by Marie Harte
“Get up,” he barked.
She grudgingly rose, closed herself in the bathroom, then emerged like a real person. Mostly.
“Put some clean clothes on,” he nagged. “And by all that’s holy, wear a bra. It’s not cool for a guy to bust a nut while on a bike.”
“What are you talking about?” He thinks I’m sexy. Of course I am. Yes, I am.
She hated when her legendary confidence took a nosedive. But man, that picture of her next to Sahara had sure done the trick.
“I’ll make you some coffee.” He left her dithering in the bedroom.
Not sure what the hell he had up his sleeve, she changed into clean jeans, a sweatshirt, clean underclothes—including a bra—and her Halloween socks. They had alternating neon-green and orange stripes, went from her calf to her toes, and hugged each toe individually.
He stared at them when she walked in, his hands on the open cabinet doors as he searched for coffee. “What is on your feet?”
“Do you like my witchy toe socks? Aren’t they sexy?”
“Er, ah, sure.” He turned back to the cabinet. “Where’s the coffee?”
“What’s going on?”
“Well, I’d like to make up for yesterday. I know you said it’s not my fault, and I agree. But how about we take off for a while today, just you and me?” He frowned. “Oh, you probably have to work, don’t you? Sorry. I’m keeping you from the shop, huh?”
“Actually, no. Elliot told me to stay home today. He’s hoping the backlash from my ice fit will disappear if no one sees me.” She gave him a real grin. “So at least I have that going for me.”
“Great.” He smiled at her.
Sadie couldn’t help it. She had to kiss him. She walked up to him and tried to pull him closer, but he held back. “What?”
“Did you brush your teeth?”
She blinked. “Seriously?”
He waited.
“Yes, I brushed my teeth. I’m not an animal.”
He dragged her close and kissed the breath out of her. Great. Now she felt all hot and bothered, and he wanted to leave the house. He pulled her with him toward the front door and stopped.
“Shoot. I only have one helmet.”
“Okay, I’m not sure what’s going on, but if you think I’m getting on a motorcycle in fifty-five-degree weather, you’re nuts.”
“Oh.” He seemed disappointed. “So we’ll take your car.”
“My car?”
“Yeah. Come on. I have a surprise for you.”
“One that involves donuts?”
“How do you stay so fit eating crap?”
“It’s a gift. Like my mouth.” She meant her attitude. He seemed to take her words to mean something else, because he fixated on her lips and gave a hungry smile.
“Yeah, a real gift.”
She chuckled. “Come on. Donuts first. Sex after.”
“If you insist.”
An hour later, they sat parked in a field in the Issaquah Valley.
“What is this?” she asked as she munched on a Bavarian cream donut.
“Hey, that was mine.”
“You already had three of them.” Where did the guy put it all? “But I’ll share if you give me some coffee.”
“Fine.” He sighed. “Have you noticed your habit of taking my food?”
“Problem?” She glared. If he thought he could take the coffee back, he was insane.
“Keep it.” He tried to hide it, but she saw his grin. “So this is what I wanted to show you.”
“It’s gorgeous out here.” Issaquah lay about twenty minutes east of Seattle and had some of the most beautiful views of the Pacific Northwest. Sadie had gone hiking with Rose years ago up to Poo Poo Point. Great outlook of Issaquah surrounded by lush ferns and large trees, just on the shoulder of West Tiger Mountain.
But he hadn’t taken them to a mountain. The clearing had acres of space, with a view of Mount Rainier and the Issaquah Alps if she stood just right.
“This is where we hold Renaissance Daze. My parents run a kind of steampunk renaissance fair every summer. It’s a mix of metal and medieval.”
“Hold on. I know that fair. I mean, I never went, but it’s become the thing to do during the summer.”
“Yeah. My parents bought the land over thirty years ago. I never asked my dad how they financed it, because I don’t want to know. I told you my dad was a biker. Mom a hippie. I think between the two of them, they had drug or gun money. But whatever. They bought the land, and they do great stuff with it every year. It’s actually pretty fun, unless you have to work for Otis. Then it sucks.”
