Raine Falling (Hells Saints Motorcycle Club) (8 page)

Prosper looked hard at Diego. He could see the poor bastard was already over the fucking moon for his Little Darlin’.
Good luck with that
, Prosper thought but didn’t say.

“Twice, Diego. Twice in a lifetime of carrying it. She trusted me with her shit twice. Last night and when she was a tiny little thing of eight years old. She only gave it to me then because she was dog tired and worn out from being left alone to care for her baby sister for two fucking days just one month after her mother had died. That’s what it took then. Her sister in danger of being killed and a beating that left her face battered is what it took this time. I cannot even begin to imagine what she has dealt with on her own for the last twenty years, if this is what it took.”

Diego was getting it.

Prosper pulled his hand through his hair, then slapped it hard on Diego’s shoulder, giving him a little grin.

“Brother, you just don’t know. She will complicate your life. You’ll have to fight to get in, and sometimes it will take everything you got just to hang in there. These women define complicated. But once you’re in, there’s nothing sweeter in life than a woman like my Maggie was. Guy who gets a shot at her daughter, guy willing to go the distance, is one lucky sonofabitch. Guy like that, tough road ahead but paradise at the end of it. Eternal fucking paradise. But the getting there, the shit you don’t know. You might want to think about it. Loving and being loved by a complicated woman like that is hard work, Brother.”

“You see any part of me that spells weak, Boss?”

Prosper grinned.

“You got a story to tell me, then I got a story to hear.” Diego was ready. He wasn’t smiling.

Prosper looked at him for a long minute and he wasn’t smiling either. So he began.

“Once upon a fucking time . . .”

CHAPTER 20

T
he tub was huge. The water was hot and there was a lot of it. There were big fluffy towels and shampoo, sweet berry body wash, and lotion. I changed my mind and took a bath. I did the thing where you fill the tub halfway, get in, and turn on the water every five minutes so you get the hottest part of it. Oh, yes I did! I stretched and let the hot, soapy, silky water slide over me. I washed myself gently, over and over again. Trying to wash away the worries, I guess. Maybe trying to make myself new again. The room was a den of steam when I was done, and everything smelled good, including me. I stepped out and towel-dried my hair until it was tousled and damp. I spread lotion all over my warm body and the open pores cried out in ecstasy.

I dug in my bag and pulled out a pretty kimono. I had gotten it for really cheap at a little store in Chinatown. It was powder blue and had matching silver dragons on the front of it. When you wrapped it around with the thin belt, it looked like the dragons were intertwined. Very cool. The silk felt good against me. I was feeling great until the steam wore away from the mirror, and I was reminded of the deep bruising on my face. It would be a while before the colors faded, but at least the swelling was gone. The blue did bring out my eyes, I grinned wryly at myself.

Being with Prosper, my father in every way that mattered, had put the smile on my face and had lifted some of that crushing weight off me. I forgot how good it felt to give worries away. It wasn’t just that. It was just good being with family. He looked good too. The years had been kind and I knew part of that was Pinky taking good care of him. He was still strong and lean. His face was lined now, and he had beautiful streaks of gray running through his hair. When I knew him, he had been rocking a goatee and a little soul patch. Now he was clean-shaven. He wore a plain silver wedding band on his left hand where before he’d had lots of chunky man rings. He was still hard and from habit I had watched him while he talked. All the secrets Prosper had now were old ones. Nothing new was dark. I was happy for that.

I wondered what he and Diego were talking about. I thought I would find out soon enough. I thought about the fact that Diego was here at all and what that meant. I thought about the fact that Diego had stood outside staring at the door for hours waiting for us to come out. That meant something. I thought about how he had told me not to wander. I thought about how I was safe now. Well, maybe it wouldn’t be so bad, him not wanting me to wander. In the tub I had thought about his hands on me that night, and how his mouth had felt against mine. I thought about the kiss that had ended in pain, and how he had worked to stop that pain. Yeah, I gave some time to thinking about Diego.

I picked up the towels in the bathroom, tied the belt of my robe loosely, gave my hair one more fluff, and walked out of the room ready to slip into some clean sheets. And I would have done just that if Diego hadn’t been leaning deep in the armchair, legs crossed at the ankles, looking totally relaxed and as if he owned the place.

