COWBOY ROMANCE: Devon (Western Contemporary Alpha Male Bride Romance) (The Steele Brothers Book 2)

by Amanda Boone

  Then suddenly as though he had realized it was all over he collapsed onto his side with a loud thud. Callie jumped to her feet and found herself rushing toward him. Her heart pounded as she dropped down onto her knees beside him. It was strange to have her fingers in his fur knowing just who he was and what he was. She had never in a million years imagined that she would be here.

  “Darren!” she screamed as she shook him, trying to get his eyes to open. He turned in front of her again, and she felt his fur turn to fabric. Something warm dripped down onto her hand and when she looked she saw that it was blood. Her heart skipped a beat as she looked down at him again and saw that his wounds were bad. He was bleeding from several bites on his chest and stomach, and he had huge, gaping claw marks on his face.

  Crying, she pulled his head up onto her lap and leaned over him. “You saved my life.” She wept as she watched his eyes flicker with pain. She was shaking from head to toe, and she felt as though she might pass out, but she knew that she couldn’t leave him alone.

  “Callie?” he croaked suddenly, and Callie’s heart fluttered with relief. She opened her eyes to see him looking back at her. His arm moved slowly, and he reached up to place his hand on her cheek. Warm blood streaked her face as his hand slipped back to fall on the floor beside him.

  “Darren, I’m here,” she told him quickly. “Stay with me. I’ll call for help.” As she said the words, she realized that she didn’t have a phone. She remembered dashing it against the wall in her bedroom, and she wanted to smack herself for being such an idiot.

  “It’s ok,” he told her as he reached up again and took hold of her hand. “I’ll be ok soon.” Callie couldn’t believe him. There was a puddle of blood gathering around him, and Callie could feel it seeping into the knees of her sweats.

  “Darren, you’re hurt bad,” she told him. “We need to get you some help.” He shook his head quickly before shrinking in pain. Callie hated to see him like this. She hated herself for not believing him. She should have left with him when she had the chance. She could have stopped this from happening if she had just listened to him.

  “Callie, don’t cry.” He sounded a little stronger as he reached up and wiped her tears away with his thumb. “I’m going to be fine.” In that moment, Callie realized that he was right. Before her eyes, his wounds were healing. They were knitting together, shrinking until there was nothing left but blood smeared on his skin and holes in his clothing. She gaped at him in amazement.

  When he finally sat up and turned to her, she was amazed to see that the claw marks on his face were gone. Instead, his handsome face seemed to glow with happiness as he smiled at her. He knelt up in front of her and took her face in his hands. “You’re safe now,” he told her before he placed his lips against her forehead. Callie nodded, and she found herself leaning toward him to place her lips against his. Her entire body shivered with relief as she felt his arms come around her. He stood then and lifted her up onto her feet.

  “Let’s get you home and call your car in before someone finds us out here,” Darren told her as he wrapped his arm around her shoulders and began to lead her back toward his car. Callie felt numb. She had no idea how to react to what had just happened. She doubted that anyone would know how to react. She allowed him to help her into the car and sat staring out of the window at the wreckage of her car as he came around to the driver’s side. I could be dead right now, she thought as he pulled the car away from the wreckage and began to head back the way they had come.

  Chapter Nine

  They came through the front door just as the first light of dawn began to shine over the horizon. Callie felt relieved to be back as she kicked off her shoes and headed into the kitchen.

  “Do you want a drink?” she asked. She had no idea what to say to him. There was nothing normal to say in such a situation, so she tried to forget all about it.

  “I could do with a shower,” Darren admitted. Callie looked at him and realized that he was right. His clothes were torn beyond recognition, and there were smears of blood all over him.

  “I know how you feel.” She smiled sheepishly at him. Darren stepped forward and took hold of her hand.

  “Shall we?” he asked. As she realized what he was asking, she slowly began to nod. He pulled gently on her hand, and she followed him back down the hall and up the stairs.

  Her heart thrilled against her rib cage as she understood what was about to happen. Darren led her into the bathroom and flicked on the shower before he turned to her. He placed one hand on each of her cheeks and kissed her lips so gently that she barely felt the touch. He reached for the hem of her top and pulled it up over her head. She did the same for him. When she looked down at his torso, she marveled at the smooth, unblemished skin beneath the smears of blood where the large gashes and wounds should have been. She reached forward and touched his muscular abs, feeling for any sign of damage. There was none. He shivered as she touched him, and she heard him groan deep in his throat.

  “Do you hurt anywhere?” she asked as she looked him up and down. He shook his head and smiled at her as he looked her deep in the eye.

  “Callie, don’t worry about me,” he told her. “I am completely healed.” She bit her lip to stop herself from arguing. He clearly knew more than she did, and she knew she shouldn’t argue about something she didn’t really know.

  He reached for the top of her trousers then and pushed them down over her thighs. As they reached her ankles, she stepped out of them, holding on to his forearms for balance. His smile was warm and seductive as she pushed up onto her tiptoes and kissed him. For the first time, she was not embarrassed at being half-naked in front of a man. For the first, time she wanted to be more than that. He reached around her back and unclipped her bra as she worked on the zip of his jeans. When he pulled on her pants, she stood naked in front of him, feeling his eyes slip down her body. Seeing the gleam in his eyes, she felt sexy knowing that he liked what he saw.

