A soft laugh escaped her and she gave me a teasing wink. “When I’m with you I’m always hungry.” There was no mistaking the double entendre of her words.
Well, damn.
Chapter 17
Iris
I tried not to let the confrontation between Vince and Sassy bother me, but it lingered in the back of my mind. The hate on Vince’s face had been very real, his rage when he’d grabbed her by the throat palpable. My instinct had been to break it up, but that thought had been overshadowed by the shock of what I was seeing. I’d been worried for both of them until Vince had released Sassy and I saw the glimmer of ugly victory cross her face. She could cause trouble for him. He was straight out of prison. Yet I got the feeling that she had something more devious planned. I didn’t like her.
I didn’t have time to delve too deeply into it. We moved on to the candle shop, and I ended up buying one for Penny. Next we hit a clothing store. As I explored a rack of discounted dresses, hoping to find something to wear that night, I glanced up to see Vince standing by the window, looking at something outside. I’d noticed that he’d done the same thing when we’d been in the candle shop.
What was he looking for? His quiet stance, almost guard-like, made me smile. He couldn’t be having a good time. My instinct told me that something was up, but whenever our eyes met he just smiled and gave me a wink, and I’d go back to looking at clothes. I was just about to give up on the dress idea when a garment that had obviously been misplaced in the discount rack caught my eye.
I took it off the rack and held it up. Nothing fancy, it was a black leather form--fitting jacket. My thought went to the sexy corset in Vince’s saddle bag. Coupled with the jacket I could leave the zipper down enough to show off the pretty undergarment, and I could wear my skinny jeans. I was sure Penny would have a pair of heels I could borrow. Smiling at the visual of what the finished product would look like, I checked the price tag.
Holy crap! What a day to not have my card on me. The jacket was expensive. I continued to look at it, before deciding to put it back and look for something else.
“Baby, get the jacket. You’ll look hot in it.”
Vince’s comment caught me off-guard. I hadn’t known that he was watching me. I looked his way. He was still in front of the window. “But I−”
“Get it,” he said firmly, while reaching into his pocket. I watched him open it and withdraw a credit card.
He’d obviously guessed the reason for my hesitation, and I wasn’t sure how I felt about him purchasing such an expensive item for me. He went to the register and slapped the card down in front of the woman standing behind it. “For the jacket and anything else she wants.”
My eyes grew round. I’d make sure that he knew that I was going to repay him, but not here. Some men got weird when you talked about money. His cocky yet sexy attitude pulled a challenge from me. “What’s my limit?”
He threw back his head and laughed. The sound of it made me feel good inside, and I thought that he should do it more often. I couldn’t take my eyes off him, the strength of his jaw and the rippling veins in his neck. His powerful build was revealed so clearly in the leather he was wearing. In spite of looking out of place in the shop, he definitely owned it. He was an alpha comfortable in his skin, and that had been apparent in the lingerie shop.
“Darlin’, you can buy the whole fucking store if you want to.”
Wow. Either Vince was really rich, or he was confident that I wouldn’t do it. Somehow I didn’t think he was the bragging type when it came to his personal finances. I decided to get the jacket, along with a little black skirt I found a few seconds later.
“Is everything okay?” I asked when we were walking back to his bike to get rid of my purchases. “You seem to be on alert, like you’re waiting for something to happen.”
He looked down at me, and I could see the tic in his jaw. He wasn’t happy that I’d noticed. “I’m always on alert when I’m away from home,” he explained after a while. He took the bag from me. “You hungry yet?” I was, and nodded. “Good. Let’s go.”
It only took us five minutes to reach the Rusty Nail, a small restaurant with a colorful beach theme going on. Appropriate, since it was on the coast. The parking lot was filled with cars, scooters, motorcycles, and trucks, a testament to the variety of clientele the restaurant attracted. There was even a golf cart in one spot. Vince backed into a spot close to the door. It wasn’t really an official parking spot, but he made it work.
