RIDE (A Stone Kings Motorcycle Club Romance)

by Daphne Loveling

  “Hey,” I greeted her. “Glad you’re home. Wanna open a bottle of wine and watch crappy TV?”

  She looked up at me then, and I noticed her expression was off. Arms crossed, her brows knit into a frown, she definitely seemed unhappy about something.

  “You have a visitor,” she said.

  Her words didn’t quite register. “Huh?” I asked, putting my hands to my back and stretching.

  “You have a visitor. In your room.”

  For some weird reason, my first thought was that she had gotten me a kitten or something, but obviously she wouldn’t be looking like she wanted to slap someone if that was the case. I opened my mouth to ask her to explain, but as I did, an awful realization hit me.

  My face drained of color. “Grey?” I whispered.

  “You should know that I told him to fuck off and die, but he begged me to hear him out.” Her frown deepened into a glower. “I don’t know if I did the right thing. I’m still sitting here kind of pissed at myself. But,” she paused, “I think maybe you should go listen to what he has to say.”

  My first reaction was to flee. If I ran out the door right now and drove away, I thought irrationally, I don’t have to do this. It had been too long, I had fought too hard to forget him. I wasn’t sure I’d survive having to do it a second time. My stomach churned, and for a moment, I thought I might be sick.

  I stood for a few moments, my body feeling paralyzed. Then, almost without knowing that my brain had sent any signals to my legs, I was moving toward the bedroom as if someone else was controlling them.

  When I got to the door, Grey was sitting on my bed, elbows on his knees, his head hanging, looking at the floor. I cleared my throat and he looked up. His cool blue eyes met mine, and a sob almost escaped my throat. Everything I’d tried so hard to forget, all the emotions I had fought to leave behind me — all of it came surging back like a tidal wave. I stood rooted to the spot, afraid that the slightest movement would be all it would take for me to be carried away by it.

  “Seton.” His rich baritone voice, which I remembered so well, was saying my name. How I used to love it when he said my name. He stood, but seemed to sense that he shouldn’t move forward.

  “Why are you here?” I choked out. “Why?”

  “Seton,” he said again. “I’ve missed you.”

  Tears sprang to my eyes. No, I told myself sternly. I am not going to cry. He doesn’t deserve it. I had cried over this man more than anything else in my life except my father.

  “You don’t get to say that,” I seethed at him. “You don’t get to say that, like you’re not the reason for it.” You, who abandoned me in the end, just when I was starting to believe you wouldn’t.

  “I’m sorry,” he said simply. “Seton, I’m so sorry.” He glanced away, and when he looked back to me, I was shocked to notice that his eyes were bright with unshed tears.

  “I thought I was doing what was right for you,” he said then. “Hell, part of me still thinks that. But…” he took a deep breath and let it out with a small chuckle. “A very bright former prospect told me that I wasn’t being fair to you by not letting you make your own decisions about what you wanted.”

  Anger flooded through me. “No, I told you that,” I accused. “But you wouldn’t listen.”

  He nodded. “I know. I know. You were right, Seton. I was a hypocrite. But somehow, coming from Cal… it kind of brought it home to me. I’d spent so much time bitching at you about how you weren’t letting him grow up. And here I was, treating you like a little girl. But shit, Seton.” He shook his head, his shoulders sinking into a defeated slump. “This life… the MC life. It’s not good enough for you. You deserve more than some outlaw biker. You have a future.” He looked up at me. “Hell, you’re gonna be a chef someday!” I opened my mouth to ask how he knew, but he interrupted me. “Cal told me. Plus, I’d know that dent in your fucking car anywhere. I’ve seen it outside the restaurant. I’ve driven by it a thousand times by now, hoping to catch a glimpse of you.”

  He took a few slow steps and stopped about two feet away from me, but kept his arms at his sides as if he could sense I didn’t want him to come any closer. “Seton,” he said softly. “I’m so sorry. About everything. Especially not telling you about my uncle and your father. It’s just… That day. The day your dad was killed. Your eyes have haunted me ever since. You have no idea how many times I’ve thought about you over the years. And then, when I met you, and realized who you were… it was like I had a second chance to protect that girl. I just couldn’t let her risk being hurt by the club again.”

