Chapter 10
Gray
I wasn’t sure who leaned in first. Our mouths met somewhere in the middle. Frankie’s tongue slid along my bottom lip before thrusting into my mouth. I wasn’t any better. I held her head in place as I kissed her harder.
Holding back hadn’t been easy, but I refused to push her or go further than she was ready for. It’s why I’d pulled away in the hot spring. Why I hadn’t fucked her last night, even though I’d been so hard it hurt. I didn’t want to be a distraction from the problems she was dealing with.
When I left her in bed asleep that morning, I knew I’d done the right thing. She’d been so worn out that she hadn’t even noticed me leave. I’d been up for hours and had even left to pick up breakfast before she finally woke up.
I’d damn near swallowed my tongue when she’d unself-consciously stood up from the bed and walked toward me, her breasts swaying a little with the movement.
I didn’t think I’d ever get tired of her body, but it was the confidence in that walk that had taken me out at the knees. This was the woman I’d lost my head over. This brash, loud, take-no-prisoners woman.
Dropping my hands to grip her ass, I rose from the chair and carried her over to the bed. I dropped her onto it, and she laughed, her eyes bright. I froze for a second, taking her in. Just the knowledge that she didn’t have to go into work and face that fucker had lifted the weight off her shoulders. It was so obvious.
Reaching out, I gripped her shorts, and she lifted her hips to help me pull them off.
“Now yours,” she said huskily, folding her hands behind her head as she let one leg fall wide. The view was spectacular.
My mouth watered as I tore off my shirt and yanked at my jeans. The moment I’d shoved them off, Frankie was there, one hand wrapping around my cock, the other cradling my balls. I jerked. Shit, that felt good.
“On the bed,” she ordered, scooting back on her knees.
She let go of me only long enough for me to lay down on my back, then she was climbing on top of me, her ass resting on my chest as she bent and pulled me into her mouth.
My head fell back against the pillows as I hissed, reaching for her hips.
The suction on my cock was so strong that my hands shook as I pressed her forward a little, tilting her hips toward me. Her pussy peeked out, glossy and wet.
She rubbed her tongue across the head, paying attention to the tip, and I groaned, yanking her hips toward my face. My cock popped out of her mouth, and she let out a little sound of surprise as I positioned her over my lips.
She was a mixture of salty and sweet that I couldn’t get enough of, her pussy already weeping when I shoved my tongue inside her as far as I could. She fisted my cock as she ground down onto my face, and I shuddered as she leaned back down and pulled me back into her mouth. Pulling away, I gasped and found her clit with my tongue, pressing lightly and then harder as she sucked me deeper.
I sure as hell wasn’t going to come before she did.
Wrapping my lips around her clit, I sucked, tapping it with my tongue as I slid one thumb and then the other inside her, the rest of my fingers digging into her ass cheeks.
She came hard, jerking and moaning around my cock. When she’d barely recovered, her mouth moved more frantically on my cock. I hit the back of her throat. She whimpered as I ran my tongue over her, cleaning her up and reveling in the taste.
I jerked in surprise as she pulled away, then stiffened, my jaw clenching as she pulled one of my balls into her mouth and laved it with her tongue. Two fingers pressed against the spot just behind, and my hips involuntarily jerked off the bed.
“I’m going to come, baby,” I rasped, reaching down to fist my hand in her hair as my balls pulled up tight.
Carefully, she shifted her body off of mine as she pulled her mouth away. Her eyes were bright as she turned to face me, her legs splayed wide as she straddled my thighs.
“Do you have a condom?” she rasped, her hand idly jerking my cock.
“Pocket of my jeans.”
Letting go, she leaned down over the side of the bed, her perfect ass jutting toward the ceiling. When she came back up, she was holding the packet in her hand.
“Put it on me,” I ordered softly, reaching for her.
When she’d settled over my thighs, I watched as she tore open the packaging and carefully rolled it down my cock. Seconds later, she’d positioned herself above me and was inching down.
It was fucking agony .
