Devil's Angels Boxed Set: Bikers and Alpha Bad Boy Erotic Romance (22 page)

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Ellie Thorn was never one for sleep, preferring instead to spend her nighttime hours with the characters that swirled around in her head. More often than not, exhaustion forced her to stop or risk waking up with keyboard marks on her forehead. Not anymore. Waking up in Rex Pershing’s arms was quickly becoming an addiction for Ellie. The knowledge that his face would be the first thing she saw in the morning made falling asleep all the more enticing.

What worried her, more than how addicting waking up with Rex in her bed had become, was how much she hated watching him leave every morning for work. Spending the entire past weekend together had felt decadent and indulgent. In that short 48-hour period, they had managed to have sex on nearly every surface in her home.

And now, Monday morning had come much too soon. He hadn’t wanted to leave her alone, but he had a job to do and they needed to maintain at least some illusion of normalcy. Plus, Ellie had been putting off work while Rex was in her house, both out of a need to protect her secret and because he was a walking distraction.

In the end, they worked out a solution that allowed both of them to relax. He would text at random times throughout the day, and if she didn’t answer within a certain timeframe, he would come looking for her. They also set up a code word that she could text him very quickly if she needed him. It seemed a bit much, but she’d indulged his need for the reassurance.

***

Rex and his Dad were doing everything they could to keep an eye on Xander and his guards without drawing their attention. Manny continued running his mouth to anyone who would listen about finding a way into the storage units. He also began grumbling about George, the traitor who had run off and whom no one had heard from in days.

Rex continued running the day-to-day operation of their businesses. To everyone around, it appeared as if the status quo was being maintained. Manny obsessed with Xander and getting his clubs back, while Rex argued with him and basically ran things. If there was another traitor in their ranks, Rex wouldn’t have much to report.

By Friday afternoon, Rex was stressed out and tired. Keeping tabs on Ellie, working full time, and meeting up with his Dad for updates and strategies was taking a toll. Rex left work early, stopped by his place to pack up a few things for the weekend, and downed a couple of aspirin to ease the pounding in his head before setting out.

Ellie had given him a spare key that morning in case her meeting ran long, but he was reluctant to use it. Something about the intimacy of having a key to her place made him balk. The fact that she’d cleared space for his things in her bathroom hadn’t bothered him as much as her giving him that key.

Pulling up in her driveway, he knew right away she wasn’t home. The place was too still, too lifeless without her there. His biggest fear was that playing house together was giving him the wrong idea. He liked it a little too much. Waking up to her warmth was addictive.

Key in hand, he grabbed his bag and headed up the walkway. His misgivings pushed aside, he inserted the key into the lock, turned it, and pushed open the door. Her scent rushed out at him and his headache immediately eased. The tension of the day lifted from his shoulders and neck. Walking into his place never made him feel like this.

He was in trouble.

***

Ellie was ready to scream. There wasn’t much she hated in life, but these meetings were on top of that list. How one small group of people could take an even smaller group of topics and stretch it to last for nearly eight hours was beyond her. Even the tips of her hair ached.

The current topic was the cover art for her latest book. No one could agree on whether to go simple, like in the previous series, or go bigger and bolder. Honestly, she didn’t care either way. This wasn’t her area of expertise. All she asked was that the cover be relevant to the book.

Ellie’s mind kept wandering to Rex, wondering if he was at her house waiting for her. When she gave him the spare key this morning there’d been an moment of pure panic in his eyes. She’d actually thought he might hand it back to her. He’d covered his panic quickly though, and pocketed the key with a smile on his face that looked only a little strained.

If she were writing the story of her life, she would be screaming at her main female character that things were moving too fast and urging her to slow down. Relationships built on a shaky foundation of great sex and forced togetherness rarely survived in real life. Granted, she knew more about Rex than some of her characters knew about their sex partners, but that didn’t absolve her from reality.