  He held her hand and helped her into the shower. The jets pricked against her skin as he stepped in beside her, and the steam enveloped them. In that moment, there was nothing else in the world, just them. They were alone, and nothing else mattered. Darren leaned down and pressed his lips to hers as he held on to her hips and pulled her closer to him. His muscles rippled against her stomach, and she felt his erection press against her. The feel of it made her want him all the more.

  In that very second, she knew that this was what she had felt when she had first met him. This was what she had wanted from the very first moment. His hand came down to cup between her thighs, and he rubbed her gently. She could feel herself grow slick for him, and she wanted him then more than ever.

  He gripped hold of her buttocks and pulled her up into his arms. She let out a small squeak of surprise and wrapped her arms and legs around him. He was inside her then, moving teasingly slow. Her pleasure burned inside her, tightening in her stomach as she kissed him with all the passion she felt. He groaned against her lips, and she knew he felt the same way.

  In the moment of her climax she realized something: I’m safe now.

  THE END

  Biker Romance Collection

  If you want more detail or to jump directly to one of the books, go to the Table of Contents, by clicking here.

  Surrender to the Alpha Publishing

  Wanted by my Biker Stepbrother

  Faces in Smoke

  Faces in Smoke

  Chapter One

  Alaina swayed back and forth to the sound of the music that blared through the speakers. The base line made the stage tremble, its beat reverberating through the aged, painted wood, and up through her bare feet. Always bare feet. Heals were for the other girls—the ones that needed gimmicks and flashy clothing to command attention.

  Alaina did it with her body.

  She clasped the pole with her right hand, tiptoeing around it, each step popping her hip, her movements growing quicker and quicker with every new footfall. Gaga’s voice
blared through the speakers as her arms contracted and she squeezed her torso, lifting herself up. Her legs extended outward to either side of her as whistles filled the room.

  One revolution after another and she managed to avoid becoming dizzy. Her whole body swung, but she remained aware of herself; she held onto the ground because through the haze, she could still see that face.

  Her head hung back, her chin pointed at the film-covered bulbs as she slowly allowed herself to slide onto the ground. In the next moment, she was on her hands and knees, Gaga’s toxic sound driving her forward. She opened her eyes—really opened them to scan the entire crowd. Some men were on their feet as bills, wads, flew in her direction, while others sat leaning back in their chairs, their eyes holding a smoky gaze and their hands rubbing the bulge in their pants. She could do anything up there and they would empty their pockets for her.

  Soon, the music stopped and Alaina with it. She deftly gathered her earnings and walked back towards the curtain.

  She couldn’t resist taking one more look back at that man—that face. She drank him in, gathering everything from his hazel eyes to his long, crooked nose. She caught the furrow in his bushy brow and the curve of his lip. She watched him flip his hair, drawing it back into a low man bun, all the while maintaining eye contact with her. Eventually, the silence had gone on too long, so she turned and continued on off stage.

  Behind the curtain, it was much more peaceful. She could hear her own breath, her own thoughts.

  “Hey Girl!”

  Alaina looked up through the mirror and saw her best friend Frida who was already half way through the process of taking off her makeup. “Stop yelling,” she said, placing her palms on the table in front of her.

  Frida giggled at this, slamming an ice cold bottle of water right next to her hands. “Stop being so heavy…”

  Alaina cleared her throat. “Thanks.” She picked up the water and sucked in gulp after gulp.

  Frida eyed her stack of cash, her thin eyebrow raised. “Wish I could work it like you do.”

  Alaina shrugged.

  Frida sighed, clutching the back of a nearby chair and slamming it down in front of her. Another girl came in, sighing to herself and counting her bills. Alaina glanced up at her head of fake blond curls before returning to her own tired image in the mirror.

  Frida followed her gaze before saying, “Where does all that passion come from?”

  Alaina shrugged. “It’s just a job.” She sighed, picking through her pack of make-up remover wipes. Even through the curtain, she could hear the whistling and shouting dying down. The night was coming to an end. “Calculated. Just like any other.”

  Frida rolled her eyes, hopping out of her chair and returning to her own mirror. “Where were you manufactured, Alaina?” she asked.

  Alaina let out a humorless laugh. “China.”

  Frida giggled at this, but as her eyes wandered to the calendar hanging just above her mirror. Her giggles faded away. “Are you still down for Bethany’s memorial?”

  Alaina pursed her lips. “Remind me again why we’re having a memorial service for a girl that was murdered like ten years ago?”

  Frida’s eyes went wide, her eyebrows shooting up as she ducked her forehead. “How would you feel if you got killed and no one found the murderer and everyone eventually stopped giving a shit?”

  Alaina couldn’t help but to laugh at this. “I don’t know, Frida. Dead?”

  Frida shook her head at this, returning to her mirror.