I stopped dead a few feet away from him, right outside the bathroom door. He stood up. I took a small step back. He moved a small step closer. He took the towels and clothes from me. He walked over to the hamper near the bed and tossed them in. He came back and stood in front of me. Him looking at me. Me looking at him.

He took his hand and brought it up to my hair. He traced it lightly with his index finger from the top of my head, down the side of my face, past my neck, over my breast, and to where it fell down near my waist. He held the strands loosely in his fingers and watched it as the damp silky mass slid through his hand. I was watching him, but because his eyes were downcast, couldn’t see his secrets. He was close, very close. Too close. I took a small step back. He looked up, still holding my hair, and took a small step forward. His eyes on me. My eyes on him. He leaned his head in and I leaned my head back. My head hit the back of the door frame, my back flat against the wall. He stepped in and the side of his body fell flush against the front of mine.

Diego dipped his head close to my ear and whispered, “Nowhere left to run, Raine.”

Oh my God! This wasn’t good. And it wasn’t good in a scary way. I pulled my arms around me.

For Diego’s part, he felt that and realized his mistake immediately. He put his hand around my head and pulled it close. “Don’t be afraid, Raine, not of me. Not ever afraid of me. It’s done. I talked to Prosper. He talked to me. You’re safe. Claire is safe. And I swear to Christ I’m sorry for the shit I put you through. Everything. I’m sorry, baby.”

I stood stock-still and processed that. He stood where he was, not moving, and waited. I unwrapped my arms from my waist and put them up between us. My palms on his chest. He was warm and rock solid. He moved to have one of his hands cover mine and the other past me, resting on the door frame, trapping me in close to him. I was staring at his chest.

I looked up at him. “You talked to Prosper and it’s over?”

He nodded. “Yeah, honey. I’ll tell you all about it after.”

“After what?”

He raised one eyebrow. Then his eyes left mine and they burned a path down my body and up again. His eyes were sparkling and warm and he stepped in a little closer. I felt him go hard against my belly. My legs turned to jelly. I pulled on his shirt to keep myself from falling.

“Your hair is so fucking soft, baby.” He was holding the locks of my hair up to his face now, working it slowly between his hands. His eyes hot on me. He grinned. I felt the heat rising everywhere, and I knew my whole body was blushing.

“It’s wet,” I murmured lamely.

He grinned wildly and leaned in to whisper, “I like wet.”

I blushed from my head to my toes.

“Never had a woman who blushed before.” His smile was getting bigger. “Honey, you’re all pink and hot and we haven’t even started yet. I like that.”

If it was possible, I blushed deeper. I was hot all over. All my girlie parts on red alert.

His mouth moved against mine, softly teasing. His mouth moved to the side of mine, and his hand slipped to the small of my back to pull me even closer. “Relax, Raine.”

I opened my mouth slightly to respond and there it was. His tongue in my mouth. Sweet, gentle, like he knew what he was doing. It was nice. It was so nice. I loved the way his tongue was dancing in my mouth, shooting sparks that went clear to my panties. I kissed him back. Boy, oh boy, oh boy, did I kiss him back.

He bent down and picked me up, just like in the movies. He came down on the bed with me on my back and him on his side. He broke off long enough to look at me. His hands touching my hair, his knuckles brushing the line of my jawbone. His mouth on mine and on my neck and on the deep Y of my kimono. His hands all over me now. His mouth brushing the kimono open. He was kissing me in the deep cleft of my breasts. His mouth working magic softly on my skin. He brought his mouth up to mine, kissing me deeply.

Lots of deep, gentle kisses. Then back again, this time his mouth worked its way down the silk to my hard, jetting nipple and captured it and pulled lightly. Up to this point, it had been nice. Hot and nice. A high school heavy-petting session. But the whole nipple thing was starting it in a different direction. Something that every woman knows from experience would escalate quickly from the nipple thing to the panty-dropping thing.

This was happening too fast. I wasn’t a casual-sex kind of person. I knew if I went there with Diego, it would definitely mean something different to him than it would to me. In the fifteen seconds that these thoughts were going through my mind, I was also thinking of the hair-tossing, stiletto-wearing, “you’re out of your league” smiling woman who had slithered up to claim this man just yesterday.

