Winter

by Michelle Love

  I stop the bike. “What do you think of this, my Angel?”

  “No way, Benny. This is too much. And it’s for sale. Not rent. But man, it’s gorgeous, isn’t it?”

  I climb off the bike. “The sign said open house. Come on.” I hold my hand out to her and she takes it and gets off.

  She waits patiently for me to take her helmet off then we walk up the stone pathway to the Hickory wood set of double doors which make up the front entrance.

  “I don’t rent, Angel. That’s throwing money away.” I lead her up the stairs and open the door.

  The wood interior is amazing and it smells fantastic. “Benny, can you imagine calling this place home? I mean, I know you live in a mansion already and have your whole life, but this is something, isn’t it?”

  “It is something. It’s beyond compare to what I live in. Mine’s nice, but so generic in the mansion sense of the word. This is real living. Real things make this place up.” I gesture to an enormous fireplace. “Awesome to think about cold winter nights and that thing fired up. You and I curled up next to it. What do you think, Angel?”

  We stand there in front of it and gaze at it and the Mahogany mantle over the top of it. Her hand squeezes mine. “Benny, this is too much.”

  “Angel, look at me,” I say and she turns her head. “I have the money. I’m not going to get something average when I can get above average. So all I want to hear is if you like it or not. Don’t even talk about the price.”

  She laughs. “Benny, what’s not to like?”

  “I don’t know. Let’s walk all around and see. We have to come up with something we aren’t a thousand percent happy with so I can talk the seller down a few million or so.” I pull her along and we find the kitchen.

  “Well, I can’t find a damn thing wrong with this,” she says. “Three sub-zero fridges, a massive stove and two wall ovens. Wow! I’ve only seen this kind of stuff in magazines. Not even sure what some of these things are.”

  “We could hire a cook. And staff to keep it clean.” I pull her along and look out a set of French doors. A huge swimming pool with a slide and a diving board along with a waterfall is out there.

  “Staff! For a home! Benny, it’s too much,” she says as she leans into my side.

  “No, it’s what people who have money do, Baby. Do you know how hard you’d have to work to keep this place clean, even with my help? It would be a full-time job just doing that.” I pull her around in front of me and pick her up, giving her a quick kiss. “Now let’s find the master suite and see if that’s something we can live with.”

  “Benny, what about your job?” she asks as I put her down and lead her out of the kitchen, toward a staircase.

  Then I see a set of papers on a table at the bottom. “Great, look the layout of the house. Good thing they have this here or we might get lost.”

  “Benny, how about you answer me about your job?” she says as she stops and holds me back from walking up the stairs.

  “I don’t think I want to be part of my family’s law firm anymore. They’re going to be representing a man I don’t want to back. I’ve told my grandfather that and he seems intent on shoving the man down my throat.” I pull at her to come on and she does as she seems a bit confused. “I can make my own practice.”

  “Okay. But that’s kind of drastic, isn’t it?” she asks.

  We get to the top of the huge wooden staircase and a large picture window looks over the back side of the house. The scene is gorgeous and we stop talking and stare out the large window.

  “Nah. Would you look at this, Angel? This place is perfect. There’s a tennis court and a basketball court.”

  She takes up where I left off as she points out the window. “An entire playground, Benny.” She looks at me. “This needs to be a home for a family. Not us.”

  Wrapping my arms around her, I pull her close and rock her back and forth as I hold her. “Baby, what do you think I mean for us? I mean for us to have a family. We’ll become a family and this place is perfect for that.”

  “Kids, Benny?” She smiles and giggles. “Our third day together and here you are talking about a family. Our family.”

  “I know I’m taking much too long to bring these things up, my Angel. But I’ve put it all off long enough.” I chuckle and she runs her hands over my bearded cheeks.

  My hand moves over her shoulder and along her arm until my hand rests on top of hers. I move it to my lips and kiss it. Her eyes sparkle as she looks into mine. “Benny, you’re amazing.”

