Chapter Two

Knight

Rhea is back.

It is the only thought that swirls in my mind as I stare up at the empty window that only moments ago was occupied by a familiar redhead. The same girl I have tried hard to erase from my mind with little success.

A part of me is convinced that I just made her up, but I can still see her red hair peaking above the windowsill. She is not as hidden from sight as she might think she is, and I would chuckle if I wasn't rooted to the floor in shock. Cool air blows through the open window and over my wet body, making goosebumps pebble on my skin, but I barely notice the chill.

Rhea is back.

It annoys her when people call her Red, so I've always called her Rhea. The memory of her bright smile every time I called out her name is ingrained in my mind. It's bright and youthful, and the most beautiful smile I have ever seen on anyone. I haven't seen it for nearly a year.

She's back!

My heart hammers in tune with my pounding head. I can't get over the shock of seeing Rhea long enough to step away from the window and walk to the kitchen, where I was headed in the first place. I was on my way to grab a bottle of water after my shower when I caught sight of the girl watching me from the window next door.

She didn't notice me at first, giving me a chance to study her, and fuck, she is just as beautiful as she was when she left for college. Maybe more so.

Memories of perfect dark brown eyes shyly staring up at me crowd my mind, and suddenly it's all I can see. I remember Rhea twirling a red strand between her fingers, her voice smooth and sultry as she told me all about her dreams. She'd occasionally bite into her lips, and that would send all blood rushing down south with thoughts I had no right harboring for my best friend's little sister. Fuck, even that did not stop me from wanting her perfect body or imagining her angelic face begging me to protect her and . . . corrupt her.

It's so clear in my mind. Almost as if it happened yesterday and not so many months ago. The months between then and now were the worst of my life. Months of pretending I didn't want to board the first plane and chase after her, but I knew better than to do that.

I shake my head, cursing when I notice my cock jutting against my towel. Great, now I have a fucking hard-on for the girl. This is why I pushed her away in the first place, but now . . .

She's back.

I have no idea how long Rhea intends to stay, but I can tell it's going to be torture. Seeing how she immediately hid when I caught her watching me, I bet I am the last person she wants to see.

"Fuck!" I hiss, brushing my wet hair from my face and turning away from the window. If we're going to spend the next however many days around each other, I might as well clear the air between us. If not for my sake, then for hers.

I care about her. More than I ever have about anyone else in my life.

Men like my MC brothers and me, brought together by brotherhood and our love for riding, rarely have much of a past. We are adrenaline junkies who live in the moment, letting the future play out how it will. Most of us prefer not to foster deep connections with people outside of the club, and that's how I have lived my whole life.

Until Rhea.

When the girl came into my life, she wrecked everything. She was young and broken, and as my best friend's younger sister, I was naturally protective of her. Everyone was.

Not only is Priest my best friend, he's also our MC's president. As a result, Rhea became one of us almost immediately, and I swore to protect her with my life. But on her eighteenth birthday, when I gifted her a camera, everything changed. She'd leaned up and shyly brushed her lips over mine before confessing that she was in love with me.

Unlocking Pandora's box with a few whispered words.

An angel as precious as Rhea had no right wanting a rogue like me. She was so young, tooyoung to really know what love even is. She should have not given her first kiss to a hard, dangerous man such as myself, but she did.

And she wanted more.

More of something I couldn't give her. No matter how much I wanted to, I knew I had to push her away so she could live a little, enjoy her life without the baggage that comes along with a man like me. I just never thought my words would send her running out of reach for a nearly a full fucking year!

But she's back.

Fuck, I never had the chance to fix it before she left, but now I need to. I can't have her trying to hide from me for the entirety of her visit instead of having fun and celebrating her brother's coming engagement. I'm going to fix this.

With the thought in place, I head back into my bedroom, the water forgotten. My mind is on the girl next door as I dress in dark jeans and a black shirt, and I am out of the door in record time before I can change my mind. But all the bravado slips away, and I experience a moment of doubt when I walk up to my best friend's door.

Now that I am here, I can't bring myself to knock, because . . . what would I even say?

Hey Priest, I thought I saw someone that looks like your sister in your house, and I am here to say hi. Oh, by the way, I'm the guy who broke her heart and sent her running off to another state for almost a year. And I've regretted it ever since.

Yeah, I bet that would go over so well.

"Shit!" I curse, grabbing a fistful of my hair and tugging hard, tempted to turn around and hurry away when the door suddenly opens to reveal my best friend.

"Knight?" he says with a frown on his face. "What are you doing here?"

"It's about tonight." I blurt the first thing that comes to my mind.

"Shh," he hisses, glaring at me as he steps out and closes the door softly behind him. "We can't let Sky hear this."

Right. His girlfriend can't learn about the surprise proposal he has prepared for tonight. Is that why Rhea came back? It makes sense that Priest would call her home for this.

"I just came here to tell you that we have everything set," I say, ignoring the voice at the back of my head that calls me a coward.

I'm not exactly afraid of Priest. He and I have fought enough times growing up to know we're evenly matched. He is built like a linebacker with bulky muscles, but I am a big man too. Unlike him, though, I don't rely on just strength. I have the skills too. Fifteen years of boxing will do that. But it's not just a physical altercation that I have to worry about. Priest is the president of the Steel Order MC. His word is law, his decisions final. He could cast me out and leave me with nothing. He might be my best friend, but Rhea is his baby sister.

Still, as worried as I am about pissing of Priest, I am even more wary of the five-foot-nothing redhead with a temper to match currently hiding in his house.

