by V. Theia
Her feelings for Tait were so real that looking at him for longer than a nanosecond robbed all her air and made her feel tingly, like she couldn’t function until he was in her eyesight.
Her feelings were absolutely real but she wished last night didn’t happen.
She wished she hadn’t put him in an obligatory position.
God, she’d practically climbed him more than once and begged for sex.
All her words went around in her head as she served donuts, warm scones and eight varieties of pie. She heard them on a devastating loop. How kind he was to her, soothing her insane horniness like he did, shushing her into believing she would be okay.
She felt every slide and rush of his fingers between her legs to the point she had to excuse herself to the bathroom out back and wash her face just to cool the blush.
Should she text him? What could she say? Hey, sorry I turned into a sexual predator but thanks for all the orgasms.
How was she meant to face him later?
It was unnerving how easily they fit.
How Tait sensed everything she needed before she even said a word. He anticipated when she became hyper and settled her down with only a few words because though her skin last night felt too tight to keep her inside her body, she’d trusted him implicitly to help her.
She wondered if she was still just the poor girl who had no one else and he felt sorry for her or if he was feeling the same way she was.
She added it to the list of worries she would work through today like a maniac woman and came up short on re-entering the bakery when she saw it was over stuffed with bikers again.
These bikers belonged to her boss.
Well, one of them did. The biker Paige was currently wrapped around. They were so in love; it made her belly pitch.
It must be a regular occurrence to have them in the bakery because the three ordinary customers who Poppy served didn’t bat an eyelash at the overabundance of testosterone leaning against walls, sprawled across the two benches Paige had for customers waiting on orders.
Poppy though, as before, was wary to say the least. She couldn’t help that they scared her, even if Paige was comfortable with them.
Pretending that there weren’t six hulking men in close proximity within the pink decorated sweet store, she went about her duties, restocking, serving, cleaning and ignoring the sets of eyes on her and the jokes and jibes delivered her way. She knew they were joking, because even Paige giggled and told them… one called Tag, to knock it off. While avoiding any of their eyes in hopes they forgot she was there, she caught some of their conversation. The handsome one with the bluest blue eyes had a cupcake in one hand and a Danish in the other.
“This chick the other night wanted to know what it would be like dating a cage fighting biker.” The others jibed and threw out suggestions about cocks, before the handsome one… Tag, went on. “I told her, have you ever ordered 10 chicken nuggets and they sent you 12?”
This brought on deafening laughter and it went on for a while, she thought she was invisible, thank God, but then that god-like man, the handsome one, sidled up to the part of the counter she was restocking with the special of the day, toffee and apple fritters. “Babe?” She looked up. “You doing okay?”
“Eh, yes, thank you. And you?”
“I mean after last night.”
Blood rushed into her face instantly because she realized this guy… possibly all of them knew what had happened to her.
He had a look of concern. She nodded with her red face and escaped into the back with the empty tray.
When she couldn’t excuse her absence any longer, she pushed her shoulders back and hoped the bikers were gone.
She heard Tait’s name immediately. Well, Texas. And they laughed as a group. One of them, the pretty one again, doing the actions of punches in the air.
They were joking about Tait?
These so called friends who Tait missed so much were poking fun at him?
Never in her life had Poppy flew off the handle.
Never had she gone into a yelling tirade.
Her only claim to rebellion was running from her wedding.
What possessed her to come out from behind the counter with her eyes full of fury was only because she wouldn’t take it that these idiots were talking down the man she… well the man she had strong feelings for.
The same man who missed these assholes.
“You all should be ashamed of yourselves.” She spluttered without thinking about it first. All Poppy knew was she was furious on Tait’s behalf.
It gave her a surge of confidence as each set of male eyes turned to her.
“Tait loves you guys, he really freaking misses you all, and you’re here laughing about him.”
“Babe…” the pretty one said and she pointed at him, almost animal snarling.
“No, you don’t get to speak, you’re despicable if you think it’s okay to talk about him that way. He knows he messed up and he’s tried to make it right and you’re here laughing about him. You’re all no better than his twin, and he’s a fucking disgrace of a brother,” she was on a roll.
It felt great to speak her mind finally and to men she was terrified of as they all stood in a wall staring at her.
Some holding back grins.
She didn’t know what they all thought was so funny.
Tait was important and he deserved someone to stand up for him.
“I can’t believe all the good things he’s said about all of you, and you’re here talking about him.”
“Babe, you might wanna…”
“Quiet you, Thor wannabe.” She shushed him and three of the other guys broke out laughing.
“Thor. I fucking love it. Pretty-boy’s got a new name.”
As that, the crowd of them parted and it was only then that Poppy noticed that amongst them, possibly this whole time without her seeing, was a blonde woman. So much smaller than the bikers that they dwarfed her.
She was holding a baby while glowering at Poppy.
She recognized her from the other day on the street. Zara.
“Icy..” A deep voice from the back, standing with Paige’s husband said. Zara didn’t look back, but she did say, “Not now, Rider.”