She could try and push reality aside, but eventually it would rear its ugly head. Not this weekend, though. This weekend she was going to enjoy him and the way he made her body sing.

Thinking of ways she could make him beg for mercy, Ellie didn’t notice when the conversation turned and questions were asked of her. Face flushed a deep red, she tried to catch up and ignore the burning need stirring in her gut while thinking about Rex.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Rex found that he wasn’t very good at sitting and waiting. He put his things away, checked his email on her fancy laptop, and called his Dad to check in. All of that had taken a total of 30 minutes.

He wandered over to the fridge and stuck his head inside. Snatching a beer, he twisted off the top and took a deep drink. On one of the shelves were two thick steaks and some veggies, obviously fixings for tonight’s dinner. Like any self-respecting adult male, he was good with a grill, and she had a nice charcoal one sitting right outside on her patio.

Ellie had given up a certain amount of freedom because of the feud between her and Rex’s fathers. Their situation hadn’t given her much choice, and for that Rex wanted to do something nice for Ellie in return. The least he could do was fire up the grill and have dinner ready when she got home.

In less than an hour, he had the charcoal set in the grill, the veggies chopped and stuck on skewers, steaks sitting in a simple marinade, and a second beer in his hand. Wandering into the living room with his drink, he found himself browsing her bookshelves again.

The other night, while looking at the pressed and dried weeds she kept, the last of what was cold and hard inside him began to break apart. She was doing that to him. Even if whatever this was between them didn’t last, he would thank her for showing him it was possible.

The things she cherished said so much about her character. Several school awards, her diplomas, and keepsakes from student life dominated an entire shelf. She was proud of her intelligence, but not smug about it. Not once had she made him feel inferior because he hadn’t bothered to finish high school.

She missed her Mom. There were lots of framed photos of the two of them together and happy. Xander made a rare appearance in a couple, but there were none of him with Ellie alone. That spoke volumes.

There were books on nearly every shelf. Every genre was represented. If she had one of those book reader things he didn’t see it. She obviously loved the smell and feel of a book in her hands. He pulled one down from a shelf filled by volumes from the same author. The covers
were all red with a single white lily on the front. He turned the volume around to read the back, and his eyebrows rose in surprise. He pulled another off the shelf, scanning the back. Then another.
Whoa.
It seemed that Ellie had a thing for erotica.

Curious, he grabbed a volume at random. Taking his beer with him, he went out back to sit by the pool and see just what it was that Ellie liked so much about these books.

***

Ellie pulled into her garage, turned off her car, and leaned her forehead on the steering wheel for a minute. Her head was pounding to a hard tempo and all she wanted was a moment of pure silence. She refused to bring her dark mood and her frustration into her house with her.

She was hyperaware of the fact that Rex was inside waiting for her. She’d texted him to let him know she was on her way home nearly half an hour ago. Opening the car door, she was hit by the scent of burning charcoal and the sound of Heart’s “Magic Man” on her stereo. A wide smile broke across her face and her headache eased.

She didn’t bother going to the front door, choosing instead to enter through the side gate and into the back yard. On her outside table were two plates, a bucket of ice with beer bottles sticking out of it, and the wonderful sight of steaks and kabobs on the grill sizzling away.

She rounded the corner and nearly tripped over her own feet. On one of her chaise loungers was Rex, wet from a recent dip in her pool, his face buried in one of the books she’d written. For a moment her heart stuttered. She had to remind herself that he didn’t know she’d written those books. Taking a deep breath to calm herself, she cleared her throat to get his attention.

Any other man might have been embarrassed by getting caught reading an  erotic novel written for women. Not Rex. He set down the book and got on his feet to greet Ellie. She looked tired and there were circles under her eyes.

“Bad day?” He took her bag and tossed it on the dry chaise.

“I’ve had much, much worse, but all-day meetings are still horrifying,” She lifted her mouth to his for a kiss, pressing close and wrapping her arms around his neck. Pulling away with a sigh, she cocked her head toward the grill, “I like mine medium-rare. I’m going to go change.” With a wink she turned away and headed inside.

