Chapter Eight
BETHANY
I wake under his arm in his bed at first light. He’s been watching me sleep, I sense it even before I open my eyes.
Yesterday we came down off the mountain and he ran me a bath, soaping me from head to toe. Then we watched a horror movie and made dinner together, before he carried me to bed. I fell asleep straight away, my body sore.
I open my eyes. Striker is propped on one elbow, his other hand on my hip under the sheet.
“Hi.”
“Hi, gorgeous.”
“You watched me sleep.”
“I did.”
“That's creepy.”
“I know.”
I push my face into his chest, laughing.
“You crashed out, princess.”
“You wore me out.”
“Good.”
“I’m sore. Are you sore?”
He laughs, a low rumble against me. “You’re speaking to a former cage fighter. I’m not sore.”
“Smug.”
“It’s honest.”
I run my hand down his chest, across his stomach. He is hard against my thigh under the sheet. The moment my fingers reach the edge of his cock, his breath catches.
I keep going.
His hand slides up my back, but I push him onto his back. He is almost a foot taller than me, but he goes down like a felled tree, because he’s decided to let me have this.
“I'm in charge this time.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
I pull off the t-shirt he gave me to sleep in and his eyes go dark. I push the sheet down. I bend and put my mouth on his hardness as his hand fists in my hair. He groans and pulls me back up.
“Bethany… I’m not going to last six seconds. I want you on me. Right now."
I lower myself onto him slowly. He fills me completely and I have to stop with him halfway in to take a breath. He reaches up and cups my cheek, his thumb on my lower lip.
“Take your time, princess.”
When he’s finally inside me, I start to move, finding my own rhythm. Long lifts off him, slow sinks back down. His hands rest on my hips, guiding without controlling, his eyes locked on mine.
Leaning back, I put my hands on his thighs behind me and roll my hips. The angle is perfect. I gasp out his name without meaning to.
His hands come up to my breasts, cupping them, his fingers gently pinching my nipples.
Then one hand slides between us, working me with two fingers as I move.
I come hard, my pussy pulsing around his hard length.
He comes inside me a moment after, saying my name.
Then I lower myself onto his chest with him still inside me, as he wraps both arms around me, and we stay there.
We come downstairs eventually and Striker makes coffee, setting it in front of me.
“I need to run something past you.”
“What?”
“Wrench and Hawk were kicking the idea around. Thinking of ways to keep you safe. We've all landed on the same answer, but I want to walk it past you before they do.”
“Striker, you're scaring me.”
“It's nothing bad, I promise. Stay with me.”
I set my mug down.
“Hiding you here doesn't work. Sooner or later Rotmere clocks where you are and we end up back at the Lodge with worse odds. You try and go back to your normal life upstate and they come get you. We need them to back off, permanently.”
“How?”
“By telling them you've been mine the whole time.”
I stare at him. “What does that mean?”
“It means we go public. You’ve been my girlfriend for a year, long distance.
You came to High Vale to surprise me, that’s why you accepted the modeling job here.
That’s why you ran straight to my bar. We put a notice in the newspaper, Viv spreads the news around town.
Fake girlfriend, fake fiancee. Whether they buy it or not, it makes it damn clear that you’re under the Outlaws protection. ”
Setting my cup down, I put my hands flat on the counter so they have something to hold onto. An acid taste rises in my throat, my heart beating in my ears.
Striker grins at me. “We make sure the whole thing is big and loud enough so that asshole Taylor can't try to take you back. Anything he does, he does in front of the whole county.”
“I need to wear a ring?” I ask.
“That’s right. We’ll get you a ring.”
“And all of this is just to keep my safe?”
“That’s right. I’m sorry to have to ask you like this. Yes or no?”
My heart sinking in my chest, I nod. “I’ll do it.”
“Sure?”
I nod. He reaches across and takes my hand. His thumb runs across my empty fourth finger.
“Then let's go put a ring on it.”