Chapter 19
CHAPTER 19
B EAST
The first thing I’m aware of is the infinite warmth wrapped around my body and the satiny feel of soft hair across my chest.
The second thing is my raging boner.
But it’s not a typical morning boner. Not one born out of hormones and sleep and a full bladder all working together to make me hard. No, this one is because I’m horny as fuck.
Which is not good.
Because I might have the commitment of a monk but having Belle curled against me like this has my body screaming for something more. She’s so soft and warm, and she smells like sunshine and spring flowers and… fuck .
My heart starts to pound, and my cock swells even harder. I need to get out of this fucking bed.
Careful not to wake her, I slip out from under her lush body and visit the bathroom to take care of the throbbing in my balls and the insanity in my mind.
With one hand pressed against the shower tiles and the other wrapped around my cock, it doesn’t take me long to come. I try to keep my mind free from anything to do with Belle, but when the release hits me, I have to bite down on my bottom lip to stop from groaning her name.
Goddammit.
I don’t need to be entertaining thoughts of her moaning and writhing beneath me. I need to keep her at arm’s length so I don’t get distracted by her. I need to keep focused on the club and what’s happening with the synthetic phantasia.
But now that I know how warm and soft she is, and how she whimpers when she dreams—yeah, I woke up to that fresh hell in the middle of the night and it damn near killed me—forgetting how desirable she is a goddamn impossibility.
But I will fight it.
Even if it fucking kills me.
After washing up, I put on a pair of jeans and return to the bedroom to find Belle sitting up in bed, her long blonde hair cascading over her shoulders. Her big blue eyes are sleepy and her face is soft and rumpled.
She yawns, but when she hears me walk into the room her back straightens and all her walls shoot up again.
“Good morning, bike gangster,” she says, resentment hanging off every word.
She tightens the sheet around her chest and makes sure I notice.
“Good morning,” I say, the words unfamiliar on my lips. It’s been so long since I’ve had a woman in my bed, I’m not quite sure what to do. I glance at the clock. “Housekeeping will be up with breakfast soon.”
Last night, before attending the party, I had arranged for someone to bring us breakfast this morning. Someone who likes to gossip.
“Good, because I’m famished,” she says, her gaze raking over my shirtless torso. “All this relationship fakery is working up my appetite. Being your fake girlfriend is exhausting.”
“A simple thank you would suffice.”
“You’re right. I suppose it was uncharacteristically considerate of you to organize breakfast for us.”
Being considerate has nothing to do with it. It’s part of the plan. The club need to see Belle with me. They need to make their assumptions. Gossip spreads like wildfire through these halls. Housekeeping. The club girls. The old ladies. They will all know about Belle being in my bed before the morning is done.
“But before they get here, we’re gonna need to get you out of those clothes,” I say, walking to the bed.
Her eyes widen. “What do you mean?”
“Housekeeping are wicked gossips. They feed the castle grapevine. People are already curious about you. Now that you’ve spent the night in my room they will want to know more. They’ll think we’ve been fucking like crazy, and we want them to. But if one of the girls comes in and you’re still wearing the clothes from last night then someone’s gonna add one plus one and come up with five.”
“So you want me to take my clothes off?”
“Out of necessity.”
She huffs out a breath and reluctantly starts to remove her T-shirt. “You know, a bit of privacy would be nice,” she says.
“Like the privacy you gave me when I walked in from the shower last night?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You couldn’t drag your eyes off me.”
Her cheeks turn pink. “That is not true.”
“It’s fine by me, little one.” I let some heat into my voice. “I like you watching.”
The sudden shift in temperature makes her uncomfortable and she struggles to swallow.
I shouldn’t like it. But I do. The way she doesn’t know where to look. How she licks her lips nervously.
Goddamn, I want to ruin those lips until they’re raw.
She clears her throat. “A gentleman would look away.”
Our eyes meet. “I’m no gentleman.”
She lifts her chin. “No, I can see that.”
For a moment we stare at each other. Then a darkness sweeps through her expression and I see the determination shining in her eyes. A determination to make this hard on me.
She sharpens her gaze on me. “Fine.”
She pulls the T-shirt over her head, her eyes coming back to me as she undoes her bra and lets it slide off, leaving her beautiful breasts naked and exposed.
Goddamn me to hell.
Her breasts are fucking perfect.
Creamy and smooth. With soft pink nipples just aching to be sucked and licked.
My cock hardens despite me making myself come only minutes ago.
She lifts an eyebrow. “Okay, enough with the perving, you better get over here and make this look authentic.”
Seeing Belle’s beautiful tits was not on my bingo card today, and my lips ache to taste those delectable nipples and feel them harden to tight peaks in my mouth.
Fuck.
This is going to be fucking torture.
At least she’s being more agreeable and not fighting me for once.
Clearing my throat, I slide into the bed beside her and sit up against the pillows, pulling the covers over my jeans so it looks like I’m naked in bed.
“Now what?” she asks, only now wrapping the sheet around her chest.
“Now we sell the fact we’ve been fucking hard all night.”
She cocks an eyebrow. “And how do you suggest we do that?”
“You look too rested to sell it.”
“Which is a surprise considering I spent most of the night awake and thinking of ways to murder you in your sleep while making it look like an accident. I’m exhausted from all the possibilities.”
As much as my expression says otherwise, I enjoy Belle’s smart mouth. Every time she fights me, I enjoy the thought of punishing her.
I indicate to the large space between us. Any further away from me and she’d fall off the bed. “You’re gonna need to come closer.”