Diego felt the shift immediately and stopped. I put my hands between us and pulled the edges of the dragons closer. He rolled away from me onto his side but kept his hand on my stomach. His other hand holding up his head. I made myself busy by fixing my robe and smoothing my hair. I felt his eyes on me.

“Raine.” He was watching me.

My fault. I had opened that door and he had walked through it. Diego was going to think I was a . . .

I felt myself go hot and pink again thinking of the word Gino had used when he did something that made me want to stop . . .
cock teaser.
An ugly word that I hated. In this case it was probably true.

This was uncomfortable for me, and I pulled my arms around myself.

“Hey, you in there.” His voice was light and teasing.

“I’m sorry.” Me not looking at him.

“Too much?” Him looking right at me.

I nodded. Really nice that he got that.

His hand was still on my stomach, inches away from where I was holding myself together. He put his big hands on my clasped smaller ones.

“Shit, honey. I’m the one who’s sorry, Raine. Should not have gone there. Next time you want me there, you find a way to let me know. Otherwise we stop at what’s not too much. You liked me kissing you.” His tone was teasing.

He had me there. And because he was being so incredibly sweet about this, it was all really nice again.

I smiled at him and nodded.

“And when I played with your hair. I think that was okay too.” His fingers were back to lifting small strands of hair and wrapping the long locks gently in his hand.

“That was okay too.” I colored a little.

“Hmmmm, let me think . . .” His eyes were on the pieces of hair that he was gently thumbing.

“When you kissed my neck,” I said too quickly.

His eyes were on mine in a flash. His smile brighter than sunshine now.

I turned crimson. Then started smiling too.

He kissed me once in all the places that were not too much, tucked me in, turned out the light, and was gone. For my part, I fell into a long, heavy sleep and dreamt I was able to fly.

CHAPTER 21

H
oly fuck. If Raine had known how close he had come to throwing her down, tearing off her clothes, and pushing himself deep inside her whether it was too much for her or not, she would be halfway across the country right now. He had never met a more skittish piece of pure woman in his life. He felt like he was in goddamn high school again. No. Not true. He got laid in high school all the time.
All the time
.

Diego wasn’t a man who generally took his time. Oh yeah, he saw the job got done and he made sure he got them off. But he never ever let them decide. That was his job, his right. Women wanting in his bed played by his rules. He didn’t get any complaints. Wouldn’t have given two shits if they did complain. Women could be on their way if they didn’t like his play. But this one was leading him around by the balls and she wasn’t even trying.

Raine hadn’t had it easy. He had learned all about her . . . what the fuck did Prosper call them? Her formative years. No white picket fence there. Dead mother and drunk for a father. No other family. Practically raised herself and her sister. She had put herself through school. Kept to herself, then didn’t, and picked the wrong asshole. Gino Abiatti had raped and beaten her.
Raped and beaten her
. A sweet thing like Raine. Jesus. Bastard was gonna pay. Diego just hadn’t had a chance to finish up with that. But oh, he would.

How could a man do that to a woman? Diego just never got that shit. Sure he liked what he liked in bed. He could and had been turning nos into yeses since he started bedding the bitches. But he had never ever forced himself on someone who didn’t want him. The hard-on came from turning it around. That’s what made a man a man in Diego’s book. Trick was and always had been finding a woman who was worth the effort. He had found that once a long time ago and thought never to have it again. Fucking biker whores like Ellie had been good enough for him for a long time.

Raine. She turned herself inside out whenever he looked at her or moved in too close to her. When he kissed her he wasn’t sure she knew exactly what she was doing. Oh, it was hot all right. Her tongue moved with his in all the right places. There was just something so sweet and naive about the way she hesitated. And she whimpered. Fuck him if she didn’t make these little mewing sounds when he was turning her on. It made him so hard he was going out of his mind. For the first time in a very long time, he wanted to take his time with a woman.

And damn it if she didn’t make him work for it. Gonna be a full-fucking-time job getting laid by Raine Winston. This “stop and go” shit had to stop. Had to stop. This little cat-and-mouse gig she had going on with him that he was convinced she didn’t even know she was playing.

Just like Prosper said. Complicated.

Part little girl, all woman when it came down to it. Damaged and brave and beautiful and scarred and scared and tough and so fucking complicated.

She was made for him. Now he was just going to make sure she knew it. And if it took him stopping when the only thing he wanted to do was keep going . . . then he was going to stop. For now.