by Ethan Egorov
My mouth waters and I trail my hand down the plane of his chest, his muscles are so defined and cut that I wonder how the hell he got them this way. I run once or twice a week just so my clothes will still fit. I chew on my lip as he wakes up, his eyes blinking open as he rubs at his face.
“Good morning.” I giggle.
He grins and then focuses his gaze on me, a wolffish grin taking his face.
“Good morning. This is the best one I’ve had in a while.” He leans over and kisses my lips, pressing them together before he parts them, taking my bottom lip between his. He sucks on it and then his tongue darts out to swipe my lip. My nipples harden at the same time my body shivers from the sensation.
“Now it’s a great morning.” I murmur when he breaks away. He chuckles and stretches out, not caring that his naked body is on full display. He even manscapes and I swear if he keeps doing all these things right, I’ll never leave.
“Wait here, I’ll get decent and make us some breakfast.” He says, and then he gets out of bed so I can watch his ass as he walks away.
Yep, I’m never leaving.
I do get up to find something to wear, though. One of his shirts I grab from the drawer. It smells like laundry detergent and his scent permanently on it. The black fabric falls over me like a dress because he is so tall, but it snags on my breasts because they’re so full. I’m trying to get the tangles out of my hair when he emerges from the bathroom still naked until he puts on a pair of boxers.
“Your hair looks like a bird’s nest.” He cackles. I frown at him and give up.
“Thanks.” I lie. I have naturally curly hair, but a good flat ironing every other day keeps it tame. But obviously I couldn’t do that last night, so the curls are coming in and not easily.
“It’s cute.” He walks over and kisses my nose, tugging his fingers through my hair.
“You like pancakes?” He asks, looking down at me. The sunlight in his room is catching the hard line of his square jaw and making the locks of his hair even blonder.
“It’s my only love.” I grin.
He leads the way down stairs, and I find that it’s earlier than I thought. I never wake up at nine, not even for work. I wonder how I have so much energy. It must be this Greek god in front of me, whipping up pancakes from scratch.
“You know how to make them from scratch?” I ask. I sit at the same chair as before, half concerned that his sister will show up again. But she seems cool enough. The real surprise is that I am so comfortable with him and have known him for barely twelve hours. It’s like we’re old friends who also have sex.
“Yeah, I watch a lot of Food Network.” He explains.
I shake my head at him and laugh. I make us a pot of coffee. He drinks his black and I have a heap of sugar and cream with mine. Must be why he looks like that.
“Did your sister already leave?” I ask him out of curiosity. His back is to me and he flips a pancake. Every time he moves, his muscles tense up and I lick my lips at how delicious they are.
“No, it’s her day off so she’ll probably sleep until noon.” He scoffs. I giggle at how much like siblings they are, it’s nice to see that actually exists.
“Is it just the two of you that live here?” I ask him. He comes over with two plates of pancakes and syrup and butter already on the counter.
“We have been since our parents died. We were lucky enough to keep the house when they passed.” He says. His voice barely changes, and it seems like he is really at peace with them passing, which is kind of shocking. I can’t even talk about my mom, and she’s not dead, she just abandoned us.
“Oh. I’m sorry they passed. Was it sudden?” I ask. And it seems like really heavy talk for the morning or having just met, but he doesn’t seem to mind.
I stack butter and syrup and take a bite, they taste just like restaurant pancakes.
“Yeah, a car accident.” He talks with his mouth full now. “But it’s not like anything really changed, because they weren’t around much when they were alive. They worked a lot. Land developers. They built this entire neighborhood from their company. So, it left Amy and I a bunch of money and a company neither of us wanted to run.” He shrugs his shoulder and glances over at me. I’m staring intently and trying to figure out what to say.
“So, what happened to it?” I ask him.
“Nothing really, it’s the same. But their VP is running it now, I only have to deal with it once a year when they tell us how much money they made or lost, or trying to expand. We always turn it down, but they keep asking. I guess it’s not a bad thing, since I’ll always have that to go back to.”
I keep eating and try to find the right response. It sounds like he is already dealing with it, besides not wanting anything to do with the company.
“It is good. A part of them, I guess.”
He nods, “Yeah.”
We keep eating in relative silence. Being around him is surprisingly easy and he is great company to keep.
“You don’t have any family drama?” He asks me.
I giggle once and shake my head, I’m not as good at dealing with stuff as he is. And here I thought he was seeking out slews of women to cope, when it’s just how he is.
“Not really. My dad is sick, and my mom ran out on us when I was five.” I tell him. My dad and I don’t really talk about it. He feels bad for me on Mother’s Day and my birthday, family holidays. But it got better over the years.
“Sorry about that. That sucks. Is your dad okay, though?” His brows tighten and he turns to face me on the chair.
I nod, “Yeah. He stays at a resort type place that takes care of him. The Chevy was his and he asked me to get it fixed up.” I explain.
He half smiles and nods at me, his hand cups my knee and he drags me closer to him.
“I’ll do my best work then.” He smirks and I grin naturally at him.
“Thank you. And these pancakes were amazing.” I lean back in the chair, absolutely stuffed. I have eaten more between last night and now than I have all week.
