TAMING GRIZZ (A DEVIL'S DRAGONS MOTORCYCLE CLUB ROMANCE)

by Nikki Wild

  The stove had a fresh lease on life after I bleached away the yellowing stains along the white veneer. Leaving drains and sinks to soak in the cleaner’s equivalent of megaton bombs, I emptied the vacuum bag into the huge trash bin outside and gave the few parts with carpet a proper once-over.

  As for the hardwood that dominated the floors, I settled for the broom. Windex hit the windows. Disinfectant coated the countertops. Cleansing wipes rubbed the doorknobs and drawer/cabinet handles.

  It was nice to have something to do that got my mind off of him… and his hard, naked body pressed against mine…

  Goddammit, Kate. Get your shit together. Get it all together and in a backpack, all your shit, so that it’s together…

  No matter how I berated myself, or tried to focus entirely on scrubbing surfaces, tossing expired food, deep-cleaning the refrigerator, and organizing cupboards, I just couldn’t keep the bastard off my goddamn mind.

  I was going to have to win our little battle of the wills quickly, because the sexual tension was unreal. I’d been keeping up a brave face before, but he’d taken damn good care of himself since leaving my life.

  It wasn’t fucking fair.

  Men aren’t supposed to be that hot.

  Especially not the ones who break you.

  By the time he finally came home a few hours later, bags of groceries dangling from his clenched fists, I had pulled the entire place together into far more livable condition.

  He paused while unloading groceries onto the kitchen counters, gazing around the room.

  “What’s the matter?” I asked, chilling out on the sofa with a beer.

  “You cleaned.”

  “Yeah, I did. Problem?”

  “Not at all,” Grizz replied, glancing over at me with a warm smile. “Was gonna scrub this place down over the next few days. You really saved me a lot of trouble. Looks awesome in here.”

  “Yeah,” I replied, taken slightly aback. “Spent the whole time working on it. Glad you noticed.”

  “Thank you, Kate.”

  I turned away, happy but mildly embarrassed. Sure, Grizz had always been considerate, but had been rare that he ever gushed with praise like that.

  “Was thinking steaks for dinner.”

  “Yeah, that sounds good.”

  He started loading up the refrigerator while I flipped between the basic channels on the television. I figured it was stolen cable, given Gladys’ approach to everything else involving this house.

  “So, what were you out doing all day?” I called out over my shoulder at him, noticing how quickly it had turned dark outside.

  “Getting a lay of the land,” he answered. “Took some time to learn Metairie. Drove into New Orleans. Figuring out the lay of the city.”

  “Figure out if this place is where you want to bring your club?”

  “Not the right time for that yet.”

  I smirked. “Seems like nothing’s the right time with you.”

  Grizz glanced up, annoyed for a second. I’d gotten under his skin, which I liked. “I can only reach my contact out here on Wednesdays. I have to wait several days before the ball gets rolling. Till then, I’ll be spending most of my time right here.”

  Several more days in close proximity to Grizz…

  I crossed my legs and turned back around. Desperately, I hoped to hide the way that my core flared up at the thought of being stuck with him.

  There wasn’t much further to go after “fucking ourselves together in the shower”…

  Grizz focused on cooking, and I focused on thinking about just about anything else than him. Soon, the smells of freshly seared steak started wafting into the room, and I noticed how my mouth watered.

  There’s another piece of his meat that my mouth could water for…

  I almost slapped myself for that one.

  After about forty minutes in the kitchen, Grizz called me over for dinner. I realized that I’d barely eaten all day – just some leftovers for breakfast. My work had built up quite the appetite, so I was pleased that he’d picked up the big steaks at the store.

  I sat down at the rickety little dining table at the edge of the kitchen. Grizz had cooked us a steak apiece, along with fully loaded baked potatoes, buttery steamed broccoli, and plenty of garlic bread.

  “You were always nuts about garlic bread,” Grizz spoke as I started cutting into the steak. I knew he loved his meat damn near raw, but he cooked mine medium well for me.

  He didn’t even complain about “ruining the steak” like he used to.

  “You still remember how I like my food,” I blurted out a little more emotionally than I wanted.

  Goddammit, Kate, pull yourself together.

  “Of course I remember,” Grizz answered. There was tenderness in the way that he looked at me, and I felt my face start to redden under his gaze.

  “Yeah, well… it’ll take more than that to get into my pants again,” I smugly retorted. “More than a good meal, no matter how delicious it is.”

  “So you do enjoy it?”

  I was taken aback. “Of course I do.”

  “Good,” he let out a sigh of relief. “Glad that it’s to your liking.”

  I nodded, taking another bite.

  Silence came over us while we ate.

  But tonight, it wasn’t as awkward a silence as the night before. This time, we were comfortable. We didn’t have to fill the air with blurted confessions or small talk.

  After we finished our food, I took our paper plates away while Grizz rose to wash the cookware.

  “Don’t worry,” I told him. “I’ll get them.”

  He glanced over at me. “Are you sure?”

  “Well, yeah,” I replied. “After all… I guess I’m kind of just living here with you. It’s the least I can do. Hell, I should have been the one cooking.”