I wanted to hurry her along, help her get there, but this was her show. After the shit she’d dealt with before, my hands weren’t going anywhere near that condom. Instead, I brushed my hands against her nipples, ran my fingers through her hair, ran my hands gently down her sides. By the time she’d taken me fully inside her, I was sweating and so close to blowing that I was trying and failing to think of anything else.
Her hand slid between her legs, and her fingers brushed against me as she rubbed circles over her clit. I barely made it until she was pulsing around me, and then I finally let go.
Frankie collapsed on my chest and lifted her hips up and away until I wasn’t inside her anymore.
“I forgot it could be like that,” she mumbled against my neck, sliding to my side. Her thigh shifted over my belly, and her hand rested over my heart.
“It’s never been like that,” I corrected, trying to catch my breath.
“I don’t know,” she mused. “It was pretty good the first time.”
“Excellent the first time,” I agreed, my lips pressed against her forehead. “Even better this time.”
All of a sudden, she shot up and propped her head on her hand. “Did you decide where we’re going?”
“What?”
“Where are we going today?”
I smiled and pushed the hair out of her face. “Thought we’d go out to the 101 and take it down the coast. How does that sound?”
“Sounds good.” She smiled softly. “Now I just have to get out of bed.”
“I keep tellin’ you there’s no rush.”
“Check out time has to be soon,” she argued.
“It was at eleven,” I replied, wrapping an arm around her as she tried to jump off the bed. “I went in this morning and paid for late checkout.”
“You didn’t have to do that.”
“Woulda been worth it even if we hadn’t ended up here. You needed the sleep.”
“It’s amazing what a full night of rest can do,” she replied, rolling onto her back as she stretched.
There were still circles under her eyes, but they weren’t as dark as they’d been the day before, and her face had lost the pinched look sometime after the hot springs and before she’d woken up this morning. Shit, how could it have been less than twenty-four hours since I’d seen her across the forecourt and lost my shit? I’d gone and done what I’d said I wouldn’t—started something before I knew she was ready.
“What’s that look for?” she asked, getting to her feet.
“You’ve had a lot of shit goin’ on,” I said slowly, sitting up. “Not sure what we’re doin’ is smart.”
Her eyes narrowed.
“Don’t regret it,” I clarified. “Just don’t know if it’s smart.”
“Do you want to be with me?”
“I think I made that pretty fuckin’ clear.”
“Then I don’t see a problem,” she snapped. “If I didn’t want to be with you, I wouldn’t. If I didn’t want your dick in my mouth, it wouldn’t have been there. If I didn’t want to fuck you, same thing.”
“Okay.” I rose slowly to my feet and pulled the condom off, wrapping it in a tissue from the bedside table before tossing it in the small trashcan.
“You don’t get to decide when I’m ready.”
“Wasn’t tryin’ to.”
“I’ve wanted to be with you since that first night,” she spat. “It doesn’t have anything to do with what’s been going on back home.”
“I hear you.”
“Really?” she asked dubiously. “Because you’ve still got that fucking look on your face.”
“Not sure what look you’re talking about.”
“That, oh no, I made a mistake look.”
“Don’t think it’s a mistake, baby,” I replied. “Just don’t want to do the wrong thing here.”
“The wrong thing would be assuming you know better than I do what I’m ready for. I’m a grown adult. I’ve been dealing with stressful shit, yes. I haven’t been taking good care of myself—I know that.” She crossed her arms over her bare chest. “That doesn’t mean that I’m broken or something.”
“I don’t think you’re broken.”
“It happened. It sucked. If I never had to think about Scott again, I’d throw a fucking party. Now, I just want to move on. With you. Are you in or out?”
“There’s that fire,” I breathed, a smile pulling at my lips.
“Yeah, great,” she bitched, throwing her hands in the air. “Now, instead of post-coital cuddling, I want to smack you because you’re being an idiot.”
My smile fell. “Carin’ about your state of mind doesn’t make me an idiot.”
“I’m fine,” she barked. “I was actually great when I woke up this morning. I didn’t have to go to work and deal with the creep. I’d finally made the decision to get the fuck out of that place and let the chips fall. I felt lighter than I have in months , and I opened my eyes to you sitting there looking all hot with doughnuts.”
