Bullet: An Alpha Male MC Biker Romance (Steel Knights Motorcycle Club Romance Book 2)

by Ivy Black

  I took a few minutes to take in the sight. He was wearing a white t-shirt underneath a black button-up, that was unbuttoned and rolled up to his elbows. A pair of simple dark blue slacks were on his legs, and brown Doc Martens were on his feet. It was oddly designer for such a muted guy, but thinking back on it, he wore a similar look to our first date. He was leaned back and had his helmet off and balanced against his hip, and when he saw me, a sly smile slipped across his face. It made me burn all over in an instant.

  “Hello,” he greeted. “You look amazing.”

  “Thank you.” I leaned in and gave him a kiss on the cheek, letting it linger and then pulled away. “You do, too.” With a smile, I scanned his rumbling bike. “I get my first ride on the monster, huh?”

  “Is that okay?”

  “Of course. I’ve been anxiously awaiting the moment.”

  He reached into the back compartment and pulled out a spare helmet. “Would have been sooner if you’d answered my phone calls.”

  A laugh skittered out of me before I could stop it. “How long am I gonna have to hear about that?”

  He handed the helmet over. “I don’t know. Maybe you’ll have to earn your way out.”

  I raised an eyebrow. “Don’t challenge me.”

  A wild excitement flared through his eyes. “Why not? I want to know if you’re up to the challenge.”

  Lifting the helmet above my head, I said, “You’ll regret that,” and then pulled it down over my head and straddled the bike behind Harry. I wrapped my arms around his stomach, reminding myself of the muscles that were waiting just beneath his clothes, and off we went.

  Unlike our first date which was in a more electric environment, Harry opted for something much calmer for date number two. He drove us a little outside Hoppa to a piano bar with orders designed to share food and a wide array of themed drinks for notable jazz musicians.

  I hadn’t intended to show my appreciation for the location choice, but as we were sitting down at the table, Harry chuckled at me. “I take it you like the place.”

  It was only then that I realized the stupid smile I had plastered on my face. “Yeah. Jazz music is my favorite. My dad used to listen to it every morning when he’d drive me to school. While most of my friends were jamming out to Panic! At The Disco or Post Malone, I found myself enjoying Etta James and Dizzy Gillespie.”

  “Can’t go wrong with those two,” he said, “Etta and Dizzy are good, too.”

  My eyes widened and my jaw dropped and then I let out a much harder laugh than I wanted. “Is that the elusive Harry Booth sense of humor I hear?”

  He set the table’s provided glass of water to his lips. “Maybe,” he hummed before taking a sip. “My dad, my birth dad, was a major jazz head. In the basement of my childhood home, he built this huge cabinet that was packed with old records, and sometimes we would just sit down there for hours and listen. He had all of Lippa the Bird’s records. I got to take them with me when I left and they’re all I listen to.”

  My heart slammed in my chest. “She’s my favorite.”

  Harry recoiled a bit. “Lippa the Bird’s your favorite jazz musician? She’s so unknown, whenever I mention her, people look at me like I’m nuts.”

  “When I was eleven, my dad and I drove all the way to Minneapolis to see her play live at First Avenue.”

  Harry’s jaw fell so wide it looked like it was going to detach from his face. “I was at that show! My foster father took me because I wouldn’t shut up about it! I wore all gold because Painted in Gold Dust is my favorite song of hers.”

  My hands flew to my mouth. “Oh my God.” I leaned halfway across the table. “I saw you! You were only like two rows back on the main floor.”

  “Yes!” He started to laugh. “Holy shit, I can’t believe this. Looks like we were destined to find each other.”

  “Looks like it.” A soreness emanated from my cheeks from how hard I was smiling.

  Harry cleared his throat and sat back in his chair a little, and all I could think about was how unbelievably cute he looked, getting extra excited about something. He was ordinarily such a quiet and reserved person. I wondered what other topics would open him up like that.

