by Lilly Atlas
The plan might not be the most mature, but it would work.
The bathroom door opened and Zach’s heavy tread sounded across her wood floor.
And then, it stopped.
She had the feeling he was standing at the foot of her bed, but since she couldn’t see, she wasn’t confident in his location.
Nothing happened for a few moments, and Toni’s skin grew prickly with awareness.
What was he doing? Watching her? Dressing? No, it was too quiet for him to be putting his clothes on.
She fought hard to keep her breathing as deep and even as it would be in slumber, but not knowing exactly where he stood and the thought of him watching her had her body going crazy. The tiny hairs on her arms stood straight out from skin that felt overly sensitive. Her nipples tightened and her soaking wet sex clenched as though calling out to him.
Damn it.
Seconds ticked by and then his hand gripped the sheet next to her foot and drew it off her at a pace so slow she wanted to scream. The fabric coasted down her body, baring one inch at a time to the cool air and his hot gaze. Her upper chest was leisurely exposed. Then her nipples, her abdomen, hips, and finally the wet and achy spot between her legs.
“You know,” he said in an amused voice. “I’ve got fifteen minutes until I have to leave for the clubhouse. Just enough time to make up for last night’s missing foreplay. What do you say, baby, you going to stop pretending to be asleep and open those pretty legs so I can eat you before I have to leave?”
Holy shit the guy gave good dirty talk.
Her eyes flew open and she met his smoldering gaze. Wearing nothing but unfastened jeans, he stood at the foot of her bed with his naked torso a feast for her eyes. The definition of temptation.
And all Toni’s very sound arguments from moments ago vaporized. God, she was weak. She could berate herself for hours later. For the whole afternoon if she wanted. For now, she’d be taking what he offered. “Well,” she said, bending her knees and separating her legs, “I suppose I’d be a terrible hostess if I sent you away hungry.”
His attention was one hundred percent focused on her dripping pussy, but his lips quirked at her remark. “I’d say you’ve been a pretty damn good hostess so far.”
She smiled and held her breath as he crawled onto the bed and settled between her spread legs. “Damn, Toni. Look how wet this pussy is, and I haven’t even touched you yet. Were you lying here thinking about my cock? Thinking about how it filled you up? Stretched you? Thinking about how you want more?” He tsked and ran a finger through her saturated folds. “That’s greedy, baby.”
Toni gasped. This man could own her body so easily. And maybe even her heart. She had to put a stop to it before she got sucked in and lost herself.
“You know what men do with a greedy pussy?” He swiped his tongue across the path his finger had just taken and this time Toni jolted and cried out.
Later. Later she would put a stop to it. After she came. “W-what?”
“We fuckin’ own it, baby.”
Oh God. Exactly what she was afraid of.
And then there was no more talking. He licked her again, this time a slow journey around her clit. And slow was the key word. He took his sweet time circling her clit. It was its own kind of torture, ramping her up and holding her steady in a state of frenzied need.
Her hands fisted the sheets and she squirmed, lifting her hips against his mouth. Anything to get him to move faster and put the pressure right on her clit. It didn’t work. He kept at her in a unhurried manner. What happened to only having fifteen minutes until he had to leave?
“Zach.” She moaned, then bit her lip. She’d always loved sex, but sometimes had a little bit of trouble really losing herself in the moment. All the therapy she’d had years ago taught her that was completely normal. It was probably also part of the reason she chose men like Chris. They were safer in her mind. Wouldn’t make her lose control.
But she wanted to lose control, even if her subconscious was a little afraid of it. The previous night was the only time in her adult life she’d really let the moment consume her.
“What’s wrong, babe? You need something different? More?” His voice was laced with amusement.
Damn him. He knew exactly what he was doing to her. And he was going to make her ask for it.
“All you gotta do is tell me what you want and I’ll give it to you, beautiful. You have any idea how hot it is when a woman knows what she wants and demands it? It’s hot as hell, Toni. Tell me what you want.”
