A Wife by Christmas

Chapter One

Cathy Newman walked into Storm’s Bar and didn’t care one bit that there were several bikers around the club. She didn’t delve into any of the stereotypical bullshit other people did.

Walking right up to the bar, she took a seat. The Christmas decorations were already in full swing, but she didn’t have a problem with that. She happened to love Christmas; it was her favorite time of year. October to the beginning of January was the best time of any year. Ever since she was a kid, she had always enjoyed the changing of seasons, the flashing, twinkly lights in the darkness, even the gaudy decorations people had in their front yard. She just loved it all. Apart from her … family.

The irony was, this is the time of year when family is supposed to come together, to be unified, and yet all her family does is use her. She’s nothing more than someone to do all the work for them, and help pay the bills as well.

Tonight, she’d been asked to organize her older sister’s birthday and engagement party. Cathy didn’t want to, seeing as the guy her sister was engaged to was in fact her own ex.

Yes, her sister loved to flaunt all the ways she could take anything and everyone away from her. Of course, it was always in her head. For a long time, their mother had her convinced of it, only Cathy knew the truth. The only things her sister couldn’t steal from her were her good grades and her job, although her job had been touch-and-go for awhile.

She wrote for a beauty website and magazine, testing products, giving honest and thoughtful reviews. Her sister tried to get her fired, but what her lovely older sibling didn’t know was that she also uploaded backup videos every week. Yep, her own family didn’t know she might be considered an influencer, which she didn’t like. She loved giving her opinions about products, backed up with daily use.

She’d gotten quite popular, and her sister couldn’t take away her reputation although she was pretty sure Tiffany had tried to do that as well. Tiffany had never liked her. There were tales often told by the family of Tiffany attempting to sell her to random strangers, or leave her. At first, Cathy thought she was just trying to be cute, but that wasn’t true. Tiffany, if she could, would try to destroy her. She would turn the whole family against her until she had nothing left but her job.

“You look like you could use a drink of the hard stuff,” a deep, gruff voice said.

Cathy turned her head to see a large biker taking a seat beside her. She’d already seen that the patches on other bikers read they were part of The Rebel MC.

There had been a lot of rumors circulating Storm’s Bar, one of them being that Willow Storm had become a biker and built a whole clubhouse on the back of the bar. She didn’t care.

It was rare for her to come down to the bar, but when you’re kicked out of a party you helped organize and pay for, you don’t just go home and mope.

“You’re right, I really could,” Cathy said.

The man beside her slapped his hand on the counter. “Connor, come on, man, two whiskeys, straight up. You know Willow will have your ass if you don’t get your shit together.”

The guy, Connor, wore a leather cut declaring him a member of the MC. Cathy waited, and within seconds, a bottle of whiskey was placed on the bar, with a shot of it already poured. Picking up the glass, she took a swallow, and the burn was welcome. She wasn’t a big drinker, but when the need arose, this was what she wanted.

“Wow, I’m impressed. I expected you to be coughing and nearly vomiting.”

Cathy smiled. “Thanks for the vote of confidence, but I’m not exactly a pro at this, nor a rookie.” She put the glass down for another.

“Hitting the hard stuff. You want to talk about it?”

“Did you really come out to have a drink and listen to my troubles?” Cathy asked.

“I’ve got nothing better to do. Connor here is manning the bar, and I’m all alone. Hit me with it.”

It was not her vibe to go telling perfect strangers what was going wrong with her life, but one look at this stranger, and it just felt right. Telling her own family hadn’t helped. They had told her she was making stuff up, that she’d always been jealous of her older sister, which wasn’t true. She had no feelings for Tiffany.

Years ago, she’d been hurt and sad, but now that she was nearly thirty, she had gotten used to it. She saw Tiffany’s true colors, and all she did now was attempt to steer clear of her.

“I’m listening,” this man said.

“First, I can’t tell a total stranger my woes. I’m Cathy,” she said.

“Brick.”

“No last name?” she asked, taking hold of his offered hand and giving it a shake.

“None.”

“Fair enough.”

“You?”

“Newman. Cathy Newman.”

“Pleasure to meet you, Cathy Newman,” he said.

She noticed they lingered on their handshake, and the truth was, she didn’t have a problem with that. She liked touching Brick. Strange.

It had been a long time since she’d been with a man. She’d never been able to just pick up random strangers. She also found it difficult to talk to strangers. This was all new, and not exciting, but different.

