She turned and scowled at Ryder. “And, you, since you got nothin’ better to do with your time than stare at me with your mouth hanging open like a panting puppy.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Ryder gave her a salute and a wink.
She pinched his ass as she headed out the door. “Cheeky. You bring her back and maybe I’ll give you that sweet treatment after all.”
James and Ryder followed her out, stepping over a groaning Dawg, an injured Punch and an unconscious Bones. Angel looked back over her shoulder and flipped back her long blonde hair.
“We’re even, Ice.”
He nodded. “We are.”
She pressed her lips together and then her face softened. “Don’t let them take her. I hooked up with Rex when I was only seventeen. Biggest mistake of my life. This world, it beats the hell out of a girl. Sucks up her sweetness and spits her out the other end with nothing left but bitterness in her heart. The minute my baby girl was born I knew I had to get her out of here, and I knew I would do anything to make that happen. And that was just Hades. Those Wolverines…”
James’s throat tightened. “I know.”
She drew in a ragged breath, her face tightening once more. “If you know, then why are you standing around gawking at me? Go!”
“They aren’t going anywhere.” Rex stepped into the hallway, arms folded, a trickle of blood on his temple and a scowl on his face. “They betrayed Hades. They pay the price.”
“For the love of…” Angel cut herself off when Rex walked toward them. “You got one hell of a hard head, Rexy. Most men would have been out a coupla hours after getting hit with this here pipe. Maybe it’s been all that coke you’ve been snorting or all the girls you’ve been fucking. You’re too stupid to know when it’s best to stay passed out.”
“Only one girl I wanted,” Rex snarled. “Wasn’t you.”
Unperturbed, Angel gave a bitter laugh. “I heard you were sniffing around my PI and she wouldn’t have you. So you decided to give her up to the Wolverines. Isn’t that right? If you couldn’t have her, no one else in the club could have her? You’re pathetic. And you know what I’m thinking? I’m thinking the reason you didn’t stay down is because the wrong person hit you with the pipe.”
She tossed the pipe to James and gave him a wicked grin. “Let’s see what you got, Ice. If you can’t knock him out longer than I did, I’ll take that damn pipe to your head next.”
James hefted the pipe and stalked toward Rex. “Go home, Angel. By the time I’m done here, there won’t be any pipe left to play with.”
Chapter Twenty-One
The heart-shaking roar of a motorcycle engine wrenched Lana from sleep. She shook Jackie awake and raced to the window of the tiny motel hidden away in the Rocky Mountains.
“Is it Levi?” Jackie ran around the room, still half-asleep, stuffing clothes in her backpack, her long dark hair a tangle around her face.
“I can’t tell. It’s too dark,” Lana whispered.
“How did he know where we are?”
“Maybe it’s not him.” She dared to hope, but practicality reared its ugly head. “We have to be prepared to escape on foot. Our car will be blocked off once they enter the parking lot.”
Jackie tugged a hoodie over her pajamas. “Excellent. I’ve always wanted to run aimlessly through a cold, dark forest in the middle of the night, being pursued by crazed Wolverines. Can’t have too many experiences in this life, I always say.”
Lana peered out the window again and her heart skipped a beat. “There’s only one guy and he’s parked beside your car.”
“If he puts a scratch on that paint, I’ll kill him,” Jackie grumbled. “I just had it redone. Cost me every penny I made on the Pomeranian case.”
“He’s heading to the front desk. We can sneak out now.” Lana grabbed her backpack and pushed open the door.
The phone rang, the sound jarring in the quiet of the night.
“He’s calling.” Jackie’s eyes widened. “Very thoughtful. I thought he’d just bust down the door and drag you out by the hair. But I guess he wants to be sure you’re properly dressed for your kidnapping. Are you going to answer it?”
Heart pounding, Lana lifted the receiver.
“Babe…”
“James.” Her heart swelled in her chest and a grin split her face. “It’s James,” she whispered.
