by Rebel Hart
She blushed deeply. “Those might be fun.”
I chuckled. “Trust me, they are fun. But if you really want this, if you really want to stick around, you need to listen to me. Are you listening?”
“Yes. I’m listening.”
I quickly rolled her over onto her back and she yelped. I pinned her down with my pelvis, feeling her legs automatically spread for me. Her chest rose and fell with her short breaths. Her eyes widened as she stared back at me. I planted my hands firmly on either side of her body as I scooted closer. Tighter, between her legs. Until I sat on my knees and her ankles locked around me naturally.
As if her body were made for mine.
“Mark my words, Dani. You’ll be mine. All of you. Every inch of you. Until you’re covered in me. And when I finally get what I want, I promise you one thing.”
She cleared her throat. “What’s that?”
I leaned my lips down to her ear. “You’ll scream my name at the ceiling when I make you come.”
I kissed the shell of her ear and heard her gasp. Her neck turned the cutest shade of pink as I dragged my lips softly along her skin. She turned her head and captured my lips. My tongue found hers as her hands landed on my back. I felt them roaming, her fingertips rumbling over my muscles. I sucked on her lower lip and dragged my stubble along her neck before I placed a kiss within the valley of her breasts. And when her nails dug into my skin, I laid my teeth into her. Sucking and licking. Softly chewing and biting.
Marking her left tit as mine already.
“Max,” she moaned.
I nuzzled the teeth marks I left behind. “Dani?”
She fisted my hair. “Come back.”
“As you wish.”
I kissed up her chest. Up her neck. I kissed along her jawline again before coming across her cheek. I planted a kiss against the tip of her nose. The middle of her forehead. Then I pressed my hands back against the bed and lifted myself off her. I hovered over her, watching as her eyes grew wide with want, though I still saw confusion behind them.
“If you need me to wait, I’ll wait. You have my word.”
She nodded. “Okay.”
“Just know that when the time comes, all of you is mine.”
The smile that crossed her face made my cock leak heavily against my boxers. It made me wonder about all the things to come. How I’d take her virginity, make her come for the first time on my cock. It sent my head spiraling into a dark abyss I wasn’t sure I’d ever return from until I finally felt her shaking around my girth.
“Deal,” she said.
I’ll hold you to it, too, Dani.
31
Dani
Talent acquisition is a little known fact in the human resources world. When the company first opens a job, it is up to Human Resources to utilize the resources around them to find who might be a nice fit for the job. For example…”
I blinked as I drummed my pencil against my open textbook. The sound of an engine outside distracted me. Not a bike engine, of course. The backfiring of a car engine. So I got back to work.
For example, online websites where resumes are posted. It is not only HR’s job to scout those who have public resumes and email them, but it is also up to HR and those working within the department to…
I heard the revving of an engine in the distance and perked my head up. The sound faded away before it crept closer. Which meant, back to reading.
…and those working within the department to…
“Wait, what?” I murmured.
It is not only HR’s job to scout…
I sighed. “For example. Online websites where resumes are poste--why don’t I remember any of this?”
I slammed my pencil against my textbook. I leaned back as my highlighter fell to the floor. With my fingers drumming against my desk, I looked up at the ceiling and tried to manage my frustrations enough to focus on schoolwork. I couldn't retain anything, though. Over half of my book was highlighted to try and make sure I understood what in the world I had to know for these upcoming tests of mine. Precursors to our midterm exams that were creeping up faster rather than slower.
But all I could focus on was Max.
I closed my eyes, letting my body prickle at the thought of him. Yesterday had been outstanding. The shopping. The bike ride. Feeling those clothes tight against my body.
Feeling Max take them off.
“Mmm,” I hummed.
My mind drifted to Max’s bed. How comfortable it felt. How quickly he pinned me underneath his body. How close I had come to giving him everything. His lips against my skin made me shiver. I felt my thighs warming as the memory of his teeth against my breast made me gasp. I sat up and pulled out my shirt, peeking underneath at the soft purple mark against my left breast.
It made me smile as I gazed upon it.
I had almost given myself over to him. I had almost given him everything. And I would have, had I not stopped myself.
I still wanted to.
I didn’t know how this happened to me. For years, I hadn’t even looked in a boy’s direction. I kept my nose in my novels and my mind in my education and paved a path for myself. I had a ten-year plan. A plan that required me to graduate. For heaven’s sake, I had a vision board of my life, where I wanted to be and what I wanted out of my existence.
Nothing else mattered, though.
Not when Max took over my mind.
Have I lost my mind?
“I feel like I’m going crazy,” I whispered to myself.
I stood up from my desk, walked over to my bed, and jumped up onto it. I snuggled down beneath the covers, ready to take a nap. Maybe I was tired. Maybe sleep was what I needed. Maybe that was the secret to all of this, getting more than five hours of sleep before waking up with Max on my brain. I closed my eyes and curled up into a ball. I felt the tight jeans against my skin stretching and screaming for mercy. I felt my shirt buckling and tightening around my waist. I even felt the leather belt around my waist pinching me at my sides.