He opened the door for me, giving my bottom a light tap as I walked in before him. I gave him a glance over my shoulder, catching his sexy grin. “Behave yourself.”
The hostess came over, smiling brightly when she saw Vince. “Haven’t seen you in a while, welcome back. Table by the window?”
“Yeah, thanks.”
Once we were seated I gave Vince my best interpretation of the stink eye. “Another of your ex’s?” It seemed as though wherever we went we were running into women who knew him.
“Just friends, baby,” he responded. “I get around.”
So I’d gathered. I decided to let it go.
“You gonna try the gumbo and conch fritters?”
“Yeah, someone told me that they have the best.”
He ordered for us and before long two cold, frosty beers was sitting on the table in front of us. Vince drank half of his down the first sip. “Damn that’s good.”
I took a sip of mine. “So what time does all the action start tonight?”
“Action?”
“At the clubhouse.”
“Darlin’, there’s action at the clubhouse every night. Fridays just happens to be open house, so everyone who isn’t normally allowed in comes in to party. A couple brothers will pick Dickie up at three.”
“The party starts that early?”
“Doesn’t start to get rowdy until later. We want to get him there and set up so that he looks as much like the old prez as possible.”
So that he wouldn’t be embarrassed. Vince didn’t need to say the words for me to know what he meant. He loved Dickie as a brother, the whole club did. The old ladies did. They would protect him, protect his reputation. As I stared into his eyes, I felt mine grow misty with emotion.
“You’re a good man, Vince.” I could barely get the words out. “Your club, Dickie’s club, are good people.”
“Yeah they are darlin’.” He reached forward and took my hand. “But don’t let that fool you into thinking that we’re good all the time.” He brought my hand up to his lips and began to kiss my fingertips. I felt an instant rush of pleasure in my core, and caught my breath. “I’m not always a good man.”
I swallowed hard, watching Vince take one of my fingers into his mouth. My heart jolted at his action, especially since we were sitting in a busy restaurant. My gaze darted around us to see if we had an audience.
“You’ve been nothing but good to me,” I said softly, closing my thighs to the tingle there.
His grin was sexy as hell, and the flicker in his eyes was pure devil. “Does a good man bend his woman over his bike and fuck her? Does he get her off in front of other people?”
Hell yeah, he does, I wanted to cry. But then something Vince had said pulled me back to it. “Am I your woman?”
He was sucking on finger number two and I started to squirm in my seat. “You’re mine.”
You’re mine. He sounded so sure of himself, but what did those two words mean? And why did they make me feel warm and fluttery inside? I knew the answer to that. I wanted to be his. I liked how he made me feel. He turned my hand over gently and kissed the palm, holding my eyes captive with his. I sucked in my breath when he kissed, sucked, and drew his tongue over my wrist where the pulse beat. A wet fire burning between my legs was the instant result.
Just when I thought I might go up in a puff of smoke, our waitress arrived with our meal. Vince released my hand slowly, a promise in his smoldering look, indifferent to her arrival. I leaned back as she
set down a healthy bowl of gumbo.
“This does look good.” Lord, my voice came out in a husky tone that revealed my condition and seemed to amuse Vince. I hoped that he was as aroused as I was. The shameless, horny woman inside of me decided to find out, and as we began to eat I slipped off my shoe.
He reached for a conch fritter and had lifted it halfway to his mouth when he stopped suddenly, meeting my eyes with a questioning look. I smiled innocently, pretending that I didn’t know that my foot was crawling up his leg. Then he shocked me by sinking lower into his seat, which gave me easier access. I glanced around nervously, thankful that we were in a booth where the table was covered with one of those vinyl table clothes covered in red lobsters and crabs. I took a bite of gumbo.
“How is it?” he asked.
“Really good.” Everything had a fresh taste and was cooked to perfection, the bowl filled with huge chunks of lobster, crab, and shrimp. There was also some kind of fish. It was loaded with okra, onions, peppers, and celery, and was served on a bed of long grain rice. “As good as you remembered?” My foot was nearing its prize, trailing slowly along the inside of Vince’s muscular thigh.
