by Blair Grey
Grant seemed to be on the same page as me. As we kissed, his fingers found the buttons of my shirt, deftly unbuttoning them. He danced his fingers along the very edge of my bra, and I shivered, loving the sensation.
My own fingers smoothed their way along the back of Grant’s shirt, along his broad shoulders, and down his back. Barely paying attention to where our picnic dishes still were laid out, I moved across the blanket toward him, until I was straddling his lap. His fingers grabbed my hips, tugging me toward him, until I could feel his hard dick beneath me, even through the layers of our jeans. I ground down against him, aching to feel him inside of me.
Grant growled and flipped us around to his right, so that I was at the very edge of the picnic blanket, on my back and staring up at him, my legs still wrapped around his waist. It was his turn to grind down against me, his body moving sinuously against my own. He continued to strip me out of my clothes, removing piece by piece, and I struggled to keep up, too caught up in the sensation of his body rocking against mine.
We managed to get so that we were both naked, and I cried out as his thrust dragged the tip of his member against my vulva, which was already practically dripping to show how ready I was to have him inside of me.
He grinned and bit a line of kisses down my neck to my collarbone, even as his fingers worked their way inside of me, plying deep into my inner folds. My head fell back, my spine arching, pressing my body up against him. And that was when, with a view of trees and a darkening blue sky above me, I suddenly remembered that we were still outdoors and that someone could come across us at any point.
I moaned, the public nature of this coupling somehow making everything that much hotter. I’d never thought about having sex with someone outdoors before. It just hadn’t really appealed to me ever. But with Grant, it definitely did.
He nipped at my breasts, making me squirm as my body jolted with searing bolts of pleasure. Then, he was pushing inside of me, deftly remembering just how to make me whimper and moan. It was as though we’d been doing this for a lot longer than we had, as though we had known each other for ages and ages now.
I was helpless to my need, as he stabbed into me again and again, each thrust harder than the last, driving the air from my lungs. I covered my mouth with my hand, trying to quiet my gasps and cries but knowing that if anyone happened to come along, they would certainly find us. There was definitely a part of me that felt almost ashamed at what we were doing here. A part of me that knew that this could get us into serious trouble.
But there was another part of me that didn’t care. There was a part of me that wanted this so bad that I didn’t want to ever stop. There was a part of me that felt like playing with fire.
Wasn’t that what I was doing with all of this? Everything with Grant was just another example of how I was playing with fire. I was supposed to be seducing him so that I could learn Red Eyes club secrets. Instead, I felt like I was the one being seduced. I had told him, on this trip, that I wanted to get involved in criminal justice. It was the closest I could get to telling him what I actually did without actually telling him what I did.
And the strange thing was, he hadn’t seemed worried. Instead, he’d offered to help me out if that was the route that I wanted to take. He’d said that he might know some people who could help me out.
I wasn’t sure what to make of any of it. But right now, all I could do was surrender to him and the strength of my passion.
His thrusts slowed down, his touches gentling, tender on my naked skin. Each movement made me feel closer to him. As though we were perfectly in sync with each other’s wants and needs. He stared down at me with naked attraction in his eyes, and it was almost too much for me to bear.
He gave four hard thrusts, each quicker than the last, and that was all it took to have me spilling over the edge, crying out noisily, the sound barely muffled by my hand. I gasped as white heat flooded my body, my pussy slick against his hardness as he froze, buried deep inside of me. I could feel his member twitching, as though my entire focus narrowed down to that. All I could sense was his body against mine.
He was all around me and deep inside of me, and I couldn’t get enough. I was sobbing for air, wave after wave of pleasure passing over me, through me, inside of me.
When it finally ended, I felt far from hollow, as I might have expected. Instead, I felt a curious sense of calm and fulfillment, just as I had out on the water, fishing beside him. We were in a place where we didn’t need words, a place where his fingers gently stroking my cheek conveyed so much more. A place where my lips against his collarbone told him those words that I could never say aloud.
I had feelings for him. There was no way to deny it. And there was no way I was getting out of this without having my heart utterly shattered. I suddenly realized why Vera was so protective of me all the time. I really did the stupidest things sometimes.
But the moment faded away as Grant pulled away from me, a grin on his face. “God, I wish we could just stay here all day,” he said, rolling back onto the blanket and stretching widely, catlike.
I became suddenly aware of just how naked we were, and just how public the place was. God, what if someone had seen us? My face was flaming as I rolled to my feet, finding my clothes, and beginning to pull them on.
Grant groaned. “I hate this part,” he said, watching as I covered up my bare flesh but making no move to cover his own. I had to fight to keep from flicking my eyes over his body. I wanted to trace his tattoos with my tongue, to get my mouth on his still-softening member and taste the flavor of our mutual orgasms.
I didn’t know where the desire came from, but I knew I had to keep it in check. We weren’t supposed to do things like this. Or at least, I wasn’t supposed to do things like this. I was an undercover cop, and Grant was my target. What information had I learned from him today? Nothing. Because out on the lake, I’d been too busy thinking through my own dramas, and as soon as we were off the lake, here I was having sex with him again, even though I knew that was a one-way ticket to forgetting how to even string together a thought, let alone be subtle about it.