  “I like to spoil you,” he said. “Besides, you cleaned the place up for me.”

  “Yeah, well…” I pushed him aside. “Go sit down. Pick a decent channel or something. I’ll fix it all up in here and join you.”

  Grizz didn’t argue.

  He gave me a warm smile, before settling down on the couch with the remote. While he did that, I started setting leftovers aside in the tubberware abandoned to us, then scrubbing the pots and pans.

  When I was done, he was stretched out against the arm of the couch, remote still in his hand. The credits to a movie were shrunk down on the screen during a commercial, and it looked like another one was about to start.

  I glanced over at the comfy chair, where I’d been sitting earlier. It looked inviting.

  But there was lots of space on the couch next to him, and just because I wasn’t fucking him didn’t mean I couldn’t sit with him.

  Right?

  I plunked myself down next to him on the couch, noticing with a hidden grin that he straightened up slightly.

  There were maybe a few inches between his hip and mine. It would take no effort to just brush up against him, or pretend to stretch and close that distance…

  But I resisted the urge, and a film started.

  Although, I couldn’t help but grow a little tired as the film went on, and I eventually realized that I was curled up against him, his eyes focused on the screen but his arm around my shoulder…

  His warmth was only causing me to doze off harder. My eyes finally started blinking shut, and a large smile crossed my lips.

  Admitting it to myself was hard, and I hated doing it, but I was the happiest I’d been in a damn long time.

  I smiled harder.

  Damn you, Grizz Hawkins…

  12

  Grizz

  When I woke up the following morning, I was sprawled down the couch. The backs of my fingers on one hand rested against the hardwood floor.

  My other arm was around Kate.

  I almost jumped when I realized this. Opening my eyes to the unfamiliar weight, I noticed how she was draped over my chest, her head against my heart.

  Kate…


  I almost didn’t want to wake her.

  But I could already see that the sun had risen outside, the night having completely moved without us.

  Hell, the television was still on…

  My fingers felt around against the wood for the remote. Once it was in my grasp, I clicked the power button and watched the old glass screen shut off with a fuzzy burst.

  I lifted my watch.

  It was nine-thirty in the morning.

  Ignoring the urge to brush her aside so I could take a leak, I breathed in and out and enjoyed the pressure of her body on mine. Kate murmured in her sleep, and I squeezed her a little tighter against me.

  My heart swelled with love.

  I wanted her back for so long. It had been such an unachievable dream to have her in my life again that I’d turned my back on those thoughts years ago…

  And here she was, in flesh and blood, pressed against my chest.

  Indulging in her body’s limp weight on me, I felt myself wondering if I could bring myself to give her what she wanted.

  I wondered if I could tell her the truth.

  Every time I thought back to that time of my life, my chest seized with panic. The fear had whittled me down to the mere clay that I was made from, barely clinging to my mind.

  Kate expected – demanded answers.

  Who was I to deny her that?

  But if she only knew the sheer pain that struck my chest when she brought it all up, her persistence only growing…

  Maybe I can do it, I thought.

  Maybe I can give her what she wants so badly.

  Kate murmured in her sleep, shifting against my chest. Taking advantage of the pivotal moment, I lightly pushed her.

  She snapped to a jerking awake, holding herself up on her palms as she blinked widely and gazed around slowly.

  “Kate… wake up,” I commanded.

  “I… I’m awake…”

  “Need to get up,” I told her softly. “We fell asleep here.”

  She looked at me as if seeing me for the first time, slowly accepting consciousness. After a moment of gazing half-asleep into my eyes, she suddenly pulled away, curled up a few feet across the couch.

  “Sorry! I didn’t mean to… to fall asleep here… on you…”

  “It’s okay,” I replied truthfully. I pushed myself up to a seated position and stretched, a great yawn ripping my jaws apart.

  I left her to her startled thoughts on the couch as I wandered to the bathroom. As much as I had loved her warmth and slumbering form against me, her knee had been on my bladder, and I was one wrong move from having a real problem.

  After that little moment of sweet relief, I started making us breakfast. Kate had already fallen back asleep, but it was about time that I was up, so I put some coffee on for myself.

  I felt bad about disturbing her, so I left her a plate of breakfast on the counter and changed into newer clothes. By the time I was done, so was my cup’s worth of coffee, so I took it black and drank deep.

  With the comfort of my Devil’s Dragons leathers around my torso, I grabbed my keys and took to the streets again.

  It must have rained overnight, because there was a rolling fog along the Metairie streets. It cast a supernatural glow around the town, and I felt pleased in having already familiarizing myself to the local land.

  There were still four days left before I could meet my contact. I knew what to expect, but couldn’t shake the foreboding feeling that things weren’t going to be as easy as I had been told…

  I shook my head to clear it, but the empty space was filled with thoughts of Kate. Neither of us had spoken on what we were doing together. It had been natural to scoop her up with me on my way out of Lafayette, but now that we were here…

  What are we doing?

  The building sexual tension between us was thick enough to cut with a knife. I had to drive away thoughts of ramming into her against the bedroom wall, before dragging her to the bed and mounting her like an animal…

  I knew she felt it too.