Rex watched her walk away, chuckling under his breath. Damn, he loved how she was always surprising him. Moving over to the grill, he pulled the steaks off so they could rest while she changed.

It didn’t take Ellie long to change out of her stuffy shirt and skirt combo and into her swimsuit. Rex was already wearing his, and a dip in the pool after dinner was just what she needed. Piling her hair on top of her head, she grabbed a robe and headed back outside.

“I can’t believe you made dinner. I have to admit, I’m relieved. I wasn’t really looking forward to having to come home and cook,” She sat down in the chair across from him and took the beer he handed out to her, drinking deeply.

“I figured it was the least I could do,” he shrugged, taking the tongs and placing a steak and a couple of kabobs on her plate.

Ellie paused with a piece of steak halfway to her mouth. “The least you could do?”

Another shrug was the only indication that he was uncomfortable explaining himself. “I kind of forced myself into your home—and your life, Ellie. You’ve made dinner every night and you’ve never complained about me invading your space. Cooking one meal doesn’t nearly make up for all that.”

Setting her fork down on her plate, Ellie leaned forward and looked Rex in the eye, her face serious. “If I hadn’t wanted you to stay I would have said so and you would have been out the door with your Dad that night. I wanted you to stay. I feel safe with you here.” She leaned back, a sly smile stealing across her face. “Besides, there are benefits to you being here. In my bed. Every night.”

This time it was he who paused with his fork in the air. “Why, Ellie Thorn, are you saying you let me stay so you could have your naughty way with me?”

Still smiling, Ellie put the bite of steak in her mouth and chewed, moaning in ecstasy at the taste, “Keep cooking like this and there will be at least two reasons I let you stay.”

His laughter echoed around the patio.

***

Xander Thorn was in an extremely bad mood. Still stewing over his failure to get rid of that asshole, Manny Pershing, Xander was spending long hours in his office, drinking heavily and trying to figure out what had gone wrong.

Since that night he had his guys tailing Manny 24 hours a day. Nothing in Manny’s routine had changed. He was still telling anyone who would listen that he was going to get into those units and find a way to get back at Xander for putting him in jail.

And now one of Xander’s guys had noticed that Rex was never around at night. Xander wondered if Manny had his kid out doing his dirty work so he put a tail on Rex. The phone call Xander had gotten a couple of hours ago had made his blood boil. Not only was Rex shacking up with Ellie, he had a key to her place. Manny’s mongrel son was obviously trying to use his daughter to get information on him.

Let him screw her silly. Ellie knew nothing about what was going on in his life, or his club. Her slut of a mother had made sure that he never had a relationship with his daughter. If she wasn’t already dead, he might be tempted to have another go at beating her into submission.

Still, the situation didn’t sit well in him. Manny comes home from prison and suddenly Manny’s son is hot for Xander’s daughter? No, that didn’t sit well with him at all. He was going to have to do something about that. Soon.

***

Rex and Ellie talked and laughed their way through the meal. Once they were both pleasantly full, Ellie insisted on cleaning up. Loading the dishwasher only took a few minutes and she came back out with a couple more beers, amazed at how quickly the stresses of the day had fled in his company.

When she came out he was back on the chaise, her book in his hands. She sat and watched him for a minute. She was dying to know what he thought, but there was no way she would dare ask. It was already killing her to keep the truth from him. It made her feel dirty—and not in the good way.

“You look comfy,” she said, sliding up close to the chaise. “I’m going to do some laps.” He nodded absently, intent on reading. She peeked at the page number and smiled. She dropped her robe at the end of the chaise, then tapped his knee. “Maybe when you’re done we can give page 328 a try.”

His head snapped up as she walked away, giggling. Sitting up, he flipped the pages and found 328 as she sliced into the water with barely a splash. Within minutes, he was painfully turned on and wondering if she meant what she’d said.