“And now you’re yellin’ at me.”
“Now, I’m pissed.”
“Well, you can be pissed. That’s not gonna change the fact that I damn near imploded when you walked up yesterday lookin’ like you hadn’t slept in a month and a strong wind would blow you over.” Bending down I grabbed a rubber band out of my jeans pocket and tied my hair back from my face. “I’m gonna fuckin’ marry your ass, so if I wanna worry about how you’re doin’ and debate whether or not we should slow this down so it fuckin’ lasts—you’re just gonna have to deal.”
I hadn’t raised my voice. I didn’t want to yell at her for any reason. But the last few words were forced out through clenched teeth, and her eyes were wide with surprise.
“You’re gonna marry my ass ?” she asked quietly.
“Feel like I’m makin’ it clear, and you just keep missin’ the point.”
Her lips twitched before a full-blown smile spread across her face. It was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen.
“I’m going to get dressed,” she announced, walking toward me. “Before I jump you again.”
“I choose option two,” I replied as she reached me, rising up on her toes so she could kiss me long and deep.
“No way,” she said, dancing backward. “I’ve never taken the Pacific Coast Highway. I want to see it.”
She grabbed her bag off the floor and carried it into the bathroom, swinging her bare ass from side to side.
After I’d recovered from the view, I pulled my clothes back on, rolled last night’s up in a ball and shoved them into my saddlebag, and pulled out my phone as I waited.
I had a text from Mick asking me to call him.
“Gray,” he answered.
“What’s up?”
“Found him last night,” Mick replied. I watched the bathroom door. “He was out at a bar with a couple friends. Closed the place down. Caught up with them outside and gave them all a well-deserved lesson. Made sure they understood their little friend was responsible for the good time they were havin’.”
“Got away clean?”
“Full masks, no cuts, drove one of the beaters from the garage—no plates.”
“Good.”
“He held up all right, but I have a feelin’ tonight will be a different story. By the end there, he was lookin’ a bit scared.”
“No face shots.”
“Got it.”
“That it?”
“How’s Frank?”
“She’s currently singin’ something in the bathroom while she gets dressed.”
“What’s she singin’?” he asked in amusement.
“Does it matter?”
“She’s singin’ Fleetwood Mac, you’ve got a problem. Anythin’ else, and you’re good.”
“The fuck are you talkin’ about?”
“She only sings Fleetwood Mac if she’s upset. Never fuckin’ fails, man. She’d stay over with Myla, and everyone could hear her in the bathroom. Used to drive the boys crazy when they were teenagers because it’d get stuck in their heads for days.”
“Doesn’t sound like Fleetwood Mac,” I replied, grinning.
“Good news. I’ll keep you updated, yeah?”
“You got the email I sent you?”
“Yup. Impressed by the scope of what you had on him.”
“I had some time.”
“Clearly.”
“She stopped singin’.”
“Then I’ll let you go. Have fun.”
Mick hung up just as Frankie strode out of the bathroom in the jeans she’d worn the night before and a black tank top.
“I’m ready,” she announced, dropping the bag on the bed.
“Come grab a doughnut,” I said as she stepped into her boots.
“Fuck, I forgot they were there!” She hurried toward me and threw open the box. “How many people were you planning on feeding?”
“Wasn’t sure what you’d want.”
“Jesus,” she mumbled, stuffing a bite into her face. “Are you real?”
“Doughnuts are cheap.”
“I like the maple bars,” she said, wiggling the doughnut from side to side before taking another bite.
“Same.”
“Okay, next time just buy those.” She grinned at me with her mouth closed as she chewed.
It took four hours to get there, but when we finally pulled onto the 101 headed south, her arms tightened around my waist in excitement. It was damn near impossible to hear each other, I should’ve thought to grab us some headsets—but every time she saw something that she liked, she’d point it out. I was pretty sure I’d heard a holy shit at one point as we rode beside the ocean.
We stopped for some lunch and fuel in the Redwoods, but we didn’t linger long. Frankie wanted to be on the bike, and I couldn’t say I disagreed with her. It was fucking gorgeous outside. The wind off the ocean kept us cool, but the sky was an endless blue. Perfect weather.
