Lay It Down: Bastards MC Series Boxed Set (58 page)

I moved back just enough to rub my nose against hers. “I love you.”

“Matty.” It came out as a plea, but she didn’t have to say more.

I’d calmed down enough that I could get back to my task and show her exactly who she, and every part of her anatomy, belonged to. Teeth bit, fingers grasped, and I moved in and out of her fast and hard.

Jo wasn’t quiet. Neither was I. We were lost in a sea of feeling, every touch igniting a response that couldn’t be tamed. I didn’t care that my room was in the middle of the clubhouse, with thin sheetrock walls that allowed my brothers to hear a whispered conversation, let alone the pounding of my headboard and the screams of my fiancée. Let them listen to what I did to her, know what she did to me. She was mine, and I was staking my claim.

She came with a strangled cry, and I followed seconds later, pumping every last drop into her then collapsing onto her, utterly spent. We were soaked, her hair plastered to her head as if she’d just run the fastest mile of her life, and our skin was red and sticky. I’d never seen her look more beautiful than she did that second.

Reluctantly, I pulled out, making us both groan at the loss of contact. I moved my head to the pillow next to hers and yanked her into me, arms tight around her. I was exhausted, but I wouldn’t let my eyes close. I’d never felt like this. I was completely satiated, but I wanted to do it all over again, just to have her body under mine, just to have her respond the way she did.

Yet, thinking about it now made me realize I had felt this way before. Last summer, when I’d made love to her for the first time, this same eternal need for her had lingered, but I’d blamed it on the alcohol. She’d stumbled home from Hooligan’s, drunk as a fucking skunk, and had started to strip off her clothes before I had a chance to lock the door. I hadn’t had as much to drink, but with her being so close, thinking clearly was a challenge. When I managed to push her away, telling her that we couldn’t have sex, she threw her shirt back on and told me if I wouldn’t fuck her, she’d find someone who would. That was all it took.

The thought of her with another man had made me see red. I’d pushed her against the wall and kissed her. I considered walking away, but I didn’t have enough fight in me, and I wanted her more than I’d ever wanted anyone. When she took off every inch of clothing she had, I carried her to the bed and fucked her so carefully and slowly, it was almost painful for me. I’d been afraid she’d realize what we were doing and make me stop. But she hadn’t.

Instead, the touches, kisses, and words we’d exchanged set the night on fire. I couldn’t get enough of her. She begged me for more, and I was more than happy to give. We spent the entire night forgetting that we were supposed to be just friends and that she was married to someone else. I should have realized that our reactions to each other, that the amazing sex we had over and over that night, was not a side effect of great whiskey. No, it had been the evidence of two people so in love with each other that we couldn’t do anything but show it.

Or it had been Jo’s magic pussy. I snorted as that thought filtered across my mind.

Shit! I’d laughed when one of my brothers had coined that term a few years ago, and I’d said there was no way in hell any woman’s twat was so amazing that I would overlook every single flaw she had. I got it now though. There wasn’t one annoying trait she had that I wouldn’t ignore. Not a single thing I wouldn’t do for her.
Or it
, that perfect magic pussy. I chuckled again, running my hands over the softness of her stomach and down to the spot that had me hypnotized.

“What’s so funny?” she asked sleepily, opening her legs for my fingers.

I shook my head but leaned down to kiss her temple. “I can’t get enough of you, you know that, right?”

She nodded, shifting her body to reach for me, voice suddenly husky. “And I don’t want you to.”

Chapter 24

Matty

The quick double-knock halted her warm, wet mouth mid-bob, and I instantly lifted her up off me, tossed her onto the bed, and was on top of her, sheltering her naked back from whoever was stupid enough to throw open my door before I called them in. Jo’s eyes were wide, alternating between surprise and humor, as she looked up at me over her shoulder, waiting for our uninvited guest to say something. We both knew whoever it was had seen more of our nakedness than they bargained for.

“Jesus!” Rob cleared his throat. For someone who had just walked into my room without an ounce of warning, he sounded extremely disgusted and offended. “I figured it was so quiet that you two had decided to take a much needed break. Maybe you’d even passed out or some shit. Christ, how do you have so much energy as hungovah as you must be?”

