Chapter 17
CHAPTER 17
B ELLE
“So, you’re the reason my cousin has been sneaking out at night.”
The voice comes from behind me, and when I turn around, I come face to face with Annika. Up close she is even more beautiful. But her icy blue eyes are hard and suspicious as she looks at me.
“I’m Belle, it’s nice to meet you.”
She offers me a closed-lip smile, but there is no warmth to it. “It’s true then? You and Beast are a thing?”
“Well, it’s so new I don’t really know how to describe what we are.”
Again she smiles. Again it lacks warmth. She’s suspicious. And I get the feeling she’ll be hard to fool.
And what will that mean for Uncle Maurice?
“You’re Beast’s cousin?” I say because I’m nervous. I don’t want to fuck this up.
She nods. “His father and my mom were brother and sister. How did you meet my cousin?”
Nervously, I think of a story, wishing Beast and I had figured this out before now. I don’t know what Beast has said about me. Until now, I had no idea he’d even mentioned me, let alone told people I’m Mya’s cousin.
We really need to get our stories straight.
With Uncle Maurice’s life on the line, I have to pull this off, and looking at the scrutiny on Annika’s face, it might be harder than I thought.
“In town,” I say vaguely.
“I thought you were Mya’s cousin.”
“Yes, I just moved here. I met Beast with Mya one night.”
“But Mya never goes to town.”
Fuck. That would’ve been handy to know.
“Yes, I met him here when I came to visit Mya.”
Her eyes narrow slightly. “But you just said you met him in town.”
Okay Inspector Annika.
I let out a shaky laugh. “I mean, I met him here briefly. Not even a real meeting really. Just one of those, hello, goodbye encounters. Then I ran into him one night in town.”
I’ve never been good at lying.
Truth is, I’ve never wanted to or had a good enough reason to. But I think I might’ve pulled it off. Although Annika seems far from finished with her interrogation.
But suddenly electricity snaps in the air around us, and the temperature in the room changes, and I can feel him before I even see him. Beast. He’s behind me. His energy eclipsing everything else in the room.
Annika smiles at him as he approaches us.
“I hope you’re playing nice, Annika,” he says with a hint of affection in his rumbly voice.
“Why start now?” she says with a mischievous grin. She kisses her cousin on the cheek, rising up on tiptoe to reach it.
“I see you’ve met Belle,” he says, his dark eyes meeting mine.
Annika’s smile dips. “I have, no thanks to you, Beast. You kept her a secret.”
Beast places a big arm around my shoulders and pulls me against his powerful body. “I wanted to keep her all to myself for a while.”
Annika is suspicious. It’s written all over her face. “Belle was just saying that she met you—where was it again?”
Yep, she’s trying to catch us out on a lie. She knows something isn’t right but can’t quite put a finger on it.
“We met in town one night.” He tightens his arm around me. “And the rest is history.”
“It’s kind of a whirlwind. One minute you’re no one and the next you’re everything,” she says, her cool gaze bouncing between the two of us. When she tilts her head, the gold ribbon woven into her elaborate shieldmaiden braided hairstyle glints in the light.
“You need to lighten up, cousin,” Beast warns her. But it’s not growly like his warnings usually are. This one has a hint of warmth. “One would think you aren’t happy for me.”
She smiles at him, and it’s soft and genuine. “I’m happy if you’re happy. You know that.”
“Good, now let me show my girl how happy I am to see her. It’s been a few hours and I need a fix.” He gives his cousin a wink. It’s a side of him I’ve never seen. It’s almost playful. Almost like he’s enjoying this.
He presses a kiss into the side of my head.
Annika gives him a playful grimace. Like she’d rather jump off a cliff than see her cousin make out with his girlfriend.
Tucked under his big arm, I look up at him and the fake affection on his face is nothing compared to the fake expression of desire. It’s dark and hot and I feel it hit every erogenous zone in my body. He looks like he’s about to devour me right here in the middle of the bar. And according to my hardening nipples, I’m here for it.
Out of nowhere, a flash of déjà vu washes over me. This place. The smell. The people. There is the same familiarity I felt on the back of Beast’s bike when I put my arms around him and rested my head against his shoulders.
It unnerves me, and I start to panic Annika will pick up on it.
But today is not that day, because she does as her cousin asks and leaves us alone.
Relieved she’s gone, I relax. I really need to up my game when I’m around her if we’re to pull this facade off without her learning the truth.
“You and Annika are close,” I say.
“We are.”
