She glanced at the clock and counted the hours until she could escape this place. Go home and process what had happened and maybe wait for Cage to come over and explain himself.
He owed her at least that.
* * *
Cage saw Carrie wince as she looked over at him. He tightened one gloved hand into a fist under the table, frustration lancing through him.
He’d claimed her and tried to communicate against her lips that he would protect her. Just as he had when they were younger. Before he’d had to leave.
Her lips had been just as soft, the feeling of her breath against his just as surprising.
He exhaled and brought his frosty mug to his lips, downing it and keeping his eyes on the men around him, pretending to be interested, while in all actuality, his attention was completely focused on the petite, curvy woman on the other side of the bar.
She’d grown even more beautiful than he’d imagined.
And she’d stayed in the little town that had caused them so much trouble.
He could tell she was trying not to look over at him as she busied herself behind the bar, making orders for all the rowdy bikers at his table.
The Aces had taken to coming here several times a week as a means of trying to convince her to sell the place. He’d learned that much in the short time he’d been with them.
He’d also learned that more than one of them had been hoping to pick her up as their “old lady,” their woman, their property. And since she was going to be Cage’s mate, he just couldn’t allow that.
It’d been easy coming back to the MC culture. As someone who’d grown up in it as a kid, they’d accepted him easily as one of their own. His father had been one of their leaders after all.
But Cage wasn’t anything like the boy he’d been. A tour in the Army Special Forces and being a partner in a private security firm after had ensured that.
She brushed dark-blond, wavy hair back behind her ears and kept her soft-blue eyes down—as if she couldn’t even stand to look at him at all, when he couldn’t stop looking at her.
But it didn’t matter. He’d protected her, for now.
“That your old lady?” one of the men next to him asked.
Cage shrugged as if it didn’t matter. “Thinking about it.”
“Better think about it soon,” Brick, the dark, stocky man next to him, said. He nodded to Harv, one of their officers. “I think Harv had plans, too.”
“Maybe the lady should choose,” Cage said.
Brick just barked out a laugh. “Yeah, keep believing that.”
Anger burned through him. He remembered his mother’s treatment at the hands of this gang. His mother had been a bear shifter, and his father hadn’t even known. He’d simply seduced her and not cared about the consequences.
Even when those consequences were Cage, a half-human, half-bear who could shift right now and tear apart any of these assholes.
He wasn’t going to let a single one of them get their greasy hands on his mate.
But he had to be careful. If he approached too quickly, she’d probably reject him, and that would leave her free to be picked up by the worst elements in the gang.
He hated that she owned this bar now, making her a target. And in showing up to try and take the bar, they’d gotten ideas of wanting more.
Wanting her.
And who wouldn’t? She was sweetness personified, her good heart obvious to anyone who met her. The little freckles over her nose and cheeks, her heart-shaped face, and her wide blue eyes didn’t help.
Then there were her lips. Plump and pink and innocent. And then they would spread into this wide smile that just knocked you on your ass.
She was just as killer on his senses as she’d been as a teen. Hell, he’d even been in love with her when they were both just kids trying to make their way in the world.
She had the kind of heart that was one in a million, and he’d come here just to make sure that kind of goodness didn’t get wiped out by this group of malignant personalities.
Not that all of them were bad. Some were raised in the club; some simply had no other options, no education.
Cage had never wanted this life. He’d known the second he was eighteen he was out of there. And he only had one reason to come back someday—to take Carrie as his mate.
But maybe he’d waited too long, because she didn’t seem that happy or excited to see him. They hadn’t made any promises exactly, but she’d always been the only woman in his mind. It had never been a question of if, but when.
She’d saved his life as a kid, and he had to pay that back. But making her fall in love with him, telling her what she meant to him, hoping a woman like that could pick someone like him, someone broken from birth… he guessed that was a scary enough prospect that he hadn’t come back until he was forced to in order to protect her.
Harv glared at him across the table. “You know her? We don’t hang out with the normals.”
“Yeah, but you’d like to,” Brick said, elbowing the man next to him to laugh at his joke.
Harv was deadly quiet. His black eyes silent and piercing as he stared down Cage.
Cage kept his cool.
“Grew up together,” he said. “A lot of years together.” He raised an eyebrow mockingly as he leaned back in his chair, letting his considerable height and build speak for itself. “She looks even better than I remember. I’m thinking of trying it out.”
Harv’s expression tightened. “I’ve already called it.”
“Come on now, Harv,” Cage said. “Club rules. She gets to pick.”
Harv shoved his drink down on the table. “We’ll see about this. What the prez has to say.”
Cage sighed. This asshole was going to cause him to blow his cover early if he wasn’t careful. “Go ahead and ask him, Harv. See if he lets you keep your patch if you break club rules.”
Harv’s eyes flashed, but he sent a quick look to Carrie that made Cage’s blood go cold. No one should look at her but him. But then Harv calmed down, standing slowly, hands on the table.
“We should head out,” he said. “Some of us got a long ride tomorrow.”