I shrugged, keeping my eyes on the incredibly sexy back in front of me and the ink next to her spine. I hadn’t even begun to explore that part of her yet today, and I wanted to trace those words with my tongue. “I’ve got my own version of Red Bull right here, ‘cept she tastes a helluva lot sweeter. I could eat it all day.”

Jo’s cheeks turned beet red before she buried her face in the bedclothes, and Rocker groaned quietly in disgust.

I leaned down and kissed her bare neck, wanting to get back to what we’d been doing before he’d barged in. “What the fuck do you want?”

“We have court.”

“Now?” I started tracing her shoulder blades and was rewarded with a shiver. How would she react when it was my mouth?

“Yeah.”

I lifted my head just enough to turn and look at him. “It can’t wait an hour?”

He snorted. “Bein’ a bit generous, arentchya?”

I answered him with a middle finger.

He only smiled and shook his head. “No. It can’t even wait the five minutes your Mr. Wiggly will need, Minuteman.”

“Twenty.” Jo spoke meekly, almost muffled by the pillows, “He needs twenty minutes.” Then she started giggling. “’Cause that’s all it’ll take.”

I was never going to live that down. Her laughter was contagious though, and within moments, I’d joined her. “I gotta go, baby. We’ll pick this up later?”

She nodded, offering me her lips. I moved to the edge of the bed, careful to pull the blanket over her as I did. Once she, and every glorious piece of her, was covered, I stood and faced my best friend.

“Missing something?” His eyes moved over me, unimpressed. He’d seen me naked plenty of times, in so many different situations I couldn’t even begin to recall them all, and now he didn’t even pretend to turn away.

“Here.” The uncontrollable laughter coming from the bed made me turn.

If I didn’t know who I’d buried under my comforter, I wouldn’t know it was her. All that stuck out was a slim hand holding the boxers she’d yanked off me just a few minutes ago. A hand that wore my grandmother’s wedding ring on the fourth finger.

I took the underwear, stepped into them, and pulled them up slowly, trying to decide how to play it. Turning, I found my jeans from last night in the chair. Maybe Rocker hadn’t seen it. I didn’t bother throwing on my shirt, because if I had my way, I’d be back in bed with Joes before she even knew I was missing.

“I’ll be right back. Don’t move,” I growled as I kneeled on the bed and kissed the blanket where it covered her lower belly.

“Bye, L.K.,” Rocker called.

Another giggle and a wave was the only response she made before I shut the door.

He took a few steps down the hall before turning back. “Really?”

I stood straight, arms crossed, and stared back. There could be so many things he was talking about right now. “Really.”

“And Taylor—”

I didn’t give him a chance to finish—he’d seen the ring. I knew what he was going to say, because we’d had this argument before. “Has no bearing in this at all. This is my life. One I can’t live without the woman in there, and I shouldn’t have to.”

“No one said a fucking thing about living without her…” He stopped when a look of fury crossed my face, and he narrowed his eyes as he watched me. After a few seconds, his face cleared, and he nodded. “Congratulations, brothah. She’s a fuckin’ handful.”

I laughed. “You don’t know the half of it.”

Tiny came around the corner, stopping abruptly. “Theah you ahh. We’re all waitin’.” Without missing a beat, he asked, “Rough night, Mateo? Looks like you mighta forgotten somethin’ somewhere.” He tapped the side of his cheek as if wondering what was different about me, checking out my bare chest and feet.

I smiled. “Yeah. Jo’s holding ‘em hostage until I go back and finish what we started. This way I can’t run away.”

“Why in fuck’s sake would ya wanna run away?” Tiny whistled. “Ya bettah hurry. You don’t wanna keep a screamah like her waitin’. Fuck me! I’m gonna be dreaming of her moans for weeks.”

I chuckled as I followed him to the common room. Jo was going to kill me when she realized everyone knew what we’d spent our morning doing. I couldn’t have been happier though. Even if they hadn’t heard it, news traveled fast, and now every single one of these assholes knew that if they touched her—hell, if they even thought about touching her—they would have their ass handed to them.