“Then why doesn’t she know about this plan like Mya does?”
“The less people who know the better. Besides, she would tell me it was a bad idea and try to talk me out of it.”
“I knew I liked her.”
He holds back an eye roll.
“I don’t think she approves,” I add, watching the icy blonde walking away. She glances over her shoulder at me, distrust in her eyes, and then looks away.
“She doesn’t trust people easily,” Beast says.
“Wise woman,” I mutter.
He drags my attention away from Annika by turning me in his arms and looking down at me with so much warmth on his face it almost feels real. But that would be insane. Still, I find myself stiffening in his arms because it feels intimate and genuine. And I don’t know why there is a part of me that wishes it was.
“Relax, this is supposed to be a party,” he grumbles.
I smile up at him brightly. “You do realize I would rather be eating a bowl of razorblades than doing this, right?”
Beast smiles back. And despite it being forced, it’s so damn beautiful, it almost knocks the wind out of me. Who knew there was such a handsome man under all the scowls and dark expressions. “And I’d rather be having brain surgery with an icepick than doing this, but here we are.”
I sigh as I continue to look at him with fake adoration, well aware that we are being watched. “I’ll happily help with that. There’s bound to be an ice pick behind the bar. Should I ask?”
He leans in closer, and his lips brush my ear, sending goosebumps across my skin. “How about we concentrate on what we already agreed on.”
The move is intimate and my smile slips. “What are you doing?”
“Getting close to you and making sure everyone sees it.”
He hoists me up and sits me on the edge of the bar. His big hands part my thighs, and he steps between them, and even though my butt is firmly planted on the bar, he’s still taller than me.
He parts my thighs even wider so he can get his big body between them, and I’m reminded that it’s been a long time since any man has been between my legs.
Beast tucks a lock of my hair behind my ear. “You need to look at me like you want me to kiss you.”
“That’s kind of hard to do when I’ve spent the last twenty-four hours wanting to put my fist in your mouth, not my tongue.”
He ignores me. “Put your arms around my neck.”
“How about my hands around your throat?”
“Later, if that’s what you’re into, princess. But right now, we need to sell this.”
He’s right. Because we’ve already attracted the attention of some of the old ladies and the club girls. Even a girl twirling on one of the poles stops to look. But his biker brothers? Clearly they don’t give a shit. None of them are paying us any mind. But I get the distinct feeling that they’re all aware of the strange girl at the end of the bar with their prez.
I wind my arms around his neck and he brings his forehead to mine.
“I’m going to kiss you,” he says, and electricity zips down my spine.
“What—"
But before I can protest, his lips are on mine, and he’s kissing me. And his kiss is warm and soft, and surprisingly gentle but still strong and commanding.
And just like that, the bar and the bikers and the club girls and everything in the world disappears, and all I am aware of is Beast’s lips devouring mine, and the deep stroke of his tongue in my mouth.
His kiss is strong, sensual, and so fucking sweet I forget myself and kiss him back.
He breaks it off and offers me another devastating smile. A smile I feel all the way down to my toes.
Our eyes meet and I see the amusement in his.
“You kiss like you actually like me,” he says.
“Because I am a great actress.”
Behind him, I see a table of six Outsiders watching us. All of them with dirty looks on their faces.
I can read their expressions.
Why you? I’m more attractive than you.
Look at what you’re wearing.
How did Beast fall for a girl with messy hair and a zit on her face?
Under their judgmental gazes, I tighten my legs around him and slide a little closer to him. Then I kiss him again and the Outsiders disappear from my mind. Beast groans against my lips, and I squeeze my legs tighter because that groan vibrates through me and hits me right between my thighs.
I kiss him deeper. Harder. And his hands slide down my waist to my hips, and his big hands wrap around my butt and yank me even closer to him.
I moan and run my hands through his hair. Lost in the kiss. Lost in the feel of those big hands on me.
He finally breaks it off and stares down at me with dark blazing eyes.
He takes me by the hand and guides me off the bar and onto my feet.
“Where are we going?”
He leans down. “I’m taking you to bed.”
My lips part, and there is a sudden roar of blood in my ears, and my heart beats so wildly I get dizzy momentarily. “Bed?”
“That’s what lovers do, Belle. And according to everyone watching us right now, we are lovers. So we’re going to give them what they expect.”
I’m about to tell him that I’m not having sex with him but remember that now is not the time to reiterate the terms of our agreement. So I plaster on another smile and let him lead me out of the room and away from the party.