  She’d been careless in challenging me. Kate should have known better than to play games… I took control, and I kept it.

  I’d won our standoff in the shower the other morning. She hadn’t dared to try that again, and I suspected it was because she couldn’t trust herself in that situation.

  Maybe I didn’t, either.

  Never would I ever lay a hand on her that wasn’t welcome… but it was hard to keep from fucking her senseless.

  Get a grip, I growled to myself.

  If you’d just tell her what happened you’d already have had your way with her, as often as you fucking wanted.

  I shoved my thoughts down and tried to mentally run on autopilot. It was only after a few minutes that I realized I’d left Metairie.

  In fact, I’d left the greater New Orleans area. I was heading north on the Interstate, which meant crossing Lake Ponchartrain. And that meant that I was in for a trip.

  The lake spread out like a sea beneath me, stretching into the distance against each and every horizon. After my time in the desert, I marveled at the size of the thing.

  The Lake Ponchartrain Causeway was a great concrete thing, stretching out in front and never-ending. I understood it to be the largest bridge over water in the world at more than 20 miles long.

  I hadn’t really looked up anything more than that, never expecting to go over the thing. But thanks to distraction…

  The long drive across in late morning traffic took an hour to cross. Hitting the mainland again, I paid the toll and then had to turn straight back around. The causeway connected the cities of New Orleans and Covington, but that other one didn’t have anything necessary to me.

  That said, the long drive sure as shit worked for clearing my head. By the time I finally hit New Orleans again, I had over two hours of fresh air in my system.

  Since I was apparently up for a field trip, I took another drive around New Orleans. Instead of scoping out the outlying districts, I drove for the downtown area.

  Poydras Street cut through the center of the business district, offering immensely tall buildings and endless businesses. Hell, they even set up some weird geometric art in the median for a good stretch.

  I wondered what it would be like for this place to be a common sight for me. My entire adult life had been spent in deserts – one across the ocean, and one here.

  The city sure as fuck looked nice.

  Maybe I could get used to this.

  At a red light, I imagined the Devil’s Dragons fanned out around Hunter. It was almost too ridiculous a thought, and I cracked a small smile.

  Those fuckers, in a city like this? The business down here, with luck, would be ripe for the taking… But would the gang adapt to the concrete jungle?

  My eyes trailed up the towers that surrounded me. Glass windows coated great steel behemoths that scraped the Heavens, dressed in advertisements and all special snowflakes unto themselves.

  A horn blared behind me, and I glanced forward. The light had gone green without me. I quickly hit the gas, leaving these thoughts behind at that intersection.

  I continued onward. My eyebrow rose when I saw a sign for Tchoupitoulas Street, a landmark road that cut straight across Poydras.

  Fuck me sideways, I thought to myself. How the hell are you supposed to say that one?

  Curious, I hooked a right and took a look at this. The street was peppered with small restaurants and bars, but nothing terribly exciting.

  I hooked a right at the end, met back up with Poydras Street, and went back the way I came. Once I was on the Interstate again, I headed back west towards Metairie.

  There was so much to think about.

  Hunter’s place here, with the club…

  Kate’s place in my life…

  I hated it when things were beyond my control. Kate could change her mind and pull a runner at any moment, although I trusted her to stick around. But this limbo that we lived in… I knew that I would have
to show her I cared if I wanted to keep her near.

  Which meant coming clean…

  I resolved myself to tell her soon.

  But the Devil’s Dragons still preyed on my mind. The more I thought about meeting with my contact, the worse I felt about it. The lack of confidence was startling to me, but it was growing harder to shake the feeling that I was going to be in it for the long haul here.

  You’re only supposed to be here a few weeks, I reminded myself.

  Sure, Hunter Hargreaves had left the timescale open-ended, but that had been my doing. I liked my ass covered in case something went wrong.

  And nothing is gonna go wrong, Grizz. Everything’s gonna be fucking peachy, you’ll see. I allowed myself a grin when I realized that I almost even convinced myself.

  But I had been wrong.

  Dead wrong…

  13

  Kate

  It felt like something big was coming.

  That said, the next couple of days passed without incident. I decided to cool it on pressuring Grizz, and we fell into a comfortable routine together.

  But that didn’t mean I was putting the breaks on driving up the tension.

  We showered together naked again, without touching one another, and I was sure to lather myself up and milk the moment for all it was worth. Neither of us went as far as touching ourselves, but we certainly took heaping eyefuls of each other.

  It was Tuesday evening, the night before his big meeting with his contact. Grizz and I had grown even more comfortable together, although I was pushing my limits with him.

  And I was about to push them harder.

  Grizz was seated on the couch. From the start, he had graciously left me the bed… insisted on it, even.

  So I’d taken him up on it.

  But this time…

  “You know, you don’t have to sleep out here if you don’t want to,” I mentioned to him while I stood in my bedroom doorway.

  Grizz glanced over my way, clicking off the television. “Do you mean that?”

  “Wouldn’t say it if I didn’t mean it,” I scoffed at him across the communal area of the house. “If you want to sleep in here, then come on. Don’t keep me up.”