by Zoey Parker
Hang around if he’ll let you, she messaged back.
I sighed. “Great. The longer I’m here, the harder this is going to get,” I said to my phone, as if Coyote could hear me talking.
If he won’t let you stay in the house, hang around him or the MC, she messaged. She was giving me the opportunity to get away from him and watch from some distance.
“Got it, I messaged her back. Then, I took a deep breath and added, Will try to stay here. There’s something here. I knew there was some piece of information that would help me find the diamond in Gunner’s house.
BE CAREFUL, she texted back.
I laughed and put my phone away again. It was good to break the tension. I knew that staying put me in danger and put the job in jeopardy, especially if he continued making sexual advances. I was able to see past it all so far, but I knew it wouldn’t be long before shit got complicated.
I didn’t do complicated well, and I didn’t want to just jump ship in the middle of the gig.
“You got this,” I said to the wet-haired woman staring at me in the mirror. We shared a smile and a wink, and I walked back into his bedroom.
I walked around the bed, running my hand along the edge of it. There was no shirt laid out waiting for me.
“Dammit, Gunner, you were supposed to leave me a shirt out,” I said, half amused at the opportunity to browse through his closet.
I let the towel drop to the floor as I walked to his open closet door. On one side, he had all of his suits hanging.
“How many suits does one man need?” I asked myself as I ran my hand along the tops of the hanging jackets. Then, I couldn’t help but laugh when I looked down and saw the countless pairs of dress shoes underneath his suits. “Oh, Gunner,” I said, putting a hand to my mouth to stifle my laughter, which was about to turn into cackling.
I turned around and caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror on the back wall of his closet. I knew how I looked in the mirror to myself, but I wondered what I looked like to him when he threw me on the bed, or when he took me on the desk. I tore my eyes away from myself and turned to the other side of his closet.
On the side opposite his suits, he had normal clothes. There were black t-shirts and blue jeans, all in different states of age and wear. He had one pair—just one pair—of old black boots he must have worn for riding. His vest with his MC colors was also hanging on that side of his closet.
I pulled down an old shirt that looked like it had some classic rock band’s album art on it. I didn’t recognize the logo or the artwork, but it looked futuristic and metallic, which was ironic because the shirt looked older than either of us.
I pulled it on over my head and pulled my hair out of the neck of it while the aged cotton settled on my shoulders. It was soft and comfortable, like wrapping bedsheets around me. And it was the perfect length, stretching down past my crotch to hide the fact that I wasn’t wearing any underwear.
I looked at myself in the mirror, enamored by the way the artwork weighed down the fabric between my breasts, making the shirt fit the contours of my chest perfectly. Gunner wasn’t that much taller than I was, just enough to make it noticeable, enough to make him comfortable in bed. But his shirt swallowed me whole. I figured that was due to how broad his shoulders were. It gave the shirt extra width that I didn’t need. Except, I did need the extra width since I wasn’t wearing anything else underneath it.
I walked out of the closet, happy with my find, at the same time that he was walking back into the room.
“Cool shirt,” Gunner said.
“Thanks. I hope you don’t mind. I went rummaging through your closet for it,” I told him.
“I trust you didn’t make too much of a mess in there,” he said cautiously.
“Not too much, but you might want to get the house staff to help you put everything back up. You know how it is.” I laughed as he walked past me hurriedly and looked into the closet to find that absolutely nothing was out of place.
Chapter Nine
At some point, Gunner had thrown on clothes, which meant that he had gotten dressed while I was in the shower. When I realized he was wearing slacks and a nice white dress shirt, a burst of ice ran through my veins. I couldn’t help but wonder if he’d heard my conversation with Coyote or my conversation with myself. Neither one would have been any good.
Instead of indicating that he had heard anything he shouldn’t have, though, he gently took me by the arm and walked me downstairs.
“We need to talk,” he said firmly.
I knew it! I was busted. He had found out that I had sent those emails to myself. He knew what I was up to, and I was about to disappear. I was about to learn why he called his MC The Immortal Devils. Hell, just the way he moved in bed was enough reason to call them that!
“Is everything okay?” I asked nervously as he guided me down the winding spiral staircase and out the back door to where a couple of plates and glasses of wine waited for us on a table on the patio.
“I don’t know yet,” he said, “but maybe we can figure that out while we eat lunch. Please, take a seat.”
I was too nervous to eat, but I wasn’t about to turn down his offer. I sat down in one of the small chairs on either side of the little round table. I found that I was incredibly self-conscious with his house staff present. I tried to cross my legs but realized the shirt wasn’t quite long enough to keep from showing me off that way, so I sat with my legs down and closed.
“Couldn’t we do this inside?” I asked him. “I’m kind of exposed out here.”
