Between Embers (Lost Kings MC #5.5): A Companion to White Heat: Three Short Stories (11 page)

Tipping my head to the side, I take in his room.

“You’ve been here before,” he reminds me.

Yes, except I’d come in tipsy with him in the middle of the night. We’d gotten off, slept for a few hours and I took off before sunrise.

He steps back, and lets his gaze roam over my body.

“Is black your favorite color?” I ask, nodding at the bed with its black comforter and sheets. The furniture’s all black lacquer too.

His lips quirk up. “And red.”

“Aren’t your club’s colors blue and gray?”

He cocks his head. “You know my club’s colors?”

“Well.” I hedge. “It’s hard not to.”

He lifts a hand, tracing a finger over my collarbone and down to the keyhole opening in my dress. “Did you know red was my favorite color?”

“No. It just looks really good on me.”

“Fuckin’ A it does.”

“So you don’t like blue and gray?”

He seems confused by the question. Hell, I’m not even sure why I asked myself.

“It’s not about that, Lilly,” he says with more seriousness than I think Z’s ever spoken anything.

“What’s it about?”

“It’s not some pretty accessory.”

“I think that’s pretty clear.”

His voice takes on a more solemn tone. “Colors were picked long before I was a member.”

“How’d you become a member?”

“How? I don’t even know how to answer that.”

“Would you answer it?”

He sighs and spreads his hands in front of him. “What do you want to know, Lilly?”

What am I doing? What am I trying to gain from this? “You’ll answer my questions?”

He pulls away from me, sitting on the edge of his bed. “I’ll answer what I can.”

“Can women be members?”

An amused snort bursts out of him. “None have ever asked.”

“What about Trinity?”

“She doesn’t ride.”

“Why not?”

“You’d have to ask her.”

“But she’s allowed to?”

“Ride? Shit, yeah. She can do whatever she wants.”

“The big scary guy would let her?”

My question elicits a soft chuckle out of him. “Please make sure to call him that to his face.”

“I’m serious.”

“You worried about Trinity?” he asks in his short clipped way that somehow comes out soft and more happy that I care about Trinity than annoyed about my obnoxious questions. “Trin has a mind of her own. I’m sure if she wanted to ride she would,” he finally says.

“What’s the “property of” thing mean? Seems pretty caveman.”

He rolls his eyes before answering. “It’s too complicated to explain right now.”

“You think I’m too stupid to get it?”

“No. I’m just not sure if you have an open mind. Hope has a patch too, you know.”

That’s interesting. Maybe I’ll ask Hope about it instead since I don’t think I’m going to get anywhere with Z.

“How come Trinity’s vest doesn’t have the skull and crown?”

This time, I get a lopsided grin. “She ain’t a member. Colors are for members.”

I’m out of questions.

“You done?” Z asks.

“I reserve the right to ask more questions later.”

Reaching out a hand, he crooks his finger at me. “Come here, pretty girl.”

I slip my shoes off, leaving them next to his dresser and make my way to him.

His big hands slide up my legs up under my dress until he’s gripping my upper thighs. Not hard. Not to hurt. Just enough to drive me crazy. “What’s with all the questions? You’ve never been interested in this stuff before.”

I can’t explain it. Maybe it’s from hanging out with all of his brothers tonight. As well as guys from other clubs. Before tonight, I’d only interacted with Hope’s now-husband, Rock. I’d seen Trinity’s man once or twice. And of course, Z. But tonight was different.

Now, I’m curious.

“I don’t know. I realized, hanging out with so many of your brothers, it made me think, I don’t know anything about that part of your life.”

“You never wanted to.”

“So, now I do.”

His features turn serious. Serious Z is a little intimidating. “Why?”

“I don’t know.”

“Is it general curiosity? Or do you want to know
me
better?”

Now,
that’s
a loaded question.

I need to know the answer to my question, but not for the reason she probably thinks. Is she nosy for info about the club so she has some fun stories to tell her friends? Or does she honestly want to know more about
me
?

She seems to think over my question, which doesn’t bother me. I like how thoughtful she is about something so important.

“I guess, seeing everyone tonight…I realized your club, it’s more than a social thing.”

I release my hold on her legs, and she backs up a few steps. “It’s a brotherhood.”

She shakes her head. “What does that mean?”

“It’s about loyalty. We always have each other’s backs. No matter what.”

“I’ve only ever felt that way about family.”

“They’re my family.”

“No, my brother—”

“I know what
you
meant. I’m explaining my outlook to you. They
are
my brothers.” I tap my fist over my heart, so she gets it. “Doesn’t matter if we share blood, I’d bleed for anyone of them, and they’d do the same for me.” That’s the truth, and it’s even happened once or twice.

“Does that loyalty extend to the women?”

“Hope and Trinity? Fuck yeah, it does. Teller’s sister, Heidi, too.”

At the mention of Heidi’s name, Lilly’s lush mouth turns up in a smile. “She’s such a nice kid.”

“Yeah, don’t let her fool you. She’s a little badass. Doesn’t need us protecting her as much as you’d think.”

Lilly chuckles and I realize I’m having fun talking about this stuff with her. Happy she seems curious and more open-minded than I’ve given her credit for. I’ve always appreciated how loyal she is to Hope. Now, the way she seems concerned about Trinity and Heidi—fuck, I like that too. She’d probably rip my balls off for saying it out loud, but Lilly’s good ol’ lady material.

But I think we’ve come as far as we can with this conversation for tonight.

