Game Changer (Hell's Saints Motorcycle Club) (8 page)

The tub was huge. The water was hot and there was a lot of it. There were big fluffy towels and shampoo and sweet berry body wash and lotion. I changed my mind and took a bath. I did the thing where you fill the tub half way then get in. Then 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 got out 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 China town. It was powder blue and had matching silver dragons in 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 of 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 smiled 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 of 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 under his chin. Now he was clean shaven. He wore a plain silver wedding band on his left hand where before he 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 that was new was dark. I was happy for him for that.

I wondered what he and Diego were talking about. I thought I would find out soon enough. Then I thought about the fact that Diego was here at all and what that meant. I thought about the fact that Diego had waited 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 now that I was safe, well, maybe it wouldn’t be so bad him not wanting me to wander. Then, 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 arm chair, 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 and walked over to the hamper near the bed and tossed them in. Then he came back and stood in front of me. Him looking at me, me looking at him.

Then 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. 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, the side of his body flush against the front of mine.

He 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 her 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, still so close 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 hand cover mine and the other passed 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 and 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 know 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. Then 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 and then 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 jaw bone. His mouth on mine and then on my neck and then on the deep v of my kimono. His hands all over me now and his mouth brushing the kimono open. He was kissing me in the deep cleft of my breasts, his mouth working magic, and soft on my skin. He brought his mouth up to mine then, 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 his mouth 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 and I knew if I went there with Diego, it would definitely mean something different to him then 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 on to 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, but in this case 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.”

I took a peek at him then and his eyes were soft and warm. “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.”

I took a peek at him then and his eyes were soft and warm.

“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 strands gently in his hand.

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

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

“When you kissed my neck.” I said too fast.

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.

*****

Holy 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 have been half way 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 goddam 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, they 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, she 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, drunk for a father. No family. Practically raised herself and her sister and then had put herself through school. Kept to herself, then didn’t and picked the wrong asshole. The 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 no’s into yes’s since he started bedding the bitches. But he had never ever forced himself on someone who didn’t want him. The hardon 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 and when he kissed her he wasn’t sure she knew exactly what she was doing. Oh, it was hot alright. Her tongue moved with his in all the right places but there was just something so sweet and naïve 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 longtime 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.

I woke the next morning to a bright sunny day. I went from fast asleep to wide awake and felt my heart beating hard in my chest. Something had jarred me awake. For just a second I didn’t remember where I was and two seconds after that was a hard knock at the door.

“Raine? Darlin’ you up?” It was Prosper and then I remembered

I looked at the clock and it was almost noon. “Coming.” I shouted

I ran to the door, dragons pulled tight and opened it wide. Still sleepy with tousled bed head and sleepy eyes.

“Yeah, sorry Prosper, just woke up.” I was a little breathy from having woken up literally a minute ago and running to the door. Because it was late and I had taken over Prosper’s rooms and what if he needed something from them?

Prosper took one look at me and cleared his throat. Jules was behind him grinning madly. Then he was looking at me slowly from head to toe. By the time his eyes returned to my face, that grinned had turned into the closest thing I had ever seen to pure lust everrrrrrr.

“Do you need something?” I asked Prosper.

“Oh yeah,” Jules muttered behind him.

Prosper turned to look at Jules and growled. Yes. He. Did

Then he reached past me to close the door and said “Sorry, honey. It can wait. Get dressed and come get something to eat when you’re ready.” Then the door closed on me.

“Okay.” I said to the door. I threw my hair up on top of my head and went to take a quick, hot shower. I really didn’t want to delay being in the room. Prosper and Jules must have needed to get something. I was determined to be of no trouble whatsoever.

Besides, I had washed my hair just last night, or really just a few hours ago. The hair thing brought back some other memories and I pushed them aside. I noticed in the mirror I was pink again. Sweet Jesus, I had to stop blushing at the mere thought of that man. I lathered on some more of that great berry lotion then threw on a fresh pair of clean and really worn button fly jeans. My lucky jeans. Then I added a soft pink light V neck tee. I redid my hair, pulling it together and wrapping it around to form a loose bun at the nape of my neck. Some pink lip gloss, soft black eyeliner and mascara. Pretty silver dangling hoops and the same pair of low biker boots. I was out the door in twenty.

Diego was at me before I fully closed the door. The smile I greeted him with died on my lips when he grabbed me close to him and snarled. “Raine, you’re not in some cottage at the end of the woods anymore.”

“I know that.” His tone made my stomach hurt.

“There are thirty rooms in this bunk and at any time they’re filled with bikers. Sometimes those men are alone. Sometimes with their women. Sometimes with their whores. Depending on who, depending on when. Sometimes brothers. Sometimes guys visiting. You hearing me Raine?” His eyes were hard and he wasn’t talking quietly.

I nodded.

“You hearing me Raine?” He was getting louder.

“Yes.” He was making me feel horrible.

“So now you know this, you never EVER open that door again without having SOME FUCKING CLOTHES ON.” He was furious.

I swallowed hard. I had clothes on but I was getting that my pretty light blue kimono with the silver dragons on the front, maybe didn’t count.

