by Jessie Cooke
“Finn McGregor,” he managed, trying to tamp down the lustful thoughts she stirred up in him. “My friends call me Snake.” Her eyes flitted to his chest, only briefly, but he saw that twinkle in them that had been there when he’d showed her his chest in the coffee shop.
“Nice to meet you,” she said, finally smiling. She took a sip of her iced tea and said, “Are we going to eat or what? I’m starving.”
He laughed and waved the waiter back over. Caitlin must have been familiar with the menu because she ordered the roasted chicken and mashed potatoes without looking at it. Finn ordered a steak and baked potato and another beer. When the waiter was gone he said, “So you told me you’re from New York and you came here to work for your uncle...what else? Did you leave a brokenhearted man behind in the Big Apple?”
She laughed. “Hardly. My mother was brokenhearted, though, if that counts.”
“What about your old man?”
“He died when I was a kid.”
“Damn, I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay. I don’t really remember him. My uncle stepped up and by the time his family moved out here, my older brother became the man of the house. I had good role models.”
“That’s good.”
“What about you? You came all the way from Ireland for business? It must be some important business. Did you leave family behind?”
Ian Parker, Finn’s given name, was not only listed as dead and gone, but his past was put to rest as well. Finn McGregor had looked enough like Ian Parker, and lived such a similar lifestyle, that stepping into Finn’s shoes had been fairly easy, especially since it also turned out he’d been born in New York and that made him a US citizen. That poor kid didn’t have any family that they could find, which had made it even easier to impersonate him. As far as anyone had been able to find out, Finn McGregor had grown up in the foster care system and he’d spent a lot of time on the streets of Dublin. He started using drugs in his teens and by the time he was twenty-one he had died in an alley with a needle in his arm. There were no records of his ever holding down a job or having a bank account or credit or any close, personal attachments. “No,” he said. “No family. And as far as the business...I came to join up with the Phoenix Skulls MC.”
“Really? They don’t have motorcycle clubs in Ireland?”
He smiled. “Yeah, they do. But...” He didn’t really see her as the judgmental type...but a heroin addict, well, maybe that was pushing it too much. “I just needed a change.” The waiter brought their food and he was thankful for the interruption. When he left she said:
“So how long have you been in Arizona?”
“About six months now,” he said. It had actually been six years since he’d come to the States, but “Finn McGregor” only arrived in California a year before, shortly after his death. Sometimes it was hard to keep it all straight, but his old man reminded him all the time that it might mean the difference between life and death.
“Ah, almost as new as me,” she said. “So...tell me about this club that was so amazing you swam across the pond to be a part of it.”
He smiled and cut his steak as he said, “People don’t really understand clubs like ours. We’re not just a club. Not just friends. We’re family. We take care of each other, and even other clubs that we’re allies with, like the Westside Skulls. This club is definitely the best thing that ever happened to me.” That was no lie. He would have either ended up like the real Finn McGregor, dead with a needle in his arm, or dead at the hands of the drug dealers he’d cheated out of a lot of drugs and money. They had almost killed him, once. He was sure the second time around, they would have succeeded.
“That’s awesome,” she said. She was cutting her chicken and not looking for the door, so that was good. “So what do you do, exactly? You told me something about customizing motorcycles?”
“Yeah, our president is a magician with a bike. People come from all over the US to have him do custom jobs. His business was back east, but he moved it here to start the club. It’s still doing great. And as far as what I do...I’m learning the business from the ground up. I started out just running parts but lately I’ve been learning more about mechanics and maybe one of these days I’ll learn how to do the custom paint and chrome and all of that.” She was smiling when he finished talking and she said:
“Your eyes light up when you talk about motorcycles. How long have you been riding?”
“About six years,” he said. That was the truth. When he fled Dublin and ended up hiding out in California with his old man, he knew nothing about bikes. He’d been on the streets since he was sixteen, though, and the truth was, he’d known nothing about anything except drugs and survival. His old man had taken him way out in the country in Fresno County at night sometimes and taught him how to ride his bike. It was the same one he rode now since his old man couldn’t ride any longer...and was technically “dead” himself.
“Was it hard to learn?”
“Not too bad,” he lied. He’d crashed so many times that Granite said he was running out of excuses to have the mechanic at the clubhouse fix the bike. Luckily he’d never been seriously hurt. It would have been hard explaining why he had no papers if he’d ended up in the emergency room.
“I don’t think I could do it,” she said. “I’d be afraid to even ride on one.”
“No way! You’ve never even taken a ride on one? You’re missing out.”
She smiled. “My mother was a little overprotective, and that’s putting it mildly. She would have had a heart attack if I ever even suggested it.”
“You never snuck off and did it anyway...never took a long ride in the moonlight with one of your boyfriends?”
She laughed out loud at that. “Um...no, no motorcycles and definitely no boyfriends.”
“None? Ever?” Finn had never had a girlfriend, but that was because of his lifestyle. He couldn’t imagine that men weren’t lining up to take Caitlin out. Maybe there was something in her past that she was holding back too.