  Listening to him, my heart began to pound like it was going to leap right out of my chest. Emotions raced through me faster than I could even register what they were: anger, hope, love, fear… “Greyson,” I countered, stunned at what I was hearing. “But you told me to let Cal join.”

  “No. I didn’t tell you to let Cal join,” he corrected. “I told you to let him make his own choices. And yes, I realize now that I wasn’t being consistent. I believe you called me a ‘fucking hypocrite,’ to be exact.” A slight smile came to my lips, and he grinned. “I think I might have also been being a sexist asshole, assuming he could make his own choices but you couldn’t.”

  I resisted the urge to agree with him, and let him continue.

  “Seton, sweetheart,” he murmured, drawing closer. He raised his hand and softly brushed my cheek with his thumb. “I’ll say I’m sorry a million times if you want me to. I was wrong. I know that. But I wasn’t wrong about the life you’d be choosing if you were with me.” His eyes grew dark, concerned. “There is danger. I’m careful, and the club doesn’t take risks unless absolutely necessary, but I’m not a dentist. The club will always be there.

  “Once everything Cal and you said had sunk in, I realized I had been so worried about protecting you that I hadn’t given you a chance to choose what you wanted,” he acknowledged. “But, once I saw what I had done, I couldn’t let you choose before you were able to make your decision based on the right things. Not on just how you felt about me. I wanted you to move on with your life, have a shot at something else. Something you wanted, so you could really make your choice. Now, you do.

  “So now.” He took a step back, his expression solemn. “Now that you have two real choices. Now that I’m not in your life to fuck things up and confuse you. If you still want me…” he spread his hands wide. “If you still want this, I’m yours, Seton. I think I always have been.”

  I stared at him in silence for a moment. What he was saying, it was so big. It felt like the tidal wave again. What Greyson was saying right now, it was exactly what I had wanted to hear all those months ago. It felt surreal to be hearing them now, like I was dreaming the whole thing.

  “Greyson,” I said quietly. “I don’t know if I can forgive you.”

  A stricken look crossed his face, but then his features rearranged themselves, and suddenly he looked like he could have been discussing how to do an oil change. “I understand,” he responded. “I don’t want to push you. This is your choice. Your choice alone, this time.”

  “It’s not my choice alone,” I said, shaking my head. “It’s your choice, too. It’s our choice. That’s the point. That’s always been my point.”

  He looked into my eyes, a soft expression on his face. “Baby, I made my choice a long time ago. I love you, Seton. Always have, always will. But I want you to be happy. I fucked that up once, but I’m not going to do that again. If you’re happy without me, so be it. I can love you from far away, too.”

  “Greyson,” I cried, my voice cracking. I threw myself into his arms, the tidal wave breaking over the sea wall. “I choose you,” I whispered.

  His arms went around me, strong and warm, and he kissed the top of my head, then my forehead, then my tear-wet eyes, then my cheeks, and finally, my lips.

  He pulled me to him, kissing me hard at first, and I opened my mouth to his hungrily, as though I had been starving for months and he was feedi
ng me. I reached up and slid my fingers through his hair, and I felt a trickle down my cheek and realized I was crying. Grey must have felt it too, because he pulled away from me for a second and gazed down at me with a serious expression.

  “I’ll never make you cry again,” he whispered, brushing my tears away with his thumbs.

  Then he was kissing me again, his mouth persistent, needy. “I missed you so much,” he murmured. “Seton.”

  “I missed you too,” I whispered back.

  His kisses softened then, making me dizzy with desire. He went slowly, giving me time, and soon I couldn’t help myself any more, I tightened my grip on his hair and drew him closer, deeper. His tongue licked against mine, and I answered him eagerly, whimpering softly as heat traveled down my body, growing stronger every second.