Jackie raised an eyebrow. “I gathered that from the breathy sigh and the stars in your eyes. He’s like a white knight riding his silver steed into the mountains to rescue his damsel in distress. What I wouldn’t give for one of those.” Her face fell and for the briefest moment Lana thought she caught a glimpse of regret in Jackie’s eyes, but it was so fleeting she could have imagined it.
Footsteps hammered down the wooden walkway in time to Lana’s beating heart. She pulled open the door and threw her arms around James’s neck as he stepped into the room.
“You came.”
“Of course I came,” he murmured. “You’re my girl.”
“Did Kickstand call you?” Jackie asked. “Is he okay? I got the feeling he was about to do something stupid.”
James kicked the door closed and wrapped his arms around Lana. “He called Ryder. And Ryder was with me. We had just dropped Rex off at the hospital. Someone beat him up pretty bad with a pipe. He’s got a coupla broken limbs and a concussion. Maybe a broken nose and a few broken ribs. Lots of cuts and bruises. Internal injuries…”
“Hmmmm.” Lana looked up and raised an eyebrow. “Sounds like someone was pretty pissed at him.”
James brushed a kiss over her forehead. “Someone was. A man sees his girl being abused and sold to a bunch of fucking Wolverines, he gets a bit annoyed. A man gets annoyed, he has to do something about it. Someone puts a pipe in his hand and pushes him in the right direction, he knows what to do.”
Lana bit her lip to repress her smile. “I’m surprised he’s alive.”
“That’s Ryder’s fault.”
“Where is Ryder?” Jackie peered out the window. “I thought he’d be with you.”
James sighed. “Kickstand gave us your location and then said he was going to lure the Wolverines away. Ryder’s gone after him. Once he catches up to Kickstand and knocks some sense into his head, they’re going to meet up with us.”
Jackie’s face fell and she sighed. “Oh. Great. The more the merrier. No better way to keep a low profile than by travelling with three bikers.”
Lana gave her a puzzled frown from the safety of James’s arms. Were things not going well between Jackie and Ryder? She’d been so caught up in her own problems she hadn’t even asked.
“You okay?” she said softly.
Jackie gave a noncommittal shrug. “Hell yeah. Now that you two are together again, all is right with the world.”
James tossed Jackie a set of keys. “Got you a room. Two doors down.”
“Oh.” Jackie’s mouth turned down. “Lana and I usually sleep together. Naked. Are you sure you…”
“Jackie.”
Her eyebrows shot up at Lana’s warning bark. “I meant to say, how thoughtful and considerate of you to send me packing without so much as even a ‘hello’ or ‘thank you for saving my girl’.” She gave Lana a wink, grabbed her bag and dashed out the door.
James pulled Lana into his chest and buried his face in her hair. But she couldn’t enjoy the moment. Regret gnawed at her. Now that he had forgiven her, she wanted to come clean. She wanted him to know everything. And if he walked away afterward, well, then it was never meant to be.
“James?”
“Yeah, babe?”
“I need to tell you something.” And before he could stop her, she did. She told him about being sixteen and so deeply lonely Levi had seemed like a savior. She told him about the abuse and the day she’d been marked. She told him how being with the Wolverines had brought out the worst aspects of Levi’s personality. She told him about the wedding she didn’t want and how she’d escaped.
“I’m
sorry I wasn’t up-front about everything,” she said quietly. “It was a part of my life I wanted to leave behind. I couldn’t divorce him without letting him know where I was. And I was afraid to tell you. I didn’t want to lose you. But you were always so rigid in your beliefs. I was worried marriage meant marriage to you, regardless of the circumstances.”
“Not those circumstances,” he murmured. “And you didn’t consent. The marriage is invalid. You can easily have it annulled.”
Lana sucked in a breath, but couldn’t meet his gaze. “I’m not legally married to him?”
“No, babe.” His voice was almost a whisper.
She felt a weight lift off her shoulders. A taint removed from her soul. Relieved of a burden she’d carried far too long, she found the courage to ask, “You didn’t know I didn’t consent to the marriage, so why are you here?”