Cage would make sure he wasn’t going. It would give him time to see Carrie. Talk to her and see if he could trust her with the information that everything wasn’t as it seemed.
That’s if she was willing to let him within three feet of her.
The look of contempt she gave him as he stood to leave with the rest of the men, bringing up the rear to make sure none stayed behind to bother her, struck him hard.
Almost as hard as the look of pain in her eyes and that tight little frown in one corner of her beautiful lips.
He tried to send her a look of reassurance, one that told her to trust him. Like his kiss had. But she simply folded her arms and shook her head slowly, her message plain.
Shame on you.
He stiffened his shoulders against the feel of her disapproval. A man had to do whatever he could to protect the woman of his dreams.
But a part of him was hurt she could really believe that about him, that he’d willingly be a part of this gang. And if he was, would she truly just abandon him for that? After everything they went through together as kids?
The whole thing needed more investigation.
He gave her a silent wave and then walked out into the dark night, hearing but ignoring the conversations of his motorcycle “brothers.”
All he could really hear was the sound of her breathing, escalated and rapid, as her lips had been against his.
He intended to hear that again as soon as possible.
* * *
Carrie didn’t see Cage that night. She went home and sat in a chair in her living room to think over what had happened and didn’t realize she’d fallen asleep there until she woke up the next morning to a loud knock on the door.
She sat up abruptly, wiping the sleep from her eyes and trying to remember what she’d been dreaming about.
She’d
been thinking of her childhood and then had a bunch of nightmares after that. Something about the Aces trying to take her bar away. Willow begging her for help.
She rubbed her eyes, her head aching. Wake up, Carrie. That’s not going to happen. You won’t let it. You’re stronger than that.
Harvey’s gross, predatory grin popped into her mind, and she grimaced. Stronger than him, too.
She’d been worried about him harassing her almost every time they came into the club, but last night, she hadn’t had to. Cage had seen to that.
In the process, he’d broken her heart.
Groggy, she swung open the door without thinking and saw exactly the man she’d been thinking of standing on her porch.
Cage was still wearing his motorcycle leathers, the jacket with the patch, and dark jeans that fit in a way that made her mouth water.
But he was an outlaw now. He’d broken all his promises.
“What do you want?” she croaked out, wishing she’d left the door closed. She tried to shut it, but he caught it quickly with one huge, calloused hand and pried it open.
“What? I’m not allowed to come say hello to an old friend?” he asked, pushing his way into her house as she backed up.
She put her arms around her waist and looked around, embarrassed. “I wasn’t able to tidy up,” she said, pinning him with a slightly accusatory glare. “I didn’t know you were back.”
“Now you do,” he said lightly, walking into the living room and plopping himself on her couch, making it look suddenly smaller. The woman in her was glad he was there. The friend in her wanted to kick his ass.
“Are you going to explain yourself?” she asked, glaring down at him. “You’ve been gone ten years, and all that time, I assumed you were actually doing something with your life. That you were happy.”
In the early morning light, his serious blue eyes were shining like a deep ocean under moonlight. “Happy? How?”
She shrugged, feeling a blush moving up her shoulders. “I don’t know. A wife, kids? The army, then a steady job?”
“You got my letters,” he said, narrowing his eyes as he sat up. “And as for a wife, how could you say that?” His eyes twinkled as a smirk lifted one corner of his perfect mouth. “When I was twelve, I asked you to be my old lady.”
She gritted her teeth together. How dare he treat this so lightly? She hadn’t had a lot of hopes in her life, but he was one of those things she had hoped for. That he’d gotten out of this town for good, rather than taking after his dad and all of the other men who were ruining this town and making it necessary for people like her and Willow to try and step in and clean up their messes.
She walked to the door, heart pounding, and swung it open, gesturing for him to go out. “I told you I didn’t want you to be in the Aces,” she said. “No member of the Aces will ever be in my home.”
He finally dropped the light, humorous tone. His tight jaw ticked and his lip curled. “So things don’t work out exactly how you want and you think throwing a tantrum is the way to deal with it?”
She slammed the door, knowing he wasn’t going to leave until he damn well felt like it.
But wasn’t this how it had always been? He came and went as he wanted to, moving in and out of her life like storm clouds, unloading as he pleased.
She was done with that. “You don’t know anything about what I wanted or how things have worked out,” she said. “You haven’t been around to see. And now you’re going to walk back in, knowing damn well it isn’t what I wanted, and you’re going to kiss me in front of your damn MC and act like I’m some kind of property?” She shook her head and pointed a finger at him. “I’m nobody’s property, and you know damn well I’m not going to be anyone’s old lady.”
Though if there had ever been a man who tempted her to make an exception, it was Cage.
His eyes narrowed to slits. His entire body was tensed as if to spring. She was clearly pushing all his buttons, but she didn’t care.
Even though this Cage was more intimidating, more substantial than the Cage she’d last seen—a tall, gangly teenager with a cocky smile and a million dreams.
