She hated that she’d left Cook there on the ground, bleeding. He had been a friend to her once. Or at least, she’d thought that he was. She had apparently been painfully mistaken, but she needed to believe that all of his kindness hadn’t been some kind of angle to get her into a compromising position with the Wardens. She shuttered against Jack’s broad and stable back, thinking of what might have happened if he hadn’t rescued her. Sure, Wester had said that all he wanted was the baby—as if that wasn’t bad enough—but she’d heard stories of what some of the more nefarious biker clubs were like. Men terrorizing women, using them as they wanted, thinking of consent as some kind of joke that city folk worried about. She was sure Jack wasn’t like that. Even though they’d been passionate and barely contained that first time, she’d never once felt like he wasn’t attentive to her needs. If she said no, she was positive he would have stopped. Even the way he’d spoken to her about Bean. He’d asked to be a part of the process, not demanded that she give him his baby or any of the other caveman things he might have said. Every sign pointed to him seeing her as an actual person, not just a walking set of genitals.
She was sure that another woman would have been terrified, ready to run the second Jack stopped the bike. Instead, she found herself trusting him, and maybe just a little bit thrilled by the life she’d now walked into. She felt strong and powerful instead of weak and on the run, victimized by the world. She’d put up a good act for a really long time, telling everyone just how independent and untouchable she was. She’d had one-night stands or relationships where she didn’t bother learning the names of family members or friends. What was the point, when she’d just be gone again as soon as she felt that itch to move on?
The Bean had changed so many things. Maybe her desire to cling to Jackdaw as the world spun around them was hormonal. Or maybe it was just that he felt safe and secure, like a protector. She wasn’t afraid of the life he would bring with him because he was with her. And he would keep her safe. He’d already done that twice; rescued her from those who would hurt her. He said he wanted to keep doing it, as long and as often as needed. Who would possibly turn that down?
The bike pulled into the parking lot in front of her building, and Jack balanced the bike with his feet as it idled.
“We need to talk,” he said. His tone was calm, neutral. More, she thought, than she deserved from a strong alpha male who had just had to rescue his woman from near certain disaster.
“Yeah, we do,” she replied. “Do you want to come up?”
“Sure. Just let me take my bike around to the back.”
She slipped off the back and waited for him while he led the bike out of sight of the main road. Of course, if they were looking for her, this would be an obvious place to look, but still. It was better than nothing.
When Jack walked back around the building and into the lights in front of the apartments, she was struck by just how good he looked in his dusty denim, worn black boots, and the leather jacket over a flannel shirt. The way he moved was strong, powerful, but loose jointed and cool at the same time. She did not doubt that he could seduce her one moment and obliterate someone with his fists the next. The same hands that had teased her body into incredible heights of delight could drop a man to the ground if necessary. It was a heady thing to notice, and she couldn’t pretend she didn’t like it quite a lot.
“This way,” she said because the other option in her mind was, “Do me, baby, do me now,” and even if she was going to say that, she would find better phrasing. Way too stereotypical. But those goddamn pregnancy hormones were reacting with incredible strength to the man in front of her.
She led the way up the switchbacking exterior staircase until they got to her apartment door. She fished her key out of her uniform pocket, incredibly grateful that it hadn’t gotten lost along the way—and that she hadn’t brought her purse with her to the diner earlier because there was no chance she would have managed to get it out of Cook’s car. She unlocked the door and held it open for him while he walked inside, then locked it behind him.
“Give me a minute. I want to change my clothes. There’s water in the kitchen, or a beer, or whatever else you want.”
Jack nodded and went into the small, galley kitchen as she went down the hall to get changed.
It was kind of a funny moment, standing in the bedroom, wondering what to wear to seduce the father of her child. If she wanted to seduce him. Which she wasn’t entirely sure of, but he’d touched her so well before, like he knew her just as well as he always had. Like he hadn’t forgotten a single detail of what she liked; what made her body sing.
The biggest problem, however, was that most of the clothes she would have worn to seduce someone before were not close to fitting now. There was nothing sexy about maternity jeans; it just wasn’t possible. But she wasn’t quite ready to go out there in pajama pants and no bra either. So, maternity jeans it was. She put on a tank top over her bra, then a loose sweater to disguise the fact that her boobs were about to pop out of the bra like some kind of anime character. She really needed to go shopping. She really needed some money to go shopping. And, shit, with Cook shot, maybe dead, it wasn’t like there was going to be anyone at the diner to pay her. Double shit.
She pushed the thought away; that would have to be tomorrow’s problem. She pulled her hair up into a loose bun and went back out to the kitchen.
Chapter Fourteen Jack Dawson, the fierce biker and leader of the Chain Gang, known as Jackdaw, appeared to be putting the stove-top kettle on. There were two mugs on the counter, and there were peppermint tea bags in each of them.
She didn’t mean to say a thing, but she couldn’t help sputtering. “What are you doing?”
