Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 82411 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 412(@200wpm)___ 330(@250wpm)___ 275(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82411 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 412(@200wpm)___ 330(@250wpm)___ 275(@300wpm)
The SUVs that have tagged along now make sense after watching the guys load the toys we acquire into the back of them. It only takes four stops to fill one up, and I make a mental note to ask Misty if the club wraps them. There are few things in life I’ve loved for years because I grow bored so easily, but wrapping gifts thrills me. I would always volunteer at the community Christmas party to wrap gifts because the alternative would be buying tons of gifts to give, and that would never fit into my budget.
I have a hard time maintaining my smile when I realize that Christmas is still a couple months away. There’s literally no chance I will still have this connection to the club, so helping wrap any of these gifts isn’t going to happen.
“Kincaid told us that they used to do one a year, but there’s such a need in the community, they discovered that doing a couple of these runs over the months leading up to the holidays have brought in more toys. People can spread out their charity rather than having to do it all at once,” Derrick explains when I ask him for more details. “We’re about halfway done. I think there are six more stops, but the last three are together.”
“I’ll be honest, I was terrified, but now I’m a little sad it’s going to be over so soon,” I confess.
“We can go for a ride anytime you like,” he promises. “Hell, there are a few—ah shit.”
I turn my head, looking over my shoulder to see what changed his focus.
That vibration of excitement changes into something totally different when I see a woman approaching with a huge smile on her face.
“Oracle,” she says, paying no attention to me whatsoever.
“Penny,” he grumbles. Just the tone of his voice tells me that he knows more about this woman than her first name.
I swallow down emotions I have no business feeling.
“This is Beth,” he says in introduction. “My wife.”
The woman laughs, clearly not believing his words, but her eyes still dart down to our clasped hands. He’s wearing gloves, and I hate that his ring is covered, but the glint of interest still in her eyes tells me the ring doesn’t make a single damn difference to this woman.
“That’s… surprising,” she says, her eyes going back to Derrick. “I’d love to join.”
My eyes widen as I glare at her. Did she seriously just say that?
Maybe there are more similarities between Cerberus and those bad biker gangs on television than I wanted to think.
“No thank you,” he says, turning all of his attention back to me.
It takes a few beats for Penny to realize she has been dismissed, but he keeps his eyes on me the entire time.
“Careful, Romeo,” I tease. “You might burn bridges you’re going to wish were still intact once this dwindles.”
His jaw flexes twice before he answers, as if he’s trying to figure out the right thing to say. I hate that he feels as if he needs to filter his words with me, but there’s also a very good chance I wouldn’t like what he had to say.
“I’d never be interested in a woman who wanted to get tangled up with a married man.”
He doesn’t hint that he doesn’t want other women, just that he has no interest in that particular one. I’ll have to take it as a win for today. Now would be a great time to mention the plans for divorce, but I can’t seem to open my mouth and set a match to that incendiary conversation.
He doesn’t say a word about it either.
I could also mention my desire to find my own place, but that will lead to a conversation I don’t think would be best had when all of his friends and teammates are around. So when Kincaid announces the next address, I clamp my mouth closed. I wrap my arms around him when he climbs on the bike and I vow to have the best time of my life for as long as I can, because at some point, it will all come crashing down around our feet.
Chapter 17
Oracle
I swear every single mile with her at my back was nothing but foreplay. At least that’s what my head convinced me it was. Every squeeze tighter of her arms around me, every time she shifted her weight and pressed against my back, would be equivalent to her stroking my cock.
I have no doubt there’s a damn zipper print up the underside of my dick from it pressing against my erection all damn day. Several of the guys had to have known how tuned up I was with the number of times they looked my way and chuckled before shaking their heads and walking off.
I’ve literally never had a woman on the back of my bike, so as much as I want to tell myself it was more Beth than the physical friction, I don’t have history to pull from to prove it.