“You’re welcome.” He pats my thigh and smiles fully at me. “This is nice you know; I’m starting to understand my friends at the club a little better.” He says.
“What do you mean?” I giggle.
“I mean that I used to make fun of them for being all smitten over a girl.”
“Oh. It’s not so bad.” I laugh once.
He licks his lips and gives me a long look, his eyes fleet like he is thinking about something and then gives up entirely.
“Have dinner with me tomorrow.” He finally says.
I swallow and stare at him passively. I don’t know why I thought this would be a hook up type of thing, that I wouldn’t even see him in public. I don’t have to guess to know that he hasn’t really done that either. I mean, I know that we’re young and all, men take a little longer to grow up. But part of me is worried that thinking I can change him will only end bad for me. The softness in his eyes, though, and the way he is looking at me now make me change my mind entirely.
“Okay.” I agree.
That seems to make him really happy, and I smile at knowing that. We chat for a little longer and then he starts cleaning the area up. It’s nice to know that he isn’t super messy and has normal living habits. Seriously, it’s refreshing and surprising how many men don’t. But after that, I know that I need to get going, do my usual weekend chores so my life doesn’t fall apart all because of a good-looking guy. I never thought that could even be a thing until him.
I get dressed and then we get going. He has on faded jeans and a plain white shirt under his jacket. At some point I want to ask him about this club thing that he’s in, I don’t really understand it, but I table that for later. When he drives me home, I get to wrap myself up tightly around him and feel his heart thudding through his back.
I can tell he is in his element when he’s on his bike, the way he drives it so smoothly and doesn’t even flinch at the hard turns the way I do. But I feel safe w
rapped around him, that nothing will happen to me when I’m with him. I know I probably shouldn’t put that much trust in him, but it comes naturally to me.
All the things in my life that are going on disappear when I’m with him. When we pull up to my house, I barely recognize it with this new lens I have on in the way I think about my life.
“Your humble abode.” Kit jokes. He smiles and helps me take off the helmet. It’s heavy and hard like concrete.
“Pretty much.” I walk up the stone path with him following behind me. I like how he walks me to my door and stuff like that, it’s chivalrous.
“I had a nice time. Thank you.” I tell him, finding my keys in my purse. He nods, on my porch he looks out of place but only because I’m not used to it. And he is so damned pretty.
“I could say the same to you.” He remembers we don’t have each other’s numbers and we exchange them.
“I’ll pick you up tomorrow at six.”
“Okay.” I smile. He smirks and leans down to kiss me, it’s soft and sweet, leaves me something to think about when he walks away.
Safely in my house, I lean against the front door and try to figure out how my life got so different in only one night.
7
Kit
I leave Emily’s house wishing I could turn around and go back. That’s saying a lot for me because I usually don’t even see a girl the next day let alone have breakfast with them and take them home. And ask them on a date. I honestly don’t know what I was thinking, it came out before I could even really think about it, but it felt right. Especially the part where she said yes.
I don’t think I have ever taken a girl out on a date, either. The concept is completely foreign to me and I am not looking forward to how I might screw it up. I am inclined to ask one of the guys at the club, but I don’t want them hounding me about it.
When I peel out of her neighborhood, I realize why it looked so familiar when I was driving up to it. My parents owned half the communities in this town and her house is sitting right in the middle of one of them. She seems to be doing okay, but I know that the board of the company right now are a bunch of money grabbing assholes. Last year they talked about tearing everything down and rebuilding new complexes, to which my sister and I vetoed. But I have a feeling that it is only a matter of time before they pull that shit again.
Anyway, I don’t really plan on telling her because there is no way I could explain it in a reasonable way, I don’t even understand the half of it.
When I get to the club, I feel more at home than I do even at my own house. The garage is empty, besides Emily’s Chevy. I smile at the excitement of getting started on it for her. I park my bike in the back and then look over the tally of orders that I have, everything from last week was picked up. Even though I said I wouldn’t work on the weekends, I get started on the Chevy. It’s a nice car, definitely an antique. But it shouldn’t be that hard to get it running again. I go ahead and order the parts that it needs, it seems faster than waiting to ask Emily. Maybe it’s weird that I am buying something for her already, but it doesn’t really feel like it. I didn’t ask her what she does for a living, but most people have a hard time these days. It makes me grateful to know that my parents left behind all the stuff they did, but I am still not inclined to take part of it.
“You’re working on a Saturday? I’m shocked.” Darius’s deep and less than chipper voice comes up behind me. I nearly hit my head on the iron rail of the car suspension when I turn around.
“So am I. What are you up to?” I grab my jacket from where I left it on the table and walk outside with him.
He doesn’t have his cut on, only an overly tight shirt but on him it’s just because he lifts weights more than he sleeps. So, I assume he is coming from the gym with the athletic shorts he has on too.
“Nothing. About to head out of town.” He answers. I stop by the back entrance of the club and sit on one of the boxes. It is way too fucking hot outside for my own good. I don’t really like the heat when I’m not driving fast on my bike to make up for the lack of a breeze around here.