All of it reminded me of him.
“Damn it,” I murmured.
I slipped out of bed and ripped the clothes off. I tossed them to the floor and dug around in my dresser for my pajama pants. What was so wrong with my clothes, anyway? Why did he feel he had to change me? I kicked the outfit underneath my bed and pulled on my pajama pants and the baggiest sweatshirt I could find. I sighed with relief before I climbed back into bed, ready to relegate myself to a three-hour nap.
My mind still didn’t stop.
How had I fallen for a guy so quickly? Especially a guy like Max. I knew he had skeletons in his closet. I knew he was bad news. I didn’t know anything about him, or this gang he ran with. I didn’t know what they did, or what kind of trouble they got into, or what kind of life they afforded themselves. I didn’t know what Max had done in his past to warrant that stoic stare or that gruff voice. Or the scars I sometimes saw on his knuckles.
I don’t care.
The truth froze me in my tracks. I curled up into a ball and stayed like that as I squeezed my eyes shut. If I could just fall asleep, it would all go away. The thoughts. The feelings. The warmth. The truth.
The fact that I wanted to be with him still.
I mean, he made me feel alive. Cherished. Protected. Beautiful. Every time he kissed me, I felt like the only girl in the world. Being spoiled like that yesterday? I’d never had that happen before. Mom always bought my clothes and brought them home for Dad to either nod yes to or toss out the door. Max was everything my life hadn’t been. Max was everything I hadn’t yet experienced.
And I wanted all of him.
You want to have sex with him.
I growled to myself as I turned over onto my back. My eyes fell open effortlessly and I sighed with frustration. I wasn’t tired. I was distracted. And I realized that all I really wanted was to have sex with the man. I wanted to know what that felt like—with him. I wanted to feel all of those things. With him.
Max wa
s my person.
And I wanted to give him my virginity.
Dad would have a fit.
I didn’t care, though. What used to be a threat was nothing more than an empty thought. As much as my parents talked to me about saving myself for marriage, that wasn’t what I wanted for my life. I just wanted the right person to come along so I could have a positive experience. I’d heard so many horror stories about someone’s first time going wrong. Being ripped away from them or being given up just to make a boy shut up about it. I didn’t want things to be like that with me.
“It wouldn't be like that with Max,” I whispered.
Sure, the man wasn’t the definition of the ‘right person.’ At least not by society’s standards. But I’d never wanted this with anyone else. I’d never even wanted to look at a boy like that before, until he came along. Until I laid eyes on him my first day back to campus and couldn't stop wondering about him.
He might not be Mr. Right. But he was my Mr. Right Now.
And just thinking about him turned me on so much.
I rolled over and faced the wall. My hands trembled as I thought about how I’d felt that bulge against my back yesterday. I felt how big he had grown. The man was a behemoth compared to me. Strong. Muscular. He could pick me up without hesitation with his bare hands. And I wondered if my first time with him would hurt. My toes curled at the thought. I didn't want it to hurt. Would he go slow if I asked?
Stop being so scared all the time, Dani.
I wasn’t scared. I really wasn’t! Well, maybe a little bit. But I wasn’t scared about the sex as much as I was scared about what would come after. He stopped when he saw how uncomfortable I was. If I told him to go slow, I knew he would. I trusted that.
I didn’t trust him to not discard me later, though.
He’d said it himself! All the other girls that had come before me were just ways to pass the time. What if we got to the end of things, and he decided I was just another way to pass the time? The thought hurt. It hurt so much it brought tears to my eyes. I sniffled and wiped them against my pillow, feeling more stupid than ever before.
“Why are you already crying, you weak little idiot?” I murmured to myself.
I didn’t want him to cast me off to the side. I didn’t want to be just another number to him. I wanted to be part of his life. I wanted to be at his side after it was all said and done. That meant I’d have to be part of his life somehow.
And that meant understanding more about this crew of his.
I rolled onto my back again and blinked. As my tears dried up, I drew in a deep breath. That settled it. The next time I saw him, I’d get to know more about him. About his life. About his past. About his childhood, and the guys he rode with. Even if that meant talking about his cousin, Benji. I grimaced at the thought. I didn’t want to talk about that jerk. But if it got me closer to Max, I’d talk about anything.
Especially if it got me closer to him.
I wanted to be his. I wanted to be Max’s woman. The girl at his side and on the back of his bike. The idea made me smile. My head rushed as the room tilted over onto itself. Yes. That was it. I’d talk with him about becoming his, just like he’d said I would be. I wanted a definition around that. I wanted to know what that meant to him. Because if it meant what I wanted it to?
Then I was all his.
“Hey there, roomie!”
Hannah waltzed into the dorm room and I drew in a short breath. “Heya.”
Hannah stood beside me. “Nice to see you resting for once. Wanna go for coffee? My treat.”
I turned toward her. “Can you give me ten minutes to change?”
“You mean you aren’t going dressed as you are?”
I thought about the clothes under the bed. “Nope. I want to show you something new I bought.”
