Chapter 8

8

LORELEI

“ G ood news.” Grey swiveled in his chair to beam a grin at me. “Just got a message from Mac. The threat from Bickle has been neutralized. Karina is safe.”

I probably should’ve been more excited to know that the danger had passed for my best friend, but I’d enjoyed the past few days I’d spent in a bubble of privacy with Grey, splitting our time between his hacker cave and bed. The only downside had been that I wasn’t able to talk to Karina, and I only had the few things I’d taken to Aspen with me. Although Grey had more than taken care of that issue by ordering enough girly stuff to last me a lifetime.

“Does that mean I get my cell back and can finally call her?”

“Yup.” He yanked open a drawer to his left, pulled out my phone, and tossed it to me.

I turned the device on and wasn’t surprised to find very few missed notifications. My parents were on a two-week European cruise for the holidays, so they’d just sent my brother and me a text on Christmas morning when they were in the port at Zürich, Switzerland, for a day of sightseeing. Lee hadn’t bothered replying to that one, but he’d sent me a separate message to wish me a Merry Christmas and another telling me to be safe on the slopes. And Karina had replied to my text later that same night, promising to fill me in on all the details once the dust settled and apologizing for our trip being ruined by her dad’s mess.

I fired off a quick message to my brother to let him know I’d survived the slopes without mentioning everything else that had gone down. What Lee didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him, and he definitely didn’t need to know that I’d only been in Aspen for a couple of days before my sexy biker had basically kidnapped me. Although, at some point, I hoped my two favorite men would get the chance to meet since my feelings for Grey had already deepened to the point where I couldn’t imagine my life without him in it.

Jumping out of my chair, I padded over to kiss him quickly. Except it went on much longer than I’d planned because Grey had other ideas. When I went to pull away, his hand wrapped around the back of my head so he could hold me in place while his mouth devoured mine. Our tongues tangled, and his lips were demanding.

I was seriously considering climbing onto his lap and riding him to orgasm when he ripped his mouth from mine and growled, “You better get that call in if you want it to happen anytime today. If not, you’re gonna find yourself flat on your back with my cock so deep inside your pussy, you won’t remember that anyone else exists but me.”

When he put it like that, talking to Karina right now didn’t seem quite so important. My thoughts must’ve been obvious because he set me away from him with a raspy laugh. “Call your friend, baby. I know how worried you’ve been about her.”

“You’re right.” I heaved a deep sigh as I took a step back and winked at him. “You need to be careful with those kisses. They can make a girl lose her train of thought.”

“Don’t need to worry about that since I’m not giving them to just any girl. Only you.” He stretched out his legs as he smirked at me. “And I don’t mind pointing you in the right direction after I’ve scrambled your brain with the power of my kisses.”

We hadn’t really talked about the future, but when he said stuff like that about me being the only one for him, I couldn’t help but hope that he wanted our relationship to continue even though the danger had passed. Something I was anxious to talk to my best friend about.

Beaming a grin back at him, I murmured, “Seems only fair since you’re the one who makes me forget where I am and what I’m doing.”

His satisfied chuckle trailed after me as I headed upstairs to call Karina, leaving him to do his thing on his computer. It rang five times, and I was starting to think I was going to have to leave a message when she finally answered. “Lorelei! I am so sorry. I know you were looking forward to spending Christmas with my mom and me since your parents bailed this year. I hate that my dad’s mess made your holiday even worse.”

Thinking about how I spent part of my Christmas Day with Grey, I giggled. “I wouldn’t describe it like that at all.”

“Oh my gosh,” she squealed. “Please tell me that your kidnapping turned out like the rest that’ve happened with Silver Saints old ladies and now you’re madly in love with Grey.”

My brows drew together at how casually she mentioned kidnapping, but I made a mental note to ask her about it later. Grey was bound to come upstairs to check on me sooner than later, and I didn’t want him to overhear me gossiping about our relationship. “Yeah, you can definitely say that. I know it hasn’t even been a week, and my mom would say that my feelings are heightened because of the unusual situation. But none of that matters to my heart.”

“Aw, don’t worry about how fast it happened. Nobody who matters will blame you for falling so quickly when Grey’s such a hottie.” I heard a deep voice in the background and wondered if she’d spent the past several days falling for a sexy biker of her own. Then her laughter drifted through the line, and my curiosity was satisfied when she said, “That’s why I said it, to get a rise out of you. I just didn’t think it would be that kind of rise so soon after…you know…”

“Damn straight.” The masculine voice was close enough for me to hear him clearly this time. “You’re still naked, baby.”

“Shh, Lorelei can hear you,” she hissed, making me laugh.

“I’m not the one who let your best friend know that we just finished fu?—”

His words were muffled, but I had more than a good idea what he’d been saying. My worry over how Karina dealt with everything she’d found out about her dad disappeared at hearing her banter with Cash. Or at least that was who I assumed she was talking to. A minute later, after he promised to give her some time to catch up with me, I was able to confirm. “Was that Cash? Did you fall for your own sexy biker?”

“I did,” she confirmed.

I padded into Grey’s bedroom and flopped onto the mattress to stare up at the ceiling. “Gah! I can’t believe we’ve only been apart for like four days and so much has happened.”

We filled each other in on the new men in our lives, laughing over how similar they acted with us. My eyes widened when she said, “I swear, there must be something in the water here at the compound. All the guys are the same with their women.”

“It’s so hard for me to picture you living in a motorcycle club.” I shook my head with a laugh. “Your dad must’ve freaked out when he realized he basically handed you over to a biker on a silver platter.”

“Not just me, Kiara too.” Hearing her talk about the sister she’d just discovered she had was so weird. “But it wasn’t as though he could really say anything after what he did. To us, and even worse, to Rom. My dad was willing to send him to prison for a crime he didn’t commit.”

“Yeah, that would definitely make it hard for him to try to tell you what to do.”

“Unfortunately for you, I don’t see your mom biting her tongue when it comes to you and Grey.” She laughed so hard she snorted. “I can’t even picture her stepping one of her Louboutin-clad feet inside the clubhouse.”

“Neither can I,” I murmured. “Not that she’s likely to notice what’s going on in my life when she rarely does. Or that she’d even ever have a reason to visit me in a place I might never be.”

“Might never be?” she echoed. “Whatever. I’m sure your butt will be here as often as mine will since the guys spend a lot of time at the clubhouse.”

I pressed my nose into Grey’s pillow to pull his scent into my lungs. “But it’s different with us. He hasn’t given me a vest like Cash did with you, so it’s not as though I’m officially his or anything like that.”

“Yeah, but we’ve been at the compound while you’ve stayed at his place. Maybe he just hasn’t had the chance to get yours from Mac yet,” she suggested.

I wanted to believe she was right, but I couldn’t help but worry that Grey hadn’t taken that step with me because he wasn’t really thinking long-term, no matter what he’d said in the heat of the moment.

“Yeah, well, now that the danger has passed, I should probably pack up the stuff he bought me so I can head home.”

“Good luck with that.” Her laughter was so loud that I had to move the phone away from my ear. And it went on so long that I finally just hung up. Then I crawled off the mattress and went into the closet to shove my new clothes into the bags they’d been in when they arrived on Grey’s doorstep.

I was so focused on my task that I didn’t hear him come up behind me until he growled, “What in the hell do you think you’re doing?”