  “You are,” I say then hand her the paper I picked up of the floor plan and scoop her up in my arms and carry her. “Now let’s go find that master suite.”

  She looks at it then points at the very end of the long hallway. “That’s it down there.”

  Off I go passing the rest of the bedrooms, counting off five on one side and four on the other. I turn the knob on the door that’s larger than the rest of the bedroom doors and nearly fall over as I see the massive room.

  “Fuck me,” Angel whispers. “This is too much, Benny.”

  “No, it’s perfect.”

  As if on cue an older blonde woman pops out of the bathroom. “Hello there. My name’s, Annie and I’m the real estate agent who has this home listed. How are you two on this very nice day?”

  “Put me down,” Angel hisses.

  I do as she’s asked as I look at the agent and wish like hell she hadn’t heard me say that. “Hi, we’re the Worthingtons. I know you overheard the word, perfect, but I haven’t seen it all yet so don’t go thinking I have to have this home or anything like that.”

  She reaches out to shake Angel’s hand first. “Lovely to meet you, Mrs. Worthington.” She lets her hand go as Angel is slack-jawed at being called that name. The woman grabs up my hand in a nice firm shake. “Nice to meet you too, Mr. Worthington. Now I know I caught you off guard there, not my intention, I assure you.”

  I nod and ask, “So what do we have going on here? Motivated seller, or someone looking to stick to the wealthy?”

  Her smile tells me she has a little secret, and she leans in close and talks in a hushed tone as if anyone else is even around, “Okay, here’s the deal on this beauty. There was a mass murder here in the basement a few years ago and the man who inherited this place doesn’t want to live here.”

  “No way!” Angel says as she looks with wide eyes at the woman.

  The woman erupts with laughter and claps her hands. “No way, is right. I love to open with a joke.”

  Okay, this chick’s a little looney!

  Chapter 6

  ANGEL

  The firelight lends a golden hue to all who surround it. Benny’s gang, as I’ve been thinking of the people in his motorcycle club, are a bunch of cool people. Ashley and her husband and Phoenix and her fiancé seem to be the people Benny is closest to.

  They came out to my grandmother’s with us and five more guys came too. The others preferred to stay behind in the hectic night scene of Sturgis as the rally has gotten underway big time, making our town a circus of sorts.

  My grandmother took advantage of us being here to feed her animals in the morning and made an overnight trip to see her sister who lives one town over. So we have the place to ourselves.

  “I’m going inside to grab a bag of marshmallows,” I tell Benny who has his arm hanging loosely around my shoulders as we sit on a large log by the fire.

  He gets up, taking my hand and walking with me to the little farmhouse. “You having a good time, Baby?”

  I nod. “Yeah. They’re a cool bunch. Easy to get along with.”

  We walk inside and I get the bag of marshmallows off the counter and turn to walk back out. He stops me and pulls me in for a kiss.

  It stops my heart and I have to wonder if I’ll always react this way to him. He ends the sweet kiss and looks down at me with glistening eyes. “So, the house, Angel. Can you see yourself living there?”

  I laugh and shake my head. “That place i
sn’t a thing I’ve even fantasized about.”

  “I know that,” he says then kisses me again, taking my mind completely off the place I can’t even think of as a mere house. He pulls his mouth away and looks at me. “Bet you never fantasized about being with a billionaire either.”

  I shake my head. “Can’t say that I have. But really, Benny, a nice big family should have that place. It has so much to offer.”

  His grin is contagious and I find myself grinning too as he says, “And we will eventually use it all. Give me a minute or two, Baby.” He laughs.

  “You know what I mean,” I say as I gently hit him in the chest. “It’ll be just the two of us rattling around in the monster sized home.”

  “And right now it’s just the four of us in my family rattling around a monster-sized home back in New York. We don’t use a quarter of the rooms in that place. Yet we still have it. So thinking only about what you saw today. How do you like it?”