He glanced up almost guiltily. “I read that a lot of women don’t feel good during pregnancy, and that peppermint tea helps to calm their stomachs. And I saw it in your cupboard when I was looking for a water glass, and I thought maybe you’d like it.”
Okay, that was all logical, and even correct. “And the second mug?”
He shrugged. “I’ve never had peppermint tea. Figured it was worth a try.”
Mindy tried not to laugh. “That’s very open-minded of you.”
Jack gave her a sideways smile that was so sweet it made her heart open up wide. “I’ve got a lot of things to start being more open-minded about.” The kettle whistled, and he poured water into both of the mugs, then passed her one. She directed them to the living room; onto her couch. “I never planned to be a father. I feel like it’s important for you to know that. Some people grew up imagining bouncing little babies on their knees who looked exactly like them, but that just wasn’t ever me. It wasn’t like I didn’t want kids, I just—” He stopped himself, took a long moment, then a deep breath. “I want to be a part of this. I want to know you better, and I want to know this kid. But I don’t know if I’m going to be any good at it.”
She set down the tea, reached out, and took his free hand in hers.
“Look,” she said. “I’m in the same boat, okay? I never thought I’d be someone who stayed in the same town for a month, let alone a year, or a lifetime. But this is where I’ve found myself, and I’m going to keep doing the best I can at it. And if you want to do this with me, I’m all for it. It’ll be less lonely that way.”
He took a sip of the tea, made a face, and then set it down on the table next to hers. “In what capacity are we doing this together?”
Her heart started to flutter in her chest. There was a deeper, more earthy sensation, further below. “Can you be more specific with your question?”
He chuckled slightly, then tugged at the hand that was holding hers. She went to him easily, naturally, shifting so that she was sideways on his lap. One arm curled behind her back, the other rested on her upper legs, his hand cupping her ass.
“I mean,” he said, slow and luxurious, “Are we going to go into this as friends? Lovers? Somewhere in between?”
She shivered against him. She coul
d feel his erection swelling below her, and she shifted, letting him feel the weight of her against him. His eyes fluttered closed for a moment before reopening with a laser focus, right on her mouth.
“I don’t know,” she said. “We don’t actually know each other very well at all. But one thing I can tell you for sure is that pregnancy hormones are a bitch, and I want to get laid basically every time I can, so maybe we can start there, and see what happens?”
This time he shifted her, and he groaned just a little at whatever sensation her shifting ass provoked. “So, what you’re saying is you want me to fuck you every chance I get?”
“Yes.”
“Starting now?”
Her cunt was wet and heated, and she looped her arms around her neck, letting her breath speed up and her body yearn for him without complaint. “God, please, would you?”
“Fuck yes,” he replied before he claimed her mouth.
It was a deep kiss from the first touch of lips, passionate and intense and eager. His tongue carved through her lips, opening her mouth for him; his hand cupped the back of her neck, turning her mouth to the angle he wanted. She kept the kiss in play, eagerly meeting every thrust of his tongue with her own, and straightened up so that she could turn and straddle him. He was hard and eager, and she was wet and ready, but she wanted to savor this. She had been so long without him inside of her, and he’d ruined her for every other man, for all of her toys. Nothing felt as good as him, nothing, not in all the time she’d been without him.
He pulled her sweater up over her head, breaking the kiss for just one moment, then pulled the straps of her tank top down. He buried his face in her swollen breasts, his hands lifting them up and out of her bra. He was delicate with her nipples, teasing them with his teeth and watching her before taking them into his mouth and running his tongue over them. After a moment, he settled on one side and teased her breast with lips and tongue while he tortured the other side with his fingertips. She buried her hands in his hair and let her hips shift, feeling the seam of her jeans press up past her lower lips into the aching need of her clit. Her panties were soaked, completely soaked, and she was about to be lit on fire with the need for him.
“Please,” she murmured. “Please, please. Go slow next time. Love me next time. This time, fuck me.” He froze for just a moment, gazing up at her, and that was when she realized what she’d said. She waited, holding her breath, looking for his reaction.
“Get up,” he said, and she was sure all the way down through her that he was about to leave. He did stand, but he didn’t head for the door. He kissed her again, bending down to meet her lips with his, and then cupped her ass, lifting her up onto her toes to press her against him. Her belly stopped their hips from connecting all the way, but she didn’t much mind. “Show me where the bedroom is.”
She led him down the little hall to the bedroom that suddenly seemed much messier and dingier than it had the day before. He didn’t seem to mind, though, focused entirely on her tits and the swell of her stomach. He stripped off his clothes, folding each article neatly and placing it on the nearest flat surface which wasn’t too littered with her things. She smiled at the precision of it, and just to annoy him, she shucked her jeans, her tank top, and her bra and panties, dropping them all on the floor. She stood before him naked, feeling truly sexy in her body for the first time in weeks, and he watched her. His cock was hard and ready, just as thick and solid as she remembered. The yearning for him rippled through her belly, and she reached out to him, pulling him into her with a smile and a willingness she hoped he could feel.