He tilted her face up and gave her a puzzled frown. “What do you mean?”
“Are you here because I’m in trouble and that’s what cops do?”
Cupping her face in his hands, he brushed his lips over hers. “I’m here because there is nowhere else I’d rather be.”
Lana’s throat tightened with emotion. His tender words and his gentle kiss awakened something deep within her—a flame she had thought long since beaten out of her by cruelty and betrayal and self-doubt.
He kissed her again, so soft and sweet—the last of her resistance crumbled.
“I love you,” he whispered. “I should have told you a long time ago.”
James deepened the kiss, trying to convey the intensity of his emotions. He wanted her to know nothing could shake his feelings for her. Not Levi or her past. Not her propensity to rush headlong into danger or to sass him every opportunity she got. They were fire and ice, and they burned bright together.
She yielded with a soft whimper. The embers of his desire flared as she pressed her soft, sweet body against his.
“I want you.”
His cock hardened in an instant. “You can have me. Every bit of me.” He tangled his fingers through her hair, marveling at how the wild curls could be so soft to touch. Like silk. Leaning down, he cupped her chin and angled her head for a kiss. A deep kiss. A possessive kiss.
Mine.
“I want to mark you, baby,” he growled. “Make sure anyone who sees you knows you’re mine.”
“Hell yes,” she whispered. Despite the bruises covering her body, she wanted James’s mark. Something to wash away Levi’s stain.
He tilted her neck to the side and feathered kisses down the column of her throat. Then he placed his lips to the side of center and sucked.
Lana drew in sharp breath and moaned. He increased the pressure, drawing her skin between his teeth until her hands fisted his hair and her breath came out in short pants. When he finally lifted his head, he saw his mark, red, already turning blue, on her skin. He grunted his pleasure even as Lana rubbed her hot body against him.
“Beautiful.” His deep, husky growl betrayed his desire.
He slid an arm around her waist, intending to lift her and carry her to the bed, but Lana slipped out of his grasp and backed up to the door. She raised her hands over her head, grabbing the sturdy coat hook above her.
“I want this,” she whispered. “Like we did in the club. I want you to touch me the way you would have if I hadn’t heard Levi and run away.”
James stilled. “He was there?”
“I heard him and saw his ring. That’s why I ran. It wasn’t because of you.”
His heart squeezed in his chest. She hadn’t run from him. Not only that, she trusted him. Trusted him to keep her safe. Stunned, overwhelmed, he could do nothing but stare.
“James?” Her voice, raw and vulnerable, shook him to the core.
A surge of protective feelings washed through him, and he covered her small, tightly clenched hands with one of his. “I thought I’d pushed you too far. I don’t need this. In the end, it’s just a game. And you’re hurt.”
Her lips curled into a shy smile. “A very enjoyable game. And I’m not hurt everywhere. Take away the pain, James.”
Hunger coiled in his belly driving away his own aches and pains—a hunger that wouldn’t be satisfied with a gentle hug or a sweet kiss. He wanted more. He wanted everything she was offering. Lana, body and soul.
“Hold still.” He unbuckled his belt and slid it off, taking care not to let it crack. In under a minute he had her hands secured to the hook, her body stretched until the balls of her feet just touched the ground.
She looked up and met his gaze. A storm of emotions raged through her eyes—fear, passion, desire—mimicking the emotions deep inside him.
He slowly pushed up her lacy little tank top, imagining her bound to the post at Carpe Noctem, in that skintight black dress and her damned sexy boots. Then he cupped her breast, gently kneading the ripe, warm swell. “I would have started here.”
She arched her back, thrusting her breasts up and out as she let out a long, low moan. He teased her nipple with his thumb and forefinger, pinching and rolling until it hardened into a tight peak. Her hips undulated in time to his strokes and he released her breast to tease the other until she panted and groaned.
Damn. Why had he agreed to this? He wouldn’t be able to last. He should have taken off the edge before he subjected them both to such sweet torment.
