Chapter 5 Mika
MIKA
“Wait, Cindy, I have a good reason,” I plead with my manager at the diner.
“I missed Friday’s shift because I was… sick.
” It’s a lie, but not in the way she’s thinking.
I was certainly incapacitated, but it’s not like I’m going to tell this woman I was kidnapped, drugged, and almost trafficked.
The ironic thing is, she’d never believe me.
“Yeah? Why didn’t you call? Or try to find a replacement?” The middle-aged woman with a bleached blonde perm and tired brown eyes lets out a heavy breath. I can almost see her taking off her black cat-eye glasses and rubbing the bridge of her nose.
“I’m sorry,” I tell her. “I know I messed up, but I need this job.”
“Look, if you had missed one shift, I might have been able to smooth it over with the owner. But did you forget you had a double shift yesterday?”
“Oh. I…” Is today Sunday? When was I at the auction? How long have I been at Shadow’s? Time has been a bit elusive as of late. It’s somehow moving both impossibly fast and sluggishly slow since I was first thrown in the back of Grant’s car.
“Sorry. Three strikes, you’re out. House rule, hon.”
“But–”
“You can pick up your last check in a few days.” With that, my manager of three years hangs up, leaving me unemployed.
I hang up the prepaid cellphone Shadow got for me this morning, along with some clothes from Lynx, one of the MC guys’ girlfriends. I must admit, she has good taste. If I stick around long enough, I’d like to meet her and thank her in person. As it is, I don’t exactly have a plan.
Shadow and I didn’t discuss my spending the night again; it just kind of happened.
After our conversation in the library, I fell asleep curled up in his lap.
How could I not? Shadow’s warmth, the deep, smooth sound of his voice, and his light touches lulled me into a peace and safety I’ve never experienced before.
He left about an hour ago to run some errands for the club. I still don’t know a ton about Wicked Riders, but if they’re destroying the people who organized the auction, we’re on the same side.
I look around the house, noting the dirty dishes in the sink and the full garbage can.
If there’s one thing I’m good for, it’s cleaning.
I went through almost a dozen foster parents during my eighteen years in the system, and one thing remained the same: everyone likes a kid who can clean.
Okay, maybe “like” is too generous for some of the homes I lived in, but at the very least, I was tolerated.
I get lost in the almost meditative state of cleaning. What started out as dishes and trash turned into wiping down the counters, sweeping, mopping, and vacuuming. The front door opens right as I finish putting the cleaning supplies away. Wow, I must have spent more time cleaning than I realized.
Shadow steps into the living room, his eyes searching for me. I love that he’s just as eager as I am to spend time together. I’m sure he’s just being nice to someone going through a rough time, but a girl can dream about someone like Shadow wanting them for real.
“Hey, beautiful,” he says, smiling at me. God. Swoon. Did he just call me beautiful? Me?
“Hi.” I take a step closer, and then two more, until I’m standing right in front of him. Shadow opens his arms, and I practically leap into them. He laughs, the rich, hearty sound traveling through me.
When Shadow sets me down, he looks around the house with surprise. “Did you clean?”
I nod. “I wanted to show you I can do more than sleep and snoop around in your library,” I tease.
Shadow furrows his thick, dark eyebrows, but I press on.
“Of course, if I put any dishes in the wrong place or anything, I can reorganize. I used the last of the floor cleaner while scrubbing the guest bathroom, but I’ll replace it when I pick up my last paycheck. ”
“Whoa, hey there, slow down,” Shadow says calmly.
I didn’t realize how shallow my breath had become in my rambling answer to his simple question of whether I cleaned.
One hand cups my face while the other loops around my wrist, bringing my hand to his chest. I spread my fingers out over his heart, letting the steady beating against my palm bring me back to center.
“I just wanted to thank you. I’ve taken up a lot of your time and space lately,” I whisper.
Understanding washes over his features, and he slides his hands down my back, pulling me closer to him. I flatten my palms over his chest for support, and then slowly slide them up to loop around his neck. Shadow rubs his nose up and down mine, making me shiver from his tender touch.
“You don’t have to earn your right to take up space, Mika,” he murmurs before placing a light kiss on the corner of my mouth.
“You deserve to be safe, happy, and taken care of, simply because of who you are.” His words sink into the depths of my tattered soul, but I don’t know if I can trust them.
I’ve spent my whole life placating the foster parents in each of the homes growing up.
Could it really be that easy to just… be accepted?
“I… don’t understand,” I murmur.
Shadow’s gaze turns soft for a moment, then sharpens, as if he’s angry at everyone who made me feel inferior. “I know,” he whispers, kissing the other corner of my mouth before resting his forehead on mine. “But I’ll show you, Mika. Do you trust me?”
I stare into his beautiful, sincere blue eyes. I want to trust him. God, I want to stay with Shadow forever and let him prove to me that there are still good men in this world. But I’m terrified that if I voice that thought, the universe will take it all away from me.
“Just say yes, baby girl. I’ll protect all of you, body and soul.
I’ll treat you like the goddess you are,” Shadow vows, his lips brushing against the shell of my ear.
“I’ll wipe away every painful memory and replace it with something good, something beautiful, something you can trust and build upon. ”
My insanely hot, incredibly protective, and surprisingly romantic biker kisses across my jaw, down my neck, and over my collarbone.
I find myself nodding, going along with his demands so I can have more of his skin on my skin.
I want to give him everything, all of me.