  “Okay, I love it, alright. I mean, damn, Baby, what’s not to love? The whole room devoted exclusively to that pool table is awesome. The indoor swimming pool is beyond anything I’ve seen before. There are so many rooms for various entertainment purposes. My God, the thing has its own theater.” I have to close my mouth as the whole thing is so overwhelming.

  “I can see you fighting yourself over it. It’s okay to be kind of freaked out by it all, but take it all in as well. You’ll be with a man who makes a lot more money than most. Deal with it, Pumpkin.” He kisses me again and I go limp in his arms and have to hold on tightly to him.

  When he ends it, I give him the answer he’s been waiting for, “Get it. I want it. I do.”

  He picks me up off the floor and spins me around. “Yes! We’re getting our own place!”

  Well, he is. It’s not like I can contribute shit to it.

  Holding me back, he smiles as he says, “And that massive eight car garage is pretty spectacular too. You know what I thought about when I saw it?”

  “How many motorcycles you can fit in there?” I say with a giggle.

  He shakes his head. “No. I thought about you building your own brand of motorcycles in there. Designing them and building them right there. I can hire the help you’d need and you could have your very own business. What do you think about that?”

  My head is spinning. I think it might actually be moving in circles between my shoulders. “Benny! No! You can’t be serious.”

  “I am serious. I want to help you make your dreams come true and I’d like to make some of my own come true too. With your help, I want us to design something for me. Something uniquely mine. Then I can drive it around and tell everyone my smart as fuck wife made it for me.”

  Wife!

  “Benny, don’t go getting ahead of things. This is going really fast as it is. Wife is a term that has all kinds of legal crap attached to it. You’re worth a ton of money. I don’t want that part rushed in the least. You have a lot of paperwork to take care of before that’s even considered.” I pull out of his arms and go to the fridge to grab a bottle of water.

  I turn to find him right there and he catches me up in his arms again. “I love you, girl! Making you mine in name too is at the forefront of my mind. I don’t know how long I can hold off on that. And there will be no paperwork to do. No pre-nup. What I have is yours.”

  “Bad idea, Sweetie. Very bad idea.” I kiss the tip of his nose. “I’m not going to let you do that. And we can talk about that later. I’m not about to stand here and discuss such things yet.”

  The screen door squeaks as Ashley comes inside. “Hey, sorry for interrupting. Can I use the bathroom, Angel? Rod told me to go outside and I can but I really don’t want to.”

  I laugh and point toward the bathroom. “It’s over there and please feel free to use it whenever you need to. Tell Phoenix too. And anyone else who needs it.”

  She nods and leaves us alone again. Benny pins me to the fridge. “When can we discuss such things?”

  Then it occurs to me that his family may be the reason he wants to hurry things along. Before they can intervene and stop anything.

  “How about after you introduce me to your family?” I say as I watch his reaction.

  “Why after?” His eyes narrow. “Why not have things settled before that?”

  I press my hand against his chest to push him back some. “I knew it. I knew you were hurrying things along to get this past your family. Benny, you come from a powerful family. You have to know that even if you marry me and knock me up, they can get in between us if they want to.”

  “No, they can’t. I won’t let them.”

  Another thought pops into my head. “Benny, is this some sort of a rebellious thing? I can see the whole motorcycle club thing is. Am I a thing that will not be appreciated or maybe even tolerated? Is that why you’re jumping forward with this by leaps and bounds?”

  “Don’t think about my family. Let me think about them. You just let me handle things. And the answer is, no. I’m not trying to hurry things along for any reason other than I want to start a life with you. I can see so many things for our future. Six kids, three dogs, maybe even a damn cat to keep the mice away.” He laughs and tweaks my nose. “Just fucking with you. Come on. You bringing up my family has me needing a drink.”

  I let him pull me along and grab the marshmallows again. As we go outside I have to think to myself that he isn’t kidding about any of it. And I think he’s hurrying things along, thinking if it’s all said and done then they can do nothing about him marrying a poor girl instead of a rich, East coast debutant like I’m sure he’s supposed to do.

