by Lane Hart
The color drains from her father’s face as he digests that lie. I wouldn’t be racing around, driving like a maniac with Isobel on the back of my bike. But I don’t mind letting him think I’m that careless. It’s his own fault for putting her in this position with me where I could easily endanger her life.
“If anything happens to her, I’ll hunt you down,” he warns me under his breath.
“Dad, stop,” Isobel says. “That’s no way to talk to our guest and your future son-in-law.”
Sighing heavily with exasperation, he says, “Dinner is on the table in the dining room. Why don’t we head on in there? Unless you two need to clean up first?” he asks, basically implying that I’m a dirty pile of trash that’s underneath him. He knew what I was before he insisted that I meet his daughter.
“I should probably go wash up,” I agree. Winking at the governor, I say, “You don’t even want to know all the naughty places my hands have been.”
He growls an indecipherable curse before Isobel drags me down the hall and away from him. She pulls me into a fancy bathroom with lace on the hand towels and even a chandelier hanging from the ceiling. What a way to spend taxpayer dollars.
“Jeez, he hates you already,” Isobel whispers gleefully with a broad smile while she presses her back against the door. Then, her hands are grabbing at the front of my jeans, pulling me closer and fumbling with the button and zipper.
“What are you doing?” I ask her, even though it seems pretty obvious.
“I want you to fuck my mouth in this pretentious house,” she says as she jerks my undone jeans and boxer briefs down my thighs. “Besides, I still owe you an orgasm to make things even between us.”
Fuck, I want her mouth but don’t want it to be our last time. I can’t let it be the last time since amazing sex is all I have up my sleeve to convince her to stick around after dinner.
“I don’t know if now is really the time or place, Iz,” I whisper, my head so fucked up that my dick was completely flaccid until her fingers wrap around it. All the blood in my body rushes south so fast I sway from the sudden onset of dizziness.
“I’ll make it worth your while, Captain. Promise,” Isobel says, as if I had any doubts about her skills before she sinks down to her knees. Keeping her eyes lifted to my face the entire time, she guides the head of my shaft in between her parted lips.
“Oh shit, woman,” I gasp as her wet tongue licks my slit and then coats the underside of my cock. I have to slap my right palm on the door above her to catch myself when my knees go weak. Once I’ve braced myself, my hips start pumping involuntarily, thrusting my dick deeper into her mouth until her nose is finally pressed against my pelvis.
“Goddamn that’s good,” I groan as my left-hand cups the back of her head to hold her still so I can fuck her mouth like she wanted.
It feels so amazing I don’t ever want her to stop sucking my dick, especially since this could be the last time we fool around. But I can only last so long before I erupt down her throat. She takes everything I give her too, without even a grunt of complaint.
As soon as she releases my cock from her mouth to wipe the corners of her lips, I grab her shoulders to pull her to her feet. Holding her face between my hands, I cover her lips with mine, not minding tasting myself on her. “Thanks for that,” I tell her as I lower my hands down her sides and around to cup her ass cheeks under her leather dress. Hoping that she got herself worked up sucking me off, I say, “Let me take care of you too.”
“No, that’s okay,” Isobel says, taking a step back and removing my hands from her body. “We, um, better get back out there. If we’re gone much longer, he may break the door down to get in here.”
“Okay, but you’re going to stay with me again tonight, right?” I ask while pulling up my pants. As soon as the question leaves my mouth, I can tell by the surprised look on her face that she hadn’t planned to stay with me on my boat again. “I thought we had fun last night,” I say to try and convince her to come home with me, not just as a job for her father but because I want her back in my bed, more than any other woman since the one I lost twelve years ago.
“Yeah, last night was fun, but you know my bucket list rule.”
“We haven’t been together three times yet,” I remind her.
“Three orgasms is the limit, not the minimum requirement,” she says without meeting my eyes. Fuck, I’m already losing her, and it hasn’t even been twenty-four hours. There has to be something I can do to convince her to stick around.
