“What did this woman look like?”
“Black. Beautiful. Pissed off.”
He frowned. “Shit.”
“What? Do you know her?”
“A whore, working in the Whiskey Lick Her. She gave me a blow job then ended up punching me in the nuts.”
“What? Did she have a death wish or something?”
Romeo snorted. “I don’t hit women. Ever. Although I almost went against my beliefs that night. I fired her.”
“Seems a little extreme to kill a man over that type of vendetta.”
“Yeah,” he said. He brought out his cell phone from his cut and dialed a number. “It doesn’t fit. I’ll send Wrench over to take a look and make sure your ride isn’t booby trapped.”
“Some part of me knows that’s ridiculous,” she murmured. “I mean, cars don’t blow up like in the movies.”
“No, they don’t usually blow up,” he agreed. “Unless there’s a bomb on them.”
She frowned at him. “I’m trying to be optimistic here.”
He grinned. He talked in low tones into his phone and hung up moments later. She assumed her sedan would be taken care of. As he drove out of the parking lot, he made a right instead of a left, and she looked questioningly at him.
“Where are we going?”
“I thought we could talk, away from the noise of the clubhouse.”
“Away from Dax?”
“Him too. He and I talked earlier, about a lot of things.”
Oh, boy…
* * * *
“Dax told me about your grandfather,” Romeo said as he drove. He didn’t look at her.
“I suspected he would.”
“Grew up with the Yakuza, huh?”
She shrugged. “It sounds scarier than it was. Did he tell you everything?”
“Yeah.”
She bit her lip. “Where are we going?”
Romeo turned onto one of the residential streets. “Wheels’ house.”
“Wheels. Your mentor?”
“That’s one way to describe him. Hold on.”
He turned a few streets until he pulled into the driveway of a rather nondescript ranch-style house made entirely of red brick. The overgrown yard and drooping bushes spoke of neglect.
“I just made a mental note to have Hawg come over and take care of things,” he said. “This place is starting to look a little old.”
“It’s nice,” Chloe said.
He snorted. “It’s suburbia.”
“Hardly. I grew up in suburbia.”
“Wheels left me his house when he died, but I never had any desire to move into it. I like living at the clubhouse.”
“Then why don’t you sell it?”
“Because it was
Wheels’
house.” He opened his door and hopped out of the cab. He didn’t wait for Chloe to follow, although he was very aware that she’d jumped out of the truck and trailed him.
He unlocked the front door and stepped inside. A mustiness hung in the air and her cute little nose wrinkled at the smell. He moved through the house, turned on lights and opened windows. Slowly, the old air dissipated.
“You still pay utilities?” she asked.
He shrugged, not bothering to answer. How could he explain how he needed to keep something of Wheels going?
Chloe walked through the house looking at all the knick-knacks and odds and ends that Wheels had collected. The old man had been a procurer of things, all sorts of things from pictures to figurines to taxidermy animals and beer steins. The walls were covered with that shit, as was every available surface.
“Was Wheels married?” she asked.
“No. His only family was the club. Why?”
“Well, I would’ve loved to have set him up with whoever decorated the break room at the hospital,” she said thoughtfully. “I have a feeling they were soulmates.”
“Wheels died in that hospital,” he said softly. “Heart attack.”
“I’m sorry,” she replied.
He heard the sincerity in her voice.
“You were close with him.” It wasn’t a question but he nodded anyway.
“Yeah.” He walked over to a camouflage-covered recliner and sat. “My father was a nomad, and after playing house for two years in Wyoming, he left his son and baby mama to come here. He and Wheels were friends. He hooked up with another club girl and eventually he knocked her up with me. They both stuck around until I turned thirteen. That’s when they decided they didn’t want to be parents anymore.”
“I was thirteen when I killed my mother.”
She held his gaze, but he didn’t flinch at her words. When Dax had told him her story, he couldn’t imagine what she’d lived through. How her soul had survived such trauma. Maybe that was why she grabbed at idealistic scenarios with strange men.
“Why me, Chloe?”
She cocked her head. “What do you mean?”
“Why do you want me?”
“I don’t know,” she said, shrugging self-consciously. “I read the report about you and…it just clicked in my brain.”
“You saw my picture. Were you attracted to my looks? Was thinking I was attractive part of this fantasy you built about me?”
“Not all of it, no.”
