CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Layla
I’m still hot and bothered but I try to keep composed, taking notes as my boss talks the staff through the new infrared therapy clinic we’re opening in our building in a month.
I wonder if it’s obvious that I was just my client’s main course down at the other end of the hall not even five minutes ago.
Being around Sean is like coexisting with a whirlwind.
A big, rugged, sometimes scary whirlwind.
It’s easy to imagine belonging to him fully though, and I’ve never really belonged to anyone.
Not where I feel like I can be exactly who I am without shame.
DELL
Mrs. Fielding said you were on the back of some man’s motorcycle. Is everything okay?
I glance down at my phone as my boss continues our staff meeting.
What did she do, call you?
I figured I had at least a few days before she snitched on me.
DELL
We had a Bible study meeting this afternoon. She was worried.
I hold in a scoff. Worried is the last thing she was. Excited she had something to gossip about? That’s more likely.
I’m fine, he’s a friend.
I never saw it quite as much before, but I can’t believe how truly judgmental the people I’ve grown up with are. They don’t know anything about Sean, but because he has tattoos and a motorcycle I need to stay away from him altogether?
DELL
She also said he had a Hounds of Hell leather jacket.
It’s called a cut.
DELL
Are you okay, Lay?
I roll my eyes.
I’m fine. Tell Mrs. Fielding that next time I’ll be sure to bring Sean by for tea.
DELL
That isn’t funny, are you in some kind of trouble?
I silence my phone and flip it over, focusing on finishing the rest of my meeting. When we’re through, I check the appointments for my next scheduled shift.
When I exit through the front door of the clinic a half hour later, Sean is waiting for me, leaning against his bike, and the vision of him between my thighs flashes through my mind, sucking all the air from my lungs.
“So this is just how it is? Every day you’ll be here?” I say, to taunt him and break the intense heat still lingering between us after this afternoon.
“You’re never taking the bus again,” he says gruffly, tugging me close and dropping his lips to mine right in the parking lot. “Mmmm, can you still taste your sweet pussy on my lips?”
I back away, feeling the eyes of my coworker on us as she heads to her car.
“You can’t be a caveman. This is where I work. Don’t make me actually get on that bus.” I nod to where the bus is in fact approaching.
Sean pulls me closer still and kisses me again with a growl.
“Keep fighting, little dove, but you’re coming with me,” he says in a low voice, sending my stomach into a frenzy.
“Where are we going?”
He traces my lips with those haunting eyes. “I have club business. You can come with me and meet my mother.”
Wait, what?
“Your mother?”
“Yeah, my mother.”
My mind races. “I don’t even know what this is with us, how can I meet your mother?” I ask him, honestly.
I watch as a serious look fills Sean’s eyes and he brings his thumb up to lightly trace my cheekbone, holding me tight around my waist with his other arm. “She already knows about you, she wants to meet you, and what my mother wants my mother gets. She’s a bulldozer.”
I blink up at him, not understanding.
“There are no secrets in my club. Especially not when fucking Kai knows them.”
I watch his face and secretly wonder about this woman he so obviously holds up high on a pedestal.
“You don’t care what anyone thinks, but you really care about her opinion, don’t you?” I ask him. His jaw sets and I can tell this isn’t something he talks about. I can feel how difficult it is for him to open up at all.
“My mother and I … we’ve been through some shit. We’ve been through it all, and all she’s ever wanted is to see me with someone.”
“How do I know that someone is me?” I’m secretly afraid of the scene I’m about to walk into, picturing this woman judging my every move and whether I’m the one for her son.
“I already know enough for both of us, but if you aren’t ready to admit it yet, you can pretend. Either way, we’re going.”
He grins a real smile that reaches his eyes, and it’s so beautiful it stuns me.
“She’s harmless, just don’t piss her off, especially if she’s standing near the gun cabinet.”
I can’t tell if he’s kidding or not as he secures my helmet.
I know he can’t help himself; it’s his way of making sure I have it on and it’s secure.
As he climbs onto his bike before me, I try to think of any reason not to go meet his mother.
I can’t even imagine what kind of woman it takes to raise a man like this.
Thoughts of a TV show I watched as a kid, Xena: Warrior Princess, fill my mind.
A strong woman, a commanding one who could take charge and be fierce when needed.
“You’re at least taking me home first so I can change. I’m already nervous enough, I don’t need to be in my work uniform.”
Sean glances back at me over his shoulder.
“I’ve got a change of clothes for you.”
Of course he fucking does.
“Come on, she hates when people are late.”
Oh fuck.
I climb on the bike and wrap my arms tight around him, and just as I expect, he pulls me closer. I try desperately to settle despite the nervous energy coursing through me. Gun cabinet?
Well, this should be fun.