Grant got to his feet, pulling me against him and tucking my head beneath his chin. “You all right over there, Holly?” he asked. He was still naked, and that only emphasized how wrong this had been. Even while it also made me want to do it again.
I felt like my emotions were pinging back and forth inside of me, all over the place, like a rubber ball stuck in a small metal box. I wanted to come clean to him, I wanted to tell him everything. Most of all, I wanted to tell him that I had feelings for him. But I knew I couldn’t tell him that I had feelings for him without first coming clean about the fact that I wasn’t who I said I was.
And I couldn’t come clean about that right now. Not here. What if he refused to drive me back? I had no idea where I was, and the last thing I wanted was to have to call Vera and tell her that she was right, that everything had gone to shit, that I needed her to take a long drive out to the middle of nowhere to rescue me because I had gotten in over my head.
I couldn’t tell him any of it, not now. But I had to answer his question. Was I fine? I didn’t even know.
“Yeah,” I whispered, my voice wavering. “I’m all right.”
“Did I do something wrong?” Grant asked, sounding worried.
I shook my head against his chest and wrapped my arms around him, squeezing tightly. No, he hadn’t done anything wrong. I was the one who had gone and developed feelings for him against my better judgement.
Eventually, he let me pull away, and I started putting on the rest of my clothing while he quickly pulled on his.
I glanced over at Grant as I buttoned up my shirt. “If you’re going to have me home by nine, I guess we’d better get on the road.” I sighed. “Especially if you have to drop the canoe back off with your buddy along the way.” As worried as I was right now, I wished we could just stay up here. That we could pretend that time and responsibilities didn’t exist.
That we could be together.
But I was an undercover cop, and he was my target. I was a good girl, at least mostly so, and he was a member of the most powerful motorcycle club in the state. As much as I wanted to believe that he was a good guy as well, I knew Vera was right, that I couldn’t get tangled up with him.
It was too late for that, though. I was already so far in that I didn’t have any idea what to do. There was no way to get out of this now and still be all right.
Grant looked at his watch. “You’re probably right,” he said. I could tell that neither of us really wanted to spend the night away from each other, and I almost wanted to suggest that we go back to his place instead, but I knew that Vera would have a conniption if I wasn’t home that night as promised. Even if I texted her to let her know that I was safe and that I had decided to stay over with Grant, she would probably decide that he had coerced me or drugged me or something.
I fought the urge to roll my eyes. Sometimes, she could be way too overprotective.
But still, she was my sister, and I didn’t really like fighting with her. I hoped that if I headed home to her, it would be like a sort of peace offering. That it would make things okay between us.
And besides, maybe it would make her ease off a little bit when it came to Grant. Maybe she would realize that he wasn’t the devil incarnate, that he was actually something of a gentleman.
I wanted that. Because as much as I might tell myself that I was going to stay away from him, that I couldn’t possibly be with him, that this couldn’t keep happening, I had a feeling that it would. I had a feeling that I might even end up throwing away my career for him, and if I did that, I needed to have Vera on my side. No matter what I did, it was a heartache waiting to happen, and I needed her to help me through it all. That was what sisters were for, right?
On the long drive home, we were pretty quiet. I wished it was just that I was sated from the sex and sleepy from the long day in the sun, but really, I was thinking, just as hard as I had out on the lake. I needed to keep seeing him; I knew that. I just didn’t know whether it was for business reasons or for pleasure. But either way, I couldn’t cut him out of my life now.
So when he dropped me off back at my house, I got out of the car and then leaned back inside the opened door. “When do I get to see you again?” I asked.
Grant smiled over at me. “Soon, I hope. I have some things that I need to figure out first.”
“What kind of things?” I asked, and I was more curious about it, rather than fishing for information like I should be.
Grant shrugged one shoulder. “You remember my friend Linda?” he asked. “She’s the woman whose business burned down the other day. I’m trying to help her figure out who might have burned the place down, since the police are being no help whatsoever.”
“Any leads so far?” I asked curiously.
Grant grimaced. “Actually, I’m starting to think that it might have been the police,” he said.
I raised an eyebrow at him. “The police?” I asked, feeling my heart start to pound. How much did he know? Did he realize who I really was? Was he trying to shock me?
But Grant shrugged again. “I don’t know for sure,” he said. “But let’s just say, they might have had their reasons.” He paused. “I want to look into it, do a little digging. That’s going to keep me busy for the next couple days. But this weekend, I’ll make sure and make some time for you. How does that sound?”
“Sounds perfect,” I said, hoping he couldn’t hear the worry in my voice. I wanted to celebrate this as the first time that he had told me anything about what he was up to with Red Eyes. But at the same time, I was worried that he was telling me about it just because he wanted to see my reaction.
If he knew that I was on the police force, then of course he would tell me that he knew about Ryan’s game, that he knew that we had been the ones to burn down Candy.