“No one is going to notice,” Gunner said, laughing. “Eat,” he said, nodding at my plate. “I had them prepare this with you in mind.
I looked down at my plate. It was a salad. I saw two different types of lettuce, spinach, and another leafy vegetable I didn’t recognize, probably kale or something crazy like that. There were cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, red onions, and bleu cheese crumbles. I picked up my fork and rummaged through the leaves to see if anything else was hiding in there for me. There was also bacon and grilled chicken, but it wasn’t lying right on top like at restaurants. It had been tossed in with the vegetables, like a sane person had made it.
I shook my head and laughed. I was relieved that he hadn’t skipped out on the meat.
“What’s so funny?” he asked with a knowing look in his eyes, and I could see he had done it on purpose to see my reaction.
“You had me worried there for a minute,” I told him. “I was starting to think this was just rabbit food.”
“What gave it away?”
“I dug into it to see if there was anything else. I’m glad there was. Is there any dressing?” I asked.
“What would you like?”
“Ranch or bleu cheese,” I told him.
“I’ll get you both.” He put his napkin on the table and got up to go inside before I could stop him and tell him not to bother. He came back a moment later with bottles of both ranch and bleu cheese dressing in his hands.
“You really didn’t have to,” I said.
“No, it’s fine. We might as well make it as enjoyable as possible, right?” He gave me a look that told me he wasn’t just talking about the salad. That was his philosophy on everything.
“So, what did you want to talk about?” I asked as I poured a little bit of both dressings over my salad. Might as well make it as enjoyable as possible, right?
“I want you to stay,” he said bluntly.
I knew it! That was what I was hoping this was going to be about. I was so thankful that I hadn’t been busted, or that he wasn’t going to call me out for it. He busted me when he found me in the office. But he was asking me to stay! I just didn’t know what to say to that, unfortunately.
“I don’t know,” I said hesitantly. “I don’t want to impose.”
“You’re not imposing. I really enjoyed last night and this morning,” he started.
I felt my face blush. I must have been turning bright red like my hair.
“I d
id, too,” I said modestly, trying to downplay just how much I really enjoyed the sex. “But is that the only reason you want me to stay?” I asked, trying to channel the spurned lover. I was really just messing with him to see what he would say.
“Definitely not,” he said. “But let me ask you something. Have you ever done anything like we did last night and this morning?”
“Yeah, last night and this morning,” I said between bites of food, unable to resist the opportunity to take a stab at him.
“I’ll take that as a no,” he said.
“Well, you still haven’t answered my question,” I said, dropping the hurt act and sticking with usual smart-assed tone.
“I’m not going to say what you’re trying to get me to say,” he teased, “but I will tell you that I enjoy this right here, too. I enjoy that you challenge me even in conversation. Talking to you is fun.”
“Good. I’m glad I’m entertaining. Now, what were you saying about the sex?” I smirked as I returned to my salad.
“I was going to say that if you would agree to stay, I would be willing to teach you more about the sensual arts,” he said slowly, in a very seductive tone.
Talking to him without underwear on was dangerous. All I had to do was open my legs and he could be inside me immediately. Staying so we could explore each other sexually would be dangerous, too, but it would also give me more time to hunt for clues as to the whereabouts of the Sun Stone.
“I’m not sure I understand what you’re offering me,” I told him, mainly because I wanted to hear how he would describe my time with him.
“I’m offering more of what you’ve already had. I’m offering you the chance to explore your body with me, your desires. I want to let you explore everything that turns you on and gets you off.
His voice and his words were turning me on. I wondered if he knew that. Shit, he probably did.
“Are you sure you don’t just want to explore what I can do to get you off?” I teased. “I mean, I wouldn’t mind, because it seems to be working for me, too,” I added quickly, before he could say anything else.
“Well, if that’s what you want to do, we can definitely do that, too.” He shot me another of his knowing looks. He knew exactly what I was thinking, because he was thinking it, too. We both knew I wanted him. I wanted him right then. If I hadn’t been feeling bashful in front of his staff, I would have opened myself to him right there on the patio so he could take me as part of his lunch.
“There’s so much I want to do that I’ve never done before,” I blurted out in a rare moment of complete and open honesty, sort of like when I told him my real name instead of an alias. A voice in my head started telling me it was time to abort this mission. Surely, Coyote had someone else who could take it.
“Well, I want to ask you to stay tonight at least. Take the night to think about it. I have a meeting with the MC this evening. It’s important business stuff, just the founding members, so you will have the house and my staff to yourself. If you need a charger, I’m sure any member of my house staff can get one for you. I just ask that you stay out of my office,” he said with a wink.
“Got it, and I’m really sorry about that,” I said, laughing.