“Nope. I’ve never had a boyfriend. Weird?”
“All the men that let you get away are, for sure.”
She laughed again, and her cheeks turned red. “You’re funny.” She popped the last piece of chicken on her plate in her mouth and Finn frowned at her and said:
“I wasn’t being funny. I’m totally serious. Do you really not know how pretty you are?” Finn wasn’t a flatterer by nature, but then again, he’d never met a woman like Caitlin. She was genuinely beautiful...and had no idea, at all.
She stopped chewing and gave him a serious look. Finally she picked up her iced tea, washed the chicken down, and said, “I’ve never thought of myself as pretty.”
“Hasn’t anyone ever told you, though?”
She shook her head. “Not really.”
“Damn, men in New York must be crazy.”
“Well, thank you,” she said, her entire face red. “In their defense, I didn’t get out much. Can we talk about something else?”
He smiled. “Okay. Tell me something personal about you. What do you like to do, for fun?”
“I like to read. I like math...” He put his hand up and stopped her.
“I see the problem now.”
She cocked an eyebrow. “The problem?”
“Yeah, why all those guys back east weren’t telling you how pretty you are. They were intimidated. You’re the smart girl, aren’t you? The one who always got the highest scores in class? The one who asked the teacher questions and walked around with her nose buried in a book.”
He could tell by the look on her face that he’d hit the nail on the head. “I liked school, yes.”
“And boys and men liked you...trust me. You just scared them away with all of your brains.”
She gave him a cute, little mischievous grin and said, “So are you scared now that you know?”
“Huh-uh. Turned on.”
5
The wheels in Caitlin’s head were turning at about a hundre
d miles per hour. She was obviously not stupid. She knew a line when she heard one. She knew that for whatever reason this hot biker, cooler than her even on his worst day, wanted to get into her pants. The question she had for herself was...why was she resisting? She’d bought the dress and the shoes because Joy told her they looked “sexy.” She wanted to look sexy for him. She had let “the amazing” Bonnie do her makeup and she had let Joy curl her hair. She doubted that she’d go through this much trouble again...and she was an adult, and so was he...so why not?
“Caitlin?” Finn had walked her outside and she knew he was talking, but she’d been listening to her own thoughts...so she hadn’t heard what he said.
“I’m sorry, what?”
“I asked if you wanted to do something else, like maybe take a ride on my bike?”
“Oh...no, thank you.”
He looked disappointed and then grinned and said, “You don’t have to worry--I planned on us being naked right after.”
“Excuse me?” She wondered if her face showed how hard it was to be indignant when she was thinking almost exactly the same thing.
He laughed. “I was kidding...sort of. Okay, honestly if you said yes, I’d do you right here, but I’m not gonna push. We could see a movie or something.”
She didn’t know what to do. She wished Joy was there...and then she realized that wouldn’t matter because she knew exactly what Joy would tell her to do. “You’d go to a movie with me and not expect anything else, if that’s what I wanted?”
“Sure.”
“Why?”
He laughed again. “You’re a suspicious little thing. Because I like you, I guess.”
“I don’t understand it.”
Still laughing he said, “You’re the funny one, Caitlin. So what movie do you want to see? We’ll have to take your car since you don’t want to ride on my bike.”
She still wasn’t sure what to do. She wanted to lay him out right there in the parking lot, but her mother told her since she was twelve years old that a man would have no respect for you if you gave up the goodies too soon. That was how her mother said it... “Gave up the goodies.” It made Caitlin laugh out loud and then realize Finn was looking down at her oddly. “I’m sorry. I was just thinking about something my mother said.”
He cocked an eyebrow. “Well, love, I have to tell you that your mum is not the person I was hoping to remind you of.”
Feeling her face go hot and giggling she said, “Trust me, I think my mother did you a favor.”
“You’re losing me.”
“I love my mother.”
“Okay...?”
“I came over two thousand miles to get away from her and her old-fashioned ways. Do you live alone?”
The smile that lit up his face told her that he completely understood why she wanted to know. Thank goodness, because she might have died of embarrassment before she choked it out. “You bet I do, love. Just changed the sheets this morning.” That made her wonder what had been there last night...but she shook it off quickly before she changed her mind again and said:
“I’ll follow you.” She wasn’t expecting it when his big arm snaked its way around her waist and pulled her up against his hard body. He dipped his head down and covered her mouth with his. It had been so long since she’d been kissed...and she realized after about half a second that she’d never been kissed right. Finn’s entire mouth was engaged in the kiss. His lips caressed hers. His tongue slid gently back and forth across hers and flicked across her teeth. Their bodies melded together and his strong hand, resting against the back of her neck underneath her hair, radiated so much warmth that she was afraid it might actually burn her. When he broke the kiss she stood there with her eyes half open and her chest heaving, looking up at him and wondering what planets and stars had aligned the day they both walked into that coffee shop.
Finn grinned and said, “You’d better quit looking at me like that, love, or I will take you right here.”
