by Hope Ford
She’s pissed. I swear I can almost see steam coming out of her ears. When I told her we were fixing her roof and porch, she about went ballistic. When I saw the condition of the inside of her house, I moved a team of men inside, one of them being Keeper. He’s one of the main guys I trust here. I mean, I trust all the brothers, but I know Keeper will keep an eye on Harper.
She argued with me, threatened to call the police and then finally went and pouted to Keeper. I kept my distance from her. I’m still hot from this morning. When I pulled in and saw Keeper with his hands on her, I about lost my shit. Even though I know I can trust him, it still went all through me. And then when I discovered that she was wearing only panties and a T-shirt, well, I wanted to murder someone.
I didn’t know if I wanted to bend her over my knee and spank her little ass or take her to the bedroom and pound my seed into her until she begged for mercy.
As I watch her help Keeper, I can’t get my mind off living with her here. I know she’s not going to let me move in, at least not yet, but I want to be with her and I don’t want to stay at the Exiled Guardians club or at my apartment above the strip club. I want a house with her, a family and until I can get something built, this is going to be it.
I know she doesn’t want bossy. I can tell she doesn’t like being told what to do. I’m trying to hold back. I know I have a lot to prove to her and until I do, well, I’m willing to take it slow.
“Keep,” I holler.
He walks over to me and when I catch Harper staring at me, she turns her head away quickly. I would chuckle at her antics if I still wasn’t feeling remnants of anger toward my men. They saw her almost naked. I’ve watched them the rest of the day and they haven’t even looked her way. I’m sure they know by now I would kill someone if they messed with her.
“What’s up, Smoky?”
“I’m going to the department and hardware store. Can you keep an eye on Harper?”
I ask him.
He shrugs his shoulders. “Yeah, but she’s getting ready to go to work, she said.”
Fuck. “Can you take her there? I will bring the stuff here and drop it off before I go in.”
He nods his head, but I can tell he has something to say. “What is it, Keep?”
“She’s pretty upset about all this.” He gestures around the house. “She thinks you’re doing this out of pity.”
I look him dead in the eye. “I’m not.”
He looks at me, measuring my response. I should be pissed, but honestly, I’m glad Harper has someone else on her side besides me. Looking around the room, l can see that the whole club has her back.
He nods his head, then slaps me on the back. “I’ll get her to work.”
Harper
When I came out of my bedroom from getting ready for work, Smoky was gone. I knew it as soon as I walked out. I don’t know what to think about all of this. He’s pretty much avoided me since this morning. However, I’ve felt his stare all day long. I’ve felt a pull in my lower belly and a tingle in my whole body every time I look at him.
“I’m going to work, Keeper. I’ll see you later,” I tell him as I walk past.
I wave at a few of the guys and keep moving.
“Hold up!” Keeper stands up, wiping his hands down his jeans. “Smoky asked me to take you to work.”
“What?” I roll my eyes. “No way. You’ve already been working on my house all day. I don’t need you to walk me to work. Plus, if he was so worried about me getting there, he should be here to take me.” My face flushes, and I want to kick myself for saying that out loud.
I stride out the door and get as far as the sidewalk before Keeper catches up with me. “Do you feel better?”
“Maybe. No. Ugh, where is he? I need to get this settled. I can’t afford for you to do all this work on my house, and I don’t want his pity either.” I keep walking and Keeper, with his long legs, keeps up with me easily.
“He doesn’t pity you. It’s not my place to say how he feels about you, but I will tell you that this is new to him too. Give him a chance, Harper.” I stop and he walks about ten feet ahead of me before he stops and turns around. I want to ask him what he means, but I don’t. I’m sure there’s some kind of bro code or something going on here and well, honestly, I don’t know if I’m ready to hear it yet.
“Well, c’mon, you got me walking here and I don’t walk anywhere. Let’s go.” He claps his hands together and I walk up beside him.
“I’m sorry. We should have brought your bike. I wasn’t thinking. Now you have to walk back,” I apologize.
“I don’t have a death wish. There’s no way I would put you on the back of my bike. Brother or no brother, Smoky would shoot me for that one.”
“For riding on your bike?” I ask him incredulously. Surely he’s joking.
“Harper, to us, it means something to let a woman on the back of your bike. You don’t just let anyone. I’ve never had a woman behind me, and I don’t think Smoky has either,” he says as he opens the door to the bar.
I walk in next to him and stop and point to myself. “Me. I rode on the back of his bike,” I admit.
He just smiles and shakes his head. “That right there should tell you something.”
I thank him for walking me and refuse his offer to stay until Smoky gets here. “Teddy’s here. I’ll be fine.”
He looks over at Teddy and snarls his nose up. Obviously, there’s something going on there. “Don’t trust Teddy. He’s here, but there’s something about him I don’t trust.”
I nod my head at him, thank him again and then watch as he walks back out the door.
I walk to the bar and put my purse under the counter. “Hey, Teddy.”
“Hey,” he answers. “I’m going to need you waiting tables. I’ve had two servers call in and I can’t pull any dancers, not on the weekend.”