She could bring me to my knees in ways no one ever has before.

"This better be a surprise. If someone dares tell her before tonight, I will break both of their legs and then ride my Harley over them."

"You've already threatened everyone in the club. We all got the message, Priest."

The man nods, opening his door to head back inside when he suddenly stops, whipping around to face me. "I almost forgot. Rhea is back." I swallow hard at the information. "It's the first time she's come home since she started college, and I want her to be comfortable and feel welcome here. I don't want her to think my relationship with Sky makes her any less important. I'm still holding out hope that she'll transfer back to Austin and come home."

My eyes shift over his broad shoulders to the small figure hiding behind a large flower vase, but I can still make her out.

"You think she might consider it?" My voice is carefully devoid of emotion, and so is my face, but I can practically hear the loud thump of my heart, and it's deafening.

"I wasn't sure she was going to show up, but she did. I'm taking that as a good sign. Can you look after her tonight? I'm going to be a bit occupied, and I don't want her to be alone—"

"I'll be fine," Rhea calls out, jumping out of her hiding spot and glaring at her brother. "I don't need a sitter."

"Eavesdropping, little sister?"

Rhea walks up to us, but I notice her eyes look anywhere but at me, and fuck if that does not sting a bit.

Look at me, sweetheart, I almost beg. The need to see her adoring eyes locked on mine comes with an intensity so strong, it shocks me, but Rhea gives me no such reprieve.

She doesn't meet my eyes even when she steps up next to her brother. "It's a good thing I was eavesdropping. You need to stop treating me like a child, Priest," she says with a pout, and all I can do is stare at her mouth.

I didn't think she could get any prettier, but the girl is a fucking blueprint of femininity. Dressed in a short black dress that highlights her perfect figure from the swell of her breasts, down to her narrow waist, and to the porcelain white of her thighs . . . I ache with the need to touch her.

All blood rushes south, and within seconds of being close to this girl again, my cock starts to fill my pants.

My heart hammers in my chest as I stare at her, and I can't help but think how easy it would be to push her against the wall, reach under her little dress, and tug down her panties. I swallow harshly as I imagine dropping to my knees and lapping at her little cunt, burying myself in her scent and taste and taking everything she offered me the last time I saw her.

I want to lose myself in her sweet scent, bury my nose in her neck as I rock my cock into her fast and hard. I would press my mouth against hers to swallow her cries. Fingers digging into her thighs, I would feed her my cock and—

"I just thought you would be more comfortable with Knight. You seemed closer to him than anyone else in the camp before you left."

My head shoots up, and I break out of my lustrous thoughts when I hear my name, and I bite back a curse. I can't believe I am having these thoughts about my best friend's sister with him standing right in front of me, but I can't help myself.

I want Rhea.

"I'll take care of her," I say hoarsely, forcing a cough to clear my voice when the siblings stare at me strangely. "I won't let Rhea out of my sight all night."

I watch in amusement as the girl narrows her eyes on me before quickly looking away. I can tell she wants to fight her brother on this, but by doing so, she'll have to reveal why she doesn't want me around her. I can see in her eyes that she doesn't want him to find out what happened between us, which only makes me want to clear the air between us even more.

"How about we go for a walk, Rhea?" I offer, and her eyes flash at my words. "We can catch up before tonight."

It's an olive branch, and she takes it. Albeit, unwillingly.

"Fine, I'll grab my shoes," she says petulantly, turning around to head back inside. "I was getting tired of listening to Priest and Sky giggle like schoolgirls anyway."

"Hey!" Priest protests, but she's already disappeared. She reappears a few minutes later with her shoes and joins me on the porch. We start down the small path that leads to the woods behind our houses, hoping for more privacy to chat.

Rhea has her guard up; I can feel it, and I am determined to break it down.

"So, how's college?" I ask lamely, in an attempt to make small talk with the ice queen walking next to me.

"Good."

"Have you made any friends?"

"Tons."

"Any . . . boyfriends?"

A beat passes and then another, the sound of our shoes on the dirt path so loud it claws at my insides.

"I've dated," she says, her words threatening to send me to my knees, but I have no right to react in any way. Rhea is not mine. I made sure of that.

"How about now? Seeing anyone?" I push down the thick lump in my throat and force the words out.

"Actually, yes. He is a nice guy from California. He wanted to join me for this trip, but he has a part time job and couldn't get off work."

I clench my fists and force my expression to remain blank as we walk down the path and into the trees. "Does he treat you well?"

"Like a princess," she says, her confirmation tearing at my heart. "He takes me on romantic dates, holds my hand on campus, and he tells anyone who'll listen that he's going to marry me when we graduate. I've even met his parents, and they are lovely people—"

Her words are cut off when I grab her arm and turn her around so she's facing me, my body burning with jealousy. The need to find this pathetic little college boy and break him into pieces for touching what's mine is so strong, it's practically choking me.

Fuck that!

Rhea is mine.

So maybe I told her to go off to college and live a little. I wanted her to make friends like she never could in her childhood, live a life free of her neglectful parents, and have a normal eighteen-year-old life. Not date some fucking kid from California. I bet he's one of those blond beach guys with fake tan lines and white, plastic teeth, wasting their daddy's money away in frat parties and sleeping with anything walking around in a skirt.

Rhea needs a man, Goddamnit!

"What's his name?" I demand, the possessiveness in my voice taking even me by surprise, but I don't try to hide it.

I have done enough hiding already.

It's time I claimed my girl. Damn everything else. Rhea is mine.

Mine!