I looked at the frayed edge. It had definitely been chewed. “Don’t know, but I’m thinking I’ll sleep with my fucking boots on. I don’t need any giant rodent to give me a pedicure while I’m sleeping.” I pulled on my cut.
Reed sat forward. “Are you going with us on our midnight run to the casinos, after all? Our new chatty pal, Pete, is meeting us there.”
“Nope. I’ve got other plans.”
Reed’s beard twitched as he seemed to be trying to puzzle out my mystery night. The beard stopped moving, which signaled that he’d figured it out. “Shit, Richo, how long do you think this cushy job is going to last if you’re fucking the boss’s girl?”
“Fuck off, Reed. Besides, there’s something not right with this gig.”
Jacko went into the kitchen and dropped the rug down. He came back out with a beer. “You think he’s setting us up for something?”
I shook my head. “Wish I fucking knew. When I went to pick up the check, I talked to Roxie.”
“I’ll bet,” Reed said angrily. I ignored him.
“She confirmed that Bent for Hell had been hanging out in Gamble’s clubs. Then they just suddenly stopped.”
Jacko swallowed a gulp of beer. “Did she know why?”
“Nah, she was a black jack dealer. She wasn’t his girlfriend at the time.”
“But she is his girlfriend now,” Reed said.
“Reed, not tonight. Just fucking not tonight.”
“Yeah fine.” He shot up from the couch and pushed past me to grab his cut.
I rarely got pissed at Reed. He was always the guy to help keep my head straight, that annoying little voice of reason that kept me from pulling stupid shit. But I didn’t want any of it tonight. There wasn’t any way he was going to reason me out of how I was feeling about Roxie.
Jacko ignored the tension between Reed and me. “What do you think we might be getting set up for?”
“My theory is that there is some bad blood between Gamble and Griffin.”
Jacko smacked his beer can down on the counter. “You think Griffin is planning some attack on Gamble? Some revenge or something?”
Reed walked back into the room. His shoulders had relaxed some, and the conversation caught his interest. “So, we’re here because Gamble figures we’re the only ones who would know how to take on Bent for Hell. Well, if that’s the case, then that’s fucked. We’ve managed to keep out of each other’s shit since Dreygon died. If we’re trying to stay legit, a war with those fuckers is just going to screw it up.”
“I’m not interested in getting into it with Griffin and his band of rabid dogs,” Jacko said.
“I’m hoping we can squeeze a good amount of money out of Gamble before any shit goes down. Then we’ll quit.” I said. “Then the club has a fat bank account, and we’re free of the fool.”
“I suppose you could just ask Gamble outright if we’re here to protect him from Griffin,” Reed said.
“Thought about it, but I don’t want to get Pete and especially Roxie in trouble.”
“And that brings us back to the neon elephant in the room, you and the boss’s girlfriend. Richo, I know you, you have no control when it comes to a beautiful woman.”
I lifted my hand to let him know the discussion was over.
“Shit,” he sighed. “Do whatever you want, but you know as well as me that she is not the kind of girl you can just walk away from when this job starts going sour.”
I looked at him. “Yep, I know that. That’s why I won’t be walking away from her. I’m going to take her with me.”
I left a stunned silence behind me as I walked out the door.
chapter 15
Jericho
I sat back on the bike and looked up at the stars. There were only a few lights on in Gamble’s sprawling cabin, which made the stars that much brighter. There were so many there was almost no black night sky between them. A pair of headlights reflected off the massive front windows as Roxie’s car pulled into the driveway. The same glowing lights landed like a spotlight on me and my bike. She pulled the car up in front of the house and climbed out.
Roxie stood next to her car and stared at me.
“You look surprised to see me,” I said.
“A little.”
I held out my helmet. “Ever go for a ride on a Harley?”
She walked toward me. The breeze coming off the lake pushed the white fabric of her shirt against her, showing the outline of her breasts. “I had a boyfriend once who rode a Vespa, does that count?”
