by Ravenna Tate
“It feels weird to stand.”
“Just give it a second or two.”
The care with which he treated her nearly broke her heart in two. She mentally shook away the negative thoughts. This day was to be embraced and enjoyed. She’d need the memory of it once she left the club for good.
“Better?”
“Yes.”
“Come on. Legs packed a picnic lunch.”
“You’re kidding. I wish she had told me. I could have helped her with it.”
Tannin took her hand. “It was spur-of-the-moment.”
“I feel like a moocher.”
They stopped walking and he frowned. “What? Why? You’ve done plenty of things to help out.”
“It doesn’t feel that way.”
Tannin brushed a finger down her face. “It’s the stress of everything else going on, Rai. That’s all. Let’s enjoy this day.”
She gazed up into his ice blue eyes, mesmerized as always by his powerful, protective aura. “Okay.”
“That’s my girl.” Tannin took her hand. “Come on. I smell homemade chicken salad.”
Rai laughed. “Really? You must have a super-human sense of smell because all I smell are flowers, grass, and leather.”
“What did you think of the bike ride?”
“I loved it.”
“When all this is over, I can’t wait to take you out on the open road.”
Which meant he intended to spend time with her in the future. Was she wrong about him? “I can’t wait for that either, Tannin.”
As they rounded a bend in the trails, Chloe waved to them from a large blanket she’d spread over a patch of low grass. “There you two are. We thought you’d stopped for some fun before lunch.”
Tannin squeezed her hand. “Later. First, we need to eat.”
They sat down and took sandwiches and bottled beer from Chloe. “I made cole slaw and brownies, too.”
“Thank you for doing all this,” said Rai.
“It was nothing. Dig in.”
While they ate, Chloe entertained them with gossip she’d heard about some of the women who hung out with the Outlaw Dogs. Rai only half-listened. The talk consisted of who was in jail now, or who had been arrested for misdemeanors lately. Too much like a bizarre, alternate reality high school for her taste, but Chloe and the guys got a kick out of it.
Once they finished, Rai helped Chloe pack up everything in one of the leather saddle bags. “You’re quiet today,” she said.
“I’m all right. Just enjoying being outdoors.”
“Gorgon thinks we should hear something soon.” The guys had gone off into the grass to use the bathroom, which she and Chloe would need to do, too.
“Why do you say that?”
“Vassago told him this morning that one of Donny’s men called and asked if he could stop by Sunday afternoon.”
Her pulse raced. “Why wait? Why can’t we talk to him today?”
“Because Fridays and Saturdays are the busiest nights in the club, and Donny knows that. If it was too important to wait, he’d have stopped by already. Don’t worry, okay?”
Chloe pointed. “Here they come.” She dug in the bag and pulled out a roll of toilet paper. “I came prepared. Don’t know about you, but wiping myself with leaves is not something I ever want to have to do.”
Rai laughed all the way into the tall grass.
Chapter Eighteen
When she and Chloe returned, Tannin had spread out a second blanket, about one hundred yards from where the four had eaten lunch. He motioned Rai over with one finger. Chloe practically ran over to where Gorgon waited on the first blanket, propped up on his side with his boots and socks off.
No fucking way…
Rai strolled over and stood next to the blanket that Tannin had spread out. She stared in disbelief as Gorgon pulled Chloe down on top of him and kissed her as intimately as if they were alone in his room.
“Tannin…”
“Shhh.” He pulled her down onto the blanket and on top of him. “See? From this vantage point, we can barely be seen.”
He was right. The grasses partially obscured them, but did nothing to block the sounds. “I can’t do this.”
“Have sex outside?” His sexy grin failed this time to arouse her.
“You know what I mean.”
“I want to fuck you, Rai. I want to do it here and now.” He kissed her, shoving his tongue into her mouth and grabbing her hair. It took mere seconds for her pussy to be soaked. Damn him, and his damn mouth and hands.