I still hated that I was even tangentially related to that incident, but that didn’t change anything.
I closed the door to Grant’s car and watched him drive off down the street. Then, I turned to walk back into the house. I could see Vera peeking out from one of the windows, and I sighed, knowing I was in for a chat with her. Hopefully, we could both stay civil. All I really wanted to do, though, was cry.
31
Grant
I looked up as Cameron came into the clubhouse on Thursday afternoon. I had just sent the last of the recruits out with a task for the afternoon, and I was getting ready to head out myself. It was about time to start collecting dues from most of the businesses, but with the police surveillance being what it was at the moment, Ray wasn’t sure that it was a good idea. So we were going to try to test his theory, slipping into some of the businesses that were known to be loyal to us and then coming back out without interacting with the business owners. See if those white vans were there when we got out.
Cameron’s eyes narrowed when he saw me, and he came over to me immediately. “We need to talk,” he said.
I blinked at him, wondering if I had done something wrong. Maybe I was supposed to meet him somewhere and I’d forgotten? I had to admit, Holly was on my mind more than anything else these days, but I didn’t think that I had missed something like that. I just couldn’t work out what he was so upset about.
“Are you the only one here?” Cameron asked, his eyes darting around.
“As far as I know,” I said. “What’s going on? You’re freaking me out.”
“I have some big news,” Cameron told me. “Braxton’s found out who the guys were who burned Candy to the ground. The arsonists. It turns out that they are with the police, just like Ray suspected. They’re members of an undercover unit.”
“Shit,” I swore. “How many of them are there?”
“We don’t know for sure yet,” Cameron said grimly. “Braxton’s still trying to gather information about them.”
“But why would they want to burn down a business in the first place?” I asked.
“They’re trying to get information from the local business owners,” Cameron said with a quick shrug. “I guess they think that this is a good way to get the message across. And since they’re considered to be somewhat elite in terms of police operations, being undercover agents, they’re pretty much outside of the law.”
“That’s ridiculous,” I said. “How can they be outside the law?”
Cameron rolled his eyes. “Because there are ten thousand levels of corruption in the local police force,” he reminded me. It was no surprise to me, any of this. I guess the good guy inside of me had just hoped that Ray was wrong about it. That the police hadn’t been somehow involved. That even though we hadn’t found any evidence to the contrary, it really was the Unknowns behind this, coming back to reclaim their pride.
I’d rather have gang-on-gang violence for years than find out that our own police force was made up of the kinds of guys who would burn down a local business just to try to get a little information about us.
“So what’s our next move if Braxton knows who the arsonists are?” I asked. “How do we go about fighting them? Do we just take them out somehow, one by one?”
“We’re still trying to figure out that part of the plan,” Cameron said. “Obviously, we don’t want to do anything that they can trace back to us, because that would be a suicide mission right there, but we can’t let this go unanswered.” He shrugged. “The first step is to get all the information that we can about the unit. Braxton’s working on that with his contacts. We should have a list of all the members by tomorrow.”
Before I could respond, the door swung open, and Ray came in. He was looking better than he had in a while. A little more color in his cheeks. I liked to think that that meant his medications were working. That maybe the cancer was clearing up and that he’d be around for many, many more years.
I had a feeling that it was naive for me to think that way. That I was asking too much. But I had to hope, right?
Ray
nodded at Cameron and me. “Grant, you’re just the person that I was hoping to see,” he said. He glanced at Cameron. “Could you give us some privacy?” he asked. “I want to speak to Grant alone.”
“Sure thing, boss,” Cameron said, heading for the door immediately, not even questioning the fact that Ray might want to talk to me alone. I had to wonder if he knew about Ray’s plans for me. If he supported them.
“How are things going with the recruits?” Ray asked, taking a seat in one of the chairs opposite me. It was strange to be having this conversation in the middle of the common room. Usually, we had our one-on-one talks in his office. I didn’t think I had ever seen Ray sit in the common room before. During our weekly club meetings, he was always standing, and otherwise, he didn’t seem to be in there very much. He preferred to do his club socializing away from the headquarters. I think he felt like it gave him more of a boss-like feel when he was there in headquarters.
“Things are going good,” I said to answer his question. “They all seem to be getting the hang of things now. I don’t think we have to worry about them. I don’t think any of them are rats, still. They’ve hardly asked a single question about our operations, the whole lot of them. They’re not asking about the things that I’m asking them to do, let alone asking deeper questions about our organization or anything like that.”
“That’s good to hear,” Ray said. “And I’ve noticed that they’re making progress. You’re doing a good job with them.” He paused, clearing his throat. “I don’t want to pressure you, but I was wondering if you had given any more thought to the idea of taking over the MC.”
I blinked at him. What was I supposed to say to that? I couldn’t tell him that I hadn’t given it any more thought, because I definitely had. I couldn’t tell him that I needed more time to think about it, because to be honest, I really didn’t. I knew exactly what I felt. I felt like I didn’t want to take over as leader. As though I wasn’t even sure that I wanted to be a part of the MC anymore, or at least, not in the future.