  Our food came to our table not long after we ordered it, and conversation carried us through our date like a well-practiced symphony, exactly as it had done the first time.

  “You mentioned that you work at Hoppa’s Homelessness Organization?” Harry said.

  “I do. I got super lucky and snagged an entry-level position in their youth division out of college, and unfortunately for HHO, they’re overworked and understaffed, so I got moved up quickly to help manage the load. I’m still just a junior social worker, but I get to work hands-on with the kids, which is cool.”

  “They did a lot for me back in the day.”

  I raised an eyebrow. “They did? Were you homeless?”

  “In a way,” he replied. “I won’t get into the details of it, but I didn’t want to be at home. I spent a lot of time out in the streets and whenever I needed a meal or a place to sleep, I’d go there, but then they’d always send me back home.”

  “Yeah. That’s one of the things I’m working on right now. I love the organization, but their rule to just blindly send runaways back home is a little harsh to me. Some kids have very legitimate reasons to not want to be in their homes.”

  Harry took a quick sip of his wine, and I saw his eyes flash with a painful memory for a brief moment. “Trust me, I know.”

  I decided not to push that topic. If he wanted to bring it up, he would, maybe once we got closer.

  Not that we would be getting much closer, because this was all just a ploy.

  It was only after a shared plate of cheesecake, another glass of wine, and then a handful of cups of coffee that we finally had to approach the topic of ending the date. When I mentioned it, Harry looked up at me and then rolled his eyes.

  “What?” I asked.

  “Nothing.”

  “Tell me.”

  He shook his head. “No.”

  “Hey,” I snipped, “you can’t roll your eyes at me and then not tell me what you’re thinking.”

  He waited for a few minutes and then locked his eyes directly into mine. “I was just thinking about how much I want to take you home again.”

  The resonance in his voice washed over my skin and left goosebumps in its wake. “So why don’t you?”

  “It didn’t work out so well for me last time, did it?”

  If I hadn’t ghosted him on purpose, I might have taken offense. “Still draggin’ that one out, huh?” I leaned as far across the small table as I could and danced my fingertips across the back of his hand. “Didn’t you say I’d have to earn my way out?”

  Harry considered me quietly for a minute and then said, “You’re not gonna ghost again are you?”

  I perked an eyebrow and flashed him a seductive gaze. “Give me a good reason to hang around.”

  That was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Harry quickly paid for our meal and then in the blink of an eye, we were back on his bike and blazing back into Hoppa. We tripped and fell our way up the sidewalk, already tangling into one another, but when we were finally behind the front door, there was no holding back. It didn’t take a genius to know that sleeping with Harry was only going to confuse my feelings. Not only was he one of the sexiest men I’d ever been with, but there was something about the way he looked at me. Something about the way each place he touched burned as if his hands were made of fire. It threw logic out the window. It had me pulling at him like I was starved and he was the only food available as he pushed up against the door with his hands sliding down my sides, journeying lower to the base of my dress.

  His lips found mine in his unlit living room, sliding over them and pressing with his tongue, requesting I let him in. I sent mine forward to meet him and they twisted into one another. I let a quiet moan escape my lips, giving Harry the confidence to go further, because his hands w
rapped around my thighs and he lifted me from my feet. He kept me fastened between himself and the door, reminding me exactly how strong he was behind his glasses and quiet charm. His button-up shirt, though unbuttoned, was struggling to contain his thick arms, so I did us both a favor and pulled it free.

  “We’re not even in the bedroom yet,” Harry said with a snicker, and that same resolve was back but it had a depth to it that made me glad it wasn’t on me to stay on my feet for the moment. There was a beast inside Harry, one I’d met at the conclusion of our first date, and I was glad to meet it again. In most circumstances, he chose to keep that beast at bay, but now he’d released the leash and it was running rampant, letting his lips and hands go anywhere he wished.

