Brute: A Motorcycle Club Romance (Dark Vultures MC) (Asphalt Sins Book 4)

by Naomi West

  All the blood in her body retreated to her core, suddenly afraid. “Nothing. I was just, um, looking for something.”

  He took a step toward her. “Like what? Maybe I can help you.”

  “No. No, it’s fine. I think I’ve got it figured out.” She had absolutely nothing figured out, but she knew there was nothing to find. Or if there was, she might not have wanted him to find it.

  Rascal was standing in front of her now, towering over her. The scent of soap and hot water drifted off of him and to her nostrils, making her body react in different ways than her mind. She wanted to reach out and touch the hard sculpture of his muscles, to brush away the drop of water at his temple, even to pull that towel away and see what was underneath it.

  But her mind told her she had been running and it wasn’t time to stop yet. She needed to keep running, no matter what happened. The muscles in her legs pulsed as she fought the urge to fling open the hotel room door and run away. Rascal had seemed safer than the rest of the world, but she wasn’t sure just how safe he actually was.

  “I think it’s time you told me what was really going on.” That lantern jaw was so wide from this angle, making him look so authoritative.

  “I don’t know what you mean,” she hedged. “I was just tidying a few things up and looking for a, um, hairbrush that I had misplaced.” It was the most mundane thing she could summon to her mind, and certainly something a guy wouldn’t care about.

  But he did. “A hairbrush?”

  “Yeah.”

  “You thought your hairbrush might be in the fridge or under the sink? I can understand the nightstand drawer or maybe even the entertainment center, but probably not the kitchen.”

  He had her there. “Well, I’m a little forgetful sometimes.”

  “Yes. Just like how you forgot that you already had a room here.” His dark blue eyes blazed into her, burning into her soul and daring her to lie to him again.

  “It was a test.” As soon as the words came out of her mouth, she wished she could take them back again. It was a dumb thing to say, but her mouth had done it automatically.

  “A test?”

  “Yes.” She swallowed.

  “For what?”

  A test to see what his intentions were when he’d brought her to the hotel? No. The last thing she wanted to talk about were his intentions. “I was testing the hotel clerk to see if he would recognize me. You know, checking out his customer service skills.” Holy shit, that had to be the lamest excuse on the face of the planet.

  “Oh, like a secret shopper?” he asked.

  Her throat was dry, and being face to face with that wide, strong chest wasn’t helping matters any. Her brain couldn’t seem to wrap around the term “secret shopper,” but it sounded good. “Yeah. Just like that.”

  “I thought you said you were in between jobs.”

  The only test that was going on here was Rascal scrutinizing her and her lies. “Well, you know, it’s just a part-time thing. It doesn’t pay much.”

  The biker nodded, and she thought she had finally convinced him. But when he turned away from her, he headed into the living space of the room still in his towel. He put the chain lock on the door and flicked the switch on the electronic lock that turned it off. Next, he went to the windows and made sure the curtains were drawn tightly. When he stood in front of her again, he looked more commanding than ever. “You’re in some sort of trouble.”

  “Why do you say that?” She forced a smile.

  “Don’t bother. I’ve known the entire time that you’ve been lying to me. I was willing to accept it for a little while and play along with your little game, but I’m done. You’re going to tell me what’s going on.”

  He was so close, that massive body towering over her, and it made her even more nervous than the fact that she was lost inside her own mind. She took a step back, but Rascal only matched it. The backs of her knees pressed against the edge of the bed. “I don’t know.”

  “Vera …” he warned, her name a sharp sound on his lips. “This is getting ridiculous. You asked for my help, and I’ve given it to you. Whatever’s going on, you don’t have to worry about it surprising me or shocking me. I’ve seen a lot in my life. I didn’t ask for anything in return for getting you out of that nasty canal and into the city. I’ve brought you clothes and bought you dinner. I’m not asking for anything in return, but the least you owe me is the truth.” His eyes burned, his jaw tight, and his fists clenched. He could have been a Greek god standing there before her, demanding that his subject follow his will.

  But she didn’t know how to do so even if she wanted to. He wanted answers and he wanted the truth, but she didn’t have them to give. All Vera could do was shake her head and look up at him with tearful eyes. “I don’t know.”

  “Fine. If that’s how it is, then I’ll just get out of your hair. Forget that you ever met me.” He turned to the bathroom to retrieve his clothes.

  “Wait!” She couldn’t explain why she said it. Things would have been a lot less complicated if she just let him leave like he wanted to. Vera wouldn’t have anyone watching her and wondering who she really was and what she was up to. But she also wouldn’t have anyone watching out for her, and that was the one thing she seemed to need most.

  Rascal paused, his feet planted in the doorway as he looked over his shoulder at her. His muscled back was a broad barrier, threatening to separate her from the one thing in this world that she knew. “What?”

  “I don’t want you to go,” she admitted. It might have been the biggest mistake of her life, although she had no way of knowing. But Rascal was the only friend she had in the entire world, as tenuous of a friendship as it might be.