I almost argue with him, but I can tell that’s what he’s expecting. I think for a second I should call Smoky, but I don’t have his number and decide to just do what he’s asking me.
I nod at him, grab an apron and tie it around my waist.
It’s definitely busier on the weekends, I’m finding out. And rowdier. There’s a lot more people here and I’m tense the whole time I trek back and forth between the table and the bar. I know when Smoky gets here, he’s going to be mad, but regardless, I have to make money.
7
Smoky
It took me longer than I thought it to pick up everything and take it back to her house. The stuff that wouldn’t fit in the truck I paid extra to have delivered tonight.
As soon as the boys unloaded my truck, I drove the five minutes to the club.
When I walk in I know something is wrong. I look at the bar and Teddy and Kristy are standing behind it. I look around the room and finally spot Harper.
As soon as I do, I start walking toward her, and as if she senses me, she turns around and looks straight at me.
I watch as an arm sneaks around her waist and pulls her down. Her eyes widen and I can see the fear from across the room. I make my way through the throng of people, watching helplessly as she struggles in the man’s grasp. His other arm comes around her and grabs her breast as she winces in pain.
Mother fucker. I start pushing people left and right and before I reach her, the man holding her spots me and releases her. It doesn’t stop me. I barrel into him, taking us both flying back onto the table. I pummel him with my fist and don’t stop until three men drag me off. I stand up and turn to our bouncer, but before I jump on to him for not stopping this before it happened, I point to the man on the table. “Take him outside and make sure he never comes back. Take his friends with him.”
I look at Harper, standing there and trembling like a leaf. “Aw, honey.” I walk toward her but before I get to her, she runs toward me and into my open arms. I don’t even hesitate. I lift her up into my arms and stride across the room. Everyone moves out of the way as we walk by and I take her up the back stairs to my
apartment. When I get inside, I take her straight to the bedroom and set her down on her unsteady feet.
I pull her T-shirt up, but she puts her hand out to stop me.
“Honey, it’s okay,” I assure her. “I just want to make sure you’re all right.”
She releases her hold on me and lets me take her shirt off. I unfasten her bra and gasp at the bruising that is already forming on her large, round breast. “I should have killed the fucker,” I grunt.
I stroke my finger across her bruised skin softly. She arches against me, but I pull gently away. She pulls out of reach then. “I’m fine, Smoky.”
I should tell her that she was supposed to be behind the bar, but I don’t want her to feel like I’m blaming her for this. No, that will be a conversation for another day.
She turns her back to me and I see the wince on her face as she turns. I stroke my hand down her side and see a faint bruise on her ribs.
I step toward her, putting my body against hers. I circle my arms around her because I have to, because I need her right now… even if she thinks she doesn’t need me.
“Baby, please let me take care of you. Please. It kills me that he was hurting you and I couldn’t get to you in time. I won’t do anything else, just care for you. I promise.”
She turns in my arms and I try to ignore the feeling of her bare breasts pressed against my chest. “It’s not your fault, Smoky. I knew I should have been behind the bar, but Teddy said he needed me on the floor.”
I take a deep breath and slowly release it. It looks like I’ll be looking for a new assistant because he did the exact opposite of what I told him to do.
I lay my head against hers. She has the smell of beer and sweat from the man that grabbed her.
I take her hand and walk her to the bathroom. I turn the water on and then help her undress.
I know she’s uncomfortable with this by the way she tries to shield her body from me. I grab her hands and stop her. “No, honey. It’s not about that. I want you. There’s no doubt I want you, but right now, I only want to help you.”
She nods her head and drops her arms to her sides.
I help her into the shower stall and quickly remove my clothes while her back is turned. I climb in behind her and she stands there with her head back and the water beating down on her. The glistening water rolls down her body and my cock hardens at the sight of her curves. My imagination didn’t do her justice. She’s breathtaking.
My hands go to her shoulders and I caress them until she’s no longer tight. Then I take a sponge hanging on the wall and coat it with soap. I run it down her back, across her rounded ass, and down her legs. She turns to face me and my cock twitches. She gasps when she sees me naked, but at least she doesn’t run from the bathroom. I stroke her breasts, her belly, between her thighs and down her legs. She’s arching toward me and I know that if I was a lesser man, I would take her right now, standing up against the shower wall.
When I stand back up, I put shampoo in my hand and turn her around to wash and condition her hair. She moans as I massage her scalp. Once I rinse her off, she turns to me and grabs the sponge off the wall.
I smile at her, secretly happy that we’re making progress.
I take the sponge from her. “Baby, if you touch me right now, I won’t be able to stop myself.”
I wash quickly, tugging on my cock a few times as I clean myself. She watches me, her eyes big and hungry.
I throw it down and turn off the water. I dry her quickly and can barely take my eyes off her bruises.
I pull a T-shirt out of the drawer and slide it over her towel-covered head. I pull on a pair of boxers and then lead her over to the bed, pulling down the covers and helping her sit down.
“Have you eaten?” I towel dry her hair and then unwrap it, handing her my brush.
She takes it and starts brushing out her hair. “I ate lunch earlier today.”
“I’ll be right back.”
I go into the kitchen and quickly make her something to eat.
