Read STICK: MC ROMANCE NOVELLA (Forsaken Riders MC Romance Book 8) Online
Authors: Samantha Leal
Chapter 14
Dirk's silver eyes filled with concern as he held her wounded arm gently in his hands. He had led her directly into his bedroom, bellowing that he had taken care of everything and that everybody could return to sleep. The staff breathed a collective sigh of relief and headed to their rooms, leaving the manor empty of all noise. All that could be heard was Dirk as he bustled around in his private bathroom, looking for medical supplies.
He sat her on his bed and gently cleaned and bandaged the wound on her arm. He had a surprisingly light touch when he chose to, and she found herself blushing as he fawned over her as if she were the thing he most cherished on all the island. The unexpected tenderness from him re-ignited the forbidden but passionate flame that he ignited so primally within her. Her dazzling green eyes settled on him as he put the finishing touches on the wrap.
She allowed her eyes to roam his muscular body as he admired his handiwork. He had rescued her in nothing but his boxers, and Katherine's eyes settled on the pronounced bulge between his legs. He grinned his cocky grin at her, and she blushed and shook her head. He looked at her, suddenly serious. He could have lost her. Thankfully, no harm had come to her. His feelings were powerful, and real. Anything keeping him from expressing them was silly. It didn't matter whether some piece of paper claimed they were related. Dirk defied tradition and always would. This was his life, and fuck what anybody else thought about it.
He stood and loomed over her, his pensive gaze consuming her and setting every nerve in her body on fire. He kissed her hard, relishing in the sweet taste of her tongue before she pushed him away, obviously tortured by the label society had tacked onto them. He gripped her unharmed arm and pulled her up roughly, curling her into his strong body. She was overwhelmed by the desire his erection inspired in her and unable to fight her desire any longer. She moaned as his lips roamed her neck and found her clavicle, his erection pressing firmly against the thin fabric of her silk nightgown.
He lowered her onto his bed, and she was surrounded by the spicy scent of his cologne once again. This time it was everywhere, all around her, just like his touch, his hands, his lips. She closed her eyes and moaned in pleasure as he freed himself from the confines of his boxers and slipped her panties down, laying his full length against her leg and gently teasing her open, until she was frantic with pleasure. She gripped his back hard, and he buried his face in her neck as he slipped himself inside. They moaned together as the warmth of their bodies merged, and they made love late into the night, their soft grunts of pleasure resonating privately in the manor.
***
When their parents returned from their honeymoon, the pair was miserable. Katherine's mother accused him of cheating, and he had accused her of being a gold-digging tramp. Katherine and Dirk watched the fight, exchanging secret glances of amusement. They had both been right about their parents. And even though it was exhausting to live with them, at least something good had come of it. Dirk and Katherine had found each other.
THE END
Samantha Leal
Copyright ©2015 by Samantha Leal. All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic of mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Melissa sat looking out across the runway and sipped her coffee slowly. She had waited for a moment like this for her entire life, and now the pressure of being on the verge of launching herself into an important discovery was starting to weigh heavy. Deep down, she knew she was ready for it, but there was still a small, nagging doubt at the back of her mind. What if she missed something? What if she did something wrong that lost some important information? What if Jake continued to distract her?
She looked down at her watch and saw that she still had three hours before their flight was due to leave. She had gotten to the airport ridiculously early so she wouldn’t find herself flapping around at the last minute and risk getting caught in traffic. Melissa was always prepared, but she didn’t feel like there would ever be enough time to prepare for this. Her whole career had been building up to it, and now she was on her way to discover something no one else in the world had ever seen. As she thought about how fortunate she was, a smile slowly unfolded across her face. She could do it. And she would do it well.
“Mel!” a voice called from a distance.
She spun around on the leather coffee house chair and scanned the crowd of fellow travelers placing orders, swimming around duty-free shops and having pre-flight drinks to calm their nerves. She saw his hand in the air before she saw his face, but nonetheless she knew it was him. Jake stood tall and proud as he marched through the crowd to reach her, and Melissa stood up reluctantly to greet him.
“How’s it going?” he asked as he slung his backpack down to the floor by her table.
“Great,” Melissa smiled, unsure of what else to say.
“So I guess this is kind of weird,” Jake shrugged. “The two of us, heading off for a fortnight of fun in France.”
He wiggled his eyebrows and grinned. Melissa found herself wanting to wince.
“Yeah,” she smiled. “It is a little strange…” She looked down at the floor and decided to go back to her seat. Tension between her and Jake had been mounting since the Christmas party when they’d both gotten obscenely drunk and ended up getting to know each other a little too well in the lab’s stock cupboard. Melissa liked Jake a lot at first until she found out he had a fiancé at home. Now Melissa tried to avoid him at all costs and thought of him like the love rat that he was. She didn’t need someone like him in her life, and she was almost free until the original archaeologist planned for this expedition crashed his car and broke his leg, rendering him unable to travel. So now it was just the two of them traveling the eight-hour journey from JFK to Charles de Gaulle, and Melissa couldn’t wait to finally meet up with the rest of the crew so things weren’t so one-on-one.
“Guess I’ll get a drink then,” Jake said as he rooted for his wallet and crossed over to the counter.
Melissa watched him. Since the night they had sex in the laboratory, she knew that he had broken up with his fiancé, but she still couldn’t consider him a good choice for a boyfriend. There was something about him that made her skin crawl.
Melissa reached into her purse and pulled out her journal. She had been making notes and references ever since the cave was discovered, and she wanted to do nothing on the flight except continue recording her ideas and research theories. She had always been the type of girl to put her personal life on hold while she pursued her career, and her present situation was no exception. She would have to push Jake and their predicament to the very back of her mind while she threw herself into the excavation and investigation. This cave was still a secret to the world and what was down there no one truly knew.