“No, it’s fine. I don’t mind. But I also ask that you don’t ask the staff for sexual favors, please,” he said with a completely straight face, except I could see that his eyes were smiling.
“Well, if you come back tonight, and I’m in the pool house with one of your boys, just don’t interrupt unless you want to join in,” I said with a wink.
“You’re bad. I’m going to have to teach you some manners,” he teased.
“Please do, but can it wait until after we eat?” I asked in a tempting tone.
“Not if you keep talking like that,” he said, playing along.
“Fair enough. Okay, I’ll stay the night, and I’ll let you know what I’m thinking in the morning,” I agreed, even though I knew that staying tonight meant I would be staying for good, which was exactly why he had asked me to do it.
He was good. He didn’t come across as manipulating, but he didn’t need to. He made me want to go along with his plans so they felt more like my own. All I wanted was to find that diamond, get laid a few more times, and get the hell away from him before he forced me to form a complicated attachment to him by pleasing me beyond my wildest dreams far too many times.
“Excellent,” he said with a wide smile across his face. “Well, by the time we finish eating our lunch, you should have some new clothes to try on, and by tonight, your other clothes should be clean. It’s my understanding your dress had to be dry-cleaned.”
“Yes, of course,” I said.
“Well, you should be good to go by tonight, so if you decide in the morning that you want to leave, you can. I won’t ask any questions,” he told me with a sense of finality in his tone.
“Oh, I don’t think that will be a problem,” I told him suggestively as I returned to my salad to finish it.
Chapter Ten
Gunner
I knew Sierra would continue snooping around after I left the house for the MC meeting, but I wasn’t too worried about it. I was actually curious to see what she would dig up. I was also curious to know who she really was. All I knew so far was the she was the queen of smart asses, and she was an amazing partner in bed. I knew my guys would already be looking into her, and I wondered if anyone had anything yet.
I saw the excitement in her eyes when I asked her to stay, despite how she tried to play it off like she wasn’t sure I would actually want to keep her around. There was no hiding it. Her eyes were too expressive to hide everything from me. I could see as we talked about the sexual aspect of her staying, it turned her on to think about everything we could do over time if she stayed with me.
It had taken every ounce of will power that I had not to take her right there on the table. There were a couple of times when I just imagined throwing off our plates and letting them smash on the stone patio. I wanted to bend her over the little round bistro table and pull the shirt she was wearing up to reveal her exposed flesh. I wanted to touch her and taste her again. I wanted to bury my face in her and then bury myself deep in her.
I didn’t know what the deal was with my beautiful Sierra. I couldn’t stop thinking about taking her again. She was so receptive sexually. She was willing to do whatever I told her, it seemed, and her body was so perfectly in tune with my own.
It wasn’t completely necessary that I left her at the house for the meeting with the rest of the founding Immortal Devils, but I needed some space so I didn’t just jump her bones at random. I needed to clear my head and get her out of my mind for a little while.
After lunch, I walked upstairs to my room and changed while she stayed out by the pool. She left her purse sitting on the bathroom counter, and it would have been easy to try to beat her at her snooping game. I knew her phone was in there, and if it had any power left, I could easily get into it and see what she was trying to do.
I didn’t. I figured I would be better just waiting it out and letting her game expose itself. I walked out of the bathroom and left her purse lying on the counter, undisturbed, her phone still inside.
I grabbed a t-shirt, an old pair of jeans, and my boots. I threw my daily clothes on the bed and changed into my biker clothes. We didn’t normally wear our colors and jeans unless we were just going to be at the clubhouse, and that was where our meeting was going to be. It was private MC business, sensitive information we couldn’t discuss in public places like Eden.
I grabbed my vest and looked at myself in the mirror. I felt like a different man. I looked like a different man when I dressed down. In my MC uniform, it was easier to imagine myself taking things too far and maintaining the MC’s reputation of being depraved.
The man standing before me in the mirror had seen and done things the billionaire me wanted to forget, but I couldn’t forget what it had taken to get where I was. I couldn’t forget the ruthlessness
. I couldn’t forget what it took to earn the name Immortal. I adjusted my vest and chuckled at my reflection.
It was time to ride.
I stepped into the hallway overlooking the living room and the large windows looking out to the back patio. Sierra lay on one of the folding pool chairs in the sun. While I stood there watching her, I took out my phone and texted Dario, the member of my staff who had gone to get her clothes.
Please pick up a bathing suit for her as well. Thanks.
I put the phone back in my pocket and headed downstairs. I had already told her bye and instructed my people to watch out for her while I was gone. They had orders to do what she asked and to treat her as an honored guest, though if I was really honest, she was more of a prisoner at that point. I wanted her to stay so I could make use of her body whenever I wanted it, but I also wanted to keep an eye on her and find out who sent her to snoop around my home.