Tannin released her mouth and hair to remove his cut and t-shirt, while Rai tried not to listen to Chloe’s moans and Gorgon’s grunts. When Tannin took off her top and grasped her breasts through her bra, she gazed down into his face, ready to protest once more.
“Rai, make love to me.”
Shivers ran down her spine. He’d never used those words before. It was the first time he hadn’t referred to sex as “fucking”. Rai reached around and undid the hooks on her bra. He released the fabric so it could fall, and then groaned loudly as she bent over and brushed her nipples against his face.
“Oh, yes! Yes, baby. That’s it. I love your tits so hard!” He bit and sucked them, forcing cries of pleasure from her as she forgot everything except what he did to her with that magical mouth. She moved off him just long enough to shed her jeans, panties, socks, and shoes, while he practically tore off the rest of his clothes.
Rai sneaked one quick glance to her left. Gorgon and Chloe were both naked. She was on top, riding him. This time, instead of embarrassment and reluctance, all Rai wanted was Tannin’s dick inside her.
He had dug a condom out of his jeans pocket and donned it already, so she straddled him and lowered her pussy over his sheathed dick without any foreplay.
“Oh, God!” Tannin’s eyes filled with lust and surprise as he grasped her hips. “Rai … thank you.”
With one hand, she played with her breasts, and with the other she rubbed her clit as Tannin moved her up and down. She cried out as an orgasm drew close, and it took no more than a few moments for it to wash over her.
He wasn’t done, though, and when he withdrew he kissed her again, with more force and meaning than he’d ever done. “This is so fucking fabulous.”
“I’ve never done this. Had sex in front other people … who are also having sex.”
“I’m so fucking turned on right now I can barely breathe.”
“And I’ve never had sex outside before.”
“I’m going to fuck you outside every day for the rest of my life.”
Before she had time to react to that comment, he moved her gently off him and pulled something out from under his jeans. “I have a surprise for you.” Rai gasped. She’d spotted the thick leather paddle with holes in it one time inside the drawer where he kept his floggers and other impact play toys, but he told her it wasn’t a beginner’s toy.
“Here and now?”
His eyes gleamed with mischief, making goosebumps break out over her limbs. “Where better?”
She cut her gaze again to the left. Gorgon was now on top of Chloe, and his bulk practically obscured her, but judging from the girl’s moans of pleasure, she was having a wonderful time.
“I want to paddle your luscious ass red,” he said. “And then I want to fuck you from behind, until tears run down your face and you beg me to stop.”
Rai let out a shaky breath as images of him doing that danced through her mind. “Yes,” she whispered. “I want you to do that. Please.”
Tannin kissed her rough and hard, and then he sat down and pulled Rai over his knee. She braced for it, and cried out loudly as the first swat struck both ass cheeks at once.
There was no preamble this time. No teasing her skin with the edge of the paddle, or working up slowly to the hard swats. He meant business. Another strong climax began to build as the now-familiar pain and pleasure raced through her body and her mind.
It was impossible to think of anyt
hing except that paddle, torturing her skin with its burning sting. She forgot about Chloe and Gorgon, instead concentrating on the intense, exquisite sensations she had come to love in the space of one short week.
Tears ran down her face as nonsense syllables and loud moans left her throat. There was no need to think. There was only Tannin, the paddle smashing against her ass, and the contractions that spread out to her fingers and toes. She melted into his hard, muscled body, never wanting to leave him or this place.
When he stopped, she had no time to come out of the sweet haze because he had her on her knees and sank his cock deep into her pussy from behind. Strong hands grabbed her hair, and his mouth was on her back, licking and kissing her skin.
“Rai … oh my God. It’s never been this fucking good.”
She couldn’t answer him, even though she heartily agreed. To her left, she spotted Chloe and Gorgon, lying on their sides, facing her and Tannin. The grass prevented her from having an unobstructed view, but through the stalks it was obvious that Gorgon was fucking Chloe from behind now.