“Excellent.”
His voice was a little hoarse and he raised a brow, a clear challenge if I ever saw one. So he didn’t think I’d do it? Or was he hoping that I would? I couldn’t believe that I was going to. Public displays, even if it was under cover of a table cloth, weren’t something that I’d ever thought about doing before. I’d never considered myself to be “that kind of woman.” I spooned a big piece of crab into my mouth, letting my foot inch over to the prominent bulge in Vince’s jeans.
“Mmm, so good!” I husked.
A low groan, probably too low for anyone else but me to hear, sounded, and he closed his eyes for a minute. He was also chewing, so his groan could have just meant that he found the food tasty. But when he finally opened his eyes the truth was there, and I watched, mesmerized, as his features transformed into a canvas of taut, primal passion. I rubbed a little harder, overwhelmed with power. He clenched his jaw and moved so that his hard cock was bowed tight against his zipper.
I tried to concentrate on my food, but it was hard to do when there was a huge, throbbing cock beneath my bare foot. Our eyes met and I smiled, feeling heat creeping up my neck as embarrassment overtook me. I felt like every eye in the place was watching us, knowing what I was doing beneath the table. My movements faltered as I tried to make up my mind to move my foot away or keep going.
Vince would have kept going. He liked the challenge and thrill of doing wicked things to me in public.
“Chickening out?” Vince grinned knowingly, his tone indicating that he thought he already knew the answer. Before I knew what he was going to do, he reached down and grabbed my foot, holding it firmly against him. I caught my breath, because what we were doing was affecting me, too.
Interruption came in the form of our waitress, appearing to ask us if we needed anything. I could only shake my head, while I heard Vince request another beer. I dropped my foot to the floor, glancing out the window as I drew in several calming breaths, willing myself back in control while a smile quivered on my mouth.
The waitress walked away and I glanced back at Vince. “I don’t know what I’m doing anymore,” I admitted, picking at a fritter. “When I’m around you I become this whole other woman.”
“I like that woman, darlin’. She’s not afraid to go after what she wants. Not afraid to reveal the real woman underneath.”
I digested his words. “I’ve always been real.” God, that didn’t even make sense. “I’m just different with you.”
Vince looked at me long and hard. “And that bothers you?”
I shrugged slightly. “It makes me question myself. I’m a woman in my thirties, but I’m acting like a horny twenty-year-old.” His laughter drew a smile out of me.
“Don’t over think it, baby, just go with it. If it makes you feel good and it doesn’t hurt anyone, what does it matter? Fuck, I plan on dying acting like a horny twenty-year-old.” He took a sip of his beer.
“I’ll bet you do, too.”
Something drew his attention outside the window, and I followed his gaze. Five motorcycles pulled into the lot and Vince swore beneath his breath. I wondered if it was because Sassy was on the back of one. My first thought was that they were part of Vince’s club, until I noticed the logo on their gas tanks. Slayers MC. Change the logo to Mad Dogs MC and there wouldn’t have been any visual differences. There was a dress code they all seemed to follow.
“You done, darlin’?”
There seemed to be some urgency in his tone. “Yeah.” I reached for my beer to finish it off. “You know those guys?” Before he could answer, three other bikers pulled into the lot, and this time I recognized them as Mad Dogs. The two clubs were facing each other, five against three, and even from where we sat I got the sense of tense animosity between them.
“Baby, you stay here until I come back for you. If things get out of hand you move away from this window and get to some place safe. Okay?”
I could only nod, totally frightened now. What did he mean, ‘out of hand?’ Like, a shooting? I wanted to question Vince, but I knew that it wasn’t the time. He seemed to be in a hurry to get out there with his brothers. I watched the exchange between the two clubs. It appeared that just one man from each side was doing the talking, and when Vince joined them he took over for Whip.
It occurred to me that I wasn’t the only one watching them from inside the restaurant. The people sitting in window seats were enthralled, staring outside as if they were watching a movie, and I could hear their murmurs and whispers as they voiced what they thought were going to happen.