She advanced forward. This ice blonde woman who was smaller than Poppy but fifty times more intimidating.
Dressed in snug jeans and a thick cashmere sweater and an open hoodie coat. The baby equally wrapped up. They must have only just come in while Poppy was hiding in the back.
She did not look like she belonged to this gang at all.
And yet, the moment the men all gathered around her small back, she absolutely did look part of them.
“You want me to take the slugger, Z-girl?”
“No, thank you, Mace.” She hadn’t removed her eyes from Poppy. “Did I just hear you ripping into my boys?”
“Oh, damn.” One of them muttered in a not so masked chuckle.
“Is that what I heard?”
“They were talking about Tait.” Poppy defended, her chin in the air. She wouldn’t let herself be intimidated by any of these people, no matter what their reputation was.
Poppy pressed her lips together, skimming her eyes over them all.
She thought she’d see pissed off looking back at her, but here was the thing… none of them appeared angry. Some winked at her, another one full out grinned.
“I don’t care what you think you heard them talking about, had you asked any of them they would have told you. You do not talk down to any of these men, do you understand?”
“Maybe we all just take a breath,” this from Paige. “Zara, you wanted to put that order in for the party, remember.”
Zara only nodded to Paige, but had her eyes on Poppy. She was bobbing the baby boy up and down gently, he was alert looking around and so damn cute dressed in a puffy romper onesie.
“Let me give you a piece of advice I wish someone had told me years ago. Before you look down your nose at these men like I’ve
watched you doing for the last ten minutes, oh, yeah, missy, I noticed alright, you should know they are the best men anyone, you included, would be lucky to know. They are loyal to a fault, if they call you theirs they will do anything for you. Judging them for how they look and talk, for the rumors you've heard, because they're not drinking out of fancy china and they think fuck is a verb to go in every sentence, that’s your own issue.”
Color stained Poppy’s face. Under the scrutiny of not only the furious woman and the male eyes, she wanted to shrink back
“I won't let anyone look down on them like they're shit trodden into the Louis XV Savonnerie carpet.”
“I—I didn't. I was defending my friend.”
“Yes, you did.” Zara's voice was firm. “You get to do that one time. These bikers are my friends, my family. And what you have to know is, while they wouldn't lay a finger on you. I'm a whole different kettle of fish if you do anything to shade or anger one of them. And if you’d asked, they were praising Texas for what he did last night, defending you against the man who drugged your drink.”
What?
“What?” She said quieter.
“The boys… my boys brought that filthy asshole to Texas and he sorted the problem.”
Oh…
Shock and surprise had Poppy mute.
She didn’t know, she had no idea and now she was desperate to talk to him.
“I didn’t… I didn’t know that.”
“No, you didn’t, maybe think about that the next time you judge someone for how loud and boisterous they’re being.”
The woman was giving her a verbal beatdown in the mildest tone and she did it with a baby bouncing on her hip.
Poppy might be a little in awe.
“Icy, if you’re done fighting, I wanna get you and my kids home before it fuckin’ pisses more snow.” The man at the back said and he came forward, hooking Zara around her neck and sort of plastered her back to his chest. They looked like such a compacted unit.
Emotion and tears stung Poppy’s throat and she watched the pair turn, in a spontaneous instant she called out.
“You say I judged them, well you judged me too, you don’t even know me.”
Zara turned and half smiled. “Girl, I was you. Years ago I walked through the MC doors and I was you, looking down my nose at something I didn't understand. But I was given a second chance to know and love these men and I'm so thankful for it and them. This one here with the scruffy bun and beard, holding the prettiest little girl in the world. He's mine and I'd fight alligators for him. Do you know why? Because he'd slay demons for me no questions asked. These are Texas’ people; this is who he is. If you care about him like you just went to war for him, then think on that. Accept him for himself, not who he is right now.”
“Okay, Oprah.” Her husband said, “time to fuckin’ go. Pretty-boy, let’s roll.”
“Sure thing, prez.” The Thor one said and winked at Poppy on his way out behind them.
“I didn’t know.” Poppy muttered, with the rest of the eyes still on her, she glanced at Paige who smiled with sympathy. “I didn’t know you did that, that Tait did that. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.” She said again and made her feet move behind the counter. “I’m sorry,” she said this time to Paige. And then. “You don’t have to fire me. I quit.”
She heard her name from several voices, but she didn’t stop, just grabbed her coat from the hook and took off through the back door and out into the snow.
Shamed and embarrassed for her outburst.
Mortified beyond belief that she’d yelled at not only the bikers, but it seems the biker queen too.
Well, shit.
She really did make enemies spectacularly.
TWENTY-FOUR
“Panic at the disco… I mean bakery.” - Poppy
She didn’t wait a second when she heard his key in the door, Poppy skidded across the wooden floor in her fluffy knee socks and was on Tait like a wild rabbit attack.
Not literally, but she was hovering close to his shoulder when he shrugged out of his coat. She couldn’t even enjoy his outdoor snow smell he brought with him; she was too busy whittling her teeth on the dry bits on her lip.
Worrying herself silly.
