Page 13 of The Biker's Forbidden Craving

“Yeah, I was excited. I had a handful of Aces. You’re messing up the game. What’s up?”

My brother stares down at me. “I’m messing up the game? You’re locked in a bedroom with my best friend. That’s weird. You don’t need to lock the door to play cards.”

“Sorry, man.” Hank stands from the bed and walks toward him, shoulders wide. “It wasn’t purposeful. We’re just keeping her mind off things while we wait for an update from the guys. You hear anything?”

“That’s what I’m here about.” He clears his throat. “You sent the guys out without my permission.”

“Do I need your permission?”

“I’m the president of the club, so I gather you do.”

“I’m the vice and it was an emergency. Anything could’ve happened tonight. You know there’s not much time after a kidnapping. Maci could be in trouble.”

Duke glances toward me with the stare of death, then drives it back toward Hank. “Anything else needs to go through me. Got it? We’re lying low. We’re not taking jobs. That was the plan.”

“Wait,” I turn toward my brother, “you’re not taking jobs right now?”

“We own a bike repair shop. That’s all that’s going on here. Don’t run your mouth all over town. You hear me?” He leans in a little as though he’s trying to intimidate me, but I’m so relaxed right now he could say just about anything and I’m pretty sure it would roll right off my shoulders.

Hank thinks otherwise.

“Okay,” Hank steps between us, his focus on Duke, “that’s enough. She’s had a rough night. We need to take it easy on her right now.”

“Now you’re her protector?” Duke shakes his head. “Thought that was my job.”

“Well, you’re not doing it lately, are you? Your head is somewhere else. I tried to get ahold of you about these bikers and this missing girl, but you weren’t answering my calls. Where were you all day?”

“Doing shit that’s none of your fuckin’ business. Don’t let me catch you locked in a room with my sister again.” Duke leans up off the door frame, heads down the hall, and out the front door again with a slam.

“This is why we can’t talk anymore. It’s a nightmare getting him to listen or understand anything. He’s not who heused to be.” I sit on the edge of the bed and stare up at Hank, who’s left the door wide open.

I want him to close it again. I want us to go back to touching each other. I want us to kiss and thrust and ride like we were. I want us to disappear into the realm we were in thirty minutes ago, and I never want to come out.

“That wasn’t the Duke I know either. Something is going on.” Hank leans down and kisses the top of my head. “You felt really good tonight, Sunny. Sorry it ended like that.”

“I don’t want you to go. Stay here with me tonight. He’s not here, and who knows when he’ll be back. He might not come back at all.”

“He’ll be back, and when he does, he’ll be checking this door.Trust me.He’s acting odd, but I know that guy cares about you. He’ll be making sure nothing is going on here.”

“Is anything going on here?” I stare up at him, desperate for his lips on mine again and again. Desperate for his warmth against my body. Desperate for whatever he’ll give me.

He kisses my head again. “How would we work that out?”

“I don’t know, but we could have fun trying.” I smile and wrap my arms around his waist, leaning my head against his stomach as I breathe him in.

“We could, and I’d love to finish what we started, but we should give it a second. You need a good night’s rest. I want to know you’re making this decision when you’re in the right headspace.”

I nod because he’s speaking responsibly, and I know how important responsible thinking is to a guy like Hank, but deep down, I want him to grab me and do dirty, filthy things again.

“I’ve gotta do some damage control with Ghost. You should lay down, and we’ll figure out the next step in the morning. Okay?”

“I’m supposed to work tomorrow morning. I have a nine to five at the record store.”

“Good.” He rubs his big hand over my cheek and pulls me up from the bed. “You should go to work. You need to keep things as normal as possible. Whoever took Maci could be looking at you too. You don’t want to draw any attention to yourself. I’ll stick around the area to keep an eye on you tomorrow and ask around to see if anyone saw anything weird tonight.” He pulls me against his chest and stares down at me. “Everything will be okay, I promise.”

His comfort is genuine and warm, and truthfully, going to work sounds kind of nice. My job is simple, but I love it. There’s something soothing about unwrapping the records and categorizing them one by one while music plays in the background.

“Sounds good. You sure you can’t stay in here tonight?” I pout my lip playfully. “What if I have a bad dream?”

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