“With me leaving?” she squeaked.
“With you in my bed.”
Lana’s hands clenched and unclenched down by her sides as she tried to stay calm, but her heart pounded so hard against her ribs she thought they might break. “I’m flattered by your attention. But I thought you and Ice sorted that out. I’m his old lady.”
“You have a choice,” Rex murmured in her ear, his rasping breath hot and harsh on her skin.
“I choose Ice,” she blurted out.
“That isn’t the choice I’m offering.” His voice took on a sinister tone. “And I think you know what I mean.”
She drew in a ragged breath. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Oh, I think you do.” He took a step back and Lana slid away from the vehicle and forced herself to walk—not run—away.
“Think about it,” Rex called out. “There are far worse places to be than in my bed.”
Lana’s breath caught in her throat and a burst of adrenaline shot through her veins. Suddenly she didn’t care about posturing or playing Ice’s old lady. She didn’t care if Rex knew he’d scared her. She didn’t care about anything except getting the hell out of there.
Without a moment’s hesitation, she kicked up her heels and she ran.
Chapter Fifteen
Lana rested her cheek against James’s broad back as he raced the V-Rod through the night. Only the dim orange glow of streetlights and a sliver of crescent moon lit their way. The cool evening breeze tickled a path through the seams in her leathers, chilling her even more than she had been after her encounter with Rex.
Although she had thought she’d left the biker world behind, it had clearly left an indelible imprint on her soul. She’d slipped right back into the patter and the politics, as if she’d never been away. Big mistake. It had been easy to hide her past from James when she wasn’t immersed in it. But now she’d raised his suspicions. And then there was Rex.
The motorcycle slowed and Lana peered around James’s shoulder as he pulled off the road and drove toward a small grassy square almost totally hidden within a copse of trees. He parked out of sight of the road and tugged off his helmet. Lana followed suit.
“Why are we stopping?”
“Up here.” He patted the seat and Lana maneuvered herself around his hips until she was straddling the bike in front of him.
“We’re gonna play a game,” he said coolly. “It’s called ten questions. I ask. You answer. Usually the game is played with twenty questions, but I don’t think I’ll be able to hold out that long with you looking at me like you’re needing something I’m burning to give.”
Lana swallowed hard. She didn’t know what secrets he was after and she sure as hell wasn’t going to volunteer them.
Maybe a diversion…
She leaned up and brushed her lips over his. “I was kinda hoping we were stopping in the dark, romantic moonlit field for another reason,” she breathed.
His gaze dropped to her mouth and his hand slid around her waist. She knew that look only too well. Maybe she would get away with no questions at all.
“In time.” The heat dimmed in his eyes. “But I’ve been getting the feeling I don’t really know you, and that problem needs to be remedied before I tie you to my bike and make you scream with pleasure.”
“Modest.”
“Always.”
She bit her lip to suppress a smile. “Too bad it won’t work. Tying girls to your bike is nice in theory, but not in practice.”
James raised an eyebrow, and she sighed and patted his thigh. “You would have to balance me and the bike and…” she blushed, “…you know…perform.”
“Never had a performance issue, babe. No matter where I was or what I was doing.”
Lana snorted. “Good to know.”
James gave her a curt nod and then settled her farther back on the seat. “Question one: How is it you know so much about bikers?”
Damn
. She wasn’t being seductive enough. She unzipped her jacket, dragging the zipper inch by inch over her chest as she considered her words. No lies, but lots of omissions. “I used to go out with a guy who was a biker. It was a long time ago.”
James’s eyes fixed on her hands as she pulled the jacket apart. She cupped her breasts over her leather corset, offering them up for his touching pleasure.
“I know what you’re doing.” His voice was hoarse, husky with need. “You’re trying to distract me.”
Lana glanced down at the bulge in his leathers. “Seems to be working.”
He caught her hand as she reached down to touch him and shook his head. “Question two: the suitcase. It’s been burning a hole in my brain. Who were you running from?”
She gritted her teeth and tried to think of something that wasn’t a lie but that wouldn’t send him raging on a suicide mission down to Seattle. “I thought I might have been recognized from the time I went out with the biker. I wanted to leave that…embarrassing part of my life behind me so desperately the thought of seeing anyone from those days freaked me out and I wanted to get out of town. Jackie convinced me I was overreacting.”
She nibbled his bottom lip and frowned when he didn’t open for her. Come on. She wasn’t that bad at seduction.
James stiffened and pulled away. “Not done yet, babe. Dinner first, then dessert. Question three: What aren’t you telling me?”
Lana groaned inwardly. She should’ve known. He wasn’t one of the Lower Mainland’s top homicide cops without reason, and she was already well acquainted with his interrogation techniques. But right now he would be expecting evasion, so she would give him honesty.
“Yes, there’s more. But you don’t need to know more. That Lana is gone. That past is past.”
Well, not total honesty. Her past was still inked into her skin. She knew, without a doubt, she could never tell him what the mark meant. Aside from the utter humiliation, she might put him in a position that could compromise his assignment—or even his life—if he decided to jump on his motorcycle and ride down to Seattle, spoiling for a fight. Not only that, but Rex’s comment had raised her uncertainty again. Had he seen the mark? Recognized it? Was the choice he offered really a threat?
She eased herself closer to James’s broad, muscular chest and leaned up to nuzzle his jaw, scratchy with a five o’clock shadow. James hissed in a breath, but this time he didn’t pull away.
“I’m not done with the questions.” His low, husky growl betrayed his desire.
Hands on his shoulders, she trailed her tongue over the seam of his lips. “I’m done with the answers.”
“Babe.” He grunted his disapproval and Lana sighed.
“Okay, one more.”
His gaze slanted down at her. “Question four: What happened when you went to find Jackie? Something or someone scared you. I could see it in your face and your heart was beating a mile a minute.”