“That depends— was he wearing a motorcycle cut or a cardigan?”
She laughed. “Yeah, maybe that doesn’t count. I need to get my coat. I’ll be right back.”
She ran up the stairs in her tight jeans. I watched her take every damn step. Reed’s words had stuck with me about not being able to leave her behind when we blew out of this town. There was something really off about the relationship she had with Gamble, and every time I looked at Roxie I saw a silent plea for help. She was here, in his house, but it was obviously the last place she wanted to be. While I didn’t know the circumstances, I knew I was going to try my damndest to get her away from him. Even if we didn’t end up together, she needed to be free of Gamble.
She came back down the steps with an eager smile. She stopped in front of me, her dimples pushing into her pink cheeks.
“With the exception of this afternoon when you were spinning around with your nephew, this is the happiest I’ve ever seen you.” I pushed a strand of hair back off her face and put the helmet on her head. I adjusted the strap to her chin.
“I am happy. Trace will be more than half a country away for two days. I feel like a sailor on shore leave, free of my duties and ready to have some fun. And fun came right to my damn door. I’m about to ride on a motorcycle behind an extremely hot biker. I’d say it’s a good night and definitely worth smiling about.”
I lifted her chin with my finger. “This is a face that should always be smiling.” I’d stolen a kiss earlier but decided I needed to slow down. I needed to make sure I wasn’t doing anything that would put her in danger. Gamble wasn’t home now, but I also knew what Reed had said was true— I had no control when it came to beautiful women. And Roxie went way past that. I couldn’t stop thinking about her.
I released her chin. There was a glimmer of disappointment in her face.
“I’ll go slow,” I said as I climbed on.
“Don’t you dare.” She swung her leg over behind me. The second she wrapped her arms around my waist and pressed her body against mine, I knew there wasn’t going to be anything slow about the night.
The mountain road was pitch black. Even the moonlight was blocked out by the thick canopy of giant evergreens surrounding the lake. My headlight glowed like a searchlight on a dark sea as my bike rolled around each turn. Roxie wiggled closer to me, every movement of her body sent shockwaves through me. I’d gotten myself in deep already, and I hadn’t done anything more than kiss her. But in that one kiss, I’d immediately felt a connection. And the way she’d relaxed into my arms as if she belonged there made me think she’d felt it too.
I pulled off to the parking lot, a large swath of dirt that overlooked Emerald Bay. The bay was situated away from any city lights. It was too dark to appreciate the water’s famed jewel color, but it was still a cool view.
Roxie climbed off the bike and tugged her coat tighter around her. “It’s always colder on this side of the lake. Higher elevation and less heat from city lights, I guess.”
I walked along next to her, and we headed over to the outcropping of granite boulders that marked the head of the trail. Through a tangle of pine branches, there was a complete view of the small island in the center of the bay.
“My brother Sean and I canoed out to Fannette Island back when we were teenagers. We climbed up to the ruins of the tea house.”
“I always wondered what that was out there.”
“Some rich old lady had it built for e
ntertaining guests. Extravagant, yet cool.”
I leaned against the rock. She leaned next to me. Her fragrance mingled with the fresh pine smell, and it took all my control not to touch her. “I guess when you’re rich, you can have anything your heart desires.”
She stared out at the lake. Strands of her hair glowed gold in the moonlight. “Anything,” she repeated darkly.
“Guess I brought up a sore subject.” A topic change was needed. “Were you on vacation, when you took a canoe out there?”
“Yes. We grew up near Sacramento. My mom brought us to Lake Tahoe every August.”
“No dad?” I asked.
“Only until I was five. He loved to travel, but my mom liked setting down roots. He would occasionally send cards to us from faraway places, always with promises to visit. Poor Sean was convinced he’d show up. Especially on his birthday. But the only thing that would ever show up was another card with another promise to visit. He stopped writing eventually. But we’d heard rumors that he’d finally set down his own roots on some island near Greece. My mom died two years after our last visit to Tahoe. Cancer. Sean was eighteen. He became my guardian until I turned eighteen. We only had each other.”