“You’re trying to tell me that if I’d been butt-ugly you would still have pursued me?”
She sighed and rubbed her forehead. “Probably not. But there
is
a connection, Romeo.”
“Chloe, look at me.”
“I am looking at you.”
“No, look at
me
,” he said and thumped his chest. “Not as a sexual object, or even a romantic one. Look at the man. Look at who I am. I’m not this perfect man you’ve made me out to be. Hell, up until the moment I killed Shepard, I thought my life was one big fucking party. Drinking. Pussy. If I wanted to escape, I had plenty of vices to take me away. But now, when I get five minutes to myself, damned if guilt doesn’t try to consume me.”
“You’ll burn out, Romeo.”
“Do I look like a fucking hero to you, Chloe?”
“Yes,” she said. There was no hesitation at all in her tone or her demeanor.
He couldn’t stop the growl and jumped from the chair to march over to her. “I’m just a man!”
“I see the man,” she replied. “And I see the fucked-up mess. I see your indecision. Why do you think you’re not good enough?”
“Because… Because I don’t want to fuck up! Wheels decided to step down and he looked at me to step up, and God damn it, I couldn’t. Shepard stepped in and fucked the club. That makes me the biggest goddamn pussy—”
“No. It makes you human.”
“See? That’s all I am, Chloe. Human.”
“I know.”
She closed her eyes for a moment. When she opened them, he saw raw honesty shining from the depths of her dark gaze.
“The first man I ever…obsessed over was my bodyguard. I was eighteen and he was forty-five. He saw me as a child and I saw him as someone who needed me. It felt so
good
to be wanted. He’s the one who taught me to shoot. Taught me to fight. One night, I seduced him, although, I realize now, having sex with a teenager must have been his fantasy come to life, so I hesitate to use that word. Anyway, I thought he loved me. I began dreaming of him, which led to following him. Fantasizing about a life with him. I took pictures of him when he wasn’t looking and framed them on my wall. He was my bodyguard almost twenty-four seven, except once a month he’d go home. And that’s when I found out the truth.”
“You followed him home?”
She nodded. “I discovered he had a wife. Children. I thought he needed me, and I came to find out he was just using me. I had a little meltdown. My grandfather put me back into the hospital and either fired or killed the bodyguard. I got on meds and back out into the world I went. I moved away from my grandfather. Tried to hide from his reach. He doesn’t know I’m here, that I came looking for you. But when he does, he’s going to tell you how fucked up I am. How I’m looking for a daddy replacement. But that’s not it at all.”
With his one good arm, he grabbed her hand and linked their fingers together. “Then what is it?”
“When I read your file, it dawned on me that maybe you would be the one person who could understand I’m not crazy.”
Her head bowed and the utter look of defeat wasn’t one he expected to see, not from her. She was too fierce for this type of insecurity. He admired her for her gumption, because it took a lot of guts to move to a town simply because of a photograph and a feeling.
He pulled her against his body. When she looked up at him, he placed his lips on her mouth and breathed into the kiss. When Chloe moaned, he slid his tongue inside. Hot. Wet. Lust punched him in the gut.
When the kiss ended, Romeo looked down at her flushed face. “I want you, Chloe. I want to fuck you until you scream my name in pleasure.”
“Yes,” she breathed.
He planted his lips upon hers again, licking them until her own tongue darted out, meeting his. She kissed him back, running her hands up his chest to encircle his neck. She was such a tiny thing that he stood almost bent in half. He went to touch her, but the damn sling got in his way, so with a muffled curse, he shrugged the damn thing off. Pain lanced through his arm and he winced, but he didn’t give a shit about his arm right then. All he wanted, all that kept streaming through his head, was the need to sink inside her body and burn this craving he had for her.
He slid his tongue down her neck, licking and sucking on the tender skin until she panted. Her scrubs were loose so it was easy for his hand to slide up under the top to cup her lace-covered breast. She moaned and arched her back, so he swept the material up and over her head, then she reached behind her and deftly unfastened her bra. He shimmied it down her arm then took a moment to admire her trim little body. Her tits might be on the small side, but her pebbled nipples were ripe little berries begging to be sucked.