Caitlin sucked in a hard breath and physically shook herself. She cleared her throat and mumbled something that even she didn’t understand as she pulled open her car door and slid inside. Finn was still grinning at her. She could only imagine what her face must look like. Jesus, she was going to see him naked. Her hand shook as she put the key in the ignition and she started to smile...until it dawned on her, he was going to see her naked too.
Fifteen minutes later, after following Finn’s bike into a little parking lot in front of what looked like a triplex, Caitlin was still sitting in her car. The knock on the passenger window shouldn’t have frightened her, but it caused her to jump anyway. She grimaced and then forced herself to smile when she looked up at Finn. He shrugged, and she opened the door. “Sorry, was just letting my cousin know where I am.” She hadn’t actually done that, and it suddenly dawned on her that they weren’t in the best neighborhood, she didn’t really know him...and she should. It was too late now, though, since she’d already told him she did...she’d look like an idiot.
“In case I’m a creeper?”
She laughed. “You can’t be too careful.” She hoped he wasn’t, because if he was, she was shit-out-of-luck now.
“It’s a good thing to take care of yourself, love. Come on, let’s go inside. She ain’t much,” he told her as he slid his key in the lock on the door in the center of the three little apartments. “But she’s home.” He pushed open the door and flipped on a light before stepping back and letting her go inside. She tried to neutralize her face before he stepped in and saw it. “Not much” was an understatement. She wondered how much they paid him in that club he was in. The “apartment” was a studio. The kitchen was a kitchenette and the room they were standing in seemed to be a combination living room and bedroom. He had beer signs, lights, and mirrors hung on the wall to decorate it, a television with a screen much too large for the tiny place with two uncomfortable-looking chairs pointed at it, and a queen-size bed right in the center of it all. There were two doors beyond that, one narrower than the other, and she assumed one of them was the bathroom. The place was cluttered, but it was smaller than her bedroom at Joy’s house, so she could understand that. As far as cleanliness went, it wasn’t too bad for a man on his own. “We could pop in a movie if you want. I’ll microwave some popcorn. You seem a little tense.”
She held back a laugh at that understatement. She felt like she was about to crawl out of her own skin. “A movie sounds good,” she said, hoping that she didn’t sound as panicked as she was beginning to feel. He chuckled slightly and said:
“You want a beer?”
“No, thank you. A water would be okay.”
He chuckled again and said, “My water comes out of the tap, but I’ll see what I can do about finding ya a clean glass.” She wanted to take back her request but knew it would sound too rude. Instead she said:
“Can I use your bathroom?”
“Sure, love, right through that door there.” There were only two choices. She decided the other must be a closet, although all of his jeans and t-shirts seemed to be in a pile on the floor in front of it. She skirted past them and to the other door, closing it behind her before flipping on the light. She let out a little yelp when she did. “You okay, love?”
“Um...yeah,” she said, her eyes glued to the print on the wall in front of her. “Just stubbed my toe.” The “art” print took up most of the narrow wall. It was a picture of a woman with long blonde hair. The shocking thing was that she was nude, blindfolded, and tied up. She had on a leather blindfold and it looked like some kind of black leather ball in her mouth with straps that stretched out on either side of her mouth. Her lips were huge and bright red and as much as Caitlin was not attracted to women, she had to admit that this one had an incredible body, as much as she could see of it. She was sitting with her knees drawn up to her chest and her full, round breasts with their big, dark nipples rested on top of them. Her arms were around her knees and her wrists were bound together with leather straps. Her
ankles were bound together too, so at least you couldn’t see her...goodies...but you could see that she had a tiny waist and wide hips and a round butt. She had a body like Joy’s...not hers. Caitlin first realized she was disappointed, and then realized she was disappointed because she didn’t look like the woman and not because Finn had a poster of a woman who was bound and gagged. Jesus...what the fuck have I gotten herself into?
She didn’t realize how long she’d been standing there, staring at it until the knock on the door nearly sent her crawling out of her own skin again. “Are ya sure you’re okay? You finding what you need in there?” She hadn’t gone pee...but maybe the adrenaline that shot through her veins when she saw the poster had dried her bladder out. She didn’t feel like she needed to any longer. She mumbled something about being right out, flushed the toilet, and pretended to wash her hands...it wasn’t like there was any soap there anyway. Smoothing down her dress, she took a deep breath and opened the door. Finn was sitting in one of the two chairs with a beer in his hand. The TV tray next to the other chair held a bowl of microwave popcorn and a glass of water. “You like comedies or action or...?”
Still shaking, and really trying not to ask him about the picture in the bathroom, she sat in the chair and said, “Whatever you want is fine.”
He grinned and the grin was filled with mischief and lust. Her mouth went dry again and she picked up the water. Forgetting to check if the glass was clean, she took a long drink of it. “That’s a dangerous sentence, love, when I’ve got you here alone.”
She set the water down and said, “You going to tie me up?” She hadn’t meant to say it and she wished she could take it back as soon as she saw the confusion on his face. He hesitated and then his sexy hazel eyes went toward the bathroom and suddenly he threw his head back and laughed out loud.