I want him to be my first, and I pray he’ll be my last. My only.
“Need your words, Mika,” he whispers into the hollow of my neck before licking me there. He sounds like he’s barely restraining himself, which makes me feel powerful. Do I really have this much control over him?
“Yes,” I moan softly, tilting my neck so he can devour me.
“Yes, what?” he grunts, kissing his way back up my neck and pulling my earlobe between his teeth.
“Yes, I trust you,” I breathe out. “I’m… I’m yours.”
“Damn right you are,” he says right before claiming my lips as his own. All other thoughts and worries about the future fall right out of my head. The only thing I can concentrate on is being backed into the table and lifted up by Shadow’s hands on my thighs.
I part my legs for him and whimper when he steps in between them and rubs his hard cock over my center.
“Fuck, I feel your heat.” God, he sounds desperate, starving, nearly in pain. “Are you wet for me? Do you need this?” Shadow thrusts his hips, hitting my clit through the thin material of my yoga pants and panties.
“Yes, yes, I need you.” The words come pouring out of my mouth, almost without my permission.
Shadow kisses me again and again, each swipe of his tongue wiping away my fears and doubts until all that’s left is his taste, his smell, his touch.
“Please,” I gasp, though I’m not even sure what I’m asking for.
Shadow grunts and rubs his fingers against my pussy, over the fabric of my clothes. I grind down on his hand and bury my face in his shoulder to muffle my cries.
“Jesus, you’re so damn responsive. I’m hardly even touching you,” he grunts.
“So why don’t you touch me for real?”
His eyes go dark, and his jaw tenses right before he crashes his lips on mine and kisses the breath right out of my lungs. When he tears himself away from me, it’s so he can kneel down and press his face into my core, inhaling my scent through the thin layers of clothes.
Shadow growls and dips his thumbs into the waistband of my pants. I lift my hips up and watch as he peels my yoga pants and panties off in one swift move.
“This okay, Mika?” he asks, pausing with his hands on my knees, looking me in the eyes to make sure I mean what I say.
I nod. “I want to feel you, Shadow. I want whatever you’re willing to give.”
With that, he yanks my legs wide open, so I’m spread out before him on the table. Shadow flattens his tongue and takes a long, slow lick up the seam of my pussy, stopping to flick my clit and suck on the swollen ball of nerves.
I moan and fall back on the table, allowing Shadow to guide one of my legs over his shoulder, and then the other. I tilt my head up and watch Shadow as he stares at my pussy. Something about that is inexplicably hot. I feel myself clench up, and then more arousal leaks out of me.
“So fucking wet…” Shadow growls before shoving his face in between my thighs and making me crazy with need.
He’s eating me out in desperate, forceful strokes. His tongue plunges inside of my tight little hole, in and out, and then back up to circle my clit. I cry out and claw the table, seeking something to keep me grounded during this hurricane of pleasure.
Shadow pulls back for a second, making me whine in frustration. He grabs my hands and puts them on his head. I instantly fist his hair, which causes him to grunt in approval.
“You need to hang on to something, you hang on to me.”
I nod and shove his head in between my legs again, making him chuckle into my soaking wet folds. I feel the vibrations every-fucking-where, putting me right on the edge.
Shadow sucks on my clit and thrusts a finger inside of me without warning. I moan at the unexpected invasion and then wiggle my hips to get him to go deeper.
He leans back slightly so he can watch himself fuck me with his finger. The sloppy wet sounds fill the small room and make me tremble in anticipation. I can’t contain the whimper that spills out when he adds a second finger. I’m close, so, so close…
Shadow’s eyes snap to mine. He looks at me like he’s going to rip me to shreds with his intense desire. I can’t wait to let him. I slam my eyes shut as a delicious wave of ecstasy sweeps through my body and rattles my bones.
“Fuck, that’s it, baby, goddamn, this juicy cunt,” he grunts before leaning down and sucking on my clit in time with the thrusts of his fingers.
I hold my breath as my muscles draw up tight.
For a moment, I’m suspended in empty space, hovering, flying.
The hard, merciless rhythm of his tongue is almost painful on my clit, overwhelming in the most glorious way.
He twists his fingers and curls them up, breaking the tension over my body as the first wave of my orgasm floods through me.
I bow my back off the table and cry out, my legs slamming shut against his head, trapping him there.
Shadow slides his hands under my ass and squeezes the soft flesh.
Hard. I buck against his mouth as my orgasm drips out of me.
The thought of marking him with my release is so filthy and yet such a turn on.
I grind against him again, nearly losing my mind when he growls and bites down on my clit.
The sting of his teeth, followed by the smooth heat of his tongue, has me coming again. The orgasm quickly rips through my body, leaving me breathless and unable to move once I come down.
Shadow gathers my limp body into his arms and carries me, half-naked, to the couch. He sits with me in his lap, his large, warm, calloused hands cradling me gently against his chest.
“You did so good, baby girl,” he murmurs, kissing the top of my head. “Are you okay? Was that too much?”
I manage to tilt my head up and smile at him through my satiated haze. “That was incredible,” I tell him, my voice slurred from how blissfully worn out I am.
Shadow chuckles and combs his fingers through my hair. “You were incredible,” he corrects.
I’m about to protest when a yawn takes over my body. My sexy biker nuzzles into the side of my neck, his stubble tickling my sensitive skin. I think he whispers something in my ear, but I’m already drifting off into a blissful slumber.