She laughed and got out of the car. Gear had insisted on driving, and since she’d wanted to eat more than argue, she’d let him. She walked over the field, waiting for him to join her. “What’s that?” she asked, pointing to a structure some distance away.
“The castle.”
“Really?” This she had to see.
“Well, not a real castle. But it’s a pretty good scaled-down version of one. They hold weddings and special events there starting in the spring. They just closed the place down a few weeks ago for the season, so it’s still usable. Want to see inside?”
“Yeah.”
He took her over to it. After punching in a key code for the door, they entered the mock castle in all its stone glory.
“This is amazing.”
“It is cool.” Gear smiled. “The interior is real river rock, but as you move through the place, it turns into hardwood floors and drywall. It’s really more of an upscale house. My family lives in it while the summer’s on. Well, Otis, Orchid, and Iris do. Professor Thor has his own work at the university, and I do—did—my thing.”
“This is so awesome.” She walked through the ground level, into a cozy living area, dining area, and gigantic kitchen, where she imagined they cooked for the masses. Up the stairs, bedrooms lined a long hall, which looked over the downstairs. The hallway was shaped like an I, long on one end and shorter on the sides, where the bathrooms were, apparently.
Each space had a different color theme, but all the rooms appeared well-appointed, comfortable, and upscale. The furniture seemed handcrafted, yet sleek and almost modern, which shouldn’t have fit the homey atmosphere but did. Sadie was particularly taken with the blue room, done in bold navy, accented with a sky blue that oddly worked.
“My mom decorated. That’s why it’s weird.” He shrugged.
Sadie felt the chill in the air, but it felt warmer than outside. “So…what now?”
“I don’t know.” He stuffed his hands in his pockets. “I just wanted to show you the place. Sometimes I come here to get away from it all, you know?”
She nodded. “You had a hard time adjusting to the show, didn’t you? I mean, you told me you didn’t like the TV part, but you weren’t kidding. So why did you do it?”
He sighed. “I don’t know. I guess I just wanted to make more bikes, and the show gave us the money to do that. Plus Brian thought it was a good idea, and Sahara…”
A surge of jealousy rushed through Sadie at thoughts of Gear’s ex. “Why her?” she blurted. “What did you see in her?”
“Besides the obvious, you mean?” he said wryly. “Look, I’m a guy. I can admit I was blinded by tits and ass. But she wasn’t always such a witch. At the beginning, she acted like she cared, and I think maybe she did. I wasn’t a prince. I take my share of blame for things not working out.”
“Yeah?” Sadie sat on the bed, relaxing into the firm yet soft-topped mattress. The cream-colored comforter would look right at home in her bedroom. “What did you do that was so bad?”
“I worked. A lot. She spent time with Brian while I fell deeper in love with my bikes.” He sighed and joined her on the bed, but she didn’t get the sense he was setting her up for sex. Gear was t
alking to her, so she listened. “I should have seen that she and I wanted different things. But by that time the show was getting popular. Everyone wanted to see us ‘in love.’ Good old Brian was standing by, the charming Romeo with a different chick on his arm every episode.”
“Man, I really missed out by not watching.”
He laughed, his expression easing. “Nah. You ask me, the best parts were our bike reveals. When the audience got to see what the guys worked so hard on. Brian rarely did much mechanical work. His talents were all in building the business, number crunching, and playing a part. I’m curious to see who they get to replace me. Or maybe they’ll just upgrade one of the guys in the shop to lead mechanic. I don’t know.”
He seemed to be getting down again, and Sadie didn’t want to let him. He’d shared himself, and she appreciated that. They felt like real friends here. Him confessing things, showing her a place that meant something to him. She felt like she should return the favor.
“You want to know something about me? Something deep?”
He nodded, his gaze focused on her. And not on just her body. On Sadie.
