound was deep and masculine, and it skated all over my body, making me want to purr. “I won’t lie and say fucking you isn’t on my list, but really I want to know more about you, Minx. Take you for dinner, maybe dancing or stargazing or some shit. Then we can get to all that. When you’re ready.”
Why did he have to make it sound so good? So nice? It was the one thing about him that I couldn’t pretend to hate because it did it for me. In a big fucking way. “What if I said I’d go home with you tonight?”
“I’m a man, baby, I’ll make you scream my name all night, and then I’ll make you breakfast in the morning. But I’d still ask you to go out with me, get to know me, before deciding you hate me.”
“I don’t hate you.”
“Good to know.” He bit back a smirk. “So, about that date. Tomorrow night, I’ll pick you up at seven.”
I flicked away what was left of my cigarette and pushed off the wall. “How about tonight? Just tonight,” I clarified.
“How about we start with tonight and see where it goes?”
“No thanks. Not interested.” I turned to walk away, but he grabbed my arm and turned me back to face him.
“Yeah, I don’t believe that shit for one second.” Then his mouth crashed down onto mine, his tongue warm and soft and insistent against my lips, making it hard to breathe. Hard to remember that I should be pushing his presumptuous ass as far away as I could. Then his hands rested at my hips, and the sensation did something to me I couldn’t explain. When I gasped, his tongue swept between my lips and explored the depths of my mouth in a way I hadn’t thought possible. The kiss was electrifying. Hot as hell. It was downright fucking erotic.
I was no fucking virgin, but I had never been kissed for real. Not by a man who wasn’t simply taking what he wanted because he’d paid some asshole for the pleasure. I knew that’s not what Cash was doing. He was just proving to me that I was a coward, which I already knew. Still, the kiss turned me on more than I wanted to admit, even to myself. My body was on fire, aching with need, and if he wanted me to, I’d probably drop down on my knees right now and let him do what he wanted. What they always wanted.
Except Cash wasn’t like other men, and he pulled back. “Damn, Minx, I didn’t expect that,” he panted, eyes glazed over with lust and bewildered. “You let me know, Minx, tonight as a beginning?” He turned away and I felt a pang of sadness, maybe disappointment. But why?
“Cash.”
“Yeah?” He turned a blank expression on his face.
“Tonight, and one date. I make no promises.”
His mouth curled into a sexy boyish smile that made his dimples pop and his feet began to move. “I don’t need promises, Minx, just a chance.”
I must be crazy.
Chapter One
Cash
Sitting in a beat-up old pickup truck hours after the sun had already called it quits for the day, I was sweaty and tired. And ready to get some food and go home. I’d spent the past eight hours in this fucking truck watching the border to make sure former CAOS members, Wagman and Rocky, kept their shit out of Brently. We couldn’t ban them outright, not yet anyway, but I knew the shit that went down at the clubhouse a few months back wasn’t over. Not yet.
Rocky had served with Toro in Panama when the US government wanted Noriega gone, and I knew he had a hard-on for revenge. But what Toro had done, he fucking deserved to meet the Outlaw. I couldn’t blame Rocky, hell I respected
him for it. But that didn’t mean I would step aside and let him fuck up my club or my town because him and his boys went against the grain. No fucking way.
But there were no signs of those assholes today. I knew they were doing business with the cartels, transporting drugs, maybe weapons and girls, from Mexico and right through Brently. That’s the part I found unacceptable which was why I’d been out here most nights lately to keep an eye on things.
But tonight’s shift was over, so I headed to Black Betty’s to refuel. Inside I smiled when my gaze landed on the chocolate-haired beauty who’s been taking up way too much of my mind space. Minx sat alone in a booth, eating and reading something on her tablet. Damn, she was just beautiful with thick brown hair and caramel highlights, big brown eyes that held a vulnerability she’d hate to know I could see, and her lush mouth seemed fixed in permanent sad face.
She had the kind of body women paid good money for. Slim but with enough meat on her bones that a man knew she was a woman, not a little girl. Her tits were more than a handful which was perfect for me since I was a breast man. Long tan legs were always on display, and sexy ass cowgirl boots were all she wore. Our night together had been amazing. She’d been responsive as hell, and some days I got hard just thinking about it. But she still owed me a date, and I planned to cash in on it. If she thought avoiding me would make me forget, she didn’t know me very well. That was something else I was determined to change.
“Long time no see,” I told her, sliding into the seat across from her without waiting for the invitation I knew she wouldn’t give.
She looked up, deep brown eyes looking mildly annoyed, and shook her head. “Not true. I saw you two nights ago at the clubhouse.”
Yeah, there was a party to welcome the new batch of prospects, and she’d been tapped to tend bar as usual. Only something had been different that night. She didn’t smile and act friendly with the guys, she kept everyone at a distance. Me included. She didn’t talk to anyone more than necessary, just made their drinks and moved on. “Not really what I meant. What’s up with you?”