Chapter 6
NOELLE
Thank goodness I’d run to the bathroom and removed my wire before coming out here to play poker with Ash.
I’d suspected something when he stopped me earlier.
He’d mentioned having some fun, and when he started in about strip poker, I’d not wanted them to find it.
Or for the other detectives at the precinct to hear the lengths I’d go to maintain my cover.
The wire was safe and sound in my purse, wrapped up in a pair of panties and hidden beside my lipstick.
It wouldn’t take much for one of them to find it, but I had hopes they’d not go snooping through my purse.
I bit off a scoff at the idea that these brazen bikers had any kind of moral compass.
What did it say about me that I’d agreed to play strip poker with them… and that I was excited about the prospect?
I tried to pass it off as doing my job.
If they were focused on me, they might slip up and reveal the information I’d been sent after.
But at the first touch of Bishop’s lips on my shoulder, all thoughts of work fled.
Bishop had a kind of lethal power that intrigued me, so much strength locked away behind a stoic face and cool blue eyes.
I clenched my hands in my lap, trying to ignore the memory of how his hair had felt against my palms when I’d kissed him a few nights ago.
They’d mostly ignored me when I was around at the clubhouse.
After I kissed Bishop, Rafe ended their dance and the four of us walked off the stage.
Colt proclaimed the night the best fundraiser they’d ever had, and the crowd had slowly worked its way back into full party mode.
How far was I willing to go to maintain my cover?
Bishop kissed my shoulder again, and Ash dealt the next round.
Bishop’s breath feathered across my neck. “What are you betting this time?”
My tongue darted out to brush my lower lip.
I was down to three articles of clothing.
My bra, my pants, and my panties. Did I sacrifice my bra or my pants next? They were going to win. I didn’t have a prayer of beating any of them. I’d known that the minute I sat down.
“Pants.” I gathered my cards and held them to my chest. “What about you?”
“Shirt.” Bishop groaned and adjusted himself through his boxers. “Do you have any idea what you do to me?”
No. No, I didn’t.
I’d never had anyone react to me the way they did.
Lethal.
I reminded myself that Bishop was more than a threat to my sanity and my sex drive.
He was a killer.
“Why don’t we up the stakes?” Rafe leaned forward, setting his elbows on the table.
Whoa. I should stop this, right here and now.
Instead, I nodded. “What do you have in mind?”
“The next person to win is allowed five seconds with the person of their choice. To do anything they want.” Desire glittered in his eyes.
The sight of it pooled in my belly. “Agreed.” I wanted to win, and yet I didn’t.
If I won, how was I supposed to choose which one I wanted, and what I’d do with them?
Five seconds wasn’t long enough, but it was a start.
I barely looked at my cards, set two down, and took the extra ones Ash slid my way.
A quick look revealed they were even worse than my first two.
I bit back a wince.
I could fold and maybe keep this going a while longer.
Or I could bluff and try to win.
The hell with it.
I was tired of thinking, tired of planning and the constant stress that had surrounded me since I became a detective.
For once in my life, I took something for myself and lost the round.
Bishop won. “Ash, no cheating. Time doesn’t start until skin touches skin.”
Holy shit.
The way he leaned toward me was sexy as sin.
Broad shoulders and the line of his jaw took up the entirety of my vision.
My attraction to Bishop threatened to spiral out of control.
Add in the way Ash and Rafe compounded my desire, and it was a wonder I didn’t spontaneously combust on the spot.
Bishop skimmed the air around my face. “Take off your pants, Noelle.”
“Wh–What?” I tightened my thighs, pressing them hard together around my fingers.
Ash raised a brow. “We said we were raising the stakes. You bet your pants, and Rafe added the five seconds.”
My heart lodged in my throat.
I slid off the stool and hooked my thumbs in the band of my pants.
Snow peppered the window behind Rafe and Ash, the white swirling so thick I couldn’t even see the sidewalk.
No one would see except for them.
No one would hear.
My pulse spiked.
No one would hear me scream if they decided they wanted something I refused to give.
“Do you know what you do to me?” Bishop remained in his seat, but the heat of his voice washed over me.
I’d barely heard him speak since we met, but when he did, everyone around him listened.
So did I. “What?”
It was a breathless question borne of need and a desperation to be worthy of the blatant desire I’d seen in their eyes.
It couldn’t be real.
The three of them were messing with me.
No one wanted me that way.
Bishop adjusted his dick again, and there was no denying the thick bulge beneath the shirt and boxers.
There was no embarrassment on his face when he ran a hand down his length. “You make me want to drop to my knees and worship you. You make me so damned horny I had to jerk off in the shower this morning like some randy teenager. And it’s not enough.”