  And I have no idea if any of this is real or his rebellion!

  I watch as Benny turns into Blaze in small increments right in front of my eyes. Step one, take a long drink of whiskey straight from the bottle. Step two, pull a cigarette from the untouched pack he has in his T-shirt pocket.

  Step three, light it up and take in a deep drag. Then step four, pull me along with him to the back of the house, pin me to the wall and kiss me while he grinds his cock against me.

  The typical things that make you feel like a renegade.

  And right on cue he pulls back from me and looks at me. “Angel, you think you could help ease this tension a bit?”

  I nod and look into his eyes, finding a lot of angst in them all of a sudden.

  He undoes his pants and gives them a push. They go to his ankles, leaving his hard cock pressing against his boxers.

  I go to my knees on the ground in front of him as he turns and leans against the side of the house. I can do this for him. I can and will.

  I can ease the pain his family causes him for the moment. But it won’t make it go away forever.

  His moan is soft as I take him into my mouth. He takes a couple of handfuls of my hair and moves my head back and forth the speed he wants me to go.

  The pace is fast as he needs to climax to dull the edge of whatever it is talking about his family causes. His words are spoken between clenched teeth, “Fuck, you suck my cock like you were made to do that, Baby. It fits down your throat like a glove. Suck it, Baby! Suck that fat cock!”

  I grip his ass in my hands to move faster with the push of his hands. I suck harder as he moans and cusses at random times.

  Not sure if it’s because he just likes it that damn much or he’s mentally cursing his family for whatever his reasons are. All I know is while I have man issues, he has family issues.

  We’re just a couple of broken people. It doesn’t mean we can’t be together if that even is a thing his family will permit. It just means I need to be more sensitive to the fact although he might be rich as fuck, he has things that bother him and mold his mind too.

  My mouth moves fast over him and then he stiffens and it shoots down my throat. I swallow and find him yanking me up by the hair and slamming his mouth to mine.

  His tongue moves in and he kisses me hard as he undoes my pants with one hand and moves it inside my panties u
ntil he has two fingers inside me and moves them in and out until I can’t take it anymore and cum.

  He moves his hand out of my panties and places the two wet fingers in the side of my mouth, joining our juices inside our mouths.

  The taste changes and he growls, and the kiss gets dirtier, hungrier, greedier. It sends him into a frenzy for a moment and then it slows.

  He pulls away from me and looks at me. His eyes are hard then he blinks and they go back to my Benny. “Fuck! Fuck, I’m sorry, Angel.”

  I shake my head and take him by the shoulders. “Don’t be. You need me too. I can see that now. You need me to be strong for you just like I need you to be strong for me. Maybe we are meant to be together. Maybe we can help each other. You can be you with me. Blaze when you need to be. Benjamin, when you have to be. Benny when you want to be.”

  “God damn it, I love you, Angel. My Angel who understands me better than I do.” His hand wraps around the back of my neck and he pulls my mouth to his again. Only this time, his mouth takes mine in a gentle kiss.

  I run my hands over the short sides of his hair up into the long top and press my chest to his. Our hearts pound in unison as our mouths mingle.

  With no idea how long this will be allowed to last, I want to make every last second count before that happens.

  It might end because his family makes it. Or it might end when he finds this middle man he needs to become. Or it might even end when I find my full strength.

  He eases the kiss and leans his forehead against mine. “Angel, tell me you will marry me. Please tell me that one day you will become mine in name too.”

  “I will marry you one day, Benny. I will.”

  I say the words because he so desperately needs to hear them. I’m not lying to him but the reality is, I have no idea if that will come true or not.

  I can’t see the future and if hearing what he wants will help him. Then I’ll say anything he needs me to.

  He buttons up my pants then leans over and pull his up. “Guess we should get back to the party, Baby.”