Raw: The Ultimate Mc Collection (64 page)

“Y-yes.”  Todd’s eyes flashed in my mind for a second, and I quickly pushed him to the back of my mind.  The last thing I wanted to do was think about Todd when this delicious man was standing in front of me.

“Well, would you like to go out with me tomorrow night for a very uncomplicated drink?”

Did he just ask me on a date?! 

His question caught me off guard, and before I had a chance to answer, Rosie came bounding down the hallway.

“I’m ready, Daddy!”  she yelled, joining us on the balcony.

“Excellent, sweetheart.  Your helmet is on the bike.  Go on down, and I’ll be there in two seconds.”

“Okay!”  Rosie ran over to me, her hug against my knees strong and lingering.

“Rosie,” I said, leaning down and looking in her eyes.  “You did great today, sweetheart!  I’m really proud of you.”

Her face lit up, reminding me of why I had become a teacher in the first place.

“Thank you, Ms. Daisy!”  She hugged me again, turned and ran out the door, the sound of her footsteps echoing behind her.

I turned back to Mike, and caught him staring at me intently again.

“So?” he asked.

“So, what?”

“Let’s go out.  Just us.  I’ll have Reaper watch Rosie, and we can go out and have a drink.”

“I - um - I don’t know —,” I stammered, all the while my heart was screaming at me to accept.  

“Say yes.”  He said it so simply, so quietly, just two little words, but the look in his eyes told me he wouldn’t take no for an answer.  His strong, silent confidence was intoxicating, and I felt dizzy when I looked back at him, his interest and intention clearly displayed there and directed right at me.

“Yes.” I whispered breathlessly. 

I swallowed as he leaned in close to me, the same way he had the last two times before he left.

I inhaled him this time, wanting to commit his smell to memory, as well.  I wanted the most vivid memories of this man I could create, and as I breathed him in, his face and lips and hair so close I could lick them if I leaned into him slightly, I closed my eyes and burned this moment into my brain.

“Daisy,” he said, after pulling away slightly.  Only I didn’t realize he pulled away, and I stood there with my eyes closed and my nostrils flaring like a crazy woman.

I jumped and opened my eyes, feeling flushed with embarrassment.  

But then, in the way that only he could, he made time stop all around us.  His hand reached out, warmly cradling my jaw, his thumb rubbing my cheek sensuously as he looked deeply into my eyes.

“I’ll pick you up tomorrow at eight, okay darlin’?”  His voice was deep and thick with desire and I could do nothing but nod in silent agreement as his eyes darkened and he pulled away suddenly.

I thought for half a second there that he was going to kiss me.  I wanted him to kiss me.  My lips were yearning to be kissed by him, as much as I knew it was all a bad idea, and yet it was all so uncontrollable and happening so quickly, that I felt the only thing I could do was watch and hold on for the ride.  

But he pulled away like he was on fire.

As I watched him quickly walk away and out of my apartment like he couldn’t get out fast enough, my heart sank.  

What the hell had just happened?  I had a date, apparently.  With a man that I couldn’t stop thinking about, a man that made me feel like a woman again, a man that had somehow planted some tiny seed of hope in my soul that I could maybe have a whole life again, and yet he was the same man that had apparently just decided that kissing me was a bad idea.

Lovely.  Just fucking lovely.

I heard the click of my front door close as I stood on the balcony, and waited until I heard the two of them roar away on his bike before walking back in and throwing myself across my bed in frustration.

CHAPTER NINE

MIKE

“Come on, old boy.”  I put lil’ Mike’s leash on him, and we walked down the steps of our porch to go out for a walk the next morning.

Now that yesterday was behind me, now that I had washed every trace of Kelly off of my body, I could go about the business of starting a new day, and pretending yesterday didn’t happen.

At least most of it.  I did have a date with Daisy tonight, and as far as I was concerned that was the only thing good that came out of yesterday.

When I saw the hurt in her eyes when I pulled away from her, I felt like an asshole.  I had almost kissed her.  When I saw her looking up at me, the sunlight steaming through her blonde hair, her flowing dress swaying in the breeze, I was mesmerized by her beauty and sweetness.  

I wanted to taste her, to kiss her, to sink into her - hell, I just wanted to touch her!

She had a way of making the world around us melt away when I looked at her, and outside of a whole lot of whiskey and a very long ride on my bike, or spending some quality time with Rosie, there wasn’t much in my life that allowed me to turn everything off.

But Daisy did.  She made me want to throw her on the back of my bike, and ride far, far away from the outlaw life.  

I hardly knew her, but she made me want to forget everything terrible in the world.

And she certainly made me want to kiss her.

And I almost had.  Until I remembered.  

Kelly.  

I had just come from Kelly’s office, and I had submitted to her ridiculous demands - going down on her until she was satisfied and then pounding into her with rage until she was reduced to a quivering pile of evil on her desk. 

When I got to Daisy’s, I still smelled like her.  I could still taste her on my lips.

I wasn’t about to press those very lips against Daisy’s beautiful, pure, innocent mouth.

I was glad I had remembered before I was overtaken by desire for her, because as bad as I felt about having to fuck Kelly, I would have felt a whole lot worse if I had made the mistake of kissing Daisy in that moment.

No, Daisy deserved better.

