Inked (8 page)

“Come on, Cadeon.”

He looked over at Naggie. She was glaring at him.
“What?”

“You know what. You need to tell that tramp to quit
coming in here.”

He looked over at the girl Naggie was about to
pierce, but the woman was busy on her cell. The client with Ziggy had a smile
on his tattooed face. At least someone found this shit amusing, but that didn’t
mean Naggie needed to be talking about it in front of customers. “Naggie, this
really isn’t the time or place to talk about this.”

“
Pfft
. That tramp needs to
get a life.” Naggie turned toward her client, and Ziggy did the same.

Cadeon leaned back in his chair and stared at the
ceiling. His cell vibrated, and he looked down. The way his pulse increased at
the sight of Stella’s number flashing across his screen should have made him
feel like some kind of pussy-whipped adolescent. But he didn’t feel that way,
and he dared anyone to tell him otherwise.

Chapter Seven

Stella shouldn’t have been so nervous, but she was,
terribly so. She had called him earlier today after not getting in contact with
him for the last couple of days. It wasn’t that she was purposefully trying to
avoid him—not really—but she had done a lot of thinking. Since leaving the
tattoo shop and having Booshie follow her home, she had realized that this
really hadn’t been just a onetime thing with Cadeon. But the one time he had
called her was to leave a voicemail giving her aftercare instructions. She had
been trying to think about how she was going to tell her dad about this,
because it was going to seem like she had been lying to him about not wanting Cadeon.
She may have wanted him, but when she had gone to see him it really had been
strictly about the tattoo. But she hadn’t told anyone yet, because she knew she
had to talk to Cadeon and see where he actually saw this—whatever
this
was—going between them. If he only
wanted her on the side as a piece of ass then she would need to tell him that
she wasn’t even going to go there with him. She wasn’t a club whore, and if she
agreed to something like that then she would be no better than they were.

She looked around her living room, although
everything was already straightened up. Working part-time at a consulting firm
as a receptionist, and the other part-time at the club balancing their accounts
payable and received, she wasn’t at home a whole lot. Her house was sparse in
the furnishing department, but she had wanted to be in the comfort of her own
home when she and Cadeon had this talk.

A glance at the clock showed that he would be there
any minute. She looked at the breakfast bar, saw the two boxes of pizza and
case of beer, and couldn’t help snorting in amused embarrassment. When she had
asked him to dinner she had every intention of attempting to make him a meal,
or at the very least ordering something that didn’t come in a cardboard box. Of
course her day had been hectic at work and then at the clubhouse, and the only
thing she had time for was making the phone call for the pizza, and stopping by
the gas station for the beer. Well, she tried, but tonight was more about what
in the hell was going on between them, and not so much about what they would
eat. Stella didn’t even think she could eat anything, what with her stomach in
knots.

The sound of a Harley started a small distance away,
and even though she hadn’t looked out the window, she just knew it was Cadeon.
The rumbling of engines became closer and that had her heart beating faster.
When the sound of the bike was right in her driveway she moved to the living
room window and pushed back the drapes. She didn’t want to look like a freak
peeking at him through the window but she honestly hadn’t been able to help
herself, and, well, she supposed she wanted to make sure her gut was right and
it wasn’t actually her father or a club member that had showed up.

She let the curtain fall back in place, but still
stared out the window. Cadeon climbed off of his big ass Harley, one that was a
monster of a machine, but one he looked damn good on. He wore a pair of dark
jeans that were loose, but fit him well enough that it didn’t hide the raw
power that made him up. He was once again wearing a t-shirt, this one just as
dark as his jeans. Since she had first met him three years ago she didn’t think
he ever wore anything aside from those two pieces of clothing. She had never
seen him in a suit, or even a button down shirt. He took off his helmet but
left his sunglasses on. The sun was already setting on the horizon, and there
was a pink/orange hue that covered the Colorado sky.

Stella moved away from the window when he started
for her front door, but strangely she was suddenly not as nervous as she had
been. She knew she should be, because what they were talking about was
certainly nothing short of very,
very
important. He knocked on the door three times, and she turned and looked at it.
She was in the living room, but her open floor plan had the kitchen, dining
room, front foyer, and living room all viewable from any point of the
room.
 
She smoothed her sweaty hands on
her skirt and suddenly felt silly for trying to dress up. But a jean skirt and
blouse wasn’t really dressy; at least she tried to tell herself that. Before he
had to start knocking again she moved quickly toward the front door and opened
it. Although she might have just seen him through the window, it still took her
a moment to absorb everything that made up Cadeon Morris.

The brightly colorful tattoos covering his arms
stood out against the material of his shirt, but all she could picture was all
the ink that was hidden by the material. The boots he wore looked nothing short
of the shit-kicker variety, and when she looked into his face she saw he wore
this grin that had all of her girly parts clenching in need.

“You going to let me in or
eye-fuck me all day, girl?”
His voice was
so damn deep and masculine, and even with his crude attitude and coarse
words,
Stella was still a mush of emotions and wants for
him. It was like she hadn’t been with him at all, let alone two days ago.

Her cheeks heated, not because of his use of the
phrase “eye-fuck”—she had heard much worse—but because he had seen her
blatantly checking him out. She moved to the side. “Sorry.” She smiled and
chuckled, but it came out like this awkward sound.