By the time we pulled into a motel that night, I was beat, but Frankie was practically fucking glowing. She’d pulled off her helmet before I was even off the bike.
“That was the best day ever,” she said, lacing her fingers through mine as I led her toward the lobby. “Sex in the morning and then riding all day? Let’s do this every day. Who cares about work? We’ll just keep going until we run out of money.”
I grinned and leaned down to kiss her as we reached the front desk.
“One bed,” Frankie announced to the receptionist.
I looked over at her, and she smiled widely.
Fifteen minutes later, I was carrying her bag over my shoulder as I led her into our room.
“No table this time,” she said, setting the sandwiches we’d picked up on the bed.
“Fuck of a lot nicer, though,” I countered, letting the door swing shut.
“Don’t you miss the antlers?” she joked.
“They did add a little something.”
She ran to the bathroom as I arranged our food, and when she came out, she was in nothing but a pair of panties and the tank top we’d had to search the bedding for that morning. She sat down cross-legged on the other side of the bed and reached for her sandwich.
“Good day?” I asked, watching her.
“Great day,” she said with a sigh.
“Good.”
“How about you?” she asked, pausing with her sandwich an inch away from her mouth. “On a scale of one to ten.”
“Eleven.”
We barely made it through our food before she was stripped naked, and we were making good use of the king-size bed. Her nipples were red as berries from my mouth, the hair along the back of her neck was damp with sweat, and her pussy was dripping by the time she rolled a condom on and took me inside. I gripped her hips and stared at her round ass as she bounced on top of me, rolling her hips and gasping. When she came, her back arched so far that her hair brushed over my nipples. I came seconds later.
She pulled away, and I let my hands drift down her thighs.
“Shit, we made a mess,” she said with a breathless laugh, reaching for the wrappers that we’d shoved to the side of the bed.
I took care of the condom and helped her get rid of the rest of the trash, then held the blankets back so she could climb between the sheets. As soon as I’d laid down beside her, she rolled into me, laying her head on my shoulder.
“Thank you for today,” she murmured sleepily.
“San Francisco tomorrow?” I asked, running my fingers up and down her spine. Her skin was so fucking soft.
“Yeah, but just a drive-through,” she replied, her thumb tracing my nipple. “I want to keep going, don’t you?”
“Works for me.”
“I didn’t ever really travel as a kid,” she said softly. “Did you?”
“A bit,” I replied. “Went down to Sacramento once a year. Hit Disneyland a couple of times. Once, the whole family all went up to Yellowstone and then sent all of us kids home with Aunt Cecilia so the rest of the adults could go to Sturgis.”
Frankie chuckled. “We camped during the summer, but only on the weekends and never somewhere that you had to pay.”
“We did quite a bit of that, too.”
“I didn’t really see anything outside Eugene until I went to college, and we started traveling to shows and stuff.” She sighed. “And then my dad moved to Arizona like it was nothing, after never leaving the state my entire life.”
“Snowbird?”
“No, his wife’s sister lives down there. They live there full time.”
“That must’ve sucked, havin’ him move so far away.”
“Not really.” She shrugged. “It didn’t really make a difference actually. It wasn’t like I saw him a ton anyway.”
“He ever come back to visit?”
Frankie huffed. “I mean, not so far—but I’m holding out hope.”
“I’m sorry, baby.” It was hard to understand that kind of man. My parents would happily let me park the camper in their yard if it meant they’d see me more. Shit, they hoped Harper would move back in with them when she finally stopped traveling. “We’re not that far from Arizona. You want to stop by and see him?”
Frankie lifted her head from my chest to meet my eyes.
“We could go to the Grand Canyon.” I sweetened the prospect.
“I didn’t know it would be this way with us,” she said finally, her voice low. “I knew that I wanted you, and I knew that I liked you as a person, but I didn’t realize it would be like this.”
“Like what?” I asked gently. What the hell was going on in that head of hers?