  I clawed along his back, pulling the t-shirt that had been under his button-up further up his stomach. He rested his head against my neck and licked a line up the side. I dragged the shirt further and further up until it was at his shoulders. He pulled his head back enough for me to get his shirt over his head, leaving his torso bare. I groaned at the well-cut abs and firm pecs, partnered by his biceps, flexed slightly as his arms did the job of keeping me up. The man I’d slept with in a petty fit of rage a few nights ago cracked across my brain briefly. Not one ounce of that experience had been as satisfying as the one I was having now.

  And we were still in the front hall.

  “Bed,” I growled, but Harry shook his head.

  Through the shield of his glasses, he looked at me and I realized I’d stepped right into a trap I didn’t even see set there. “You said you’d earn your way back, so don’t rush me. I’m going to treat this as if I won’t see you again.”

  He kissed me again and this time when he did it, he pinched my bottom lip in his teeth. His fingers dug into my skin, reminding me of my dress that still kept our skin apart, but his hands felt so hot against me, it was like they were ignoring that fact. Excited for what could be, I relinquished control. The more inches I gave Harry, the more feet he took.

  What awaited me on the other side was equal parts terrifying and exciting to imagine.

  I did what I could to anchor myself to the real reason I was there. My mission was important, and I kept having to repeat it internally in a weak attempt to keep myself from falling too deep into Harry’s spell.

  But then he would hiss my name.

  “Celia.”

  And it was as if the arousal deep in my body was begging me to forget anything other than my carnal desires. I gripped the back of his head, fighting to catch my breath, and looked into his eyes. “How long are you going to make me wait?”

  “Tsk, tsk, tsk,” he tutted. “You made me wait.”

  My fingers dug a little deeper. “Punish me for it then.”

  He pulled me away from the door and turned. As if he were carrying a sack of feathers, not a person, he carried me down to his bedroom. He moved with an ease, but a quickness that had the moisture between my legs doubling. I wanted, needed, him. Maybe I was impatient. I’d never had someone demand so much of me before. I felt inexplicably compelled to give it.

  He dropped me down to the bed and stood over me. His normally light eyes were much darker now and wide with lust. They took several trips up and down my form and my body temperature increased.

  “Stop staring.”

  “No,” he replied immediately, and it was the best kind of gut punch. Who knew Harry was that kind of alpha? I’d never experienced anything like it. The way he let his eyes bore over me, I had to resist the urge to physically bare my neck. “You’re too beautiful not to stare at.” His hands moved to his pants to unbutton them. “I told you already, I’m behaving as if this is the last taste of you I’m going to get. Don’t expect me to hold back...”

  I swallowed hard. My heart was thundering through me and my head was fuzzy. “I don’t want you to.”

  His hands moved away after freeing his button and pulling down the zipper, giving me a teasing view of the bulge that rested within. It seemed larger than I remembered, but the thoughts disappeared as his hands went down to my legs to unwrap my dress and pull it away from my body. He left it to rest beneath me and wrapped his arms around my thighs and pulled, dragging me to the edge of the bed as he knelt. His eyes fluttered closed and he placed soft kisses all along the inside of my legs, trailing down until he was almost at my core, before hopping back up the top of the other legs and starting down again.

  “Stop teasing me,” I growled.

  His eyes flicked open for a moment, landing in mine. “No.”

  I was terrified of him. Of how quickly he made me forget everything that wasn’t him. I’d spent my entire life always keeping some semblance of control over myself, but Harry made me feel like I was falling from the top story of a skyscraper.

  And I liked it.

  I dropped my head back, and Harry returned to kissing my legs. Kisses turned to nibbles and then to bites. I gasped as his teeth sunk in. His breath caressed my skin as he chuckled at my reaction and his hands moved forward off my thighs, just enough to grab the edges of my underwear and drag them down my legs. The exposure was frightening but exciting, and I was rewarded for my lack of complaints by Harry’s head finally pushing in to lick.

