Ride Me Right

by Michele De Winton

  * * *

  When he’d pushed his hand through her wet hair and pulled her head back, the challenge in his eyes shot through Lucy and settled in a fist around her heart. Here was hotness on a plate, just when she needed the distraction. And he wasn’t from Hell’s. You were just bemoaning the lack of action in your pants only a couple of hours ago. This wasn’t something to overthink. This was something to feel. She just had to work out how to not give up control during the process. Because if she was going to survive the next few weeks she needed to stay strong, and falling into the arms of someone like Jake ran the risk of her stumbling.

  But like the handshake, the kiss had ricocheted through her system. Everything else ceased to matter. Her hand on his chest was the only defense she had. She was going to be in control here. She had to be. “Truth or Dare?” she asked.

  His jaw clenched, the muscle working in his jaw. Hot damn that was sexy.

  “No man is ever going to answer that with Truth. Surely you know that.”

  “I was counting on it.” She wound a length of her wet hair around her finger with one hand. He let her, but she could feel the strength of his focus on her, it crawled over her skin and laid sticky fingers up to her chin. He was invested in this just as much as she was now.

  “Take me under the moon.”

  “What?”

  “Under the moon. Outside. Take me.”

  “Now?”

  “Right now.” She pointed to the french doors in the room that opened onto a tiny balcony.

  The glimmer of a smile traced his lips and he stood from the bed, opening the doors wide and placing a metal chair out onto the balcony. This was good. Round one: point to Lucy Black.

  Outside it had started to rain. A light drizzle that was finally cooling things off and giving the night a heady, humid scent. She looked out over the edge of the balcony, the lights of the city spreading out before them. One of the big apartment towers in the development Briony’s husband was building was done, but it was behind Wilde’s and out of view. Wilde’s wasn’t a huge place, but its three stories all had high ceilings, so compared to the single-story places out front that weren’t in the development, they were high up, high enough that the lights of LA danced and threaded the horizon like naughty sprites.

  He scooped her up and sat her on the chair, kneeling in between her legs in front of her.

  No. Wait. This was not the plan. “What are you doing?”

  “Warming you up before I take you under the moon. Don’t want you fainting again, so I thought you might like to sit down.” He stroked her breast, rubbing his thumb over her nipple and sending a shot of sensation thundering around her body like a well-tuned hundred-horsepower engine starting up. Damn. Round two: point to Jake Slade.

  Reaching up to take her mouth in his, he claimed her in a kiss she’d remember forever. While the first one had been fierce, almost a little fearful, this one was simple passion. Pure white-hot lust, and a promise to make good on it. It demanded she open up to him, obey him, let him in and she struggled to maintain control against such a force of nature. Sliding her hands around his neck, she pulled the hair at the back of his head, hard, and nipped him on the lip.

  His grunt did nothing to stop her passion and as he slid a hand down her body to stroke the front of her already wet panties, she held back a gasp as he slid a finger under the seam. Her hips pushed back against the metal chair, and its cool, slick surface was a perfect foil for her hot body. No, wait, this is madness. But for once, she pulled back on the urge to shove him off. She needed this today. She needed him. Didn’t mean she was going to let him know it though.

  “And here I was thinking you were wet from the rain.”

  “You taking credit for that, are you?”

  He shrugged and she stiffened again as he put his mouth to her center and blew hot air over everything. She could do this. Let go. Have a short, sharp shift of release. Tomorrow and all of its shitty, what the fuck was she doing problems, would still be there when she woke up. Only she would have had a great night, and that always helped put things in perspective. She arched her back and he pushed one of her legs over the arm of the chair to give himself better access. Growling low, down deep in his throat, he literally tore her panties off, splitting the seams on each side. His big, calloused hands returned to smooth over her breasts, practically bare as the water had turned her halter entirely transparent, while his tongue delved deep in one long, devilish lick.