What woman could resist that? “More,” she said, gripping the sheets for dear life.
“More what? Tell me.”
She screwed her eyes shut and shook her head. “More on my clit. Harder. Right on it.”
“Ahh,” he said on a chuckle. “Like this?” He flattened his tongue and pressed it right against the swollen nub.
Sharp pleasure blasted through her on contact and her hips jerked hard, banging him in the face. “Yesss,” she hissed.
“What else?” he asked before he blew on her, making her back arch.
“A finger.” Shit, she could barely speak with him tonging her clit again and again.
“What about my finger? This?” He rimmed her entrance with the lightest of touches and she almost screamed at him.
“No! Fuck me with it.”
“Ohhh. Now I get it. Finger fucking and lots of clit action. Your wish is my command, beautiful.” Without any further teasing, he speared her with two fingers at the same time he flicked his tongue in a rapid clip over her clit.
Toni saw stars. Without thinking—because it was no longer possible—she released the sheets and grabbed his hair. She held his face against her and ground her hips against his mouth. All shame, all self-preservation ceased to exist. All that mattered was the extreme pleasure coursing through her coupled with the powerful orgasm that loomed just out of reach. Exactly what she both wanted and feared.
“Fuck yeah,” he said. His voice was slightly muffled by her pussy. “I knew this version of Toni was in there. All you needed was a real man to draw her out.”
Oh God. She should say something. Deny his claim. But it was the truth. She’d needed a man like Zach to fuck her right for so long.
When she did nothing but whimper in response, he wrapped his lips around her clit and sucked. He wasn’t gentle. No, that went out the window when she grabbed him and tried to suffocate him with her pussy.
Toni’s legs shook and her breath came in spurts. Zach curled his fingers inside her, rubbing exactly where she needed and she finally got release. The orgasm burst through her, making her scream his name as her body trembled.
It seemed to go on and on, the shaking, the pleasure streaming through her veins, the gentling of Zach’s mouth. And when it finally subsided, she was a limp sack of bones on her bed.
She opened her eyes to find Zach braced on his hands, looming over her. He pressed a quick kiss that tasted of her to her lips then smiled. “Thanks for breakfast, beautiful. Think that was good enough to earn me a cup of coffee before I go?”
Toni couldn’t keep the slap happy grin off her face if she tried. “I think that earned you the whole pot.”
With a laugh that lit up his handsome face, Zach sat back on his heels. “I’ve only got time for a cup, but I’ll take a rain check on the rest of the pot.”
She stiffened. He was asking for more. As much as she wanted to say yes, it was time to pull the plug. “No, uh, that’s fine. I’ll just make a cup. I’m due at the restaurant soon anyway. That was, uh,” she cleared her throat, “really great. I guess I’ll see you around.”
Zach’s lips quirked. “See me around, huh?”
She shimmied until he was no longer straddling her and backed against the headboard, pulling the sheet up around her nakedness. “Yes. Thank you for, uh…” She motioned the bed.
“Thank you for eating your pussy until you screamed my name and almost crushed my head with your legs? Believe me
, baby, the pleasure was almost as much mine as yours.” He winked. “Almost.”
Her face heated until she felt like she had a fever. He was going to make this difficult. Damn man. Looked like she was just going to have to be straight with him. “Look, Zach, it was great. Actually, there isn’t even a word for how great it was, but it can’t happen again. I’m not looking for this. I’m looking for—”
“A boring suit who wouldn’t know how to fuck a woman if she came with an instruction video?”
Okay, maybe that was an accurate description of Chris, but it was still a low blow. “No,” she said. Her feet hit the floor and she yanked the sheet out from under him with all her might. She must have looked like an idiot tugging on the thing until it sprang free and she stumbled back. Straightening her spine like she wasn’t mortified, she wrapped the sheet around her chest and paced. “I don’t want to turn this into something ugly. We had fun, let’s just leave it at that. Okay?”
Zach stood as well and shook his head while he folded his arms over that damn chest. “No.”