“Tait… I messed up I think and I’ll preface it by saying I was upset and it just happened…”
His two eyebrows popped up. “Can I get in first?” He half laughed and she apologized and moved out of his way, but he didn’t move into the living room, only cupped her cheeks with his cold, beautiful hands and tipped her head back. “How are you feeling?”
“Mortified. Worried. Sick to my eyebrows. But if you mean from yesterday, I’m fine, thank you. Can I tell you what I did now?”
In the hallway, even before he’d kicked off his boots, she pressed her forehead to his chest and moaned, seeing that earlier scene in her mind all over again.
She expected the whole gang of bikers at the door for the last hour.
“I think I went off half-cocked, Tait. I mean, I’m pretty positive that’s what I did.”
He flashed a smile like he thought it was going to be something cute.
She hadn’t known she could be badass, she had no clue she had that in her, until it came to defending him.
“What did you do?”
“Okay, here it is. Brace really good. Today at Paige’s shop. I kind of...yelled at some bikers. And then a blonde woman called Zara yelled at me. And I kind of yelled at her back.”
“You did?”
“It was… bad, Tait. I might have started a turf war or something, do we have to move now? Maybe enter witness protection. I don’t know what happens if you offend a biker gang.” She whined and clung to his chest, pawing at his shirt.
Hiding there right against his hard muscles seemed like a good idea.
It was only when she felt his shudder that she pulled back to see him cracking up laughing.
“You and Zara had words?”
“It’s not funny! It was brutal. I thought they were talking badly about you and I waded in. There was like twenty of them. Paige’s husband comes to make out like rabbits with her and the others follow for cake. Okay, it was more like six, but they’re big, so it felt like twenty, Tait.”
He went on laughing.
Hooking his arm around her shoulder he took her into the living room while she had a mild breakdown.
“Little girl, tell me it all before we break out the nun chucks, okay?”
She told him everything and though his face got soft when he heard how she jumped in for him, then he grinned when he had the full picture.
“I’m sorry. Did I make things worse with them for you? I didn’t mean to, Tait, it just all came out of me before I could stop it.”
Her tears never got the momentum to start because before she knew it, she was covered in a huge man pressing her into the back of the couch and his mouth was animal attack kissing her.
His kiss came as a relief.
His tongue and taste and smell all soothed her worry into relaxing as he swallowed and sucked on her mouth with vitality that she matched.
He kissed away any words she might have said and kept on, only the shallow breathing when they parted and his intoxicating flavor on her tongue.
His breaths were wild inside his expanding chest, and every inch of his expression washed over by lust when he pulled back to stare down at her.
“Good, glad we settled that,” he smirked and something flared behind his eyes while Poppy was finding her equilibrium again. All his desire. Every last inch of unchained need, she saw it all and swayed near him.
And that shame she felt this morning? It was gone, it evaporated under that intense heat he was pulsing out of his eyes.
What was she to do but to attach herself to his face.
“Aren’t you mad?”
“Poppy, I want to fuck you.”
“Oh.” Her lips fell open and he took them again, softer this time, his tongue went in and around and then he
set her free again.
“Hoist me up,” she moaned and he did, with his hands around her waist, he helped her to climb him high enough until her legs were able to wrap around his trim waist and just sit her on his stomach. His hands on her butt were huge and comforting as he squeezed and just held her while she got busy on his lips again.
Her pulse skittered.
So hot.
So needy.
Suddenly the air surrounding them was milkshake thick and she was filled to the brim with lust. It turned steamy and dirty and so swollen just like she felt between her legs.
“You never did let me fool around … with you.” She informed boldly between lip bites and tongue swipes and she felt him shudder.
“Is that what you want?”
She nearly sobbed the “yes,” her heart in her stomach, and probably in her eyes too when he started stalking across the loft, heading to the bedroom. It was impossible that he wouldn’t know how she felt just from looking at her. She held nothing back.
“Sure you feel okay?”
“Yeah, I’m … God … Tait.”
He laughed and kissed her again to settle her. “Please, can we just do it and talk later?” She whispered into his lips and felt the tremble go through him. No longer were his eyes laughing. He was hot and serious and he caused her to shudder in return.
“You won’t stop this time, right?”
His face went into her neck, his bristles tickled and thrilled. “Can’t stop, Poppy. Not strong enough. Want you, baby.”
He sent hot chills all over her body. “I want you too.” She shared shyly and leaned in to taste his breath.
This was epic. More than her little heart could cope with.
“Do you like my mouth, Tait?”
His eyes flared. “Your mouth is cute...adorable, baby. But when you put it on mine, I need it open so I can get inside and taste all your dirty fantasies.”
He stared down at her mouth, just one flick of his gaze and she knew what he was thinking because she was thinking it too while her insides went on a torrid cycle of out of control want. “Come here,” he rasped.
He looked wild.
Untamed.
Fuckable.
Her friends back home would never say anything so crass; God forbid they show a real honest to goodness hormonal reaction to a sexy virile man. But Roux had said it a few times to her and that’s what he was.