Begrudgingly, she obliges.
But it’s not quite close enough.
“Closer,” I say.
She inches nearer.
“Closer…”
Another inch. Her big blue eyes are defiant until I reach for her and drag her over to me.
“You animal,” she protests.
I chuckle because her mouth is fighting me. But her body isn’t. She settles in beside me and entangles her legs through mine.
“How’s this?” she asks.
“Good but…” I cup her jaw with my hand and claim her lips with mine, driving my tongue in. I kiss her hard and deep and at first she is stiff and unresponsive. But then she softens in my hands, her body melting against me, her lips moving with mine. Her nipples harden to peaks and brush against my skin .
I cup her ass and pull her onto my lap.
I’m hard as fuck, and she can feel it. But I don’t give a fuck and neither does she.
She pushes her fingers through my hair and groans into the kiss as her hips start to rock against me.
The kiss grows deeper, and her little whimpers make me want to reach between us, unzip my jeans, push aside her damp panties, and plunge into her wet pussy.
I groan.
I did this to rattle her.
But I’m the one being rattled.
And now my cock feels like it’s going to explode, so I break off the kiss and let her go.
She flops onto the bed beside me and looks up at me with large eyes full of heat, her cheeks flushed.
I should keep my distance but I can’t help myself.
She likes to poke the bear, and this bear likes to poke right back.
I brush my lips to her ear. “Now you look like you’ve been fucked hard.”
If it’s possible, her cheeks redden even more.
There’s a knock on the door and Bambi, one of the club girls, walks in carrying a breakfast tray.
“Good morning,” she says with a smile. Her eyes sweep over Belle and happiness dances in them when she brings her gaze back to me. “Mrs. V whipped up some of her famous waffles for you both, as well as some bacon and eggs. There’s also a pot of fresh coffee and some fresh orange juice. If you want anything else, I’m happy to get it for you.”
“This will be sufficient, thank you Bambi,” I say. “You can put the tray on the end of the bed.”
She does as she is told and places the tray on the bed at our feet, then looks at us again. “Will that be all?”
Bubbly and sweet, Bambi is also a massive gossip and will run back to the kitchen to let everyone know that Belle spent the night in my bed.
“No. Spread the word. We’re not to be disturbed until I have to attend Church later this morning.” I look at Belle. “I’m going to be busy until then.”
Bambi can barely contain her squeal of excitement. “Of course, I will tell the others you’re not to be disturbed.”
She practically skips out of the room.
When she’s gone, Belle lets out a deep breath. “Well, that was awkward.”
I look down on her flushed face. “You did well, little one.”
Instead of fighting me, or replying with sass, she remains silent. I’m figuring it’s because of the kiss. Namely those little whimpers that told me exactly what she was feeling. What was happening to her body as she rocked against me.
She must’ve been close—hell, I was close.
And she hates that she was.
I can see it written all over her face.
Feeling a cramp in my leg, I shift my body slightly, and her eyes flare. They shine up at me with expectation, and if I’m not mistaken, I think she wants me to move closer.
She licks her lips, and I watch her tongue slide across the soft skin that’s plump and swollen from kissing me, and I know without a doubt I want to kiss her again. No, I want to kiss her hard and then pin her to this bed and make her moan.
Fuck, I wish she’d stop looking at me that way. It makes me want to do things I’ve got no business doing. She bites down on her lip. Her eyes heavy with lust, her pulse pounding in her neck. I feel her legs part, and I want to slide between them so badly I can barely think straight.
I force myself to move away from her and lean against the pillows. I need to put some distance between us because being this close is too tempting.
“So what do we do now?” she asks. And all I can think of is the hundred different things I want to do and all of them end with me inside her.
“We eat breakfast.”
I climb off the bed and pull on a T-shirt, then bring the breakfast tray of food to the bed.
“I was thinking of visiting my uncle today,” she says, before taking a mouthful of waffles.
I nod. I’m not worried about her trying to flee. I’ve secured her compliance.
She looks surprised. “Really?”
“Are you going to try and escape?”
“I think we both know it’s not in me or my uncle’s best interests if I do.”
“Then you are free to go.”
Her smile is big. And damn, why does it feel like there’s a tight knot in my chest whenever I see it?
She scoops up the last of the whipped cream on the waffles, and slowly sucks it from her spoon, and watching her sends all the blood from my brain to my cock.
I need to get out of this room before I do something stupid.
No point starting something I can’t finish.
No matter how fucking much I want to.
I need to tread careful with Belle.
Because whether she knows it or not, she could be my undoing. In so many ways.
She wasn’t afraid of me when she first saw me. And there was a part of me that hoped it was because somewhere in her heart she remembered me. Remembered who I was to her.
But now I know it’s because she is strong and feisty and not afraid to stand up for what she believes is right .
She will be a good old lady.
You have to be if you’re to survive being married to the club.
But there are some giant hurdles in our way. Using her uncle will only ensure her compliance for so long, and taming her into submission will be an impossibility. Her heart is too wild and too resilient for that. I will need to figure out a way to make her want to stay when the truth comes out.
And it will.
Annika will ensure it. Because she knows me all too well. She knows I’ve never had an interest in marrying since Guinevere destroyed my face and Jennifer shoved her engagement ring into the palm of my hand before fleeing the clubhouse. She knows me marrying someone after a whirlwind romance is out of character, and it’s made her suspicious.
Meaning, it’s only a matter of time before she figures out who Belle really is.