Sin & Savage (10 page)

Tori giggled. “Yup!”

“Son-of-a-bitch!” He stared at her in complete amazement.

Laughter shone in Tori’s eyes, enjoying the fact that she had somehow managed to break through that cool, tough guy wall he always put up. “Does that mean you approve or you don’t?” she continued to tease.

“I’m not sure. I think I’m going to have to start calling you Saint Snow White from now on!”

“I’m just me, Mr. Savage, and I can assure you, I’m not perfect.” She smiled sweetly at him, before lowering her head to her plate to examine the sandwich Holly had brought her.

Holy motherfucking shit! Of all the women that he had a major hard-on for, it would have to be a small town schoolteacher and pastor’s daughter, Savage thought. He was definitely going to end up in Satan’s pit of fire and brimstone for all the lewd and lecherous things he’d been thinking—like all of the hot, nasty things he wanted to do with her—and to her. He gave his head a slight shake, trying to clear the shock coursing through his brain.

But did this new scrap of information put a damper on his plans for her? Fuck no! In fact, he wanted Victoria Alexandra Jones—as her grandmother had called her yesterday—even more! His body was hot, hard and ready, and it wanted nothing more than for him to bury himself deep inside her and come home.

He watched as Tori innocently took apart the BLT sandwich to see what was inside. It was obvious that she was completely oblivious to what he’d been thinking. In fact, he was positive that, if she’d known about all the dirty things he wanted to do to her, she probably wouldn’t have even been surprised! After all, what else would someone like her expect from a disgusting barbarian like him anyway?

Chapter 22

Friday – 3:49 p.m.

The Final Cut Hair Salon

Savage steered the
Harley into a parking spot in front of the beauty parlor and turned off the ignition. Tori climbed off and unstrapped her helmet, all the while frowning to herself.

Savage followed suit and immediately noticed her pensive mood. “What’s wrong?”

Tori removed her sunglasses and her brows creased with worry. “Do you think Roger will call the police? You know—about what you did to him?”

The biker whipped off his own shades and his eyes crinkled at the corners with suppressed humor. “Do you mean, will the scumbag have me arrested for beating the shit out of him?”

Tori nodded, biting her lip with concern. “Yes.”

“Why, Snow White, I didn’t think you cared,” he teased, his mouth breaking into a wide smile.

Annoyance lit through her at his devil-may-care attitude. “Be serious for one second, please, Mr. Savage! You were on a mission this morning to protect me and I don’t want you getting into trouble with the law for anything you’ve done on my behalf, that’s all.”

The biker chuckled at her prim and proper, schoolteacher stance. “Asshole Roger will not be calling the police anytime soon…or ever, because he knows that if he does, my fellow club members will be paying him a social visit when I’m behind bars. Then, I’ll be dropping by myself again—to have tea with him, of course—when I get out on bail.”

Tori took an involuntary step back from ‘his world and his rules’, as he’d put it to her so many times. His world was one of violence and destruction; and that wasn’t the way to solve problems with people. It made her feel ashamed that she and Nana had stepped into this realm. Well, from now on, she would make doubly sure that Mr. Savage would not use violence in any way, shape, or form where she was concerned. After all, if she was involved, then this was ‘her world’ too, wasn’t it? Yes it was, and so, she would do her best to make the biker follow ‘her rules’ instead of his.

Tori nodded. “Okay, I understand.” She began walking towards the entrance of the hair salon, before stopping and turning back to him. “Oh, by the way, Vivian is Joe’s first cousin.”

Savage playful smile dropped, to be replaced with a scowl. “When did you find this out?”

“Back at the restaurant, when you were in the bathroom. I called my grandmother and she told me.”

Savage sucked in his breath. “If we’d known about this, we’d have come here first and not wasted all morning on a wild goose chase.”

“Well, Nana can’t remember everything at her age and Joe only mentioned his cousin a couple of times to her.” Tori raised her voice with enough ire to match his. It was one thing for her to scold the senior but she wouldn’t stand for anyone else saying one bad thing about her beloved grandmother.