She flipped open her laptop and opened a document she received the previous week. It said CONFIDENTIAL across the top and was only viewable to her by password. She still couldn’t believe what it said. She scanned the document again…
An underground cave-like structure has been discovered in the Dordogne region of Southwest France by farmers working in the area. Early reports suggest the presence of prehistoric paintings similar to those of the Lascaux Caves in the same region. The Lascaux Caves have been sealed to researchers and all visitors since the discovery of fungi which began destroying the paintings, rendering them irreparable. If this recent discovery of a new structure is what it appears to be, this may be one of the most significant pre-historic discoveries of all time…
Her heart was beating fast in her chest as she looked at the initial snapshots captured by the farmers on their cellphones as they loitered at the opening to the cave. It was an incredible sight, even for someone like Melissa who had spent her whole life studying similar images. She knew this was something big, and she couldn’t wait to get there.
The flight across the Atlantic went without incident except Jake making a cringe-worthy suggestion that maybe they should join the mile-high club. Melissa had flashed him a fake smile and turned her shoulder to block him out as she read through her notes and jotted down some other things that came to mind.
Jake had never been on a serious expedition before, and it was becoming more obvious with each passing moment. His inexperience oozed from him and his questions to Melissa were both irrelevant and irritating. When he finally drank enough vodka to send him off into a soundless sleep, Melissa closed her journal and picked up the headphones. She hadn’t had the time to watch a movie for years, and she was determined to take advantage of the opportunity while she knew Jake couldn’t hassle her.
As she flipped through the endless choices of horror, action and comedies she finally settled on an innocent-looking rom-com and made herself comfortable. If she didn’t have real love in her life, she could always live it through someone else’s fictional ideal. She smiled and wrapped the airline blanket around her as she settled into her seat. By the time the movie finished, they would pretty much be there and the next phase of their journey would begin… A three-hour train ride from Paris to Bordeaux.
Charles de Gaulle was hectic and stressful as Melissa and Jake waited for their bags. Exhaustion coursed through her and all she wanted to do was climb into bed.
“Come on, Mel,” Jake chirped as he raced ahead towards the taxi rank, “I don’t want to miss this goddam train.”
Melissa cursed him under her breath as she tried to keep up with him, mentally ripping him to shreds for not helping her with the heavy backpack she had slung over her shoulder.
Some gentleman you are, she thought. Not that I would expect anything less!
She couldn’t believe her terrible luck in having her first world discovery tarnished by Jake’s presence. If only another, more experienced archaeologist were by her side, they would have had an interesting and productive time. But now Melissa was going to be stuck carrying dead-weight Jake, explaining every aspect of the excavation to him and avoiding his lustful advances. The thought of going there again made her stomach churn. She was so angry with him for lying to her and taking advantage when she was drunk but also at herself for lowering her standards. She always knew Jake had a crush on her, and she could have avoided it. She should have known better than to trust a man like him. Someone so cocky and confident, it was more than arrogance. It was pure nastiness.
They jumped into the cab and swung out into the busy French traffic. It wasn’t far to the station but Jake still sat on edge, acting like they were going to miss it even though they had over an hour to spare.
He’s overcompensating now for his lack of capability, Melissa mused. It’s going to take a hell of a lot more than this, Jake…
After they paid the driver and made their way through the bustling station to the platform, Melissa threw her backpack down on the floor and sat down on top of it. She had been qualified in her field for almost six years, and she hadn’t roughed it like this since her student days when she and her friends had gone traveling across Europe. As she waited for the train to arrive, she felt a rush of nostalgia. She remembered trekking through the Italian Alps, inter-railing across France, Italy and Austria, and all of the people they had met along the way. It had been the most free and liberating time of her life, and she had never dreamed then that one day she would be back there working on something as high profile and important as this expedition.
“Here we go,” Jake broke her train of thought.
She looked up at him and was surprised to see him holding out his hand to help her to her feet. She reluctantly accepted and they stood side by side as the train heaved to a halt and they joined the rush to board.
They were the only two in their cabin room and Melissa kicked her feet up onto the opposite seat so Jake couldn’t be in her eye line. She sat by the window and watched the intense green of the French countryside roll by. It was lovely to be back in such a beautiful country and experiencing the culture once more.
“Where are the rest of the crew meeting us?” Jake asked. This was his first relevant question since they had met at the airport.
“At the hotel in Bordeaux,” Melissa replied. “We’re meeting the excavation leader there, and he’s going to debrief us all before we head over to the site in the morning.”
“And then what?”
“What do you mean?” She looked up from her notebook and his eyes locked with hers.
“I mean, what do we just sit in our rooms and wait for morning to come?”
“That’s entirely up to you,” Melissa said sarcastically.
“Maybe we should head out and check out the town?” Jake asked with enthusiasm.
“Maybe not,” Melissa laughed. “I’m heading to bed… Don’t want to ruin tomorrow by being over tired.”
“Well then, maybe I should join you?” Jake wiggled his eyebrows.
“Shut up, Jake,” Melissa hissed. “Let’s get one thing straight: What happened with us was a terrible mistake, and I’m not going to spend the rest of the night avoiding your unwanted advances. Okay?” She said it with much more seriousness and force than she realized she had in her, and Jake sat back, completely chastised and shocked.
“Okay,” he said quietly. “I get it.”
“Good,” Melissa crossed her arms over her chest and looked back out of the window. Hopefully with that out of the way now, she would be able to enjoy the rest of the journey, both to Bordeaux and with whatever was to come after…