“What do you never ever do Raine?” He was acting like a total asshole.

I glared at him and he glared back.

“Open the door without being fully clothed.” I said softly. I was humiliated and all the sweetness from the night before had been pushed right out of me. I felt the sting of tears burn behind my eyes.

I pulled away from him and walk to the kitchen area where there were about a dozen guys sitting there,all of whom suddenly had somewhere else to look. It was dead quiet. They had heard everything. I felt sick.

Jules who looked right at me and winked.

“You want some eggs, Raine?” He had sat a cup of coffee down on the table and had pulled a chair out for me.

“No thanks.” My lip quivered.

“Yeah, she does. Two over easy, bacon, toast.” Damn Diego again. Sitting his big bad self three seats down and across the table. Then he turned his back to me and started talking to the guy next to him. I glared at his back for a second wishing him dead.

I looked helplessly at Prosper who was just folding the morning paper. He had these little half-moon glasses on, and despite my growing humiliation at being treated like an infant, I noticed them as another testimony of the passing years.

Prosper was looking at me. “When was the last time you ate, Raine?”

No help there. Seems Prosper was in league with Diego the Devil.

I thought for a second and honestly couldn’t remember. I waved my hand away. I wasn’t real happy with him at that moment either. I went to wrap my arms around me and Prosper casually and not unkindly stopped me. He grabbed my hand and held it with his own at the table. Then he began introductions.

All the guys in the kitchen house were Hell’s Saints. Most, but not all from this charter. Some nodded, some smiled and a couple actually unfolded themselves from their chairs and said their hellos close up. Two shook my hand and one kissed it in a sweet attempt at being charming. I blushed hot at that one. Pipe was the one who had kissed my hand. Reno gave me a chin nod.

Then I met Crow.

Crow was the poster boy for badass gorgeous. He wasn’t as big as Jules and Diego. He probably stood just about 6 ft. His skin was a beautiful light brown with subtle undertones of copper, not unlike my own. He had a wide bandana on his forehead and the rest of his hair hung loose way past his shoulders. It was a rich deep sable. His nose was straight and his nostrils flared. He a wide mouth and high cheekbones. His green eyes were like shards of emeralds, hard and sharp.

“Yaa’ ta’ sai.’” Crow said to me in clear Apache.
You’re welcome here.

“Aheeiyeh.” I bowed my head using the formal
Thank You
reserved for those deserved of great respect. His greeting had meant a lot to me and I wanted him to know that.

He met my eyes and honest to goodness it took my breath away. I felt Diego turn and tense across the table and I couldn’t have cared less.

“You’re Apache.” I said to Crow.

“And you’re Lakota Sioux.” He said back at me.

I looked over at Prosper and Prosper shrugged, “He asked.”

“You asked if I was Native?” I smiled at Crow. I loved having the chance to lay claim to my mother’s heritage. I always felt complimented when it happened.

“No, I asked if you were taken.”

Wow.

His eyes left mine then and did a slow long sweep down my body. Everywhere his eyes touched burned me. No one had ever looked like that at me ever. I finally knew the meaning of that overused quote in romance books that said, “He raped me with his eyes.”

Wow. Wow. Oh. Wow.

Diego was half way out of his seat. Crow looked at him, clapped a hand on his shoulder and said, “That door ever opens brother.” Then without sparing me another glance he was gone.

I was still sitting in stunned silence. I felt Diego’s eyes on me, but purposefully avoided them. Then Jules slapped a plate down in front of me. All of a sudden I had a huge appetite and it was all really delicious. Jules smirked when he saw that I had cleaned my plate. When he asked me if it was good, I told him that he had just given me the absolute best I ever had.

Diego looked my way again and growled.

Jules burst out laughing and reached out to kiss the top of my head. Then he said, “Doll, you ain’t seen nothing yet.”

Diego looked exasperated, but this time he was looking right at Prosper. Prosper’s eyes were full of mirth. He mouthed something to him that looked like it might have been the word
complicated
but I couldn’t imagine why he would have said that.

****

Fucking Crow. Goddam him to hell that Apache bastard. For the second time in a less than a couple of days, Diego had half risen out of his seat to take a brother on over Raine. Never in his life had he fought over a woman. Now at fucking thirty eight years old he was gonna start? No fucking way.

He had been making his way down the hallway when he saw her fling open that door with nothing but that hip length Chinese silk shit on. Christ, that belt barely held the thing together. He could see half her left tit and the bottom opened almost to her V. And there she stood, totally unaware of it. Smiling and sleepy eyed with those big blue eyes and soft pink mouth issuing an invitation to every fucking brother in the place. How was it possible that she didn’t know that? But fuck him if she didn’t look hurt and embarrassed when he called her on it.

Jesus. It was going to be a full time job keeping Raine safe. Safe from his brothers, from him and from her goddam self. He was going to have to make it clear who she belonged to, if just to keep her from harm’s way.

But first he had to get his woman away from all his up in your face horny blue balled brothers. He was going to do something he had never done before. Never had to do to get a woman to share his bed.

He was gonna get Raine on the back of his bike and take her out on a fucking date.