Cutter's Hope (21 page)

“You like having your pussy licked?” he asked and his voice was a barely there growl. I swallowed hard.

“Oh yeah,” I agreed and nodded.

“Good, I could go down on a woman for hours if she’d let me,” he said and lowered his face, agonizingly slow before licking a long, deliberate wet line from my opening to my clit. I fell back against the mattress and let him do whatever he wanted. Holy mother of god that felt good.

“No argument’s here, you can go as long as you’d like,” I said and tangled my fingers in the cheap bedspread to either side of my hips. I moaned and writhed provocatively, I couldn’t help it. Cutter’s mouth was… wow.

He slid two fingers inside of me, stretching and filling me, searching out that spot and oh god, oh god, oh god, I couldn’t help the cry that spilled from my throat as I rippled around his fingers and came undone. He chuckled against my clit and the vibration of it was almost too much, I jerked and his forearm braced across my hips, flattening me to the bed.

Holy hell, he provided way more than a distraction. He made me come so many times with his mouth I lost count. I was a puddle of Hope in the middle of his bed when he finally got around to ordering me up into the center of it. It took me way more tries than it should have for me to comply and the heat index went up by like a million degrees as I watched him stand there, stroking himself with sure fingers while he waited for me to fulfill his demand. I reached for him once I was settled and he came to me gladly, his smile feral and possessive and giving me an all new thrill as he covered my body with his own.

His hair curtained our faces and the world was suddenly shrouded, the diffuse light from the bedside lamp muted even further, the warmth of him against me, caged by his body… it was magical. So perfect and incredibly intimate. I wanted to stay here forever. I closed my eyes and breathed in his salty ocean smell underlying his light layering of Old Spice cologne and found bliss.

“I’ve got you, Sweetness,” he breathed and I dragged his face to mine. I kissed him deeply, my heart crying out with relief that I had finally found a man who got me, who connected with me on that deep sublevel, who was so finely in tune with me.

He eased into me slowly, carefully, this time and it felt so incredibly good. I moaned into his mouth and he cradled me so gently in his embrace. His body met mine and filled me to the brim and I sighed out in purest satisfaction. He moved slow and deliberate, his eyes drifting shut and I don’t know how long we lay in a tangle of limbs, bodies joined, moving in rhythm and synchronized beyond reason. We were drunk off each other and the communication of purest emotions through touch and glance, kiss and caress.

It was probably one of the most beautiful, sharing, joining… Hell I needed to call it what it was! It was probably one of the first times ever that I made love
with
a man, not just to him. It was exquisite and perfect and scared the bejesus out of me all at once. It left me breathless with wonder and my chest tight with wanting, for the first time I could ever remember, I allowed myself to want
for
myself. I wanted to stay like this in Cutter’s arms forever and never have him let me go. I wanted to see where this went, I wanted so much to have a partner in this life instead of going it alone like I had been all this time.

“Stay with me…” I said and swallowed hard, not quite believing I had voiced the plea out loud.

“Hmm, you’ve got me dead to rights, Sweetheart, I’m not going anywhere,” he murmured and brought the back of my hand to his lips. I had no idea how long we had been at this but I never wanted it to end. I was aware that our skins were lightly dewed with sweat; that our breathing came harsh and uneven and that Cutter’s other arm, where he held himself off from crushing me, well it trembled finely with exertion.

“No, I mean after… after all of this, stay with me,” I swallowed past the lump in my throat and Cutter smiled so sweetly, so serenely down at me. He pressed into me to the hilt and captured my eyes with his.

“Baby, I just told you, I’m not going anywhere. We’ll figure this out, one day, one minute at a time if we have to… I’m with you. I’m staying with you.” He bowed his head and kissed me into silence and tranquility.

God I was falling in love with this man. I was falling in love with him hard. It started with his confidence and carried on through his steady dedication. He was trustworthy. Incredibly so. He turned me on and turned me inside out and he just seemed to know what I was about or what I needed sometimes before even I did. I wanted to stay. I wanted to try. I had never even come close to wanting anyone else the way I wanted Cutter and as much as that scared me, as much as that terrified me because I was putting myself out there… I couldn’t deny this attraction was turning into something much stronger.