  When Alaina had succeeded in wiping off most of the excess makeup, she looked up to find Frida still peering at her. “Look, I’ll go with you guys okay?” She said as she stood up, draping herself in her real clothes. “It’s gettin’ late and I can barely keep my eyes open.” She approached Frida, planting a kiss at the crown of her head. “I’ll see you Friday. Yes?”

  Frida nodded. “I still don’t get how you managed to get off a whole two nights.”

  Alaina shrugged. “Well, apparently having your mother remarry does the trick.” With that she left the dressing room, reentering the club and all of its musty, smoky glory.

  She had made it all the way to the door before she felt a body behind her. She paused with her hand on the doorknob. “Yes?” She turned, and, just like she had predicted, there was that face.

  His eyes were impossible to resist at pointblank range. Maybe it was the vodka, or the smoke, or the second hand weed, but Alaina felt particularly inhibited.

  “There’s something different about you.” He said, his voice soaring over the sound of the music and dwindling chatter.

  Alaina couldn’t stop herself from giggling at the trite compliment. “There’s something creepy about you.” She yanked open the door and stepped outside, sucking in buckets of the relatively clean air.

  She didn’t have to glance behind her to know that he was following her. He had been doing this after every shift for the last week. It had become something like their little unspoken dance.

  “Can I at least get a name?” he called after her.

  She pivoted, but kept walking, travelling backwards in the direction of her car. “Alaina!” she called back.

  His lips stretched into a crooked smile. “You sound like a princess.”

  Alaina laughed at this as she slipped her keys out of her purse and stuck it into the driver’s side of her car. From over the roof of it, she could see him half-running towards a row of bikes.

  She raised an eyebrow. He was just a biker, probably passing through.

  He had wrapped his hands around the handles of a motorcycle when he stopped and called over to her. “I reckon, I can’t convince you to give me a number?”

  Alaina nodded, smiling in spite of herself. “You reckon correctly,” she replied. With that, she climbed inside of her car and gingerly drove home.

  Chapter Two

  Meaningless images rolled through Alaina’s mind. She could hear the roar of the people that filled Cajun Field, there boos of disapproval and cheers of adoration punctuating every hit the football players took. Their bodies towered over her, her mother’s legs to her right and a stranger’s khakis to her left.

  There was a pinching pain in her gut, so she tugged at those silk pants of her mother’s and whispered something like, “Can I go pee?”

  She couldn’t remember if her mother told her to go, or not to go. But either way, she wished she hadn’t…

  Her eyes flipped open. The sunlight streamed through the window of her childhood bedroom. A groan slipped out of her mouth because she had almost forgotten. She rolled over and checked her phone—two missed calls.

  “Frida?” she had answered immediately.

  “Honey, what the fuck? I’ve been calling you all morning.”

  “Alaina!” her mother’s piercing voice tugged at her nerves.

  She groaned. Her five minutes of peace were over. That would be her mother calling to make sure she was up and ready to seize a day full of wedding day preparations, and not to mention meeting the groom for the first time, an event she had managed to expertly avoid for the last two months.

  “Yeah! I’m up!”

  “Is cougar Barbie knocking?” Frida asked.

  Alaina rolled her eyes. “I hate that word, Frida. Besides, this guy is supposed to be at least her age,” she said as she stumbled into the bathroom. Her throat was dry from a night of stripping and drinking and the bags under her eyes were less than flattering.

  “Okay.”

  “Alaina are you up?”

  Alaina sighed before pressing the phone against her chest and yelling, “Yes ma!”

  “Ugh,” Frida said, “Chill with the yelling.”

  Alaina shook her head. “Honey bun, you have no idea what I’m dealing with.”

  She could hear Frida giggling on the other end of the line. “I’m sorry for your loss.”

  “God, me too.”

  There was a pause on Frida’s end as Alaina took the opportunity to dress herself, pla
cing her on speaker. “Frida?”

  “Hey, yeah, I wanted to tell you something real quick.”

  Alaina did not like the slight tremble in her voice. “Yeah, what is it, Hun?”

  “You know that guy that’s been stalking you for the last couple of days?”

  Alaina froze with her toothbrush in hand.

  “Alaina! I’m not kidding we got about ten minutes before he gets here!”

  Alaina moaned yet again. “Yeah! I’m tryin’!” she then returned her attention to Frida. “Okay, yes Frida. What is it?”

  “I gave him your number.” She said those words so fast, Alaina barely caught it all.

  “What?” she couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

  “Yeah, and he might call you… soon…”

  “Alaina! I swear to God!”

  Alaina shoved the brush in her mouth for all of twenty seven seconds before running it under the water in her sink. She drew her hair back into a hasty, messy bun at the top of her head, then stalked back into her room and poked her head out of her front door. “Just wait five minutes!”

  By the time she made it back into her bathroom, Frida’s diatribe of apologies was bouncing off of the walls and the distinct beeping sound that indicated a second caller punctuated her every other word.

  Alaina rolled her eyes, took the phone off of the speaker and pressed it against her ear. “Yeah, whatever. Okay Frida. I hear you. He’s calling me right now. Excuse me while I go tell him to lose my number.” With that she switched over to the unrecognizable number. “Uh, hello?”

  “Is this, princess?” Alaina found it oddly comforting hearing his voice in the light of day like that.