  Stilling him there for a moment with her hands gripped in his hair, her inner muscles clenched, but as he gave another long, deep lick, she managed to release a little, letting her pelvis roll with his ministrations, rather than react against them. After a few ragged breaths, he started up a steady rhythm. Slow enough to be gloriously agonizing, but hard and fast enough for her hips to find the perfect echo to his pace.

  She never did this. Never let a man think he was going to take her over the edge with his head between her thighs. It was too intimate, too close, for her to climax. But being outside, with the soft rain falling on her upturned face, while a stranger did insane things to her insides was the most crazy hot thing Lucy had ever experienced. On another day, in another lifetime, she would have held him down and fucked him ’til she got her release, floating her hands over his hard muscles, watching his goose bumps appear under her fingers. But that wasn’t going to happen, this guy was different, and he wasn’t letting go, so she was damn well going to enjoy this moment. Throwing her head farther back she let loose a long, earthy moan as he pushed a long finger inside her, hitting her in a sacred spot so few men knew how to access. When he twisted it, shifting his angle and licking her hard on the edges of her clit, she thought she was done for then and there. Her orgasm threatened, a flicker like the lights on the horizon. “Holy crap, you’re going to do it. Take me over, Jake. Now, oh god.”

  But he ignored her, instead keeping up his steady rhythm until, bam, she couldn’t hold on any longer. As wave after wave of sensation crashed over her, her entire existence filtered down to that one moment. A pure, white bead of perfection, rolling over and over every part of her body.

  She thought she was spent, and hung her head, even while he held her pinned in the chair. But while he slowed his rhythm, he didn’t stop and soon, his finger was exploring her deep velvet center again. He looked up at her, his eyes dark, glazed over with lust. “You fit me like a glove. I can’t even think about what you’d feel like around my cock.”

  She shuddered and he smirked as he dipped his head back between her thighs. Slowly, excruciatingly slowly, he started up a new rhythm. A rhythm that seemed to match the huff of both his breath and hers.

  Soon, too soon, she felt herself building again toward climax. Something that despite a legacy of lovers, Lucy had never experienced before. “Again?” she managed and was rewarded by a squeeze on her breast from Jake.

  His tongue and the thrusts of his finger increased their pace and her hips followed him, move for move. With every exhale she thought she would lose it. Then with an inhale, the sensation would eek a little further.

  “God. So good,” she managed and she arched her back and opened herself completely to him, throwing her head back, thrusting her chest to the moon, wanting nothing more than to explode under the silver light.

  With the detonation of sensation inside her, Lucy fell apart. Completely. Utterly. Into nothing.

  The increase in rain was what brought her back. Pulling her head back, she lowered her leg to the ground, staying sitting lest she really had lost all use of her limbs. That’s what it felt like. As if that last orgasm had stolen all her bones and left her as a heap of muscle and sinew. Something with a still-beating heart, but utterly devoid of possible function.

  “Under the moon, huh?” He was the first to speak and his voice was how she was sure hers would be. It had been deep before, but now it was dark and dirty, like the gravel flicked from a bike tire and left at the side of the road. She could get tumbled around in
that voice for a long time she realized. Tumbled and twisted up in a whole lot of trouble.

  The rain started down with even more intensity and she laughed to try to break the tension. “Seems the moon liked our little offering at least. Lucky I was already wet.”

  “Guess I need to offer you a towel again.”

  He stood and she followed, finally sure that her bones hadn’t disappeared and she could function as a human being again. But as he shut the french doors his phone rang, cracking the fantasy they’d built up almost by accident.

  He frowned at his cell. “I’m going to have to take this.”

  “You sure?” She looked at the hard bulge under his towel and wondered what a second course with Jake Slade would be like. He nodded. “Wait just a moment.” And he turned his back.

  She tried not to be glad. A little taste, a shattering little taste, was enough. Plenty enough for her to know she needed to avoid Jake Slade if she was serious about maintaining her self-control against all the male egos trying to keep her down. While he answered the phone, she pulled her wet clothes back on again and slipped out the door.

  3.

  His phone had the worst possible timing.