“Wait, you went shopping without me? Ah! Dani! I’m so hurt. Why would you do such a thing?”
I threw the covers off me. “Trust me, you’re going to like this outfit. A lot.”
“Then thrill me with it, sunshine.”
As I pulled the outfit from underneath my bed, I already heard Hannah gasping, clapping her hands, and cheering me on as I jumped into the skin-tight jeans. I knew I’d be asked a lot of questions, but I didn’t care. I wanted to talk to Hannah about this. I wanted to tell her what was going on.
I just didn’t want to dump it all on her at once.
32
Max
I sat on the rolling seat and cranked the wrench against my bike. It was making a funny sound, and I had been trying to chase that shit down all fucking morning. Every time the engine revved, it sounded like a fucking tin can was rattling around somewhere. It pissed me off.
“Come on,” I grunted.
I finally got the nut off and tossed it into a rusted tin can. Taking a motorcycle apart was always fun. If it was for restoration purposes. Doing it to actually chase down an issue was bullshit. It felt more like work than anything else. Still, I busted a damn sweat sitting there, pulling off metal side panels and setting them down on towels so the concrete slab of the double garage I’d laid last year wouldn't scuff up the newest paint job.
“Having troubles?”
I paused as my father’s voice rang in my ears. I slowly slid my eyes over toward the door of the garage and pivoted my entire chair to face him. I saw him standing by a completely blacked-out car. Very much his style. He leaned against the door in a suit that matched the car: all black except for the blood red pocket square against his chest.
When two burly men got out of the back seat, I stood up.
“Father.”
He nodded. “Max.”
I pointed to the two guys. “Something wrong?”
Dad snickered. “Oh, these guys? They’re my associates. You know how it goes.”
You mean bodyguards. “Yeah. I do.”
They were two new guys this time. Not the regular men I usually saw with him. They both loomed in the sunlight, casting a hazy shadow over my father as he closed the car door. He walked to the entrance of the garage, just barely crossing the threshold before stopping again. As I dropped my wrench, Dad nodded.
“So I hear you’ve been spending some time apart from the boys.”
I blinked. “Have I missed any meetings I didn’t know about?”
He clasped his hands together. “I don’t know. Have you?”
I shrugged. “Nope.”
“So this is all hearsay?”
“Far as I’m concerned.”
He nodded. “All right. That sounds acceptable.”
“Anything else?”
“Let’s say, for scenario’s sake, you have been spending time apart from the boys.”
“For scenario’s sake.”
He took a step toward me. “Yes.”
“You don’t have to come any closer.”
“I can do as I please.”
“Not on this property you can’t.”
He snickered. “Pretty sure I own it.”
I grinned. “Pretty sure you’ve forgotten that John and I refinanced it.”
His face fell. “Why have you been spending time away from the crew?”
My defenses instantly went up. “What makes you think I’ve been doing that?”
“Let’s call it a little birdie in the tree.”
“I’m assuming you mean Benji.”
“We don’t have to name names.”
“If you don’t think I see the game you’re playing, you’ve clearly underestimated me. I’m not spending as much time at the house, so John is no longer a player in your schemes to keep an eye on me. So you enlist the help of my cousin. Benji. Who you find out has been seeing more of me since I’ve been around campus. He comes whining to you about something, probably because I won’t initiate him--”
He took another step toward me. “Yes, let’s talk about that for a second. Why not make Benji a member?”
“Other than the fact that you can manipulate him easier than you
can John? He’s better than us.”
“Enlighten me on what that means.”
I took a step toward him. “He’s got a real future ahead of him that has nothing to do with your influence.”
I held my father’s gaze as a smile broke out on his face. I hated seeing him smile. Every time he did, I saw myself in him. It’s why I didn’t look in mirrors. It’s why I had mine in my bathroom covered up with a fucking sheet. I hated looking in the mirror and seeing that man smiling back at me.
But there he was. With that sadistic smile I had inherited.
“My, my. She must really have you knotted up inside.”
I quirked an eyebrow. “She?”
“Hmm? Oh, yes. Um… Dani. That’s the name. Dani Young.”
I tensed. Holy shit, I didn’t even know her last name. This was bad. Very, very bad. Benji had gone and flapped his fucking jowls like the asshole he was, and now Dani was in my father’s crosshairs. That was never a safe place to be. More people than not died once my father set their sights on them. A chill worked its way down my spine as my father closed the distance between us. I stood my ground, keeping my face as stoic as I could. But I knew my silence had already given so much away.
“You’ve fallen for a girl who’s messed up your priorities, son.”
I licked my lips. “I’ve fallen for no one.”
“I told you this gallivanting around with strange women would catch up with you soon enough. How do you think you and your brother came along?”
I grinned. “When a psychopath and a drug addict love one another very much--”
“Even the strongest of men can be deterred by beauty!”
His roaring voice bounced off the walls of the garage as his spittle hit me in the face. In any other moment, with any other person, I would’ve strangled the asshole. But killing my father came with consequences that would get everyone else around me killed. Hell, even hurting my father would get people killed.