“So, Cathy, tell me all your troubles.”

She pulled her hand away, and she wasn’t sure who lingered the most, or whether they both lingered the same length of time.

****

The moment Cathy walked into the bar, Brick knew he wanted her. He’d been standing by the dartboard, enjoying a lame ass game with a couple of the guys, when she stepped into the bar.

All night, he’d been hoping for a woman to enter, to strike him hard in the chest, and to make him want to do nothing more than be with her. Several women had entered the bar before Cathy, but none of them had called to him. Cathy was different. She was beautiful. All the women were beautiful, but there was something about her, something real. He’d hated to see that frown on her face. Of course, he’d been distracted by the curves of her body.

Every inch of her was a dream, and one he wanted to bask in. Full hips, rounded ass, huge tits, and she had a beautiful smile. There was some kind of gloss tinting her lips, and he felt an ache in his balls. It had been a long time since he wanted a woman, but there was something about Cathy. She called to him in ways he didn’t quite understand.

And then, as she turned to look at Connor, he saw the curve of her neck which was just screaming to have his lips on it, feeling that pulse beneath his tongue. He wanted her so badly he felt the ache in his balls.

Rather than be distracted by what he wanted to do with her, he did listen to her.

Cathy was being fucked over by her family. They were using her and tossing her aside. Now, he knew it could all be bullshit, but he had a feeling this woman didn’t lie. She was a truth teller. And she’d been fucked by her sister one too many times, and it would seem the other woman also had the balls to turn her family against her.

“Well, you know what, fuck her and fuck them,” Brick said.

Cathy burst out laughing. “You’re not going to tell me to go and fight for them, or to be the bigger person?”

“Look, sweetheart, I know sometimes the movies tell us to look the other way or be the bigger person, like you said, but why? Your sister has been taking the piss out of you and the family for years. Do you still love the guy she stole from you?”

“No,” Cathy said. “Trust me, that is one ship I am so pleased has sailed.”

“That’s good. Life has taught me that people are assholes. Sometimes you can forgive people, and other times you need to know when to punch them in the balls.”

“I love this,” Cathy said, giggling, and picking up another shot of whiskey. “You’re refreshing to the soul, Brick.”

He poured himself another shot, and they clinked glasses.

“So, do you have a wife or girlfriend?” Cathy asked.

“Do you think I’d be sitting, drinking alone if I had any of those things?”

Cathy’s mouth dropped open.

“I’m not the kind of guy that steps out on his woman, Cathy. Trust me, I’m a free agent.”

She nodded. “I didn’t know if there was going to be another woman accusing me of, you know, taking her man?”

He leaned in close. “Are you? Going to take me?”

Brick didn’t know what to expect. If she would push him away or laugh it off. The truth was, he wanted to fuck this woman, and he might as well consider it a Christmas miracle, because the past year he’d been coming to this bar and living at the clubhouse, he’d been wanting to find a woman to settle down.

Rebel, the club’s president, had found it in the owner of this very bar. Some of the guys at the club were not interested in finding one woman. They loved the free pussy that came around these parts. The biker groupies. Not him.

He saw how happy Rebel and his woman were. Like tonight, they were upstairs, playing happy family with their daughter, and that was something he wanted as well, so badly, he could almost taste it.

Brick didn’t know if Cathy was going to be the woman for him, but he knew he didn’t want to lose this chance with her tonight.

“Do you want to be taken?” Cathy asked.

He reached out, tucking some of her hair behind her ear, and leaning in close. Running his thumb across her bottom lip, he saw her little indrawn breath, and then he did what he’d been wanting to do since he saw her walk into the bar. He closed the distance between them and slammed his lips right down on hers. Before he took possession, he heard her slight moan, and he swallowed it down. This was his. The moment his lips touched hers, he lost all thought and sensibility.

Gripping the back of her neck, he pulled her in close and stepped off his chair, so he was as close to her as possible. He heard her soft subtle moan in between kisses.

Breaking the kiss, he stared into her eyes and waited, and then he pushed some of her hair out of the way, allowing it to fall down to her neck.

“I’ve got a room at the back in the clubhouse,” he said. “Or we can go to your place, or this is your chance to leave tonight, but you better not come back.”

He left the decision to her.

Cathy stepped off the chair. “Do you want to show me your room?”

It was the best eight words he’d heard in a long freaking time.

He held out his arm, Cathy slid hers in his, and without another look to the bar, he took her back to his room.