  He pressed me to him, until I could feel the hardness of his need between us. I bit his bottom lip and smiled to myself as he gasped in response. In a second, somehow we were on the bed, and he was pulling off my black pants and pushing my shirt up over my head. Where a moment ago he was fighting to be patient, now his hands moved quickly to free my breasts from my bra. I lifted myself up on my elbows so he could pull it away, and he let out a loud groan as he looked at me.

  “Jesus Christ,” he murmured, lowering himself to me. “I’ve missed this so much.”

  He took one nipple in his mouth and sucked it gently between his lips, using his tongue to flick and caress. I cried out before I could stop myself, and then giggled, embarrassed at the idea that Carly might have heard me.

  From the living room, a voice called, “Okay, then, I’m going out for a while.” A second later the door slammed, and both Grey and I collapsed into helpless laughter.

  “Shit,” he wheezed, “That girl is going to hate me for the rest of her life.”

  He shook his head, and still smiling, he lowered his mouth to my breasts again. He kissed a path from one to the other, licking the second one in turn. “Gotta give them equal time,” he said huskily. I arched my back, pressing my nipple eagerly into his mouth, needing the feel of his expert tongue. My core began to throb, and I could hear myself begin to make low, breathy sounds as I moved under him. I desperately needed him to touch me below, to relieve the ache that had started inside me, which he knew how to soothe so well. I reached down and grabbed the waistband of his jeans, angling my hips against him and spreading my legs wide so that his erection was pressing against my throbbing center. He groaned against my skin as I moved back and forth against him, desperately trying to calm my needful body.

  “Greyson,” I whispered. “Lose the jeans.”

  He laughed, loudly. “Okay, then, message received.” He rose up and stood, quickly unbuttoning them and letting them fall to the floor, then pulled his shirt over his head in one fluid motion. All my memories of how he looked like this were nothing compared to the reality, and a low sound escaped from my throat as he came back to the bed. I slid my hand around his hardness, stroking him slowly and watching in satisfaction as he threw back his head and moaned. Eagerly, I brought my mouth close to him, and then slowly began to lick around his head as my lips closed over his shaft.

  “Christ, Seton,” he hissed. His fist went to my hair as I worked him, feeling his cock respond, the skin tightening as he hardened even more under my touch. He looked down at me, unconcealed lust in his eyes. “Good God, I love watching you do that,” he said, his voice thick. I continued to suck and swirl. I loved that I could do this to him, how much he wanted me. My mouth began to water at the thought of taking him all the way like that, but he soon pulled away.

  “I’m gonna come if you don’t stop, and I don’t want to like that. Not tonight.” He knelt on the bed and lowered himself on top of me. “I’ve been waiting for you for too long.”

  He rolled over onto his back then, pulling me with him, and before I knew it I was straddling him, my hands on either side of his head. “I need to taste you,” he breathed.

  He pushed me forward before I could react, until his face was between my thighs. He grasped my hips in his strong, powerful hands and moved me toward him. I fell forward, my hands bracing against the wall, and he began to lick me. I moaned loudly, so close to exploding already that I couldn’t decide whether I wanted him to make me come right then or tease me a little longer.

  “Greyson,” I whispered urgently, incoherently. “Oh, God…”

  He flicked his able tongue just a little faster, then just a little softer, varying the pressure so that he kept me right at the edge, then backed off. I knew my juices were flowing, and he seemed to love it, moaning against my skin as he continued his sweet assault. I squirmed, trying to get closer to his tongue, but he held me fast, refusing to let me come until he was ready. The core of flame inside me began to expand, until it seemed to reach all the way out to the tips of my fingers and the top of my head. He flattened his tongue and licked one final time and I exploded, crying out his name as I came. He continued to lick and lap at me until all of the tension released inside me and I almost fell on top of him, my muscles turning into liquid after being melted by his touch.