“You—” The word choked off, and she cleared her throat and tried again. “You protect my soft bits. I didn’t even know I had soft bits.”
“Of course I do. Of course you do.”
“No, you don’t get it,” she countered. “You don’t get it because you’ve always had it.”
“Had what?”
“Someone to protect your soft bits,” she whispered. “You grew up with it. I didn’t.”
Her lips trembled before she pressed them firmly together.
“Sorry you didn’t have that,” I said, laying my palm on her back. “Not sorry I did. Just meant that when I got you, I knew how to do it.”
“I’m gonna marry your ass,” she said, dropping her forehead to my chest and thumping it three times before she stilled. “I don’t want to go to Arizona. I just want this to be me and you, okay?”
“Okay, baby.”
I reached out and turned out the lamp. We lay there in the dark for a long time, and I knew she wasn’t sleeping, but I didn’t say anything. Her body was relaxed against mine and her breath was steady against my neck.
“I’m going to be sore as fuck tomorrow, aren’t I?” she asked, breaking the silence.
“Yeah, you are.” I smiled.
“Shit.”
The next morning, Frankie took a shower so long that I went in to check on her. She’d been trying to loosen the muscles in her back, and she said the hot water helped, but not enough. I rubbed her down with the moisturizer she’d brought, which helped a little bit more. We eventually had brunch at a little café in San Francisco and decided to take it easier for the rest of the week. It took us longer to cover the miles, but neither of us cared. We stopped at fruit stands for snacks, wandered around little towns, checked in early to hotels along the highway and swam or lay in the sun. When she walked out in a little sundress one night, frilly socks sticking out of her boots, I pulled her onto the bed and watched her ride me with the skirt pooling around us.
I’d never had a vacation like that. I’d taken my bike out alone plenty of times, but I’d never spent the time to just do whatever the fuck I felt like wherever the hell I stopped. Frankie was game for anything. She was just happy as fuck to be there, and her attitude was infectious. It made the last leg of the trip harder as we passed familiar landmarks on our way home.
The final time we stopped for gas, as soon as she’d taken off her helmet Frankie pulled out her phone.
“Let’s stay at your place tonight, okay?” she said softly, almost nervously.
“All right.”
“I’m just not ready to go back to reality yet.”
“We’ll grab steaks for the smoker.”
She smiled and lifted the phone to her ear.
“Yeah, yeah,” she said into the phone, still holding my eyes. “We’re almost home.”
She paused. “Not long enough. We’re going to stay at Gray’s tonight, but I’ll be home tomorrow.”
Paused again.
“Do not show up there,” she said with a laugh. “I’ll come back in the morning.”
Once we were on the road again, Frankie slipped her hand under my shirt and pressed it to my skin. She didn’t always do it, but the sensation was becoming familiar. I’d put my cut back on as soon as I’d known our destination and who exactly we might run into, and she always slid her hand inside it, but not always under the other layers.
It was getting dark as I pulled up the driveway, and I didn’t see the cars parked out front at first. It didn’t really matter, though, because they’d sure as fuck heard me before I knew they were there. Frankie’s body snapped upright from where she’d been leaning against my back, and I knew she’d noticed them, too.
I squeezed her thigh in reassurance as I parked the bike.
Two officers were standing a few feet from the camper door, like they’d just got done knocking.
“Can I help you?” I asked, taking off my helmet as Frankie climbed off the bike behind me.
“Hey, Gray,” one of the officers greeted.
“Jake,” I replied, moving toward him.
“Got a report that you roughed up a guy a few times,” he said with a sigh.
“A few times?”
“Yeah, I know how it sounds.” He glanced at the cop next to him. “He said you kept attacking him, once outside a bar, twice when he got home from work, once on his way to work, once when he was on his back porch—” He looked down at the notebook in his hand. “And once at a gas station.”
I held back a smile. “Haven’t attacked anyone.”
“Can you tell me where you were on Saturday night, Monday evening, Tuesday evening, Wednesday morning, Thursday evening, and Friday morning?”
“Shit, man,” I said as Frankie tucked herself into my side. “I could probably check the receipts. We left Saturday and rode down the coast and just got back five minutes ago. Who’s sayin’ that I attacked him?”