“I know a tattoo artist,” I blurt out when I suddenly remember seeing the entry on her bucket list. “Gabriel Cross is an amazing artist who can draw anything you want, and he’s a Savage King. If I call him, he could probably squeeze you in tomorrow morning.”
“We’ll see,” she says before she turns and walks out of the bathroom. Her answer isn’t a no, but it sounds like I have my work cut out for me to make it turn into a yes.
My shoulders are already slumped when I wash up and go search for the dining room. I’m feeling disappointed even after the amazing head she gave me because Isobel’s ready to bolt on me. But seeing another dude’s arms around her sends a punch of adrenaline right through my system.
“Who the hell is he?” I ask, not missing the smirk on her father’s face from where he’s sitting at the head of a long ass table that seats around sixteen people.
“Oh, Sax, this is my friend Daniel I told you about. Daniel this is my…boyfriend Sax,” Isobel says when she slips out of his arms.
The fucker with his plaid shirt tucked into his tight white pants glances over and gives me a look that says he’s sizing me up. “Well, Izzie, that’s one way to piss off your father,” he mutters.
I just met him, and I already hate him, mostly because he had his hands on Isobel, but also because he’s right. I could never deserve a good girl like her, and she would never have brought me here for anything other than a big “fuck you” to her father.
And why is this rage-filled jealousy trying to claw its way up out of my throat when we’re not really together? I shouldn’t give a shit who touches Isobel as long as she stays in town and makes amends with her father. But I do care.
“You haven’t told him we’re eloping yet?” I ask Isobel when she comes around to the other side of the table where I’m standing.
“No, Danny, um, just got here,” she says, placing a kiss on my cheek.
“No way Izzie would get married and not invite me,” the dick says with a grin. “Besides, I’m guessing you two just met since you sent me his driver’s license photo last night.”
Without responding to that statement calling her bluff, Isobel says, “Let’s all have a seat and dig in.”
She pulls out the chair closest to the end of the table near her father, so I take the one beside her. On the opposite side, Daniel lowers himself into a chair. Guess he’s joining us for dinner.
Silently, Isobel passes me a bowl filled with salad, while other dishes get passed around the table. It actually looks damn good, so I pick up my fork and stab a carrot. As soon as it’s in my mouth, dickhead Daniel says, “Shouldn’t we say grace before we eat?”
“By all means,” I agree with my mouth full before chewing it up.
He bows his head and closes his eyes, with Isobel and her father following suit.
“Heavenly Father, we thank you for the nutritious food you’ve put on our table and for blessing us with your glory as we celebrate Lawrence’s birthday tonight. Help guide us back down the path of righteousness, even when we make a wrong turn. In your name we pray. Amen.”
Why do I get the feeling he’s referring to me as Isobel’s “wrong turn”?
“Amen,” her father says. “Thank you, Daniel. I’m so glad you could join us to celebrate my birthday.”
“Me too,” Isobel agrees with a smile.
“So where have you been lately, Izzie? I haven’t seen your Instagram in a few months to keep up with all of your recent bucket list acc
omplishments.”
Yeah, right. He’s got cyber-stalker written all over his face.
And it doesn’t take a genius to see that the governor would love for his daughter to end up with someone like Daniel, who is obviously from a wealthy family. I think Isobel said his father is police chief, so that connection would be beneficial to him too. But I guess he wasn’t the man for her and didn’t give her a reason to stick around.
“Well,” Isobel starts, her face lighting up as she starts ticking items off on her fingers. “I finally climbed the Statue of Liberty, went rafting through the Grand Canyon. I’ve seen the secret city of Machu Picchu, Peru, snorkeled with endangered leatherback sea turtles in Barbados, walked along the Great Wall of China, visited the pyramids in Giza, drank a glass of wine under the Eiffel Tower, and went on an African safari!”
“Wow, that’s pretty impressive,” Daniel says, echoing my thoughts. She wasn’t kidding about wanting to see the world. “I would’ve loved to tag along. Where did you meet him? On some mountain top?” he asks snidely, nodding in my direction.