Bishop, the man who looked lethal enough to kill with a stare, made love to me with his words.
I eased my pants down over my hips, the skip in my pulse hammering so hard it twisted my stomach.
They’d seen enough of me to realize I wasn’t some willowy, statuesque model.
My curves had curves.
I was more than a handful, and I waited with my breath tight in my chest.
Waited for them to look at my naked body and be repulsed.
Bishop slid off the stool and approached me. “All the way off.”
I did as he ordered, watching his face as he watched me. He looked me over, brushing his thumb over his lower lip, then met my eyes. “Gorgeous.”
My face heated to surface-of-the-sun levels. “Don’t do that.”
“What?” His eyebrows drew down in a V.
I shook my head and crossed my arms over my stomach. “Don’t patronize me.”
“I would never.” He closed the distance with a single step and framed my face in his hands. “You. Are. Gorgeous.”
Five seconds.
He’d touched me, and Ash would start the timer.
I tried to count in my head, but it stopped working when he tipped my chin up and brushed his nose alongside mine.
I anticipated the kiss, but he bypassed my lips and hooked his arms around my waist, pulling me to his chest.
His cock pressed into my stomach, and I let out a whimper. “Bishop.”
He growled in the back of his throat.
“Say it again.” A soft nip on the side of my neck caused me to gasp.
Bishop tightened his hold on my waist, then in a move too fast for me to follow, he lifted me off the ground.
Strong arms held me aloft, and my legs opened to lock around his waist.
The move allowed his cock to slide over my panties. He rocked his hips. “Say it again.”
I didn’t have to ask what he meant. “Bishop.”
I raked my nails over his scalp and down the back of his neck.
“Time’s up.” Ash ticked his head from side to side. “Unless we’re changing the game?”
“I’m through playing poker.” This was much more fun.
I rested my forehead against Bishop’s.
Rafe and Ash sat in my peripheral vision. I expected them to leave the room.
Whatever happened between me and Bishop, I refused to regret it.
I’d been too curious about him, and this was my chance to discover what might happen if I gave in to my desires.
Rafe and Ash watched.
I felt their heavy gazes and shifted my head in their direction.
One side of Rafe’s mouth lifted in a smirk. “I told you, butterfly. You are ours to share.”
“I…” I what?
My thoughts fizzled out when Bishop rolled his hips and worked his impressive cock closer to my entrance.
He walked me backward, stopping when my ass touched the stool where I’d been sitting.
He buried his face in the side of my neck and kissed his way down my shoulder, then back up to my cheek. “I want inside you, Noelle. My Christmas angel. I want to see you light up with pleasure and hear you sing my name as you come.”
Damn him and the sultry words.
No one ever talked to me like that.
All of my previous boyfriends—most of whom lasted less than a week after we had sex for the first time—barely bothered with foreplay and usually left me empty and aching before I’d climaxed.
“Ash, join them.” Rafe’s command was met with the scrape of metal on concrete.
Ash stood without argument and walked around the table.
“What are you doing?” Unease crimped my muscles.
Bishop ran his hands up and down the backs of my thighs. “It’s okay. You can trust Ash. And you can trust me.”
Ash, intelligent and charming, with a fixation on having things in his mouth, walked up behind me and ran his hands through my hair.
He tipped my head around and claimed my mouth in a hungry kiss.
Well… shit.
From the frying pan and into the inferno.
I’d never been with more than one man before.
Disappointing Bishop was one thing, but having to keep up with two?
What was I supposed to do?
Ash unhooked my bra without breaking off the kiss and palmed my breast.
His callused fingers were rough on my skin, and the contrast caused the already hardened nipple to peak tighter.
Bishop lifted me, then lowered me over his length. “What do you want, my angel?”
Him.
I wanted him more than I’d wanted anything in my life.
How far was I willing to go to keep my cover?
Too damned far.
But I’d go even further to finally have satisfaction in my sexuality.
I broke away from Ash. “I want you, Bishop.”
Rafe stood without a sound. “Then you will have him. And if you accept it, you will have all of us.”
“I have a choice?” My voice squeaked.
All three of them froze.
Bishop’s eyebrows did that deep V thing again. “We’re not monsters. You say no, and we stop.”
“Don’t stop.” I dug my heels into his thighs and reached into his boxers, needing to feel his bare skin. “You’re huge, Bishop.”
“And I know exactly how to use it.” Bishop slid one hand beneath my panties and rubbed his knuckle over my clit. “But we have to get you ready first.”