“When I was ten, my mom died. It was really hard. She was my world, and then she was gone. Cancer.” Sadie shrugged. The pain had faded, now just a dull ache. But she still missed her mother. “Dad did his best to keep us on the straight and narrow. I’m a lot like him, actually.”
“Yeah?” Gear kicked off his boots and propped himself back on the bed. He rested his hands behind his head and watched her.
Sadie didn’t want him to see her while she shared, so she lay next to him, contemplating the crown molding around the ceiling. “Rose looks exactly like Mom. Pretty, petite. She even acts like Mom, all gracious and nice.” Sadie grimaced. “I’m like Dad. Big and mouthy.”
“I like mouthy.”
She heard Gear’s grin and smiled. “Somehow I’m not surprised. Anyhow, losing Mom hit me a lot harder than it seemed to hit Elliot and Rose. I kind of shut down. Oh, not with my family. But with anyone else. It was hard for me to let people in. Years went by. I dated. I’m no nun.”
“You got that right.”
She slugged him but appreciated him keeping the mood light. “I guess I just never fell in love. Then I met Adrian. I was twenty-six. He was a few years older. Handsome, funny. He got me. A lot of guys don’t. I’m too intimidating, or so my cousin says. She’s a shrink. She’d know.”
“Ah. Go on.”
“Well, Adrian was a great guy. We were tight. I mean, we moved in together. He was an instructor at UW. When we got serious, he started wanting me to be someone I’m not. Then it turned out he wanted me to be more like the chick he really wanted. But she was married.”
“What an ass.”
“Yeah. Turns out he didn’t want to wait for her to get divorced, so he slept with her. Right under my nose. That really hurt. I mean, we were together for four years. I couldn’t believe I didn’t see it. What made it worse was that Annette was a friend of mine. And she didn’t care about me either.”
“What dicks.”
“Her too?”
“It’s not a gender-specific insult. You can be a chick and be a dick.”
“Oh, okay then.” She wanted to laugh, which was odd, because thinking about Adrian had never induced more than tears or anger. She turned to see Gear propped up on his elbow, watching her.
“How did you find out they were cheating?”
“I walked in on them having sex at her place. I’d come over to talk, and her door was unlocked. I think she wanted me to find out, though she never said so.
“I kicked him in the balls, then refused to listen to her when she broke down crying, so sorry about it all. I left, called her husband, and told him everything. I’m not sorry about that either.” Just thinking about what they’d done made her want to kick Adrian in the nuts all over again.
“Hurts, doesn’t it? Two months ago, I came home early one day to apologize for something I’d done. I still can’t remember what we’d fought about. Probably me not being home enough. But I had to do all the stuff she wanted me to for the show in addition to building the bikes. Anyway, I get home to hear them going at it. I walk in, they’re humping in my house. In my bed.”
“Wait, the house you live in now?”
“Yep. It sucked. I had to get out of there. I was so angry, I knew I’d kill him if I stuck around. I mean, like really kill him. Brian was my friend way before I’d ever met Sahara. I was angry, but more at him, if that makes sense.”
“It does.” Though she’d been devastated by Adrian, since Annette had been a friend, but not a super-close one.
“I spent some time by myself, not even with my family. A week went by, and I thought about my future. I went back to work. Then he and Sahara tracked me down. I’d been trying to work through shit by fixing my latest project, and they wouldn’t let me be. I lost it. I mean, lost it.”
“Was that the punch on TV?”
“Yeah. It happened a while ago, but we shoot the show months in advance. I only stopped hitting him because people pulled me off him. Afterward, I realized he’d purposefully sought me out while the cameras were rolling, after he and Sahara had made up a story about me being the bad guy.” He paused. “I learned he’d been doing her for months before I found out. But like I said, she and I had pretty much called it quits a while ago. Hadn’t seen her naked or had sex with her since, ah…” He thought about it. “Probably back in late spring. I don’t remember, to tell you the truth.”
She watched him watching her. “We’re a pair, aren’t we?”