  Grey sat up then, with me still on top of him, and gently turned me around until my back was pressed to his front. Kneeling on the bed, he lifted me, then set me down so that he entered me as I eased down onto his lap. He groaned loudly as he slid in and my lips closed around him. “If you only knew how many times I’ve made myself come thinking about this,” he murmured into my ear. Slowly, he began to thrust, one arm holding me around my stomach, the other teasing my still-swollen nipples. Having him inside me again is even better than I remembered, and soon the sensation of his cock sliding inside me, hitting my G-spot, made me begin to moan with need all over again. We began to move in a rhythm that was ours alone, as intimate as it was hungry.

  “Touch yourself,” he commanded, and I did as he said. My fingers found my swollen clit, and I stroked it gently, each stroke making me gasp, and soon I was close to the edge again. I felt his cock grow inside me as he continued to thrust.

  “I need you, Greyson,” I moaned. “I’m going to come again.”

  He pushed harder into me, and I arched my back in response, wanting him inside me as far as he could be.

  “I’m gonna come inside you,” he warned.

  “Good. Fill me, Greyson,” I urged.

  “Fuck, Seton,” he growled. “I’m gonna come. Now. Come with me, baby.”

  I flicked my wet fingers over my clit one more time and hurtled over the edge as I felt him spasm inside me. I came so hard I lost track of everything but the two of us, and it was as though there was no separation between his body and mine, as though we were both just one body shuddering through our release together. I heard him call my name from far away, and then I couldn’t think at all for a while, until eventually my orgasm began to fade, and he was holding me in his arms, kissing me.

  We lay there lazily afterwards, him twirling a lock of my hair between his fingers. “How long were you waiting here before I showed up?” I asked.

  “A couple of hours,” he admitted. “I spent the time reading one of your paperbacks, mostly.”

  “Carly didn’t seem like she was much company to you,” I smirked.

  “Yeah,” he chuckled. “I figured it would be best if I left her alone. She almost didn’t let me in at all. Damn, she was furious when she opened the door and saw it was me. It took me quite a bit of finagling to get past your doorstep.” He kissed the top of my head. “For a while I thought she was gonna call the cops. That girl is fierce.”

  I grinned. “She is.”

  We talked some more, then made love again until we were exhausted. Afterwards, we slept, and didn’t wake until morning. Carly was still gone when I wandered out into the living room, but had left a note that said simply: “Looks like you guys made up. I’m gone until tomorrow night.”

  “Shit, I hope she’s not mad,” I fretted.

  “She’ll get over it,” Grey said. “She was furious with
me, but ultimately she just wants you to be happy. She’s a good friend.”

  “She is,” I agreed. “Unfortunately, she’s not going to be my roommate much longer.”

  “Why not?” he asked.

  “She’s got a job in Denver lined up,” I explained. “She’ll be moving out when our lease is up in two months.”

  His eyes met mine. “What are you going to do?”

  I shrugged. “I guess I’ll try to find another roommate. I’ll ask around. Or maybe I’ll move to another place.”

  “Oh yeah?” His eyes twinkled. “I got one in mind. Turns out, I’m looking for a roommate, too.”

  I cocked my head at him. “You don’t really seem much like the roommate type.”

  “Depends on who the roommate is.” He reached for me and enfolded me in his arms. “But Seton,” he said, his tone growing serious. “I meant what I said earlier. These are your choices. I’m ready for a life with you. God knows I’ve had enough time to think about it to know there’s no one else for me. But I don’t want to rush into anything you’re not ready for.”

  “Greyson Stone,” I smiled, looking up into his eyes. “I’ve been ready for you my whole life.”

  THE END

  CRASH

  A Stone Kings MC Romance, Book 2

  1

  Cherish

  “Hurry up, Cherish, we’re going to be late!” Sarah squealed from the bedroom doorway. “Father’s waiting!”

  I smiled in spite of myself as I coiled my long auburn hair into the severe bun that was my daily hairstyle, securing it with pin after pin so that no stray locks would find their way loose.

  “Late for what?” I teased her, turning to inspect the twelve year-old girl and the three younger siblings who stood impatiently next to her. “Your father’s not going to leave without us, you know.” I was sure my quaking voice would betray the nervousness behind my lighthearted tone, but none of them seemed to notice anything out of the ordinary.