He stepped inside, but just as he passed her she
noticed his grin spread and she narrowed her eyes. She shut the door and leaned
back on it. Cadeon walked forward a few more steps, and she watched in silence
as he checked out her place. She leaned away from the door to stay out of the
way. If he flat out told her that he only wanted her for an easy lay she could
tell him to fuck off and kick his ass out of her house. “Cadeon…”

He turned around slowly and lifted his hand to
remove his sunglasses. His blue eyes were almost eerie in their shade, but he
had them fixed right on her, and she felt as if she had nothing on. That was
how penetrating Cadeon’s stare was, and it had always been that way. He took a
step toward her, and she pressed her back against the door once more. When she
felt the heat from his body spear right into her she sucked in a deep breath.
God, he smelt good, like something manly with a touch of spicy cologne. What
sucked was she felt even more uncomfortable since having sex with him than she
did before. This man knew every part of her intimately, had licked every inch
of her body until she had come undone for him. And right now he was making her feel
so vulnerable in the most delicious of ways.

“Why are you so nervous around me, Stella?” He took
another step closer. If she would have taken a deep breath their chests would
have touched. “You have no reason to be so uncomfortable.” He placed a hand on
the door right by her head and leaned in so their faces were only an inch apart
from one another. “Baby, there isn’t any reason to be scared around me.” He
lowered his gaze, and she knew he could see right down her shirt. “I’ve seen
every glorious inch of you.” When he pressed his lower body into her belly she
gasped at the thick erection he already sported. “I’ve tasted the most intimate
parts of you.” He ground his stiff cock into her. “I’ve been hard ever since
you walked out of my shop two days ago.” He was looking back at her face once
more, but his eyes were trained on her lips.

“Why wouldn’t I be nervous having you all in my
personal space
like
this?” Her voice sounded distant
and soft.

He slowly lifted his gaze to hers and grinned. “Stella,
you think I know you don’t secretly love that I’m all up in your … personal
space?” He cocked one dark eyebrow.

The man had a way with words that had her nipples
hardening and her pussy becoming went from zero to sixty in one second flat.
“You’re so cocky.” When he lifted his other hand and ran the pad of his thumb
along her bottom lip she couldn’t keep her eyes open any longer.

“You like that I’m cocky.” He pressed his dick into
her belly again and again until she bit her bottom lip to stop from moaning.

His attitude should have made her pissed, but dammit
she grew wetter.

“I bet you’d really like it if I had my cock inside
of you right now.”

She placed her hands on his chest and felt his hard,
defined
pecs
flex under her palm. For a second all
she could do was
stare
at him. He refused to move, and
although all she wanted to do was get naked and forget about talking, they
needed to talk. Sex wasn’t the answer, even if it did sound like the perfect
solution to a tricky situation. “We need to talk.” She applied pressure to his
chest and pushed, but he was like a wall of steel in front of her.

“Baby, we can talk, while you’re under me and I have
my dick deep inside of that sweet pussy of yours.” He leaned down and pressed
his lips to hers, but she wasn’t going to let everything that had happened and
what they needed to discuss be pushed under the rug.

She applied pressure to his chest again and turned
her head so their lips broke apart. That had been a hard feat to do, but
gauging how thick he was coming on she felt this sting of disappointment move
through her. Maybe all he did want from her was some easy ass? Once more she
pushed at the wall of his chest, and fortunately he took a step back from her.

“What’s wrong?
Your tattoo okay
and healing good?”
He looked down at her with this confused look on his
face, as if he genuinely didn’t understand why she was pushing him away.

“Are you serious right now?”

He knitted his brows and ran a hand over his jaw. It
looked like he hadn’t shaved since the last time she saw him. The scruffy look
suited him very well.

“My tattoo is fine.”

“Then why push me away?” He stepped forward again
and grinned. It was one of those smiles that probably had a lot of women dropping
their pants and underwear, turning around, and grabbing their ankles.

“Cadeon, I’m serious.
Stop.”

He stopped and took several steps back, and knitted
his brows.

“How can you come over here after what happened at
the shop—it’s only been two days—and act like I am just going to put out?” She
stared at him, expecting him to say something, but the seconds ticked by and
all he did was stare at her in return. “Don’t you think we should talk about
what in the hell happened?”

He turned away from her and ran a hand over his
short dark hair. She heard him exhale, and wondered what he was thinking about.

“You’re right. Jumping on you like that was a fucked
up thing to do.” He turned around, but he seemed really tense. “But look at
you.”

She glanced down at herself.

“You look really
hot,
and,
well…”

She glanced up at him, and then looked at his
erection that made this massive bulge against the crotch of his pants.

“I only have to look at you and I’m hard as steel.”

A tingle settled between her thighs, but she pushed
the need to go to him and let him pound the hell out of her—because the look on
his face told her that was exactly what he wanted to do to her. They needed to
talk about this.

“And we do need to talk, but when I look at you…”
When he lowered his eyes down the length of her body and brought them back up,
Stella had to force herself not to be the one to jump him. “I can’t control
myself. It may have only been two days, but Stella, fucking hell was it painful
not being with you.”

Her heart thundered in her chest. Never had anyone
spoken to her so passionately, but she could tell in his voice that he wasn’t
just talking about sex. “Me, too, but I want to talk about what happened, and
what will—”

“Happen?”

She nodded when he finished her sentence.
“Yeah.
I mean…” She sighed and looked at her feet. “I just
want to know if what you said back at the shop was true.” She forced herself to
look in his face even though she felt way out of her element right now. She had
never had a conversation like this before, had never needed to. Having sex with
Cadeon—to her at least—wasn’t just something to pass the time. Of course there
had been this voice inside of her that said he was much older, more
experienced, and that being with him didn’t mean she was in any kind of
relationship. Then there was the situation with his connection with The Vicious
Bastards, and how if something more was to come out of them having sex, how in
the hell was she supposed to tell her father and the guys? Surely they would be
overly protective, like they always were, and she really didn’t want to have to
explain herself or her feelings. But that was a necessary evil, and she just
hoped that once they knew how she felt they would respect her feelings for
Cadeon and not kick his ass. But she was jumping the gun, because first they
had to have this conversation.