Page 12 of Fearless
I’ve wanted women, but not like this. I never continued to want them once they were well and truly mine.
“Just be careful,” I told her, hitting the button to open the garage door. “Don’t want you burning those legs on hot metal.” I grabbed one of Noelle’s helmets off the shelf and handed it to her.
“Where’s your helmet?” she asked, securing the strap under her chin.
“Inside my head,” I smirked at her. “It’s called my skull.”
“Rory,” she whined. “Don’t play like that. I’ve seen what head injuries can do, and it’s not pretty.”
“Relax, sugar.” I approached my vintage Triumph Bonneville and stuck the key in the ignition. It wasn’t my favorite bike, but it was one of the best for carrying passengers comfortably. “To keep you safe, I need to be in top shape. Trust me,” I turned the key and the engine roared to life, “I know what I’m doing.”
Her eyes narrowed at me through the helmet visor, but she didn’t argue. “Where are we going?”
“You’ll see.”
“Kidnapping me again?” she teased, grabbing the edges of my cut.
“I’m glad you see my daring rescue of you as such a lighthearted joke now.” I leaned in and kissed the bridge of her nose, the one part of her face I could reach through the helmet. It felt like an eternity since I rode off from the Old Phoenix service center with a bound, frightened medic in tow.
Mari’s eyes darkened at my mention of her kidnapping-slash-rescue. “I hope the other girls back there are okay,” she mused softly. “Especially Gretchen.”
“The ones exploiting them are dead,” I reminded her. “Those girls can take that building, those supplies, and turn it into whatever they want. We warned other MCs of Tom’s untrustworthiness, so no one will be coming around there any time soon.”
She nodded, still looking off in thought when I shut the visor down over her eyes. “Hop on, sugar. It’s about an hour’s ride.”
I sat astride the bike and felt her climb on behind me. Sure enough, bare legs pressed against the back of my thighs. My pants grew uncomfortably tight at the thought of no barrier between me and her spread open center, except for her panties. Only God knew if I’d be able to hold off from pulling over and fucking her right on this seat before we reached our destination. Her hands sliding under my cut, caressing over my abs and chest through the thin material of my shirt, did nothing to help my resolve.
And we hadn’t even left the garage yet. Fuck.
I wet my lips with my tongue and let out a loud, high pitched whistle. Hades howled a reply and immediately ran from where he waited on the front porch out to the street, heading straight for the gate.
“Hold on,” I yelled to Mari over the engine as I hit the throttle.
She tightened around me at every point of contact—legs, arms, and chest against my back. How Jandro and Gunner were able to concentrate with her holding onto them like this, I had no fucking clue.
We peeled out of the garage like a bat out of hell, following after my dog running on all fours. The guard at the gate waved as we passed through, leaving behind the safety of our home into a world constantly at its own throat.
My body remained rigid even as we hit the open road at a comfortable cruising speed. Only Mari’s hands smoothing over my chest again relaxed me a little. I couldn’t let myself kick back completely, because I wasn’t just taking her to any place.
Today, I was showing the woman I loved what I’d never shown anyone.
My past.
“Oh my God, Reaper!”Mari hopped off my bike and fiddled with the helmet before I even came to a complete stop. Normally I would’ve chewed her ass out for being unsafe, but her enthusiasm was so fucking cute, I could only smile.
“Ever been here before?” I asked, shutting off the engine.
“Never! Is this really…?”
“The Grand Canyon,” I finished for her. “This lookout used to be called Yavapai Point.”
I’d seen it hundreds of times. The vastness of the canyon stretching out like it went on forever, the stripes of color on the jagged rock formations, the sheer size of everything making you feel like an ant on an edge of the world. And it never ceased to amaze me.
While Mari remained entranced with the view, I got to setting up our picnic. A tree offered shade from the sun, so I spread the blanket underneath it. From the other saddlebags, I grabbed our other essentials—aged cheese, olives, grapes, homemade crusty bread, and a bottle of wine.
She turned around just as I spread everything out on the blanket and lowered to the ground. “What is this?” Her eyes widened at the sight of the containers.
“It’s food.” I popped an olive into my mouth. “And me.”