Hell, I deserved better. I spent many nights staring up at the ceiling, in complete disbelief that I was the one in this situation.  I was the president of the Gypsy Riders — I wasn’t supposed to be forced into any situation I didn’t approve of or create myself.  And yet here I was.  Stuck.  

At first, it was easy to just fuck her quickly, leave and forget about it.  I dealt with it like I did all club business.  Do the business necessary, leave, and move on.   And it wasn’t too hard at all.

But now?  Now that I met Daisy, now that all I could think about was finding a way to fit Daisy into my life, it all seemed so wrong and inappropriate.

I would have loved to have someone to talk to about it, Reaper perhaps, or even Sandman, hell, he was the one I was protecting in this situation, but I couldn’t tell them.  Not yet anyway.  Not till I found a way out of it.

I walked around a few blocks with lil’ Mike sniffing intensely at something new and exciting every two feet.  Walking him took forever, as he waddled along, snorting and sniffing and making his way as excruciatingly slowly as he could through life.  

Sometimes I wished the brothers had given us a dog that was a little more athletic, a little quicker on his feet, a lab, maybe.  But I looked down at him, and my heart filled with love for the little bastard, and I smiled.  He had it easy, and I wondered if he even knew it sometimes.  Laying around all day while people rubbed you and fed you seemed like a pretty good life.  Nobody made any demands on him, and that was the thing I envied the most.

It seemed like somebody always wanted something from me.

When we finally made it back home, I noticed a man I didn’t recognize sitting in a black car across the street.  He looked like a cop, but he was dressed in regular clothes, as far as I could tell.  I felt his eyes on me, and I turned to meet his gaze.  I was certain I had never seen him before.  He looked away after a short moment, and turned his attention down the street behind me.

The outlaw life made you constantly on guard, and while his actions were innocent, there was something about him that didn’t feel right.

I put lil’ Mike in the house, collected my gear, and locked up.  He was still there when I got on my bike and drove off.  When I reached the stop sign on the corner, I hesitated briefly to see if he would follow me, and sure enough, he pulled out of his parking space slowly as I turned right onto the main street, into heavy traffic.

I drove a few miles, watching him follow me in my mirror.  I wove through traffic a bit, and then turned right, the opposite direction from the clubhouse, to see if he would follow.  He did, even cutting into two lanes of traffic to be able to turn after me. 

I pulled into the grocery store parking lot a few blocks up and cut off my bike.  Discreetly watching in my rearview mirror, I sat on my bike a moment, instead of getting off right away.  I pulled my cell phone from the inside pocket of my cut, and pretended to text while I watched his car pull into a parking spot a few aisles away.

He watched me for a moment before getting out of his car and going into the grocery store.  He wore khaki cargo shorts, hiking boots and a white polo shirt.  He had a cop haircut, his brown hair cropped short and close to his head.  He looked over at me a few times as he walked across the parking lot, but he saw I was watching him, and he quickly looked away each time before disappearing into the store.

I sat there a few minutes, but he didn’t come back out right away.

It was obvious he was following me, and he obviously knew where I lived.  I wasn’t about to make it easy for him, though.  I started up my bike again and made my way to the clubhouse.  If he wanted to keep following me, he would have to find me again.

When I reached the clubhouse, I sought out Reaper, who was in his usual place behind the bar with a bottle of whiskey in his hand.

“Hey buddy, how’s it going today?”  

“It’s slow and quiet around here today, boss,” he replied, pouring me a shot without asking.

“Hey, I was wondering if you could watch Rosie tonight for a few hours?”  I asked.

“Tonight? Yeah, sure of course.  What’s the occasion?” he asked curiously.

“I thought I’d go get a drink,” I replied, knowing he was going to push for more information than that, and of course he did.

“A drink?  You’ve got a whole clubhouse full of liquor, boss.”

“Yeah, I know.”  Oh, what the hell.  Why was I being mysterious?  He was my best friend.  “I have a date.”

He whooped so loudly, I almost fell off my chair.

“Aw, fuck, stop that shit,” I said.  “It’s just a drink.”

“Well, it may just be a drink, but you haven’t been on a date in seven years!” 

“Yeah, I’m fully aware of that, thanks,” I said sarcastically.

“Well, who’s the lucky girl?” he asked.

“Rosie’s teacher.”

His eyes bugged out and he stared at me.

“The hot Ms. Daisy?  Holy shit!”  he said, nodding his head up and down, his unruly curls swinging around his face.

“Shut up. Sure, she’s hot, but she’s also….I don’t know…sweet.”

“Sweet!” he spat out the whiskey he just poured into his mouth. “Yeah, and I bet she tastes real sweet, too, boss!”

“Shut up!”  I was regretting saying anything at all, but he was the only person I trusted to watch Rosie.  My parents had died a long time ago in a car accident, and Rose’s parents lived in New York and while they came to visit every now and then, they were not a regular fixture in her life.  I think it was hard for them to look at Rosie and see Rose in her eyes.  

His cackles followed me down the hallway as I retreated to the privacy of my office.  But, then I remembered the guy following me and I walked back out to Reaper.  Sandman had joined him, and they were talking quietly and laughing together, no doubt about my upcoming date.

“Hey guys.  Have you seen a black sedan hanging around outside at all?  One guy in it — short brown hair, looks like a cop, but isn’t dressed like one?”

They shook their heads.

“No, boss.  Ain’t seen nothing like that,” Sandman replied.

“Me, neither,” Reaper said.  “Why?”