I swallowed hard and came again and Cutter hummed his appreciation, he slowed in his careful love making and stilled. Holding me close and I sighed out and took the comfort and strength he offered me. We lay, panting in the circle of each other’s arms for some time before he drew back and searched my face.

“I mean it, Sweetheart. You’ve got me.” He whispered, reassuring, and kissed me one more time. We didn’t even try to get up or clean up, that could be done come morning. Instead we lay close and warm and safe and slept. I woke, vaguely, sometime in the night when Cutter reached for and switched out the lamp, but he came right back to me, pulling the blankets around us both. I slept solid and I slept hard after that and it was precisely what I needed.

Chapter 22

Cutter

“Seriously… I hate you guys,” Hope mumbled against my chest when the door flew open the next day.

“Love you too, Baby. Now get your asses up!” Pyro barked and ripped open the curtains over the window, flooding the room with bright, late morning sunlight.

“Dude, what the fuck?” I demanded.

“Ruth called, wants a sit down and is offering real fucking food as a peace offering for the hour.” Marlin said, stretching in the doorway. The boys started pouring in after him and leaning against furniture and doorways, taking up seating space in the one armchair and on the sink counter.

“We having church?” I asked.

“Sort of,” Beast said crossing his massive arms over his chest.

“You forget the civilian in the room?” I asked.

“Pfft! The way Hope handles herself, she ain’t no civilian. She ain’t no ol’ lady either, we don’t know what she is but whatever it is we like her,” Atlas declared. I raised an eyebrow and Hope cuddled into my side more, resting her head on my shoulder.

“You’re right, I’m not old, so thanks for that… or are you just saying that so I won’t kick your ass? Wait…” she pushed up and glared at Atlas blearily, “What the fuck is an ol’ lady to you douchecanoe’s anyways?”

The guys laughed, “You’re learning,” Pyro said appreciatively.

“An Ol’ Lady as in you’re my Ol’ Lady, my property, mine to keep and before you get all butt-twisted,” I chuckled at her sour expression, “It’s a pretty big honorific among our kind.”

“It’s true. Means more to a brother than a civilian wedding ring to give a woman your rag,” Radar agreed.

Hope squeezed her eyes shut and clutching the sheet to her chest, struggled to sit up. She opened her eyes and yawned.

“I’m going to need a cup of coffee and a glossary of terms to get through today aren’t I?” she asked.

“No time like the present for a crash course,” Marlin said with a shrug but I could see in his sky blue eyes that he was happy for me.

“Okay, so this is how it goes…” My brothers proceeded to blow Hope’s mind explaining the ins and outs of a woman’s place in the club.

“Wait, wait, wait… so a rag isn’t actually a rag, it’s one of those leather vests like you got only says that a woman is
property
of whoever she’s with?”

“Pretty much but before you get pissed, you gotta understand. For us, property isn’t like just a car, or a boat, or a piece of land… it’s much more basic than that. Property, to us, is
something of value.
As in
something we value above all else,
” I told her. I watched her wheels turn, her dark eyes searching my face before she started to nod slowly. Pyro stooped and picked up my shirt from the night before and held it out to Hope. She took it and I had to like how comfortable she was in her own skin to be sitting here naked with a room full of my brothers and not be freaking out.

That wasn’t to say she was being immodest either. She had the sheet covering everything important and then some, even as she pulled my shirt over her head she was careful not to let it slip. Fucking perfect mix of tough and feminine, of being ballsy yet having grace. She was tripping all the right triggers for me and I was so incredibly struck with just how
grateful
I was that she wanted to stick around.

Hope dragged her long dark hair out of the back of the collar of my shirt and sighed, “Coffee before I kick someone’s ass,” she said just as Trike, our prospect, pushed through the open doorway with two of those cardboard drink holders perched on one arm, a bag of what smelled suspiciously like doughnuts hanging out of his hand.

“Thank you, Jesus! Trike, you’re now officially my favorite,” Hope said and reached out both hands, opening and closing her hands in the classic toddler sign for ‘gimme’. The guys laughed and they fed and caffeinated her first. I smiled and took a drink of nasty tepid doughnut shop coffee that’d sat on the burner too long out of a crappy Styrofoam cup.

