Page 12 of Naughty and Nice

Willow speared a sprout and popped it into her mouth. “Strange, I know, but I do love these.” She ate another one and he watched her eat.

This wasn’t just sex. He could attempt to pretend all he wanted, but it wasn’t. This was something more, and he didn’t know what the fuck to do with that.

Rebel wasn’t a man who did relationships, but for the last year, he knew in his mind he’d been courting this woman.

Friday had become his favorite day of the week and it was all because of her.

****

Willow wanted to do a victory dance because he liked her food. At least, he liked one dish, but that was a start. She loved cooking for him, and even though she wanted to have this small success, she knew she needed to nip this in the bud.

“I see you love Christmas,” Rebel said.

She lifted her head, looking at him. “Yeah, I love Christmas.”

It was kind of hard to ignore. She had put the Christmas tree downstairs in the bar on the day after Thanksgiving. There wasn’t just a tree, though, she had put decorations all around the room, and it had taken her a couple of days to complete. There were fairy lights as well, and she had even found some stickers she could place in the windows so anyone who stopped by would feel the holidays. Her father had loved the holidays, and even though he’d been a dick many times throughout the year, at Christmas into New Year he always tried.

Willow pushed those memories from her mind, because she hated the guilt that came with it. Her father had tried, and she would find herself hoping that the next year would be different. It never was. After New Year, it didn’t even take twenty-four hours for him to fall back into his old ways, and she went to being nothing.

“Do you … love Christmas?”

“As it happens, I do. I’ve always been a sucker for it, even as a kid.” Rebel shrugged. “I loved the lights and the bright colors. I know, crazy as fuck, huh?”

“Did your parents love it?” she asked.

“Didn’t have any parents, babe. Spent a lot of my time in and out of juvie, and then on the streets.”

“Oh.”

“Still didn’t stop me from loving Christmas. It’s good.”

Her father had gotten arrested a few times and she had to go and bail him out. One of the cops had known their situation and was more than happy to pretend she was of age. Her father never actually did anything wrong, he was just a drunk. There was one time she hadn’t been able to bail him out because she didn’t have the money. It was then her father opened a bank account for her and started to transfer funds into it. When she left, Willow hadn’t taken the card with her. She had opened a new account and started life afresh.

Returning home, she had found the old account, and when she went to check the funds, she’d been surprised to see that her father had still been transferring money into that account, and it had accumulated. She used it to change the living quarters above the bar. Bill had upgraded the building’s security system, so she didn’t have to worry about that.

Willow had no idea what kind of life Rebel had. She thought about his leather cut. He was a member of an MC. She didn’t know all the rules around clubs or much about his. She had done some research this past year, but it didn’t matter what she read. None of it seemed to match Rebel.

“Is that why you joined an MC?” Willow asked.

“I was wondering when you were going to start asking me about my club. Not going to lie, I figured it would be much sooner than now.”

“You … don’t bring them to the bar.”

“The boys know to keep their distance for now.”

“Why?” she asked.

“Didn’t want to scare you and I didn’t join the club, babe. I started it.”

“You started your club?”

“Yep.” He finished off his food and sat back. Willow got a little distracted by his body on display. She tried to bring her thoughts back to his club, and not imagining his body all over hers.

“How?”

Rebel shrugged. “There was me, a bunch of guys that I had started to hang around with, and it developed from there. We got a bit of a reputation, and it seemed only right to put a name to that, so we did.”

“Rebel MC.” She smiled. “It’s named after you.”

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