“Come back here.”

I’ve been hard for Lilly all day, but the way she reacts to my no-room-for-argument tone, works me up even more. Her breathing kicks up. Short, quick breaths that make her chest rise and fall.

“Turn around.”

She hesitates before turning. There’s a rush that comes with telling a willful woman like Lilly to do something and watching her struggle between telling me to
fuck off
and doing it that’s hot as fuck. My hands find their way to her smooth legs. Tracing my fingers behind her knees and up to the backs of her thighs makes her giggle softly.

“That tickles,” she whispers. Laughter turns into a sharp moan when my hands find their way to her ass and squeeze. Perfect.

Reaching up, I drag the zipper of her dress down.

“Take it off.”

Her shoulders lift, letting the dress fall to the floor. Gracefully, she leans over and pulls the dress off her foot, tossing it on my desk.

I like the way Lilly holds herself—there’s nothing about Lilly I don’t like—but I admire her confidence. Straight spine, shoulders back. Her long hair almost reaches the small of her back

Standing, I wrap one arm around her waist and press her tight to me.

I drag my lips over her shoulder. “Admit we’re good together, Lilly,” I whisper as I kiss my way to her ear.

“So good.”

The fact that she didn’t bother with a bunch of half-hearted protests or a smart-ass comeback makes me say something else I wasn’t planning on. “You know you’re the last thing I think about before I go to sleep? The only face I picture when I close my eyes?” It’s so much easier to tell her these things when she’s not facing me.

“Me too,” she whispers so low, I almost don’t hear her. Surprised she’d admit it, I squeeze her a little tighter. Her head falls forward. But one of her hands sneaks between us, closing around my dick, rubbing the hard length through my pants. I groan, jerking my hips forward.

“You want that?”

“Yes.”

“Do you think you deserve it?”

She snorts. “Probably not.”

I add my rumbling chuckles to her softer laughter. “Think you can take it?”

“Oh, I know I can.”

I move my hand up, cupping her breast and grazing my thumb over her nipple. Against my body she shivers.

“Z,” she says on a ragged exhale of breath. “Don’t make me wait.”

“Why not? You made me wait. Tortured me last night, knowing you were here and I couldn’t have you.”

“That’s not fair.” I can practically hear the pout in her voice.

“No, it wasn’t.”

Guiding her with my hands on her hips, I turn her to face me. She’s tired of me messing with her, because she twists her fingers in my hair and pulls me to her for a rough kiss. She crushes my mouth against hers, but that’s where I take over. I brush my fingers through her hair, wrapping it tight around my fist and give her a gentle tug. It’s enough to make her pause so I can slide my tongue inside her mouth. She breathes a soft moan into me and kisses me back so hard I groan. My lips slide down her jaw to her throat, and she arches her back, pressing herself into me.

I pull away and grip her exploring hands. “Get my dick out.” I slip off my shirt and it lands somewhere on the floor. I’m not real worried about it. No, all I can think about is her hands quickly working my pants open, pushing everything down to free my aching dick. A soft hiss of air eases out of me as she takes me in both of her soft hands.

“What do you want?”

Instead of answering, she lowers herself to the floor in front of me. My eyes zero in on her tongue as she runs it over her lips. I’m dying to get inside her, but I’m also having fun teasing her. Gently, I press my hand to her forehead, pushing her back.

“Stay still. I’ll let you know when you can have it.”

She flicks her eyes up at me in surprise and probably annoyance. I give her a second, and she sits back, waiting for what happens next.

“Open.”

The second her lips slide over the head of my cock, my legs hum with pleasure. The sensation travels up my spine. Pleasure leaves me groaning as her warm, wet mouth surrounds me. She swirls her tongue around me, then sucks greedily.

“Good girl.”

I get another pissy look for that one, but it only gets me harder.

“Take it all, Lilly.”

She takes me right to the back of her throat over and over, never backing off until I hold her head still. “Up.”

O
NLY SLIGHTLY ANNOYED
, I kiss my way up Z’s body. When I’m standing, he brings his mouth near mine, hovering for a second. I want him to kiss me more than anything.

And he does. He grabs the back of my head and kisses fiercely. I open for him because there’s no point denying how much I want him.

I push, but Z’s a mountain of man and muscle. Impossible to move.

“What do you want, Lilly?” he asks.

“You.”

His lips curve, and there’s a hint of arrogance in his eyes that makes me want to smack him. Then he drops his gaze, uses his thumbs to roughly pull my bra down. Frustrated because the material refuses to cooperate, he reaches around and unhooks it, flinging it away. One roughened hand cups my breast the other one dips lower. He holds my gaze as he slides two fingers between my legs. They slip into place easily because I’ve been ready for him all day.

I’m not prepared for the intense look in his eyes when he spins me around, pushing me onto his bed. The noise in my head goes silent under the weight of his stare. He climbs on the bed after me, kicking his pants and shoes off. “Come here, pretty girl.” His raspy voice pulses through my body, filling me with desire.

The crinkle of a wrapper draws my attention from his eyes. I watch him slide into a condom. He eases my knees apart, opening me.

“Yeah, this is what I’ve been waiting for, all fucking day,” he says, closing the distance between us. He circles and taps my clit with his cock. Teasing me again. How the hell can he stand it?

“Will you fuck me already?”

My demand finally snaps his iron control, and he pushes into me. Z’s a lot to handle, but I love every bit of his thick length inside me.