  “Hey, newly discovered half brother. How goes my hotel?” Briony. Jake’s heart contracted as he turned his back on Lucy.

  “Hey, can I call you back in a bit?”

  “Sure. As long as you’re not fucking anything up.”

  “Trying not to.” Jake looked down at his half-naked form and bit down hard on his lip.

  “Okay. I’ve got reception for the next half an hour or so before we board another plane.” Briony hung up and Jake looked at the phone in his hand for a moment, trying to refocus. Woman in his room, new sister on his phone. Deal with one then the other. But when he turned around, Lucy was gone. He wavered between wanting to go after her, and feeling relieved that that was the end of it, and in the end, too much time had passed for him to do anything other than flop onto the empty bed and call Briony back. Lucy had been a one-off, if he went after her, it would be . . . something. And he didn’t need any extra anything in his life right now.

  “All good in my hood? Checkin’ in like I said I would.” Briony was as chirpy as before.

  “So far it seems all okay. But if you’re having second thoughts about me running the bar, just say the word and I’ll hire a proper manager.”

  “Don’t be a dick. You’re a grown-up. Just remember that and you’ll be fine.” Jake glanced out the window at the small balcony where he’d ridden Lucy harder than any motorbike he’d driven in the last six months. Grown-up? “I’m not sure I’m as much of a grown-up as you think I am.”

  “Whatever. Don’t you remember what you said when we first met?”

  Jake did remember and he cringed every time he thought about it.

  “I had no idea who you were. And, well, you know the shit I’ve been working through.”

  “Hey.” Briony’s voice was instantly softer. “I was only teasing. I quite liked being called a hell cat. Cole liked it too, didn’t you, babes?”

  Jake heard a muffled chuckle in the background.

  “And I had just been on an all-night bender with the boys, so I probably did look like shit.”

  Jake breathed out through his mouth. “Still. It wasn’t what I was hoping for as a lasting first impression.”

  Briony’s laugh was sharp and warm. “Dude. You have to chill out. As long as Rocco and Hade are around the Hell’s Boys will stay sweet, and the rest is just keeping the beer flowing and the bookings coming now that the bills are all sorted for the next while. You can do that with your eyes closed, I’m sure.”

  “Right. Yes. Sure.”

  “Go get laid or something. I’ll talk to you in a week.”

  Jake opened his mouth to say something else but Briony had already hung up. Throwing the phone onto the comforter, Jake stared up at the freshly painted white ceiling. Keep the beer flowing and the bookings coming. He could do that. He would do that. Small tasks were just what he needed to be doing right now to keep himself focused and calm. Go get laid or something. Well he’d done that too. And once would be enough. More than enough for his state of mind right now.

  The next morning, he woke with the light streaming through the windows. Lucy Black seemed like a dream. Jake’s arm felt for her before he was fully conscious, but of course the space she’d never occupied was cold. Looking at the clock he realized he’d overslept. He shifted and something, his hair maybe, still held an echo of her scent: motor oil and wet hair, and he let himself linger in his memories of the night before.

  The way she’d thrown her head back. Virtually howled at the moon? God that was hot. Still, it was done. Up, shower, get to work. That’s what today was about, keeping things on an even keel. Keeping the hotel running like a well-oiled . . . well, bike, for his half sister. The thought of Briony made him pause a moment. When his mother’s lawyer had gone through her papers with him, Jake had thought he’d heard him wrong. “A sister?”

  The lawyer nodded. “That’s what it says here.”

  “But that can’t be right. Why didn’t Mom ever tell me?”

  The lawyer looked back at the letter enclosed in the documents. “Your mother knew she was ill for a long time. Longer than she let on. Seems she sought Ms. Wilde out on your behalf. She wanted to leave you with family when she passed so she went looking for your father, and then, well, Ms. Wilde’s existence became apparent. But it seems she ran out of time to put the two of you in contact with each other before she passed.”