Had they watched Tannin paddle her? The idea of that was no longer uncomfortable. Instead, she found it strangely exciting. When Tannin reached underneath and massaged her clit, she turned her head to the other side and let go again, enjoying the way he was determined to coax yet another climax out of her.
Once it exploded, he did, too, crying out loudly as he slammed into her pussy mercilessly. His balls slapped her with each thrust, and Rai grabbed fistfuls of the blanket as she cried out in pain and pleasure.
After he finished, withdrew and took off the condom, she lay prone and drifted into a sleepy haze. Insects buzzed, and warm sunshine dried the sweat from her body. Tannin wrapped her in his strong arms and nuzzled her neck. “Now you’re really one of us, my cultured lady.”
“Is that what I am? Your lady?”
“Yes.” He kissed her neck gently. “My old lady. That’s what you are. If you want to be, that is…”
The hesitation in his voice finally broke through the fog of an intense paddling and mind-blowing sex. Rai propped herself up on one elbow so she could look into his eyes. “What are you asking me, Tannin?”
“The closest thing to a marriage proposal you will ever get from me.”
Holy shit. “You said you didn’t do happily-ever-after.”
“I changed my mind.” He drew in a deep breath. “I love you, Rai.”
Oh my God… “Tannin, I love you, too.”
“You do?” He was genuinely surprised.
“Yes.” Tears ran down her face again, but this time they weren’t from pain. “This is crazy.”
He brushed a finger along her face. “Why is it crazy?”
“Because…” I have no idea. “It’s so fast.”
“How much time does a person need to know they’ve found the one they want to spend the rest of their life with?”
“I thought I found that person once. I was dead wrong.”
“And now?”
The fear in his eyes was horrible, because she was the reason for it. “How can I be sure you won’t do the same thing to me?”
“You can’t. All you can do is believe me when I tell you that I’d drive my bike over a cliff before I’d intentionally hurt you. You have to trust me, Rai. You have to trust yourself. I can’t do that for you.” He tapped her chest. “It has to come from inside here.”
Voices reached her ears. Chloe and Gorgon.
Tannin sat up, and she did, too. “Think about it,” he said. “I don’t need your answer right now. I want you to be one hundred percent sure before you give it to me.” He began to dress so she did as well, trying to make sense of the confusion inside.
This was what she’d fantasized about earlier. Why was it so difficult now to say “yes”? She either trusted him all the way or she didn’t trust him at all. There was no middle ground with him, and that’s how it should be. It was what he deserved. It was what everyone deserved. He obviously trusted her with his heart and soul, or he’d never have asked.
She didn’t make eye contact with Chloe or Gorgon as they packed the blankets, got back on the bikes, and rode toward the club. Rai was grateful that Tannin and the others would be busy tonight, and that she’d have to stay out of sight. She had some serious soul-searching to do.
Chapter Nineteen
If not for the club being open that night, and all the work Tannin had to do because of it, he’d have lost his fucking mind. There was no regret in asking her. It had been as inevitable as the tides. The regret was in not doing it in a more romantic way. Women needed that sort of thing.
The timing likely made it appear that the only reason he’d asked was because she’d let him paddle and fuck her outdoors, and with Legs and Gorgon close by. Nothing was further from the truth, but she didn’t know that.
Legs had just gone up on stage for her first set when Vassago, his eyes wide with excitement, found Tannin. “Hey, just got a text from one of Donny’s men. Come into the office. Gorgon has the prospects watching the club for a moment.”
The other officers were already there. “What the hell is wrong?” asked Tannin, certain this had something to do with Rai’s staff, and praying at the same time he was wrong.
Vassago pointed toward the TV, tuned to one of the Cleveland news stations. Tannin watched and listened in disbelief as the reporter described a chaotic scene outside the headquarters of Comfort First.
Jennifer Wise-Minnick was dead. Shot in the head in the alley behind her own company. Timmy Bowling had already been arrested for the crime.
The Brothers all talked at once until a shrill whistle stopped them. Vassago held up his phone. “Got a text from Donny. He’s going to have a sit down with Vito tomorrow, and will be here Sunday to talk to us.”