Her feet stopped moving and her mouth dropped open. “No?”
“No. I will not leave it at one night. I haven’t begun to tap into what I’ve imagined doing to you. You’re running scared.”
“Um, I am not scared of anything.” Liar. Liar. She was scared. Scared of choosing the wrong man. Scared of being hurt. Scared of losing control of herself. “I just don’t want this with you. Are you trying to tell me you’re looking for a serious relationship? Gonna get a nine to five job? Put up a picket fence? Have the neighbors over for game night?”
Zach snorted. “Fuck no. But I don’t see what one thing has to do with the other. You’re here for a few more weeks. I’m here. We fuck like we’re made for each other. Why not wear each other out for the next few weeks?”
Because she would become addicted to the pleasure. And she’d lose herself and the life she worked so hard to create. Worked so hard to fix. She’d lost so much because of her mistakes. Sometimes she could still hear her parents’ disapproving voices in her head, telling her she was no longer welcome in their home. She’d sullied herself and they were through cleaning up her messes. “Because I don’t want that. I’m not some fuck toy you can play with when you’re in the mood.”
Zach snorted and stalked toward her until he crowded her against the wall. “That’s not what I meant and you know it. Besides, you weren’t exactly complaining when I had my face buried in your pussy.”
She closed her eyes. No, she hadn’t complained. No woman in the world would complain about that. But a few orgasms didn’t make everything all right. It was all the more reason to remain firm.
“Running scared. Like I said.” He backed away from her and she tightened her hold on the sheet. “No worries. I’m a patient man.” He continued walking backward toward her door. “Forget the coffee. I know a great diner that serves kick ass coffee. I’ll swing by later on.”
As he neared the door, he bent and scooped his shirt from the floor. After shrugging into it—Toni looked anywhere but at his sexy form bunching and stretching while he dressed—he picked up something else. With a grin so wicked it could have come from the devil himself, Zach held up the lacy panties she’d been wearing the night before. Her eyes widened as he brought them to his face and inhaled before stuffing them in his pocket.
“Catch ya later, babe.” He winked, then the playful look disappeared from his face. “Oh, I’m gonna have a prospect tail you to and from the diner today. I’m not really worried, but you’ve been seen with me and with the shit going down with Mav, we can’t be too cautious. Just go about your business and pay no attention to him.”
Toni couldn’t process the rapid change in him from lover to MC enforcer, so she just nodded.
And then he was gone.
Toni sagged against the wall. There was no use denying how amazing she felt after two Zach-given orgasms. But in the span of one night her life had gone from complicated to uber complicated. And now she had to have a biker follow her around?
What the hell had she gotten herself into?
Chapter Eighteen
“Something’s gotta fucking give,” Zach said as he ran his hand through his hair for the tenth time in as many minutes.
Somehow, he managed to resist the urge to slam his fist down on the table top. A few hours ago, he’d removed the knuckle bandages for good and was managing pretty well. He was even able to ride without splitting the scabs, but his knuckles wouldn’t handle another bashing like he’d given them the other night.
“It’s like they’ve all just up and vanished,” Viper said as he lit a cigarette and blew out a long stream of smoke.
Zach gave up the habit years ago and didn’t miss it until times of high stress. And stress was at an all-time high with Mav still missing. The monster orgasm he’d had inside Toni had helped at the time, but he’d left her house hard and tense all over again two mornings ago and hadn’t been gifted a moment of peace since.
“They didn’t fucking disappear. They ain’t Houdini or some shit. They just went to ground. They’re laying low and we have no fucking idea where.” Copper rubbed his chin. “What I’m stuck on is the why. Why grab Maverick? What are they gaining from holding him?”
Rocket grunted. “To fuck with us.”
“Could it be that simple?” Zach added. “Just Shark getting his rocks off fucking with us?”
With a shake of his head, Copper tapped his index finger on the table. “But there’s been no demand for any kind of ransom. I hate to say it, but I expected they’d either ask for something or we’d find a body by now.”