Sliding his hand over her belly, he feathered his fingers over her mound and cupped the curve of her sex over her silky pajama shorts.
“Next I would have stroked down here.” He pressed his lips to her ear. “But first, I would have stripped off your panties so I could feel you hot and wet against my hand.”
Her body stilled, eyes wide. “Please.”
It was all she had to say.
Once he had her bared below the waist, her triangle of golden-red curls glistening with her need, he pressed the heel of his palm against her clit and slid his fingers through her folds. “Next, I would have touched you like this. And there was nothing you could have done about it. You were available for my pleasure and my pleasure alone.”
She gave a strangled cry and moisture flooded her sex, trickling over his fingers. Heat flared deep within him, a rush that spread through his body. His cock pressed painfully, insistently against his fly. But this wasn’t about him. It was about Lana and the part of herself she had long denied. The part he wanted to set free.
“What would you have done next?” she breathed, rolling her hips against his hand.
“This.”
He bent down and drew a rosy nipple into his mouth. Lana sucked in a sharp breath and yanked against the belt.
“What’s your safe word?” he murmured against her soft skin.
“Rocker.”
His lips curled into a smile. His bike meant something to her. Something safe. No way could he give the bike back to the DEU when he handed in his notice. And he was handing in his notice. He was done with police work. Done with an organization that didn’t have his back. Done with banging his head against a wall in the pursuit of justice.
“Good word.”
“Good bike.”
Laughing, he teased her other nipple until her breathing quickened and he could feel the violent thudding of her heart beneath his lips.
He ran a finger through her folds. So wet. So hot. So ready. He slicked her moisture over her clit, and she groaned and tilted her hips toward him.
“Everyone would have been watching us.” He kept his voice deliberately low, forcing her to still to hear his words. “They would have seen your beautiful body stretched out for my pleasure. They would have seen my hands baring your breasts for my mouth. They would have seen my fingers stroking your sweet pussy.”
A groan rose from deep within her throat, and her head fell back against the door.
“And they would have seen me do this.” He thrust two fingers deep inside her and covered her mouth with his, swallowing her gasp. He slicked his fingers in and out, curving them to rub agai
nst the sensitive inner walls. Her wet, heated response drove him right to the edge.
He stepped back, heaving rasping breaths as he fought for control, but it was almost impossible with Lana restrained and trembling before him. Her breasts rose and fell with her rapid breaths; her nipples peaked with arousal; the down between her legs was a burst of flame in the dimly lit room. There was so much he wanted to do with her but, right now, he wanted her with an intensity that took his breath away. For the first time ever, he couldn’t hold out.
“And then I would have done this,” he growled, his voice hoarse with raw lust.
James shoved down his clothing and sheathed himself, then released Lana from the restraints. Muscles taut, blood pounding in his ears, he lifted her and pushed her up against the wall, ignoring the residual aches and pains in his battered body. Her legs curled around him and he wasted no time burying himself inside her warm, wet channel.
Her pleading whimper almost made him come right then. But he wanted her with him. Needed to hear her moans of pleasure. He slid his hand between them and found her swollen clit.
One touch and she stiffened in his arms. She was so close, panting, her muscles taut, her sex clenched around him. He circled and stroked, spreading her moisture, teasing her until her moans became one long whimper.
Finally, he pinched her nub with a firm, gentle pressure. “Come for me,” he whispered.
Her body arched like a bowstring and then she flew, her shriek piercing the night air, her sex spasming around him, pulling him deep.
No longer able to hold back, James gripped her hips and drove himself into her core, thrusting inside her hard and deep. Her legs tightened around his waist. Her teeth sank into his shoulder. Her muffled shrieks rose as he pounded his need into her warm, wet sheath.
Mine.
She shattered around him, called his name. The pulse of her sex sent him over the edge and his climax erupted from him in long, exquisite heated jerks.
Barely Undercover: Legal Heat, Book 2 Page 23