“Oh, oh! Looks like trouble.”
“You think there’s going to be a fight?”
“Usually is when biker clubs get together.”
“Remember last summer−”
A couple of the waitresses had stopped what they were doing, too, and were also peering outside, chatting breathlessly between themselves. Their excited expressions were completely different from the worry on everyone else’s faces.
“God, they’re hot!”
“Look at the guns on that one!”
“What I wouldn’t give to be his bitch!”
“‘Old lady,’ stupid!”
“I went to the Mad Dogs’ clubhouse one Friday and−”
I turned back to what was going on outside and tuned the noise out. In just the few seconds that I’d glanced away, the situation had changed. Sassy seemed to be making matters worse between the men as she was running off at the mouth. Finally the man she was sitting behind turned and snapped something at her that resulted in her clamping her mouth shut. I watched the scene play out with apprehension, fearing that I was about to see a modern day shoot out take place.
I suddenly wished that I hadn’t researched motorcycle clubs.
There was a very clear difference between the clubs in how they were acting. Vince and the other Mad Dogs had dismounted and were facing the Slayers, who had remained on their bikes, in something like a standoff. Mad Dogs were calm, less animated than the Slayers, yet I sensed the quiet danger lurking in the way that they held themselves. It didn’t go unnoticed that Vince kept his hand close to where I suspected he kept his gun. Whip, Dobie, and Demon also kept their hands close to their sides. Both sides were angry and vocal about it.
Suddenly Vince moved and I caught my breath. He approached the man he’d been arguing with, grabbing him by his vest and bringing him up close to his face as he snarled something down at him. The Slayers moved simultaneously, and my heart sank when I realized that they were going for their guns. But something their leader said caused them to stop, and then he held his arms out to his side as if to show that there was nothing in his hands.
Vince gritted something else into the Slayers’ face before giving him a shove and stepping back. I hadn’t realized that I’d been holding my breath until then
. Then, to my surprise the Slayers parked their bikes and proceeded to get off, and Vince and his brothers spun around to come inside. I met his stormy gaze when he walked through the door, taking in his tense jaw and stiff movements. I offered him a timid smile.
“Let’s go, darlin’.”
I took the hand he held out to me and scooted from the booth, at the same time that the door opened and the Slayers walked inside. I tensed, and then calmed when I felt Vince’s hand at the small of my back, reassuring me that he’d keep me safe. As both clubs walked past each other I could feel the anger simmering between them. They were practically growling and snarling like pit bulls, and I expected that at any moment they would be at each other’s throats. I avoided their eyes, but Sassy was another matter.
The brief second that our eyes met told me all I needed to know. Vince was right. She was trouble, and seemed to thrive on it. It was apparent that the volatile situation was right up her ally. I didn’t need to know someone to see what was right before my eyes. Pure, vindictive evil. I wondered how involved Vince had been with her. Had they been lovers?
The ride home was uneventful, yet I could tell that Vince was tense and alert the whole way. Whip, Demon, and Dobie stayed close behind us until we got close to Penny and Dickies, and then they veered off in a different direction.
Vince pulled up close to the front door and turned his bike off. We sat there quietly for a minute.
“I had a nice day, Vince.” I had, in spite of the situation with Sassy and the Slayers. I got off his bike with his assistance.
He nodded. “Could have been a helluva lot nicer, baby.” He turned sideways and opened his saddle bag, pulling out my packages. “I still have tonight to make it up to you. I’ll be by to pick you up around five.”
I nodded, and then grabbed him by his cut and pulled him to me for a kiss. I ground my mouth over his, forcing my tongue inside and taking what I wanted. My taking the initiative seemed to please him, because he groaned long and deep and wrapped his arm around my waist. It was a crushing hold, but I welcomed it. As the kiss wound down, so did his fierceness and we spent a couple of minutes just tasting the texture of our lips through small, soft kisses. I ran my tongue over Vince’s bottom lip and released a squeal when he slapped me on the ass.
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