“Ah, no. Sax and I only met recently,” she replies, glancing over at me and leaving out the part about the bar. “Love at first sight and all that.”
“Right. Yeah,” Daniel says, sounding unconvinced.
“So, he’s going to be accompanying you from now on?” her father asks.
“Ah, well, we haven’t decided what we’re going to do next,” Isobel tells him, clearly not wanting to come right out and lie to her father with everyone else at the table, even though she has no problem pretending to be in love with me. Or is it that she doesn’t want to lie to me, knowing I won’t be around on her next great adventure?
“We’re happy to just take it one day at a time, aren’t we?” I say, covering Isobel’s hand with mine.
“Impulsiveness is often a symptom…” Daniel starts, causing Isobel to glare at him. Is he implying that she would have to be crazy to want a guy like me? He’s probably right.
“I’m not being impulsive. I’m just living my life to the fullest,” she responds through clenched teeth.
Her father clears his throat between bites, and then asks, “So what exactly do you do for a living…Sax?”
“I’m an officer in an MC, a motorcycle club, that owns many lucrative businesses. Each member gets a cut every quarter,” I explain, even though he already knows.
“Legal businesses?” Daniel questions.
“Sure, mostly,” I answer with a smirk.
Under the table, Isobel gives my thigh a squeeze and says, “Daniel’s father is the police chief in Cary,” as if she’s worried that I’ll say something to get myself in trouble. She has no fucking idea how much trouble I’m in. And it’s not like I can just come out and tell her that me and the majority of the other guys in the MC were caught killing twenty men by her father, then ask if she could please go back to being a good girl for a few more months to help us avoid life sentences.
“What do your business ventures entail?” Danny-boy asks.
“A hotel, strip club, tattoo studio and bar all in Emerald Isle. Tourism on the coast is always growing,” I tell him. “So what do you do, Daniel?” I ask.
“Didn’t Isobel tell you?” he responds, flashing a mega-watt, douchey smile in her direction. “I have my own pediatric practice.”
Great, he’s a fucking doctor. If I had to guess, I bet Isobel was a nurse at his facility. It’s just a match made in heaven, yet Isobel must not care about him if she’s been traveling the world on her own. I get it. He’s too…conservative for a girl who says she loves spontaneity. Anything other than missionary in the bedroom is probably more than the rich prick can handle.
So no, I’m not jealous of the relationship old Danny has with Isobel. I’m just not a fan of the way he looks at her, like she’s the one that got away and he hasn’t given up hope on getting her back.
My theory about how he feels about her is confirmed when Daniel goes on to say, “A kid could be screaming their lungs out because they were scared or suffering, and all Isobel had to do was sing “Walking on Sunshine” to them and they would instantly calm down. The kids just adored her and so did their parents.”
“Not all of the parents,” Isobel mutters quietly.
“Oh, it’s not just kids. Isobel has that effect on everyone,” I say honestly as I slip my arm around her back. “I started falling for her the first time I heard her sing too.”
Game on, jackass.
Chapter Nine
Isobel
“What are you doing with that loser, Izzie?” Daniel whispers when Sax excuses himself after dinner and steps outside to make a phone call.
“He’s not a loser,” I huff as I start clearing the table. My father was the first to vanish, disappearing to attend to business, of course. Forget that it’s his birthday or that I rarely visit. He has a state to run and decisions to make.
“If you say so,” Daniel mutters, gathering up the drinking glasses.
“Jeez, Danny, just because someone isn’t rich or didn’t go to medical school like you doesn’t mean they have any less worth as a human being,” I say as I head for the kitchen with Daniel following me.
“Hey now, he’s the one calling himself a ‘Savage King,’ not me. The word savage says it all, don’t you think? Those guys are violent and ruthless.”
“I may not have known Sax for long, but he’s neither of those things,” I respond as I place the dishes in the sink and take the glasses from Daniel’s hands. “All I know is that I like him. He’s…fun.”
“You can do better, Izzie. You deserve better. The guy runs with a bad crew.”