“That little Easton is a character. What a great kid.”
“He’s the love of my life.”
“Lucky guy.”
She pushed off the rock and circled in front of me. “I was so thrilled about the ride on the motorcycle—”
“Behind the extremely hot biker,” I added helpfully.
“Yes, behind the hot biker, anyhow, I found out something that may or may not be useful to you. Pepper has been working for Trace for a few years, even before I got the job at his tables. She used to share an apartment with this lady named Stella. Stella used to do some of the bookkeeping for his casinos. She’s gone now. Moved to Tennessee where her grandchildren live.” She waved off that added information. “Pepper remembers when that biker club was hanging out, mostly because they were notoriously rude, never tipped and were always starting arguments.”
“Sounds like them.”
“She said, about the same time the club stopped coming around, Stella was concerned about big lumps of cash coming through the casinos without any true starting point.”
“You mean like cash that’s being laundered through a business to look like legitimate income.”
“Right.” She smiled. “I guess you aren’t just a pretty face.”
“Sometimes looking like this is a curse.”
She leaned against me suddenly. “You poor baby, having to wake up to this reflection every morning. How do you bear it?”
“I can tell you it’s not easy.” I couldn’t stop myself. I wrapped my arms around her. She rose up on her tiptoes and wrapped her hands around my neck. Then she brought her lips against my mouth. It was a sweet, flirty kiss at first, but it grew quickly in intensity. I kissed her hard, letting her know how badly I wanted her. She returned a kiss that seemed to be begging for more, as if she hadn’t been kissed in a long time. My hands slid beneath her coat and shirt. My palm ran over the silky skin on her back. The urgent kiss and the feel of her skin beneath my fingers made my cock throb.
The fresh mountain breeze blowing around us did nothing to cool the heat that swirled between us. I grabbed her closer to me. “I need all of you, Roxie,” I said when we came up briefly for air. “Let me wipe that lost expression off of your perfect face. You need to be touched and kissed and loved. You need someone like me to know what it’s like to be worshipped . . . not owned.”
Her eyes drifted shut as I spoke. I reached to her shirt and started opening the buttons, still continuing the task as I pushed my mouth over hers again. I pushed apart the panels of fabric, exposing the blue, lacy bra beneath. My finger hooked around the top of the bra and I pulled the lace down. Her nipples hardened in the cool air.
“I wasn’t imaging things.” I brushed my thumb across her nipple. She sucked in a breath. “They are fucking beautiful.” I smoothed my hand along the curve of her breast. “From the round perfect swells to these puckered, rosy nipples. They are fucking amazing.”
I leaned down. She gasped softly as I took her nipple between my lips and tugged on it. She wrapped her fingers in my hair and held my mouth against her.
“It’s been so long,” she sobbed suddenly.
I lifted my face. She shook her head to assure me it was nothing I’d done. Tears glazed her eyes. “I wasn’t sure if I’d ever feel like this again. And here all you’ve done is kiss my mouth and my nipple and—” She wiped clumsily at a tear, and a laugh came with the sob. “And I’m lightheaded from wanting you.”
“That’s good news.” I parted the shirt farther and gazed down at her. “Because I’ve been lightheaded since the second you asked me to put lotion on your back. And since we’re confessing things here— my cock’s been hard since that moment too.”
“Shit, Jericho,” she whispered as she picked up my hand and placed it on her breast. “Why the hell didn’t you walk into my life a year ago?”
“Because, baby, some things are worth the wait.” I turned her around in my arms. I leaned against the rock and pulled her back against me. I moved my mouth against her ear. “I’ll show you what I mean.” I opened the button on her jeans and rolled down the zipper. She tensed at first as my hand slid down to her panties. “Relax, I’m dying to touch you.” I pushed my fingers just below the panties. “Do you want this, Roxie?”