  I whined and writhed as he set to work, taking as much of me below as he wanted. I pulled the blanket beneath me into my hands and squeezed, but it did little to keep me holding on. “Harry,” I moaned, but it only encouraged him, increasing his focus on my sweetest spot. My mind went blank and my ears hummed with a quiet white noise as an orgasm pulsed through me. It started small but grew into the greatest feeling I’d ever experienced. If sound was coming out of my mouth, I couldn’t hear it, only feel the pleasure as it rocketed over me.

  Harry pulled up, and my cheeks burned at the sight of him licking his lips. The more time we spent together, the more convinced I was becoming that he knew my plan all along and was trying to drive me from it. He had to be using something supernatural. How had he helmed so much control of me in such a short period of time? What did it mean?

  But then Harry’s hands were back on my sides, and it didn’t matter. They slid around my back to pull apart the clasp of my bra, and then he blanketed himself over me and landed a kiss against my neck as he pulled it free.

  He stepped back again and smiled down at me, shaking his head. “Unbelievable.”

  Alarms of all kinds were going off in my mind. I’d put in so much hard work building a wall between Harry and myself that would keep him close enough to hurt, but not close enough to hurt me, but in he waltzed with a sledgehammer and was knocking shit down left and right. Anything he could find that stood between him and me was destroyed until his skin against mine felt more permanent, and more real than anything that had ever touched me before. He pulled down his pants and boxers, doing away with what clothes remained between us, quickly snaking a condom from his pants pocket before releasing them fully.

  He set the wrapper between his teeth, and all the places he’d bit me up to that moment pulsated with memory. As he rolled the condom over, I put on a sly smile. “I’m ready.”

  “Good,” he replied.

  He grabbed my legs and pulled them up against his chest, and then a hand moved down to guide himself inside. My hips bucked and insides swirled, both rushing toward and away from the intense feeling. It wasn’t just that my most recent sexual experience had been so unsatisfying, it was that Harry was profoundly different from anyone I’d let near me before. He crossed a physical threshold, but he was inserting himself into me on a deeper, more ethereal level. He worked himself into a rhythm, letting out quiet, sexy grunts of his own as he did, and I opened up as much as I could, not even recognizing the lurid noises I was making as a result.

  His hands slid into the grooves in my hips and mine wrapped around his wrists for leverage as we moved against each other in a bowing pattern that made each thrust feel like ten. Each bead of pleasure burst like a piñata and rained bottomless rapture down over me.

  “F
uck.” It was all I could get out before my whole body started to shake.

  He held onto me tighter and I shuddered as my very bones rattled inside of me. Now, I could hear myself, crying out, trying to form words, but nothing coming out besides incoherent sounds, but Harry didn’t slow. He used his strength to lift me up again and flipped us until I was straddling over him, riding him instead. My body moved on instinct, up and down, finding any angle or speed I could to keep my skin searing hot and latched to Harry. Even though I could feel sweat dripping down my skin, I continued, going faster and faster, because before I knew it, I was at the finish line again. How many laps had it been? Harry’s grip on me got tighter and tighter, until I knew there would be marks there the next day, and finally, he slammed all the way into me and shuddered as he came, a sexy, animalistic growl roaring out of him as he did.

  He released, and I collapsed on top of him. His chest rose and fell under me just as mine did, while we both struggled to catch our breath.

  “I have to apologize,” I said, in a moment of raw honesty. “How I ever didn’t return your calls is beyond me. You are far and away the best I’ve ever had.” It wasn’t a lie.

  “Yeah. I’ve never been with anyone like you before,” he responded and then groaned. “I know we have to move, but I don’t want to.”

  “So, let’s not” My eyes were already growing heavier and heavier, worsened by Harry wrapping his arms around my back and tracing gentle circles along the small of it. “I’m gonna fall asleep if you keep doing that.”

  “So, fall asleep,” he said, “or are you afraid of still being here in the morning?”

  In truth, I was. Not because it was all just a ruse, but because if I stayed, I was afraid it’d start to feel less and less like one. “No,” I lied. “I was hoping for round two.”