“Holy shit,” said Tannin.
“No fucking way Timmy Bowling did this,” said Mastema. “This was a Mob hit.”
“You saying Donny had this done?” asked Rahab, their Vice President.
“One of them did,” said Vassago. “This evangelist is being framed. Who the fuck else would pull off something like this except Donny or Vito?”
“Can’t you just ask him?” asked Phenex. “He’s your cousin.”
“Yeah, right,” said Vassago. “Tell ya what, smart ass. Pretend he’s your cousin and you ask him.”
They all began talking at once until Gorgon yelled at them to shut the fuck up. He glared at the group. “No fucking speculation outside this room. Until we hear from Donny on Sunday, we know nothing but what the news stations have, got it?”
“We don’t know anything but what the news stations have,” said Phenex.
“You know what the fuck I mean. What we don’t need right now is gossip or rumors getting back to Vito or the Outlaw Dogs, or to have Donny think we’re spreading shit around about him.”
“I have to go to Rai,” said Tannin.
Rahab gave him a sarcastic smirk. “She’s gonna freak.”
“No, she’s not,” said Tannin, standing up straighter. He and Rahab had nearly come to blows earlier that week when Rahab referred to Rai as a “spoiled, scared princess”. “Quite the contrary.”
“Yeah, you’re right. If this was Donny’s doing, now she can go home.”
“Think again, wise-ass. I asked her to be my old lady this afternoon.”
“About time,” said Vassago.
“What did she say?” asked Mastema.
Tannin couldn’t lie to his Brothers, but now that the cat was out of the bag, he couldn’t avoid answering, either. Because this wasn’t inconsequential, and also because the way he’d defied them all and kept fucking the woman they’d fired still bugged the shit out of Rahab and a few others.
“She’s thinking about it. It’s a huge change for her.”
Rahab opened his mouth to speak again, but Gorgon cut him off, in addition to placing a hand on the man’s shoulder. “We’re done. No more discussion about this. We need to get back into the c
lub.”
After the others filed out, Rahab and Gorgon stared each other down, but Rahab finally left. Tannin started to leave, but Gorgon blocked his way. “You sure about this?”
“Of course.”
“It is a huge change for her. And you need to be sure because it affects all of—”
“I know that. I wouldn’t have asked her if I hadn’t already considered how it affects everyone.”
“Keep your shirt on, Tannin. I need you to be one hundred percent sure this is what you want, and what she wants. We’ve already had to fire one woman you—”
“Shut the fuck up. This isn’t the same thing, and you know it. When was the last time I asked a woman to be my old lady?”
“Fair enough. Point taken. Go and tell her the good news about Jennifer and Timmy. Maybe you’ll get your answer.”
Tannin snorted. “You’re funny when you’re a smart-ass.” He brushed past Gorgon but stopped when the man put a hand on his shoulder.
“Tannin, seriously, I hope she says ‘yes’. I’ve never seen you this gaga over a broad, and she obviously adores you.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah. Now get out of here, asshole.”
“Fuck you.”
“No thanks. I’ve seen you fuck. I wouldn’t enjoy it.”
He ignored the man’s attempt at humor and sprinted up the stairs to Rai’s room, where he found her watching the news. She was close to crying. Tannin’s heart gave a lurch as he gathered her into his arms and held her. “It’s all right.”
“No way did Timmy do this. No way.”
“Yeah. None of us think so either.”
“What?” She pulled out his embrace and stared at him with those big eyes. “What did I miss?”
He told her about the text Vassago had received. “My guess is Donny had this done because he found out Jennifer was also working for Vito. And he’s had Timmy framed for the murder to use as leverage against Vito.”
Understanding dawned on her face. “That explains why you, Gorgon, and Vassago reacted that way when I first came here and mentioned Comfort First. You knew that was one of Donny’s companies.”
“Yeah. Jennifer was playing them both and when we told Donny your story, he found out.”