Savage took in her courageous posturing and smiled inwardly to himself. It was obvious that the sweet, innocent Snow White could be quite fierce when defending someone she loved, no matter whom she had to take on, even a violent dirt bag like himself.

His anger evaporated. “The next time you speak to her, please inform your grandmother to provide any and all pertinent information if she expects this job done right?” He’d reverted to his clipped, business tone.

“Duly noted, sir,” she nodded, her own voice mimicking his cool one.

Chapter 23

The hair salon
was a busy beehive of activity. Savage approached a young brunette sitting behind a massive reception counter at the front, flashing her his best smile. “Hi there, I’m looking for Vivian.”

Suddenly, a high-pitched squeal was heard coming from the very back of the establishment as a tall, reed-thin, mid-twenties, model-type raced out. She was wearing a black smock over her clothes and her hair was plastered to her head, covered with blonde hair dye. Her face was classic and beautiful, like one of those Greek statues Tori had seen outside one of the casinos on the Strip.

“Savage!” The woman barreled towards the biker, before throwing her arms around his neck and planting a devouring kiss on his lips.

The biker wrapped his arms around her back and returned the caress before pulling back and smiling down on her. “Hello, Sandy, it’s been awhile,” he drawled, all the while his hands massaging her back. His glance skimmed beyond her shoulders, taking in Tori’s shocked expression. He threw her an unapologetic, badboy wink before returning all of his attention back to the tall blonde in his arms.

Tori fumed inwardly as another surge of pea green jealousy lit through her but she quickly brushed the emotion away without acknowledging it.

“Where have you been, Savage? The girls and I have missed you,” the blonde whined.

“Outta town for a while, but I promise, I’ll be by the club soon, sweetheart.”

Sandy traced the contour of his lips with her well-manicured index finger. “Swear? I want to dance for you again.”

Tori rolled her eyes heavenward. From their conversation, it sounded like the woman was an exotic dancer of some kind. Well, it figured! Savage Monroe certainly enjoyed his extracurricular activities.

“Cross my heart, baby,” he murmured, in a low, husky voice. “Is Vivian around?”

“In the back.” Sandy whipped her head around. “Vivian?” she yelled towards the rear of the shop.

A well-maintained woman in her mid-sixties appeared. She was wearing casual black pants and a black shirt, her hair was in a topknot and her makeup was impeccable. She approached the couple, her eyes narrowing on Savage’s biker persona. “Can I help you?” She addressed him specifically.

Savage released the blonde and turned towards the older woman. “Yes, ma’am, we’re looking for your cousin, Joe Sorelli. Do you know how we can reach him?”

A silence as thick as concrete froze between them as Vivian’s suspicious regard took in his tattooed arms and biker’s club vest. Immediately on the defensive, her hooded eyes narrowed even further. “I’m sorry but I didn’t catch your name.”

Tori sensed that the older woman wouldn’t be giving away any family information to a shady-looking biker, and so she stepped in between the two of them. Pasting on her Sunday-best, church-going smile, she extended her hand. “Hi Vivian, my name is Tori Jones. I’m from Gideon, Texas, and my grandmother Estelle has been Skyping with Joe these past five months. They’re very close friends. Has he mentioned her?”

Out of politeness, Vivian shook Tori’s hand. “No, I’m sorry he hasn’t, but then again, my cousin and I aren’t that close. We usually only see each other a few times a year, on holidays mostly.”

“Oh, I see. Well, my grandmother and I are worried about him because she hasn’t heard from him since last Tuesday. So, we came to Las Vegas to look for him. Have you heard from him since then?”

Vivian shook her head. “No, sorry. The last time I saw Joe was a couple of months ago when we had lunch together and caught up on some family gossip.”

Savage had been studying the older woman’s body language as Tori had been talking to her and his frown was telegraphing the fact that he wasn’t believing anything coming out of the lady’s mouth. “Do you know of any other friends of his that we can go see for information?”