“I appreciate your concern, but it’s unnecessary,” I tell him. “You sound like my father, by the way. You two have been spending way too much time together.”
Laying his hand on my arm, Daniel says, “We’re just worried about you. We both thought you needed a few weeks to come to terms with everything, but it’s been a year now. When are you going to stop this craziness?”
“You of all people should know that I only have a few good years left. I don’t intend to waste them,” I remind him.
“So then ditch the biker and let me come with you,” Daniel pleads.
“You have a practice to run,” I point out, rather than tell him the truth – that I don’t want him tagging along, reporting everything I do back to my father.
“My associates can cover for me,” he says.
“Daniel, I’m sorry, but you should stay here.”
“You shouldn’t be alone, Izzie, especially when you don’t know when your symptoms may worsen! What if you’re driving and have a wreck? You need someone looking out for you.”
“I’ll turn in my license before it gets that bad,” I assure him. “And I have Sax,” I lie, since tonight will be the last time I see the hot biker before I hit the road.
“And who is going to look out for you with him?” Daniel grumbles through clenched teeth.
“Stop worrying about me. I’m not a child, despite the fact that you and my father still treat me like one.”
“We care about you and don’t want you to end up dead on the side of the road somewhere,” he replies.
“Maybe that’s what you worry about. My father is just concerned that the media will catch me doing something he doesn’t like and that it’ll hurt his numbers at the polls.”
“You know there’s more to him than that,” Daniel says.
“I’m not so sure.”
“Just, promise me you’ll be careful,” he says. “And if you need anything, call me. I’ll come to you even if you’re halfway across the world.”
“I know you would,” I reply with a small smile. “Thanks, Danny,” I say when I give him a hug.
“You ready to hit the road?” Sax asks from the doorway of the kitchen, his voice deeper and more commanding than I’ve ever heard it.
“Yeah, just saying goodbye,” I say as I pull away from Daniel.
“
Take care of yourself,” he says, kissing my cheek before he lets me go.
And, for the first time since last night when we met in the parking lot, I see an inclination toward violence on Sax’s handsome, normally cheerful face. Not that he looks like he would hurt me, but Daniel probably shouldn’t ever be alone with him for any period of time.
“Everything okay?” I ask Sax when I take his hand to pull him toward the mansion’s front door. There’s no reason to even seek out my father, who is likely occupied with business. Besides, we’ve already said our goodbyes after dinner.
“You know he wants you, right?” Sax grits out when we’re facing each other beside his bike in the darkness, only the interior lights of the house providing a soft glow on the yard.
“Why do you care?” I ask. Going up on my toes to whisper in his ear, I grasp the front of his cut in both of my fists for balance and say, “You’re just pretending to be my boyfriend, remember?”
“What if we stop pretending?” Sax asks, placing his hands on my hips. “You could stay here…”
“Oh, god,” I groan, and playfully press my palms to his chest to push him away. “Now you’re starting to sound like those two!” I say as I point my index finger back at the house. “I’m not staying anywhere until I cross off every single item on my bucket list.”
“That could take years,” he says.
“You could start working on your own list,” I suggest. “Traveling around the world will take a while too.”
“I can’t,” Sax says with a sigh.
“That’s too bad,” I mutter. “You should follow your heart and do whatever you want to do before it’s too late. But either way, I guess our time together is coming to an end.”
“Not yet. I have something planned, something you can cross off tonight before getting your tattoo tomorrow.”
“I’ll think about it on the ride back,” I tell him.
“You do that,” he says, grabbing the helmet and placing it on my head to fasten the chin strap. “And I’ll think about how I’m not taking you back to your car just yet,” Sax says with a grin before he throws a leg over his bike. And I have to admit he looks mighty good straddling the Harley. His hands gripping the handlebars cause the muscles in his thick arms to flex in the glow from the house. “Are you staying with your pops or taking your chances with me?” he asks when I stand there staring at him. He thinks I’m being indecisive when really, I was just ogling him.