“Scott Piles,” the other officer replied. “Said he used to date your girl.”
“I’m a woman ,” Frankie said flatly.
“No disrespect,” he replied.
“And yeah, I know Scott. He’s an asshole.”
“I’m gonna need copies of those receipts,” Jake said, clearly annoyed that he had to be out talking to me.
“I can send ’em over.”
“Great.”
“Wait a second,” the other cop said. “When did you leave?”
“Saturday around dinnertime,” I replied patiently.
“And you haven’t been in town since?”
“Nope.”
“You have any idea why this guy would say you attacked him?”
“None.”
“Probably because I dumped his ass, and he couldn’t let it go,” Frankie said bluntly. “I doubt he’s stoked that I’m with someone else.”
“Asswipe,” Jake muttered. “Thanks, Gray. Send over those receipts, would you?”
“Tomorrow,” I agreed.
We stood together in the yard as the cops went back to their cruisers and left. It wasn’t until the last set of taillights disappeared that Frankie shifted and shoved me away from her.
“What the fuck did you do?”
“I’ve been with you all week.”
“Oh, don’t give me that shit,” she replied, her voice rising. “Who did you send?”
“You wanna lower your voice?”
“No, I don’t!”
“Then get in the camper,” I ordered, moving toward it. I unlocked the door and went inside, knowing she’d follow.
“Who did you send?” she demanded as she slammed the door shut.
“Does it matter?”
“Yes, it fucking matters! Who did you tell?”
“That’s what you’re worried about?” I dropped the keys on the counter.
“That’s the tip of the fucking iceberg, Gray.”
“It can’t be traced back to you.”
“I don’t care,” she yelled, her eyes wide. “Why the fuck would you do that?”
“You know exactly why I did it.”
“I told you I could handle it.”
“And you clearly fuckin’ weren’t handlin’ it.”
“You know I planned to quit when we got back, you knew that. All of this could’ve been behind me, and instead, I’m stepping right back into the shit the second we get back.”
“And that motherfucker just goes on his merry way to fuck with other women? That sound good to you?”
“Oh, bullshit,” she argued. “You weren’t trying to save other women. You were just pissed that he was hassling me .”
“Fuck yeah, I was,” I spat. “Pissed doesn’t even come close to what I am. Are you fuckin’ kiddin’ me? He’s lucky that I got you the fuck out of town because if I’d dealt with him, he wouldn’t be tellin’ the cops anything .”
“It wasn’t your place to—”
“You don’t get to say that shit to me,” I cut her off. “Not now.”
“I told you I was handling it!”
“I saw the way you were fuckin’ handlin’ it,” I countered, my voice rising. “Lyin’ down like a fuckin’ kicked dog.”
Frankie jerked back like I’d slapped her. When she spoke again, her voice was low and filled with rage.
“And who else did you drag into this with you?”
“Better you don’t know.” The boys would keep things tight—there wasn’t a single one in the bunch who would ever speak about it again.
She just stared at me before letting out a hollow laugh. Reaching out, she snatched my keys off the table and started pulling them off the key chain.
“You know, I could’ve forgiven the fact that you felt entitled to step in. I don’t even give a shit that Scott had his ass handed to him this week.” She slapped the keys back onto the counter, one missing, and clutched them in her fist. “But you fucking hid it from me because you knew I’d tell you not to do it. You knew I wanted to keep it to myself and handle it my own way. Fuck you, Gray.”
She slammed out of the camper, letting the door hit the outside with a bang. I followed her outside, but by the time I’d made it down the steps, she was already inside my truck and starting the engine. She didn’t spray gravel as she turned it around, and she didn’t race back down the driveway, which would’ve given me a reason to be even more pissed. Instead, she drove carefully, like she was getting used to the feel of it, and that made my stomach sink.
I stood there wondering what the fuck to do until it started to rain, and I had to get the bike unpacked and covered for the night. By the time I finally got back inside, dripping wet and still pissed about the whole thing, I had a text from Lou.
Don’t worry. She made it home safe.