Vivian’s eyes again narrowed as they turned back to the biker. “He’s a good friend of Dirty Dan, the pawn shop owner, and also of Rebecca Shelton’s. She’s a blackjack dealer at the Selah Casino.”

Tori opened her purse and pulled out a notepad and pen. “Here’s my name and phone number.” She scribbled the information on the paper, before handing it to the older woman. “If you happen to hear from him or think of anything else, please call me anytime.”

Vivian smiled politely. “Of course.”

“Thank you. Have a nice day.” Tori grabbed Savage’s hand and tugged him towards the door.

Sandy the blonde stripper stopped his movements as she threw herself into Savage’s arms again and kissed him slowly. She pulled back. “See you soon, sugarbear,” she whispered in a husky tone.

The biker’s lips curved into a warm, breathtaking smile. “You bet,” he whispered back.

Tori was glued to the intimate moment and for one sharp second, she wanted to be the one to taste those sexy lips of his as Sandy just had. In fact, she longed for it. What would they feel like? Would they be hard and demanding, or soft and giving? Would they feel hot and greedy, or slow and sweet? But why was she feeling like this?

She gave her head a slight shake to stop her thoughts. She shouldn’t be thinking like this about someone like him anyway. He was just too dangerous.

* * *

Outside, in the Vegas sunshine, a frown creased Savage’s brow as he walked towards his bike. Tori followed closely behind him.

“Vivian’s lying,” he decreed.

“Think so?”

“My gut is screaming that she knows more than she’s saying.”

“Should we go back in and ask her again?”

Savage shook his head. “It wouldn’t do any good. She’d clam up tighter than my fist on good ol’ Roger this morning. Let’s go check out this Rebecca Shelton instead. If that’s a dead end, I can pay Sandy a visit at her club later on. If she frequents this shop, she may know something.”

“Okay,” Tori said, as she strapped on her helmet.

* * *

Vivian watched the biker and girl leave; and then walked purposefully to the back of her shop, towards her private office. Shutting the door behind her, she quickly reached for the phone on her desk and dialed.

“Yeah?” a male voice answered on the other end of the line.

“I need you do something else for me. Are you interested?” she asked.

Chapter 24

Friday – 5:05 p.m.

The Selah Hotel & Casino

After having just
spoken to Rebecca Shelton, Tori and Savage exited the front doors of the Selah Hotel & Casino and walked towards the Harley parked in the lot. The gaming establishment was a small casino about six miles from the Strip; and was more of a hangout for the locals rather than the tourists.

As the pair reached the motorcycle, Tori turned to the biker. “Do you think she was telling the truth?” she asked, referring to the blackjack dealer they’d just met inside.

Savage nodded. “Yeah, I do—at least, that’s what I was sensing.”

Arriving twenty minutes earlier, the duo had managed to catch Rebecca before her shift was to begin. The woman, in her mid-forties, had told them that Joe Sorelli was only a casual acquaintance, having patronized the casino several times during the year. The last time she’d seen him was over two months ago and that was when he’d visited her table as a customer. She didn’t know why her name would come up when anyone was mentioning who his closest friends were because she wasn’t one and never had been. Tori had thanked the dealer for her time, and she and Savage had left.

Tori frowned, as she stared up at Savage. “If Rebecca Shelton is telling the truth, then that means that Cousin Vivian isn’t.”

The biker smirked. “Yeah, Vegas is full of liars and I’d bet my last penny that she’s one of ’em.”

“Should we go back and confront her?”

He shook his head. “No. I’ll go see Sandy at her club tonight instead and find out if she’s heard anything at Vivian’s shop. In the meantime, I think we should go back to your hotel and have another little chat with your grandmother. I suspect she may know more than she thinks.”

“Nana
always
knows more than she thinks—or that she’s telling you. In fact, you can take that back inside,” she indicated the casino entrance with a nod of her head, “and bet on it.” Tori laughed, as she turned and reached for her black helmet slung on the back of his bike.