Dreams she’d thought had included her.
“What’s your problem?” he asked, throwing his hands in the air. “You knew I was coming back, and I did. Now you act like you don’t want to see me, just because of my choice in profession.”
Her lips tightened. “You know it’s more than that. I had hopes for you.”
“So did I, sweetheart,” he said sarcastically, taking a step toward her, his heavy boots pounding on her floor as he backed her to the wall, caging her there. “But life turns out weird sometimes.”
She tried to stand straight, lifted her jaw stubbornly, unwilling to be cowed by him, even as her body nearly melted at his closeness. He was Cage, the boy she’d been in love with since she was thirteen and had walked out of the woods to meet her and become one of her best friends until he left at eighteen. He was the only man she’d ever really seen. He was here with her, and she’d dreamed of it for so long. Wanted it.
But not like this.
She put her hands on his shoulders to push against him, but he didn’t budge. He was like iron, like steel.
His eyes burned down at her.
“You’re mine,” he said. “You know that.”
“Do I?” she spat. “You’ve been gone for years. You haven’t even written in years. I assumed you moved on. I’ve been fine on my own. At least I thought I was. But if you were going to come straight back here to wallow in your past, why didn’t you just stay here in the first place?” Her voice broke. “At least I’d have been with you.”
He went silent then. She could almost hear the sound of something breaking. A wall in his mind or the tension between them. She didn’t know.
He put a hand up and brushed her hair back off her face, making her suppress a shiver. “You missed me, then?”
She bit her lip and let out a sigh, daring herself to look up into his eyes. “Of course I did, you idiot.”
He cupped her chin and tilted her lips up toward his. She should say no, push him back, remember he’d betrayed her by joining the Aces.
But she couldn’t. He was still Cage, the man of her dreams, and kissing him was everything she wanted.
Just one. Just for now. She could wake up from this dream she was in then. Smack him. Yell at him.
But first she’d allow herself to indulge in what she’d been wanting so long.
She gasped as her lips met his.
His heat was searing, reaching her core as memories of the past went through her. As his tough, strong hands wrapped around her, she felt completely safe, completely at home. Suddenly, it didn’t matter what he was doing or where he went. He was just Cage. One of the only people she’d ever trusted or loved. The guy she’d always had a crush on.
Someone who was meant for bigger things than her. Someone who shouldn’t have come home.
But he had.
And here in his arms, she was home, too. She opened her lips and invited him in, wanting more of his warmth. More of the safety he offered.
Even if this had to end sooner rather than later, she wanted it now.
2
Cage felt like a piece of shit for not telling her everything. The real reasons he was there, who he was now. But even though he loved her more than life itself, he knew he couldn’t.
Not yet.
Her lips were a cool drink he’d never get enough of. He just wanted to keep them joined like this forever.
Their first kiss had been just before he’d left town to join the army. That kiss had been a promise that he would come back someday and take care of her.
And now it almost seemed to be too late, because she was bitter, angry with him. For staying away too long or for coming back as a gangster? He wasn’t exactly sure.
And he wasn’t positive if he told her the truth, she wouldn’t use it to blow his cover.
He pulled back from the kiss an
d put a hand in her soft hair. How many times had he dreamed of this while deployed on missions overseas? How many times had he thought of her sweet eyes, her gorgeous skin just before he dropped out of a plane into hostile territory?
Countless times. As innumerable as the freckles on her body.
She looked at him, lips parted, eyes slightly glazed, and he stroked a thumb over her cheek, wondering that someone like him could have such an effect on this wonderful woman.
For now, he just wanted to get to know her again and hope she could trust him that everything would work out in the end.
“Why now?” she asked. “Why are you back now?”
Because you’re in danger, he thought. But he couldn’t say that. He simply tucked her thick, wavy hair behind her small ear, wishing he could bend and place a kiss there. But he needed to go slow for now.
“It was the right time,” he said. “I wasn’t busy.”
Her face tightened as she started to turn away. He caught her gently by the shoulders, being cautious because she was so soft, so small compared to him. Though, she had an inner strength that far surpassed his. “Wait, Carrie. Can you just trust me? Please?”
She blinked up at him, pursing her pink lips. “I don’t know.”
“You know me,” he said, lifting her chin, making her look at him. “You know I won’t let anything happen to you.”
She pushed away from him with a bitter laugh. “Nothing is going to happen to me. I’ve been fine so far.”
His expression darkened as he folded his arms and leaned against the wall. “Oh, so you don’t mind being harassed by the Aces and having someone like Harv coming on to you?”
She gave him a mean glare. “Maybe not? Maybe I should be his old lady. He’s persistent at least.”
Cage’s jaw twitched and his teeth clenched together, hard, but he tried to play it cool. She was trying to bait him after all. “Interesting. Maybe I should just back off, then.”
Her eyes widened in surprise, but she tamped it down quickly. Was this how it was going to be? Them running circles around each other?
Bear To The Bone (Bear Claw Security 1) Page 2