He toyed with a strand of hair over her shoulder. “Yeah, we are.” He gave her a slow smile. “I would have liked to have seen you kick that fucker in the balls.”
She laughed. “I wish I could have been there when you punched that asshole in the face.”
He nodded, his expression growing serious. “I’d never cheat on someone I care about. It’s wrong. For me, at least. I’m not into open relationships. Or closed ones where only one person is fucking around. If you can’t be loyal with someone, bail on the relationship.”
She leaned up to face him. “Exactly.” She bit her lip. None of this with Gear felt casual anymore. If it ever had. “Do you think Sahara’s better in bed than me? I mean, she’s prettier. Probably nicer.”
He scowled. “First of all, she’s not nice. She’s pretty, but that’s all she is. You’re ten times the woman she is. And you rock my world in bed.”
“Oh. Good.” Sadie didn’t know what else to say to that.
“What about me? Am I better in the sack than Adrian? And what kind of a name is Adrian, anyway? It’s a pussy name.”
She grinned. “You’re right. And you’re ten times the man pussy-boy was.”
“Good. Great. Now that we got that cleared up, want to get up and go home? Maybe hang out or something?”
She had all day free for once, and Gear all to herself.
“I, ah, I didn’t bring you here for a fuck or anything.” His cheeks turned red. “I just wanted to share this with you. That’s all.”
He started to rise, and she pushed him back down.
“Hold on, hero. What if I want you? What if I need some reassurance that I’m woman enough for you?” Oh God. Did I really say that out loud? “I mean, you must have a ton of chicks in your little black book that you could call for a good time. Why me?”
“Xena, if you have to ask, I must not be doing it right. Here. Feel this.” He took her hand between them and pressed it against his groin. “I’m always like this with you. But mostly, it’s from watching you kick ass. And eating your cookies. And hearing you make fun of your brother, because you’re really good at that.”
She grinned.
“Yeah, I have a thing about your smart mouth.”
“I have a thing about yours too,” she murmured and
straddled him, staring down at his bright eyes. “You sure do know what you’re doing when it comes to making me feel good.” She leaned down to kiss him.
Unlike their previous kisses, this one felt different. He kissed her with more feeling and meaning, but she didn’t know what exactly he meant. Or when he pulled back, why he looked at her that way.
“What?”
He stroked her cheeks, then her lips. She opened her mouth and nipped his thumb.
His eyes grew darker. His hand trailed over her throat and stayed there. He tightened his grip, not hard or threatening, but firm. In control. He tugged her down toward him, and she went willingly.
Then, before she could blink, he flipped them so that her back was to the bed, and he loomed over her. Gear threaded his hands in her hair and held her still. “You’re beautiful, Sadie. No, don’t look away. Look at me.”
She watched him undress her piece by piece, until she lay naked while he remained fully clothed.
He caressed her everywhere while avoiding that needy spot between her legs. “I have one condom on me. It’s in my back pocket.” He kissed her breasts, lingering over her taut nipples while he plumped her sensitive flesh. “And I don’t want to use it.”
She arched up into him as he sucked her closer to orgasm. “Wh-what?”
“I want to come inside you. No condom. But I don’t know that it’s safe. Or smart.” He groaned. “I just know I want you. Forget I said anything.”
Before she could respond, he kissed her. He moved down her body slowly, his mouth temptation itself. Gear knew how to kiss. He used his whole mouth, and he knew just where to put it. Over her nipples, her belly, on the sensitive sides of her ribs. He dragged his lips over the inside of her thighs while rubbing his fingers against her labia, spreading her arousal.
He sighed. “I love how wet you get for me. Love eating you, Sadie.” He put his mouth where his words were, and he loved her into an orgasm that flowed through her hard and fast, like a tidal wave of pleasure that finally ebbed.
She caught her breath as he rose and stripped nude. The condom went on without her prodding, but now that he’d planted the seed, so to speak, she couldn’t stop thinking about him being inside her, skin to skin.