When I walk back into the bedroom, she’s looking up at me with hooded eyes. “Here, honey. Sit up.”
She scoots backwards and leans against the headboard. When I put the plate on her lap, she grins. “A grilled cheese sandwich?”
I smile at seeing the happy expression on her face. “I take it you like them?”
She takes a bite and moans around the gooey cheese. “It’s my favorite.”
I sit at the end of the bed and watch her devour her sandwich. She’s not embarrassed by me watching her, and I love that about her.
“Is that for me too?” she asks, pointing at my hands.
I smirk, not even realizing that I had a glass of milk in my hands the whole time.
I hand it to her and she takes a big gulp before putting it on the table beside the bed. I get up and reach for it.
She curls to her side. “Where are you going?”
I stroke the hair away from her face and look at her lovingly. “I’m going to let you rest.”
“Stay with me. Will you, Smoky? Please?”
I know if I lie down with her, I will feel temptation like no other, but I can’t tell her no.
I set the glass down and walk around the bed to lie on top of the cover.
She turns over to face me. “You’ll get cold.”
“I doubt that,” I tell her because right now I’m burning up.
She stares at me and I can tell her mind is working a mile a minute.
“Ask me,” I tell her.
She smiles at me. “Okay. Why are you helping me with the house?”
I shrug my shoulders. “Because I want to.”
She slides an inch toward me. “It’s going to take me a while to pay you back. You know that, right?”
I smile as she scoots a little closer to me. I don’t know if she realizes she’s doing it or not.
“Why would you pay me back? I’ll be living there too. At least until we get the house built,” I tell her honestly.
“House? What house?” she exclaims.
“The one we’re going to live in,” I tell her.
She starts to ask another question but I lean over and kiss her softly on the lips. Reluctantly, I realize too late that touching her was a bad decision. I want her and this isn’t helping. I pull back. “Go to sleep, honey. We’ll talk about everything in the morning.”
She nods her head and barely covers her mouth before she’s yawning. I pull the covers more securely around her and watch as she drifts off. When she grins in her sleep, I know I’m making the right decision by her. I may have just met her, but I can’t imagine my life without her in it.
8
Harper
I raise my head off of something that feels like a furnace. When I see that I’m sprawled on top of Smoky, my first instinct is to slide off and to the other side of the bed. But something stops me. Maybe it’s his hand that is snug against my back, holding and protecting me. Or maybe it’s the feelings I have for him. But whatever it is, I lay my head down and bask in the joy of being in his arms. I move my leg a little and he moans underneath me. I raise my head and look at him, but he’s still sleeping.
Slowly, I raise myself off of him and slide down the bed. His cock is hard and poking out the elastic band of his shorts. I eye his manhood and lick my lips when a drop of precum glistens on the tip. I lean up, not about to stop myself from getting a taste of him. As soon as his flavor hits my tongue, I open my mouth wider and pull him into my mouth.
He startles then, his body jerking and unintentionally pushing farther into my mouth. I look up at his face and he’s wide awake, his brown eyes almost black with lust.
“Harper,” he groans.
I lean up then, getting on my knees. I smile at him before taking him again, this time pulling him to the back of my throat. When I swallow him, he throws his head back and groans. I back off before deep throating him again. When I gag on his huge cock, which is expanding even more in my mouth, he grunts and
pulls me off his rod and up his body. My legs are nudged apart and I’m straddling him, with his cock pressed against my butt cheeks.
“Harper, I want you. I want this. Fuck, I want it more than anything I’ve ever wanted in my life. But I need you to be sure, because once I’m between your thighs, there’s no turning back. You’re mine.”
He looks so serious that I can’t help but laugh.
He grabs my hips in a tight grip.
I just smile at him before I whip my shirt off over my head. Looking down at him, I tell him. “It’s too late. You’re already between my legs.”
I lean down and kiss his lips. His tongue plunges into my mouth and meets mine. I push my bare pussy against him, rocking back and forth.
Cupping my ass, he flips his body over until he’s lying on top of me. “Harper, I need you now.” He kisses my mouth, my cheek, my collarbone, and my breast.
“Take me, Smoky. I need you too.”
His hand goes down between us and plunges into my drenched heat. Like a damn hussy, I gyrate my hips against his palm. Already, I’m close to the brink and desire shoots through me as I come on his hand while he plunges his fingers into me. My hands tighten around him and my fingernails claw into his back. He trembles then, the pain and ecstasy too much.
He spreads me open and fits himself against my soaked opening. I take him in, feeling him stretching me to his girth. He moves slowly but the pressure is too much and I tighten around him as I feel the pulsating vibrations of his loaded cock as he seats himself inside me. When he’s buried to the hilt, his head falls down on mine. He takes a deep breath, trying to control himself.
I raise my legs up and bring them around him, opening myself even more to him. He pulls out, the slick sounds of him sliding deeply back into me filling the room.
He pounds into me, our bodies slapping against each other. His cock twitches inside of me and my pussy squeezes him as another orgasm takes hold. When I arch my body, I bear down on him with a vise grip as he moves in and out of me. I grunt and groan but I don’t stop. My whole body tautens as his throbbing dick pushes in and out of me.