“Oh shit. Again?” I ask him. He has been in and out of town since the shit with the Devil’s Princes started going on. He’s one of the enforcers so when the club needs to lay a heavy hand down, we send him. Except they aren’t so keen on listening. Their pres has been trying to slow shit down but his guys don’t listen. Tank and Rafe both never had a problem with that. Everyone at the club respects them and wouldn’t dare go out and start trouble. Unless they wanted us to, of course.
“Yep. I don’t know how long I’ll be gone this time, though. I wish they would just drop dead some of these days.” He scoffs.
I laugh at him, “Don’t say that too loud, someone might hear you.” I shake my head at him. Rafe called for a meeting today too and I’m not sure why. I only sit on the exec board because Tank wanted to keep a close eye on me at first, and he thought I had a level head. I probably got that from my business tycoon father. A club is kind of like that sometimes, except with the occasional crimes.
“Yeah right. Let’s go inside, it’s fucking hot.”
I nod in agreement. I feel like my balls are shrinking from the heat. We step into the cold ac of the club; Logan is over at the bar and the old guys are lounging by the pool table are. We sit at the bar and Logan is already sliding us fresh beers.
“Shouldn’t you be taking care of a baby?” I joke. He laughs and shakes his head.
“No way, he’s teething.” He makes a face. Darius laughs too.
“Yeah, that’s no fun.” He says. He was six or seven when his little sister was born, so he would remember that. It’s also why he is good with kids, too. He’s the only guy at the club Logan would let watch his son.
“Yeah but seriously, Chantal said she felt bad that I wasn’t spending as much time at the club. I’m just humoring her.” He explains. I later found out that after he knew he was gonna be a dad, he thought about leaving the club. Which would have sucked. But at least Chantal could see how much it means to him. Even Tank’s wife came around and they’re a happy family again.
“Fair enough.”
We sip our beers and catch up a bit. We see each other almost every day but most of the time, we aren’t even talking.
“So, who was that girl you left with last night?” Darius asks me, and I groan internally. I really hoped that no one had seen that, but I guess I can’t be so lucky.
Logan gets intrigued too and then they are both staring me down. I almost say I don’t know what the big deal is before I remember I never pick girls up here at the club. It’s mostly the gym or supermarket. The gas station is always a hit since they can see my bike. But here at the club, women hang around hoping to get picked up and that’s a little too desperate for me.
“No one.” I lie. I smirk and drink the last of my beer. I told myself to stop day drinking, especially beer since it’s not all that healthy but that keeps going out the window.
“Oh, come on. We all saw you chatting her up at the bar. At least we had the courtesy to leave you alone. Now I’m asking.” Darius chuckles and I know he isn’t going to let it go. The two of us have been friends for a while, since I joined the club, and he is probably the only one that loves women as much as I do. Speaking numbers wise, at least.
“Look, I don’t really know her; I just met her yesterday.”
“Yeah but you never really know any of them, right?” Logan snickers and shakes his head. “I really hope my son doesn’t end up like you.”
“Hey, I’m a stand-up guy. At least I’m honest with them.” I defend myself, knowing he was mostly joking anyway.
“She came into the garage super late with this old Chevy. I felt bad for her, so I gave her a ride home.”
“And a ride on your dick.” Darius deadpans. I frown but confirm that’s exactly what happened with a slight intermission in the middle.
Thinking about Emily already has my defenses down. Something about her was reall
y genuine and fun. I didn’t feel like I had to pretend around her.
“Do you even remember her name?” Logan smirks.
I flip him off and laugh.
“Yeah, of course I remember her name. We are also going on a date tonight so don’t act like you have me all figured out.” I say. I probably would have told them eventually, but I must just be that desperate for advice. I don’t want to take her on a shitty date and make her think I’m only good for sex. I mean, I might be, but I don’t want her to know that just yet.
“Oh shit, a real date? Or are you just gonna have a picnic in your bed.” Darius snickers.
“You know what, that might be a good idea.” I lie, shoving his shoulder.
They are both laughing at me and I don’t know why I even told them.
“Look, women are a lot simpler than we think they are. Just treat her nicely and she really won’t care what you do. But are you that serious about her?” Logan asks. I knew he would have the level head first. He is older but he never had a problem with this kind of stuff. Him and Chantal were friends first but that was just because of how they met. He didn’t want to take advantage of her. But we all knew it was a matter of time.
“I don’t know, we just met. But I know I’ve never asked anyone else on a date before, so.” I shrug my shoulder and wish I had something stronger than beer.
“Yeah, we know.” Darius laughs. I frown at him and it only makes him laugh harder. I know they are just messing around but now I’m wishing I had thought this through more or gave myself more time than tomorrow.
“What kind of car was it?” Logan asks me, changing the subject after more back and forth.
“A ‘69 Chevy I think.” I tell him.
“Nice.” Darius chuckles. I realize it then and laugh too. I should figure out exactly what year it is before I tell Emily, I didn’t need to know to buy the parts. Or maybe I could just ask her. I have half a mind to text her, but I already know that I can’t do it with the guys sitting here pestering me.