  He turned slightly, still not committing to her. “If that’s true, then you’ll tell me what’s going on. All of it. Not your little lies about not having a job or being forgetful. And I’ll tell you right now that I won’t give you another chance. If you don’t tell me, I’m gone. It’s an easy thing for me.”

  Vera closed her eyes. It was a risk. If he knew the truth, he could easily take advantage of her. No, she couldn’t think that way. He could have taken advantage of her several times over already, and there wouldn’t have been anything she could do about it. She swallowed and started at the very beginning, still keeping her eyes closed.

  “I can’t tell you the truth, because I don’t know what it is. I woke up in that canal, and I didn’t know who I was or how I had gotten there. I still don’t. A woman in rags said she had been watching over me, and that I had come running through there last night before I collapsed. She didn’t seem to know any more about me than I do.” She opened her eyes, expecting him to be leaning in the bathroom doorway and giving her a skeptical look.

  But he had crossed the room until he was standing in front of her again, his head bent down toward hers. “Is that really true?”

  “Yes,” she admitted. It felt surprisingly good to be honest with him, as though she had been lying to herself every time she had lied to him. “I didn’t know where to go, and it was pure luck that you happened to show up and save me from those hooligans.”

  “The canal isn’t a safe place for anyone,” Rascal said huskily, “and especially not a woman like you.”

  Vera wanted to cry at the thought. He had asked her back at the bar what she would have done if he hadn’t come along, and the alternative was a frightening one. “When we got to the bar and you left, the bartender gave me my driver’s license. He said I had been there the night before. I tried to play it off like it was no big deal, but I don’t remember any of it. Even my name and my address don’t seem familiar.”

  “Let me see it.”

  She did as she was told and pulled the ID out of the back pocket of her jeans.

  Rascal scowled down at it. “South Dakota? How did you get here?”

  A single hot tear dripped down her cheek. “I don’t know that, either. Nor do I know why I had this hotel room or where I was heading.” She gestu
red helplessly at her suitcase, still open at the foot of the bed. “It looks like I was on the run, but I don’t even know that for sure. I think you’re probably right about me being in trouble, but I couldn’t tell you what kind of trouble that is.”

  The biker tugged at his lower lip with his teeth. “All right. I believe you. It matches up with how weird you’ve been. But if that’s the case, then why would you want me to stick around? You have no reason to trust me.”

  “That’s not true. You were the one who got me out of the canal, and you could have just as easily left me there with those men. You fed me, and you even made sure I had clothes to wear. You’re the only thing I am certain about, Rascal.” She looked up into his face, feeling all her hope swell up into her chest. He was strong and powerful, gorgeous and sexy, and in a world where everything was strange and unfamiliar, his was the only face she truly knew.

  His hand slipped around her waist, pulling her close. Her body pressed against his, still dressed only in that thin hotel towel, and she felt his desire for her. “You shouldn’t rely on a man you just met,” he cautioned as his face drew closer, his eyes flicking down to her lips and back to her eyes. “Especially a man like me.”

  “Why not?” she challenged. Her lips met his, the heat of his skin melting away her fears. His arms were so strong around her, his muscles protecting her from the world. She had no idea who she was or what she was running from, but for that moment none of it mattered. Vera brought her hands up to caress his chest, and she moved them down around his ribs to his back. Every inch of him was hard and rugged, a tough shell that could keep her away from the horrible things in life. She wanted him more than anything in the world, and it was clear from the hardness under his towel that he wanted her just as badly.

  The two of them tumbled down onto the comforter. Her suitcase fell to the floor with a thunk, but she didn’t bother getting back up to fix it. Vera was pinned under his weight, and she didn’t want to be anywhere else.

  Rascal moved his lips down her jawline to her ear, pressing them to the lobe of her ear before moving down her neck. His hands worked while his lips were busy, pulling at her jeans and her tank top until they lay in pile on the floor.

  Vera knew she should have felt vulnerable and exposed. After all, she didn’t really know this man. But she wanted to know absolutely everything about him, and she was happy to interview him this way. She gave the towel a quick tug and flung it after her clothing, completing the picture of his chiseled body. His thighs were hard and strong, his hips trim, and his package was enough to make her core tighten simply at the sight of it.

  He undid her bra with expert ease as he moved his mouth down past her collarbone and wrapped his lips around her nipple. Vera gasped and arched her back, surprised at the pleasure. It was as though every one of her nerve endings stood up and leaned toward the spot where he touched her, paying attention only to what Rascal did. Her hips pressed against his of their own volition, demanding.

  Rascal complied, pushing his hardness slowly down into the soft folds of her core. She gasped and clutched at his back, shocked at the volume of him inside of her. “Are you all right?” he whispered against her throat.

  Vera’s mouth opened and closed for a moment. She didn’t know what to say, but she knew she didn’t want him to stop. “Yes,” she whispered as she surrendered to the music of their bodies. “Absolutely.” She smoothed her hands down his back until they cupped the hard bulges of his buttocks, so delighted in the shape of his body and the way it intertwined with hers that she wondered why they hadn’t come back here and done this right away. Rascal knew exactly what he was doing, and even though his powerful thrusts pushed her further into the mattress, he was careful never to hurt her.