Easy question. Easy to tell the truth. She stroked the soft curls at the back of his neck. Two years ago she would never have been able to imagine James with long hair. Now she couldn’t imagine him without it.
“Rex caught me. He said he wants me in his bed.” She shrugged off her jacket, thrusting her breasts out as it slid over her arms. Leather hit grass with a soft thud.
“He must have said something else,” James grumbled. “You were shaking when you came back to me.” Tension suddenly gripped him. His arm around her waist tightened. “Did he touch you? Hurt you?”
“That’s two more questions, five and six. You’re going to run out soon. But the answer to both questions is no. If you don’t believe me, you can check out the situation for yourself.” She unlaced the corset and shrugged it over her head, dropping it on the grass beside her jacket. The cool air on her bare skin made her shiver, but the heat in his gaze warmed her to her toes.
“James?”
“God, you’re beautiful.” He bent down and drew her nipple between his lips.
Success!
Crisis averted.
Lana sucked in a sharp breath as the firm pull of his mouth sent waves of heat through her body. “Are we done with the questions? Please say we’re done.”
He switched to the other nipple, teasing her with his teeth until her brain fuzzed with lust. A moan escaped her lips and his arm locked around her, pulling her into his chest. She could feel his erection through his leathers, hard as steel and pressed tight against her pussy.
“Question seven…” he murmured against her ear, “…what else did Rex say?”
Noooooo.
Her head fell back and she groaned as he sucked and laved her nipples into tight peaks. Unable to think, much less come up with a lie, she blurted out the truth. “He said he was giving me a choice and you weren’t one of the options.”
James froze and, quietly, he asked, “What did he mean by that?”
“I honestly don’t know. And that was question eight.”
He smoothed her hair from her face. “I’ll deal with him, babe. You won’t have to worry about him again.”
Lana shuddered at the undertone of menace in his voice. “You’re not going to…you know…hurt him, are you?”
His jaw tightened. “I’ll do what I have to do to keep you safe.”
“And how will you keep me safe if I do this?” She lay back over the gas tank and reached over her head for the handlebars. Her back arched up over the cold metal surface and her hair tumbled down the sides of the motorcycle like a waterfall.
A sound erupted from James’s throat—a cross between a choke and a groan. He smoothed his hands down her body, in and out of her curves and around her breasts. “Do you know what it does to me seeing you like this?”
Lana gave him a half smile. “After spending years surrounded by pictures of women and motorcycles, I have some idea what turns a biker on. And I have made a very careful study of you.” A cool breeze brushed over her bare skin, making her shiver. “Bikers especially like to see a woman lying naked across a motorcycle.”
James’s eyes darkened and he feathered his fingers over her exposed belly. “My woman. My motorcycle.” He gave her a look that was nothing short of carnal. “You want to play, babe?”
Her insides turned liquid. The first and only time they had played together had been the most intense sexual experience of her life. Although she hadn’t been able to handle his gentle restraint of her hands after Oktoberfest, tonight she was feeling brave. “Yes, James. I want to play. And that was your last damn question.”
Still, he didn’t move. His lips twisted to the side and he studied her, considering. “I thought you didn’t want this,” he said cautiously. “Last time you said it was a mistake. I don’t want you to feel that way again. If this isn’t right for you, if I’m not right for you, we should wrap it up and go home.”
Her stomach clenched. “I was scared, James. I was scared you would hurt me again, so I ran away. And I think I was right, because when you came to my apartment tonight you weren’t planning to stay. But something changed your mind, and when I saw you lying on those hay bales I changed my mind too. Tonight I’ve gone from thinking my life was over to spending another night with a motorcycle club. I’ve suffered through your near-death experience, an
Alice in Wonderland
kangaroo court and an altercation with Rex. It all makes me think I’d rather have a little piece of you and risk getting hurt again, than not have you at all.”
A slow grin spread across his face. “Off the bike.”
She mocked a frown as he pulled her up. “Shame. I was hoping we could do it here after all.”
He dismounted the bike and helped her down, then shrugged off his pack and tugged out several coils of soft rope. “You okay with this?” he asked, dangling them over her head.
Lana stared at the ropes. It had been so long. And the last time…the first time…the only time… Did she trust him enough to do this?
She studied him—silent, patient, waiting for her answer. Although he still had the same dry sense of humor, he’d lost the edge that had kept him up every night worrying over his latest case. He had been seduced by the outlaw biker ethos, taking to the freedom from social constraints as if he’d been born to it. He wore his leathers like a second skin, rode like there was no tomorrow and talked the talk better than she ever did. The biker world had unleashed the wild side she’d only glimpsed when they were together two years ago. Exciting. Dangerous.
James touched her cheek and smiled, all crinkled eyes and boyish charm. “It’s up to you, babe. I’m just as happy to fuck you the old-fashioned way.”
Lana snorted. “So romantic. When you put it that way, how can I say no?” Her evening had been full of risks. Why not take another?
James’s eyes glittered in the moonlight. “Romance has nothing to do with how bad I want to be inside you.”
“James?”
“Babe?”
“Best keep quiet. Now is not the time for crude biker charm.”
Chuckling, he tossed his jacket on the ground and then knelt in front of her. With practiced ease, he unfastened her leather trousers and slid them over her hips, greeting each inch of exposed skin with a feathered kiss. Then he eased her down.
“I don’t suppose you have any other clothing, maybe even a picnic blanket.” She tried and failed to repress a giggle. “Although I’m nice and cozy on top, my ass is on the grass and it’s not feeling the love.”
With a snort of laughter, James stripped off his shirt and tucked it underneath her. Then he eased her arms over her head and tied her wrists together. “If you move, you’ll be a sorry girl.”