Nausea rolled through Zach’s stomach. He was tired. So fucking tired. For days, they’d been tapping all their contacts, exhausting all their resources, and calling in every favor they’d ever earned. No one knew shit. Or if they did, they weren’t willing to run their mouths. And Zach, with a little help from Louie, had been very persuasive.
Each day, they’d received one texted picture of Maverick. And each day he’d had his ass beat a little more. He looked like shit, but not bad enough to be worrisome as far as his survival. Just enough to ensure he was miserable. How long would that last? At what point would Shark decide Mav’s survival was no longer necessary?
“I have a theory.” Jigsaw’s glasses sat propped on the top of his head and an open laptop rested in front of him. A sure sign the clever bastard was thinking. Good for the Handlers, bad for the Dragons. For the first time since Mav was snatched, Zach felt a small seed of hope growing in his gut. Jig was the smartest motherfucker he knew. If anyone could figure this shit out, Jig could.
“Spit it out, Jig,” Copper said.
“Think about what’s been going on since Mav disappeared.” He tapped the end of his pen on his computer. “We stopped collecting on debts. Rocket’s construction projects are on hold. We closed the bar and the gym. Obviously, we’ve suspended Maverick’s security gigs. Our women are nervous and being told to either stay home or we’re tailing them everywhere. Basically, we’re dead in the water. All business has been halted in favor of searching for Mav.”
“He’s crippled us,” Zach said. Jesus, when had Shark become such a force?
“Exactly. He’s frozen us in our tracks and completely knocked us on our asses. If we continue on this way for too much longer we’ll lose clients, money, business. He’s attacked us with hardly any effort on his part. And he’ll steal our club right out from under us if this continues.”
As he stood, Copper shoved his chair back so hard it slammed against the wall then clattered to the ground. “Fuck!” He kicked the downed chair, splintering off a leg. It shot across the room before landing with a loud clang.
No one cared. Even if they did, no one was stupid enough to tell Copper how to react.
“So, we need to go back to business as usual. That’s what you’re telling me?” Copper asked.
“I think so,” Jig said. “Shark wants a piece of our pie. Actually, fu
ck that, he wants the whole damn thing. We need to show him he won’t be getting it. At least not while we’re still breathing.”
Copper circled the table until he was behind Jig’s chair. He clapped the treasurer on the back and said, “Nice work, Jig.”
While the rest of the exec board discussed getting their operations up and running again, Zach let his mind wander to the implications of Jig’s plan. No matter how he looked at it, he kept coming back to one sickening conclusion: Mav was fucked.
“Hold up,” Zach said, resting his forearms on the table. “Not to shit all over this party, but getting back to normal is going to be like throwing a big fuck you to Shark, right?”
“That’s right,” Viper said rubbing his hands together in glee. “Gonna be sweet.”
“But if he thinks his plan failed, what’s to keep him from sending Mav back to us in chunks?”
“Fuck!” The expletive came from at least two of his brothers.
All eyes turned to Copper. It was shit like this that made Zach glad he wasn’t the one on the throne. Rubbing his chin again, Copper trod to an empty, unbroken seat and dropped down. For a few moments, he stared at the ceiling and then his shoulders rose and fell with the heavy force of his sigh.
“This is a war and Dragons drew first blood. We have to present a strong front. We have to protect the club. I’ll give it three days, but then we have to get shit running again. Both to stick it to Shark and because we can’t take the financial hit. Over the next three days we search for Mav round the clock in shifts.” He looked to Zach. “You make a schedule, Zach.”
Zach nodded. “I’ll get right on it.”
“I don’t care if we’ve talked to our contacts ten times already. Hit everyone up again. When the guys are on shift I want them looking in every hole and under every rock. When off shift, sleep. I need the men rested and sharp. If we haven’t found him in three days, we’ll reconvene before we open the businesses back up. Someone knows where the fuck Mav is, boys. Bring me that person and I promise you, they’ll talk.”