“I didn’t think they made Styrofoam anymore,” I griped.

“Me either,” someone said.

We put down some coffee and munched on fried dough while Hope’s crash course continued. Her mind sufficiently full and turning things over, she sat for a long minute in silence.

“Kay, get the fuck out. I’m getting up,” she said finally and waved them all off. The guys laughed and stepped out into the bright sunshine, leaving the door open a sliver behind them.

“Kiss me,” I demanded and she smiled, leaning across the bed. She put her arms against my chest and fell into me, and kissed me with what tasted a lot like commitment underneath the stale coffee and sugary sweetness of the half assed breakfast we’d just consumed.

“I love it when you order me around like you’re all tough,” her voice was pitched low and if I had to describe it, ‘sex kitten’ came to mind as a perfectly acceptable label to put on it. I smacked the outside of her thigh.

“Get in the shower, Hope; before I fuck you and we don’t go anywhere today,” she grinned and backed off of me, stopping in the bathroom doorway.

“Damn, and I was hoping you were going to join me,” she said and she didn’t have to invite me twice. I was up and under the spray before she got my shirt off over her head.

We showered in record time, even for us, and dressed carefully. Hope dressed to ride and pulled her hair into a tight French braid. I was putting on my boots when she bounded onto the bed behind me. She gathered my wet hair in her hands and I froze and let her tend to me. She didn’t put it into a French braid like hers, but rather just combed it out and put it into a low, regular braid, tight and efficient.

“Thanks,” I murmured. She put her arms around my shoulders and hugged herself to my back, nuzzling the side of my neck and giving it a quick kiss.

“Welcome,” she breathed and just as quick as she’d been, she was up, shrugging into her jacket and giving a last check to her boot laces.

I pulled on my jacket and cut and pulled my keys out of my pocket. She had her helmet on and I put on my glasses as we went out into the bright light and oppressive, muggy heat that was classic Louisiana.

“About fuckin’ time!” Pyro called up. Hope bounced on the balls of her feet a couple of times and gave him the finger. He grinned up at us and we came down from the second floor and went to my bike. I fired it up and Hope got on behind me. I missed Florida, and the ride we took helmet free. I missed watching her expression and the wind catching her hair. I fucking hated the impersonal black carapace looking helmet that hid her beautiful brown eyes and sharp features from me.

She snugged up close to my back, her arms around me and I took off, my boys fell in and we went back to the Voodoo Bastard’s compound to one hell of a fucking barbeque going on full swing. No wonder the guys seemed excited. None of us were overtly a fan of a strict diet of fast food.

We parked and Hope wandered over to her bike to drop her helmet with it, but she wasn’t fooling anybody. She wanted to make sure her pride and joy was doing okay. Satisfied she came back over and we spent the next few hours strategizing and talking about how we wanted tonight to go down.

One of Ruth’s boys had been sent on some recon the night before to get the layout of Objections. Apparently it was a higher class joint. One that did jeans, but paired with some Nancy boy polo, certainly not with a jacket and cut. His man hadn’t been able to get in and no one else could pass muster either. So it looked like we were flying blind.

“Well that leaves you out in the cold, Lover,” Hope mused, and she didn’t sound at all happy about it. Still it didn’t get her down, she was already looking over the rest of The Kraken and Voodoo Bastards alike. She took a sip of her Sweet Tea out of its red Solo cup, ice cubes rattling as she contemplated her options.

“Marlin’s out, too,” she muttered.

“Why?” I asked casually.

“You ever see a lawyer type or judge with long hair?” she asked, “While we’re at it, La Croix, is definitely out, Hex would have worked except he’s got tattoos on his hands so that nixes him, Pyro stands out too much with that hair…” she sighed and twisted in her seat.

“Nothing!” she called out. My treasurer looked up darkly, “You fancy a date at a high class titty bar with me tonight?”

Laughter erupted and Hope got up, moving in Nothing’s direction, he looked slightly poleaxed but she was right, he was the only white dude we had that with a little clean up could look respectable. I sure as fuck wasn’t cutting my hair. Hope spoke with Nothing and he looked my way. I nodded and he gave me a nod back, listened to her some more and nodded his agreement. Hope nodded and was swiping away on her phone. She said something to Nothing and he nodded.