I was surprised at the amount of people hanging around our main room. It hadn’t seemed as though that many people were home last night. As we navigated our way across the room, I nodded to a few ol’ ladies and smiled at a couple of the girls. But when a short redhead bounced off her stool and wandered toward me, a feeling of dread hit.

Fractured memories played like a movie: a hug, laughing as we took shots, a hand on my thigh, stolen kisses that made my blood hot. Every single one was a blur, a mixture of Jo’s hands and face and Rebel’s voice or Rebel’s hands and face and Jo’s tits and voice telling me she loved me. I couldn’t tell what was real. Fuck!

“Mateo, you don’t have time,” Rob grunted, almost bumping into me when I stopped dead, but I only held up a finger.

“Mornin’.” I never took my eyes off her.

She smiled brightly in answer, and guilt hit. I’d known Rebel for a long time, almost as long as I’d known Joes. She’d been the comforting arms I’d fallen into more than once, and even though I knew she wanted more, I’d still taken what she offered and promised nothing in return. That was her job, but thinking about it now made me feel like a dirty old man. At one point, I had wondered if the two of us could have a future, but that was before I met Taylor, back when I was still struggling with the fact that I was in love with a married woman I didn’t think I’d ever have.

Even after I started dating Taylor, Rebel had made it perfectly clear she still wanted me. I ignored it, thinking she’d move on eventually. She hadn’t. I prayed to Christ I hadn’t given her false hope last night. I was a lot of things, but I would never intentionally hurt her or Joes that way.

“I don’t have time to talk right now. Later, yeah?” I said.

She put her hand on my arm, stopping my escape. “Was that her, Mateo? The woman here last night?”

I nodded, not needing her to explain. I hadn’t fucked one of the Brats in years, and even though they still tried to steal my attention, they knew I had someone special. Searching her green-and-brown eyes, looking for any sign that she was going to drop a bomb and blow Jo and me apart, I offered her a small smile.

I couldn’t have been that drunk, could I? I could count on one hand the amount of times I’d had so much booze that I’d woken up and not recalled the night before—or the woman in my bed—but I hadn’t had that much last night. I could remember Rebel next to me, asking me what was wrong, but the next clear memory was a hand sliding up my thigh and grabbing my junk.
Fuck, fuck, fuck! I’m never drinking again!

Hoping I was at least remaining calm on the outside, I nodded again. “Yeah. That’s her. She’s in my room now.” I wasn’t sure why I felt it necessary to add the last part, but something told me it needed to be said.

She sighed in a resigned way, as if she had something to say. Then as if thinking better of it, she shook her head and raised an eyebrow. “So that’s Jo?”

I nodded.

She pursed her lips. “She’s not at all what I pictured.” Why did everyone say that? Before I could ask, Rebel gave me a fleeting smile and let go of my arm. “If she hurts you again, I’ll kick her ass.”

I watched her walk back to her table. Shaking my head, I turned toward the end of the room, relief flooding me. If I had kissed her or let her touch me, she would have said something. That meant the memories I had were all of Jo. I practically whooped in relief but saw that Rob was holding the door open for me, the look of annoyance barely masked on his face.

The back room where we held meetings was full, bikers squished in like sardines. I squeezed by my brothers and to my empty seat at the table. Rocker sat next to me at the head. Scanning the room, I realized that all eleven officers were here for the first time in a few years, and almost every patched member of the Bastards had crowded in around us. I’d missed something. Something big.

My heart pounded frantically as I looked around the table. My brothers looked worried. Across from me, Hawk shifted, and I met his eyes. He looked half panicked. Next to him, Tank was flexing his jaw muscles and kept clenching and unclenching his fists. Was he pissed that Rocker called him back early? He was supposed to be with his ol’ lady this weekend, right? That was why Jessie had cancelled last night. Or were we about to find out about a job that would take us away from our loved ones for a long period of time? Fuck. I didn’t want to leave Jo already.