He kissed her again, his hard cock pressing at the underside of her belly in a way that made her giggle. His hands were harder, needier, stroking her breasts, kneading her ass, pulling her against him and cupping her ass to press her mound against him as he buried his face in her tits again. “What do you want? Tell me what feels good.”
For a moment, her cheeks heated, but then she remembered how they’d taken each other in every position and in every spot that either one of them had been able to think of in that small little room. She stepped away from him and grabbed her small bullet vibe from the nightstand. She crawled onto the bed on her hands and knees and glanced back at him. He all but snarled and came to her quickly.
“Like this,” she said, pushing her hips back against him. He answered her with a wicked smack against her ass. The sting made her cry out, yet it burned through her in the most delightful way.
She could feel his cockhead nudging at her, and she relaxed into him. He was big, and she hadn’t taken anything that was anywhere near as big for a while. He fucked into her slowly, nudging into her, taking her, enveloping his cock with her cunt. He was incredibly gentle and careful, and it was one of the most erotic things she’d ever experienced. The moment when he was fully seated inside of her, their hips tight together, she felt pleasure coursing through her, just a heartbeat away from an earth-shattering orgasm.
And then he started to move within her.
Her body was so tuned and eager that she was coming within a couple of strokes. Her arms shook too much to support her, and she let her face fall into the mattress; the better to hide her screams, my dear, as he fucked her slow and steady. She could hear him groaning as her pussy tightened around him, squeezing him. The orgasm just kept going, rolling through her. Every time she thought the pleasure was about to ebb away, he’d hit some secret depth of her cunt, and she would shatter all over again. It hadn’t been like this ever, not even when she was playing with her toys.
His arms circled around her waist, higher than her belly, and pulled her gently up so that her back was pressed against his chest. She looped an arm around his neck to keep herself steady and tried to turn her face to kiss him.
“No,” he said gently and turned her chin with his free hand so that she was looking at the mirror over her bureau.
At first, she didn’t want to look, but when she tried to turn her head, he took her chin and very gently turned her back. She could see herself, breasts heavier than they had ever been, belly swelling with the beginnings of stretch marks tracing her lower belly. And she could also see herself being fucked by a gorgeous man, covered in ink, who was kissing her neck and meeting her gaze in the mirror.
“Oh God,” she whispered, and he pressed the bullet vibe into her hand.
“Come for me,” he whispered. “Come for me, and let go. Let go, Mindy-girl, please.”
She bit her lip for a moment and then turned on the vibe. All it took was a quick press against her clit, and the orgasm peaked, jerking her so hard that at this angle she almost came right off his cock.
Jack grunted behind her, and then his hands were tight on her hips, tilting her forward just enough that he could drive into her, fuck her hard and pounding, just like she wanted. She kept the vibe on her clit, felt him pushing deep inside of her. A scream of pleasure rose up inside of her and demanded release, and there was nothing she could do but let it out. She screamed his name, falling forward again so that he could bury himself in her. Just a handful of those deep strokes and he was groaning, locking himself deep inside of her with little shifts of his cock as he pulsed into her.
She could hear him whispering her name as he went limp, gently pulling her to the side with him and spooning her up in his inked arms for a little rest.
Chapter Fifteen When Mindy woke up, she wasn’t being held anymore, and someone was moving around her room. She went from sleeping to awake so fast that her heart was still throbbing in her throat when she realized that Jack was the one moving. He had found an old suitcase of hers, and was stuffing clothes into the bag somewhat at random. She took a moment to steady her breathing and then sat up, wrapping the sheet around her breasts as she crossed her legs.
“What are you doing?” Her tone was sharp; she did her best to lighten it with a smile.
Jack jumped like someone who had been caught doing something they should not have done. Which, of course, was probably the case
.
“Hi,” he said, after a moment. “I was…” He sighed and scrubbed his forehead with the heel of his hand. “I don’t want to have another fight.”
She raised her eyebrows and settled in a little bit more. “That’s good. Me either. So, could you tell me what you’re doing?”
He sat down on the bed, not quite close enough to reach out to her. But having him sitting was somehow less threatening than the hovering stand he had been holding before.
“You’re not safe here. Wester’s plan to kidnap you is proof of that. You should—” He visibly paused, collected himself, and then continued. “If you’ll let me, I’d like to bring you to the Chain Gang clubhouse. I have a room there. You’ll be safe; protected by all of the Gang’s brothers and girls. No one will bother you. And Wester will have to go through all of them to get at you again.”
“And how long do you intend this to go on?” Mindy asked. “It’s not like a biker gang clubhouse is a great place to have a squalling infant.”
He laughed a little ruefully. “You’d be surprised what we’ve had in that place over the years. But no, you’re right. I think this would just be temporary, while we sort out Wester and the Wardens. I know that man, and there’s no way he’s the actual brains of that operation. We need to figure out what’s going on and come up with a plan of action. But I need to focus to do that, and I will focus better knowing that both you and the baby are safe.”
BIKER’S GIFT Page 55