  Jake had been numb. Unsure of whether to be excited by the appearance of a half sister he’d never known he had. And based here in LA where he’d lived the last five years. Maybe fate had a hand in it. That he wouldn’t get to find his father, look the bastard in the face, and ask him why he’d bailed on his mother, grated at him, but now that he’d met Briony, it didn’t really matter either.

  Jake looked around his hotel room. The hotel she’d rebuilt from the run-down shell that her father, their father, had left her. He would keep offering to step back from the hotel if Briony wanted him to, but the truth was that being here made him feel connected to a piece of his life he’d never even known he was missing out on. “Thanks, Mom.” Now that he’d had the chance to spend a couple of months with Briony, he appreciated the effort his mother had made to find this last piece of his family for him. All he had to do now was not screw it up.

  He hauled himself out of bed and, once showered and dressed, headed downstairs to the manager’s office on the other side of the bar. This he could do. There were no flaming bikes hurtling toward him, and the most advice he was likely to give out was whether to order more beer. No one was going to die.

  His agent, his team, anyone that mattered had told him that Sarah’s death hadn’t been his fault, but he knew the truth. Better for everyone that he took himself out of the film industry for a while.

  Taking a long breath, Jake looked down at his hands before he pushed into the bar. They weren’t shaking at the moment—nothing was shaking, despite his short bout of tremors last night. This was good. He was good.

  About twenty bikers sat around the room. A couple at the bar, the rest at tables or playing pool. Damn early to start drinking in his world, but then this wasn’t his world. He looked down at his neat jeans, at the gold watch that he’d spotted a dozen guys eyeing up the first night he walked in. That was the only trouble with walking away from his old job. Stunt riding and now acting were his life. The only things he knew how to do, the only things he’d thought he wanted. Time to get proven wrong.

  He pushed into the small office off the bar. “Jake. Good of you to make an appearance,” the night manager said, her face twisting in a wry smile.

  “I know. I overslept. My bad.” With the reminder of why he was late, Jake’s mind flashed back to Lucy. How she’d wanted him under the moonlight. The spark in her eye. Shit, she’d been hot. But dangerous too. A bit like Sarah. Lucky it had
only been a one-off.

  “There were a few idiots in last night. Broke a pool cue. I had to call Hade to set them straight. He promised to keep the boys in line, especially with Bri away,” the night manager said. She was about fifty, and the deep lines around her mouth and yellowed teeth showed her lifelong commitment to cigarettes. A lot of cigarettes.

  “Shit, sorry. I should have been here.” Jake was pretty sure it wouldn’t have happened if he’d been in the bar.

  “Not your fault. Can’t be here night and day. And don’t go getting any ideas about riding in on your bike like a big fucking hero. Hell’s Boys don’t take well to shit like that.”

  “Still.”

  “No still about it. Some of the new boys are stupid. Young. Simple as that. I know Hade is all about building the gang up, family-like, and Rocco is going along with it for now, but letting kids like that in is asking for trouble. Better to let women in if you ask me. Hade said he was considering it, imagine he’ll have a shit fight if it happens. But anyway . . .” The manager paused. “You’re up. And don’t forget you’re working a double tonight.”

  Jake was still thinking through what he would have said to the idiots if he’d been in the bar when they’d started breaking pool cues. “What?”

  “Tonight. You go onto night shift tonight. I’ve got my grandkids this week. Don’t forget to take a decent break this afternoon and eat. Sorry you have to do a double, but it was the only way to make it work.”

  “Sure. Fine. Hade’s number is in the book, right?” Jake said, pointing at the hotel manual Briony had put together.

  The manager nodded but gave him a look that clearly said he should leave the senior member of the Raising Hellfire gang the fuck alone unless absolutely necessary.

  “Oh, and there’s a new housekeeper starting today. She turned up yesterday in the bar looking desperate apparently. She’s staying in the bunkhouse until she gets herself sorted. Some friend of Bri’s apparently. No idea if she’s any good at housekeeping but she needs the money, so hopefully she works out. Starts on the night shift with you so no doubt you’ll run into her.”