I waited through a long pause. Her breath was coming in short spurts. “Yes.” Her voice wavered. “I want it.” Her body relaxed against mine. I pushed my fingers down into the slick folds of her pussy. Her hands curled around my arms to keep her from slipping to the ground.
“Why did I know you’d feel like this— hot, wet, needing badly to be fucked.”
A mewl rolled up from her throat that made my cock press hard against my fly and her ass. She spread her thighs wider to accommodate the width of my hand. My thumb found the cream covered nub that made her cry out. It was another sound of pleasure that made me grit my teeth to keep from ripping her clothes off right there and taking her on the smooth granite boulder.
“Talk to me, darlin’,” I said. “I want you to come all over my hand. You tell me if you want more or if you want less.” She held her breath as I slid first one, then two, fingers into her. All the while my thumb strummed her clit like a delicate instrument. “Is this good, baby?”
“Yes.” Her voice floated away on a breeze. She ground against the pressure of my hand and took more of me in with each movement of her hips. She gripped my arms with her long fingers and held my hand tightly between her thighs. “Oh fuck, Jericho, I— I haven’t felt like—” Her ass pushed against me. I groaned as she rubbed against my cock. My fingers were drenched between her legs as I moved them deep inside of her.
Then she reached down and held my wrist, as if she feared I would pull my hand away.
“That’s it, baby. I won’t stop until you come. I won’t stop until I hear you scream with the feel of it.” She rocked harder against my hand, and she tightened her legs.
Her head lolled back against my shoulder. “Oh yes, fuck yes,” she cried out. The sound rolled back to us from the surrounding mountains.
She melted against me just like she had when I’d kissed her in the entryway. She held tightly to my arms as I wrapped them around her. She turned and pressed herself against me.
For a long time she rested her head on my chest, not saying a word. Then she spoke. “Thank you. I was feeling dead inside and— Thank you.”
Her phone rang, and it startled her. She pulled it from her pocket. I glanced down at the screen. It was Gamble. She hesitated but then shook her head. “If I don’t answer, he’ll interrogate me later about why I ignored his call.”
She walked away from my arms. “Hello. I didn’t hear it. I’m out on the balcony. Yes alone. Fuck, what do you want from me? Fine, then I’ll see you tomorrow.” She stared down at the ph
one on her palm. “I fucking hate phones.” She put it back in her pocket. The phone call from the asshole had changed her mood completely. She buttoned up her pants. “I should get home.”
She headed toward the bike, but I grabbed her arm. She pulled away at first and then fell against me. “What the heck am I doing?”
“You’re out trying to remember what freedom felt like. Hell, Roxie, just leave him. I’ll protect you.”
She stepped back. Tears streamed down her cheeks. “It’s not me I’m worried about. I’m tied to him, and there’s nothing I can do to make it right. I have to stay with him. I’m being selfish hanging out with you. He’ll come after you, and it will be my fault. Everything fucking hinges on me staying with a man I despise.”
She wrapped her arms tightly around herself. A sad smile formed on her face. “I don’t even know why he’d want me. I try my hardest to make him hate me. I keep thinking he’ll just say fuck it and tell me to get out. I wouldn’t even care if I had no job or house, I’d be free of him, and that would be all that mattered. But for him it’s control. He has control of me. He won’t throw that away no matter how bitchy and hateful I am with him. He wants to hold the fucking reins.” She covered her face.
I walked over and wrapped my arms around her. “It would be easier to help you if I knew what the hell was going on.”
She shook her head without lifting her face from my chest. “I can’t.” Her body shook in my arms as she pulled in a long shuddering breath. She peered up at me. “Take me home, Jericho. I can’t drag you into this.”
“Yes, fucking drag me, drag me all the damn way, baby, because I’m not walking away. And I’m going to tell you right now that I don’t give a shit about what that guy tries with me. I will fight him for you, and I will win.”
She gazed up at me through watery eyes. “Shit, I wish that were true.” She walked over to the bike. We rode silently back to the house. Her arms held tightly to me the entire ride.
chapter 16