  “Vera,” he moaned. “You feel so good.”

  Her pussy contracted at the compliment, and she wrapped her legs around his waist to give him deeper access. It was the one thing that Vera knew: she wanted him deep inside her.

  Apparently, Rascal wanted the same thing. With one swift motion he pulled her up off the bed, never letting her out of his arms or pulling his erection out of her. He stood next to the bed, holding her up off the ground as he pulsed. Vera bounced up and down on his manhood, which drove deeper into her like a jackhammer. Her breasts thrust upward with every movement, and she clung to his neck for dear life.

  “I’m not going to drop you,” he promised.

  And she knew that he meant it. He was tough enough for both of them, and his brawny body was merely the physical representation of it. Vera let her head fall back as she reveled in the pleasure of him, her clit grinding pleasurably against his pelvis as they moved. She tightened her grip with her legs as her abs and butt tensed to increase the sensation building inside her, and she couldn’t stop the moan of pleasure that escaped her lips as her core clenched around his deck.

  He felt it, too, and he was ready for his own. Rascal turned and around and laid her on the edge of the bed, still standing as he plowed into her. His balls slapped against her skin, and she clutched at the sheets with the intensity of it. With a grunt the guests in the next room couldn’t have missed, he emptied himself into her, his movements slowing like a carnival ride coming to a halt. He collapsed in bed next to her, spooning his body around hers and pulling her close.

  Vera took a deep breath and felt her body turn to mush. Rascal was warm and comforting. He had given her such pleasure, and she wanted to just stay there next to him forever. She knew it couldn’t last, but she shoved those thoughts out of her mind. She would enjoy it while she could.

  Chapter Six

  Rascal

  Rascal slept a deep and dreamless sleep, the kind that he hadn’t experienced in a long time unless he had been drinking. When he awoke, he stared up at the ceiling of the hotel room with a lopsided smile. Vera had been just as amazing as he had anticipated, and maybe even more so. The shy, unsure girl had slipped away to reveal a passionate woman who could take every inch of him and still want more.

  He had rolled onto his back in the night, but she had come right along with him. Her head rested on his chest, her fingers and hair splayed against his skin. She looked so needy and yet so happy, and he brought his hand down to gently rub his fingers against the smooth skin of her back.

  As happy as he was with their tryst, there were still two things bothering him. The first was the truth that she had finally told him. It was disturbing to think that she truly didn’t remember who she was. The picture on her driver’s license was definitely her, and it looked real enough, but she was an awful long way from home. And the way she had frantically tossed her own hotel room made him feel as though he could believe her. There was still plenty of mystery around her, but everything she told him added up. Still, he wanted to know more about what she was running from. He would like to say that he could just leave it all behind and ignore it, but that was impossible at this point.

  Which tied right into his other problem. Even though he couldn’t remember ever having such amazing sex, he knew that Vera still wasn’t out of his system. He’d thought that bedding her would be enough to satisfy his hunger, but it was clear by the way his body reacted to having her here at his side in bed that he needed more.

  As though she had heard his thoughts, Vera picked up her head and looked at him with sleepy eyes. She yawned and stretched, somehow still managing to look incredibly attractive. Her pert breasts peeked up at him from underneath the covers. “Good morning,” she said.

  “It is,” he agreed. “But it could be even better.”

  “Oh?” She sat up and looked at him over her shoulder, a most tantalizing vision with her hair tousled just above her shoulders and that long, lean back. He touched it again, tracing the outline of her spine. “How’s that?”

  “I think you know.” Rascal sat up as well and moved his hand up until it cupped the back of her neck. He pulled her in for a long, slow kiss, exploring every square millimeter of her mouth with his tongue. The texture was unbe
lievably pleasant, something so much more than the best food he had ever tasted.

  She kissed him back, but she pulled away after a moment. “Not yet. I want a real shower first. Washing up in a bar bathroom doesn’t quite cut it for me.” Vera got out of bed and took the sheet with her, draped around her lean body as she crossed the room to the bathroom.

  Rascal lay back against the pillow, content to wait because he knew just how good it would be when it happened again. He reminisced on events of the previous night, skipping over the bad parts and focusing on the way her body had pressed against his as she’d told him of her plight, the way she had put every ounce of her trust in his hands. He might have told her she shouldn’t trust him, but it turned him on that she did. She needed him, and he liked it. He also liked the way her breasts had bounced against his chest as he’d held her in his arms and impaled her, and he wanted to do it again.

  Rascal couldn’t remember the last time a woman had fascinated him so much, and he couldn’t wait any longer. He got out of bed, not bothering with the modesty of the covers, and crossed the room. Vera had left the door cracked, an invitation, and he slowly pushed it open. She was a steamy figure on the other side of the shower door, her hands up and her body arced as she washed her hair. “How long are you going to keep me waiting, Vera? As far as I’m concerned, last night was just an opening act.”