He drew one turgid point into his mouth, rolling the nub between his teeth. His arm protested as he slid it around her waist, but he ignored it to pull her more firmly against him. The lust that pumped heavily through his veins trumped everything else as he lifted her up and walked her to the wall. Romeo used it to help hold her up, one hand traveling down to grip the back of one of her thighs to allow him to snuggle in the cradle of her sex. She curled her leg around his back, and his cock hardened even more, wanting inside her tight, hot body. He gripped her ass, drawing her closer.
Chloe cupped his face, bringing his lips back to hers. Their tongues met, intertwined passionately. Romeo wrapped her long black hair into his hand, making a fist, holding her head still. She panted at the small bite of pressure he exerted. At her whimper, his dick jumped, wanting inside her so fucking bad. Foreplay was going to have to wait because he couldn’t seem to hold back. What the hell was she doing to him?
She was turning him into a sex fiend right now, that’s what she was doing. He honestly didn’t know what he’d do if she said no. Christ, he wouldn’t ever force a woman.
Luckily, however, she seemed to be on the same sexual pathway, because she clawed at his fly. His senses spun higher and higher. The sweet scent stemming from her arousal made his mouth water.
He dropped to his knees and yanked her scrub bottoms from her body. They fell into a puddle at her feet as he ripped her scrap of panties away. He lifted one of her legs and draped it over his shoulder, giving him an unfettered view of her slick, dusty rose slit. Romeo buried his nose right there, breathing deep. God, could a man become addicted to a scent? One thing he loved was a beautiful pussy and this chick had a Grade-A certifiable, amazing cunt. He separated the lips of her sex, sliding down to her entrance. He licked her, from the bottom of her cleft up, to suckle the clit that peeked out from its hood.
“Finger-fuck me,” she begged. “Please, Romeo.”
Happy to oblige, Romeo sank his middle finger into her heat. Her cunt was so fucking tight as he slowly slid in then pulled out. Pressing a thumb to her clit, he watched the pleasure course over her face as she rode his hand. He couldn’t wait to drive his cock deep inside her. He added another finger to her pussy, stretching her, making her ready for his big cock. She moaned as he returned to sucking on her clit with more intensity. He was determined to taste her cream. She gripped his hair, holding tight and grinding herself onto his face.
Chloe made little breathy moans as he continued his nonstop attack, forcing her to take the deep sensation with limited movement. Her body trembled as she bucked against his fingers. Romeo knew she was close, so with his free hand, he slid it around to her back entrance and used a little of her own juice to slick up his pinkie. Then he eased it into her anus. The added sensation set off a thunderous orgasm in her. Chloe screeched and her body spasmed with ecstasy as he licked up every delicious drop.
Romeo was slightly shocked that he actually
wanted
to lick up every drop. Usually, he didn’t care for the taste of cum, but this time he reveled in how much pleasure he was able to give her. As her climax waned and she finally slumped over his body, he stood and wiped his face on his shirt before he lifted her bridal style. She was so slight that it only twinged his shoulder a tiny bit.
He carried her to his old bedroom and kicked the door shut. He flipped on the bedside lamp and tossed her on the mattress. Chloe was naked except for her socks, but he didn’t give a shit about those. She lay in repose on his bed, her arms stretched above her head, her body a work of art. Her firm tits thrust out, glistening in the dim light. A sheen of sweat covered her from head to toe.
Their gazes met as he took off his cut and laid it aside. Then he reached over his shoulder with his good arm and lifted his T-shirt up and off. Before he undid his pants, he reached for his wallet and took out a rubber. Playing a little, he did a small striptease, putting a little more swagger into his hips as he pulled off his pants and boxers. He stood naked and extremely horny before her.
“Do you want me to suck you off?” she asked, her eyes half closed.
“No. I want to fuck you.”
She spread her thighs and that was all the encouragement he needed. Romeo quickly rolled the condom on and sank onto the bed, onto her. She entwined her arms around his neck, and he nuzzled her with his lips.
He nudged her thighs apart even farther and positioned his cock in front of her sweet opening. Even through the latex barrier, her wet heat burned him. Their eyes met and locked as he buried his dick deep inside her drenched pussy. She let out a wanton scream of pleasure and clawed his back, trying to draw him closer. Romeo had to take a moment and breathe through the urge to climax right then and there. He’d never been inside such a perfect cunt. He pulled her petite body into his thrusts, and she screamed in carnal passion with each deep stroke. He slammed into her little body with all the force he had, and her hot pussy creamed again as he drilled into her.