As her fingers grasped the straps, she suddenly realized that they were knotted together. “Oh darn, look what I’ve done,” she mumbled half to herself. She tried to undo it but the bulge remained impervious to her efforts. “I hope this isn’t going to lower my grade in Biker Chick 101, Mr. Savage,” she giggled.

At that instant, her gaze swiveled upwards and met his. His eyes were dark, raw and intense; she sensed they’d been watching her for the past few seconds. Her laughter faded as a sudden, overpowering, sexual hunger emanated from him and engulfed her senses completely. He was standing a couple of feet away but his dark heat closed the space between them in an instant. Her surroundings seemed to vanish and there was only him in the sensual cocoon his energy was creating around her.

Her breath caught in her throat as his throbbing power pulled her towards him and she knew, in that instant, that he wanted her. Matthew Jack Monroe, Son of Perdition outlaw biker and general badass who solved problems with his fists—wanted her, Victoria Alexandra Jones—the small-town schoolteacher who had never missed a Sunday church service in her life, and who believed in God and country and doing good unto others.

An aching need sizzled through her body like a live wire as she finally admitted to herself that she wanted him too. Raw fire pooled in the center of her being and desire flared in her veins. But how could she want him? He was dangerous and vicious and taboo.

Trembling, her nervous fingers clutched the helmet tighter to her body, keeping the object between them, as if that alone could protect her from the crackling heat emanating from his presence. Like a tiny sparrow made immobile by the hypnotic stare of a dangerous cat about to pounce, she remained rooted to the spot.

“Let me,” he suddenly whispered, as he breached the distance between them and reached for the straps on the helmet.

Tori’s head lowered to watch his strong, capable fingers, slowly and deliberately, thread one end into the other, trying to loosen the knot…and she gripped the object tighter against her chest for dear life.

His hands gently brushed her own as he continued his efforts, and every spot he grazed on her skin burned as if touched by shooting embers from a wild fire. Suddenly, he stepped even closer and bent his head down to her height in order to see better what he was doing.

As he did so, his stubbly jaw accidentally touched her soft cheek and a bolt of sexual excitement curled in her gut. The maleness of his musky scent invaded her nostrils and her pulse quickened to lightning speed. God, the man was handsome—and hot—and exciting—and she felt herself drowning in him.

His gaze inched up then and immediately, his eyes darkened dangerously before slowly lowering to her mouth. His breathing grew heavier and Tori felt her lips swell to their fullness beneath his intense regard.

Savage straightened to his superior height and gently tipped her chin up, forcing her to look at him. “You have no idea how beautiful you look, Victoria Alexandra Jones, with the sun shining behind you like that, giving you a glow like some otherworldly angel come down to earth to save a sinner like me. Can you save me, little one? Or will I be damned to hell fire for eternity?”

Tori sensed uncertainty in him. The big, strong, powerful Savage Monroe was feeling unsure—unsure of her! He wanted to kiss her—badly—his desperate eyes were shouting out, but would she let him? It was her call, he was telling her. After all, he was no fool. He knew who he was and where he came from—and he knew who she was too. Out of respect for her, he wouldn’t cross that line unless she allowed it. His burning eyes and hard body telegraphed all that to her in a flash.

Instinctively, Tori knew that all she’d have to do would be to lean into him and that devastatingly, sensuous mouth of his would immediately capture hers in a kiss—a kiss her own lips were screaming to taste. It was all so easy, if she just let herself…

Suddenly, a surge of fear rippled through her. What was she thinking? She’d only met the man yesterday, for goodness sake, and frankly, he scared her—pure and plain—no matter what Nana’s tingle said about him. After all, she was in ‘his world’ now, abiding by ‘his rules’. And his world terrified her. It was ruthless and lawless and violent—everything she abhorred!

No, she wouldn’t kiss him, no matter how badly she wanted to. She needed to put a stop to this craziness before it went too far—and she needed to put a stop to him!

Mentally, she pulled herself back from the abyss she’d just about fallen into. She stiffened her spine with resolve. “I thought my grandmother paid you to save me, Mr. Savage, not the other way around.”

Her matter-of-fact tone registered in Savage’s befuddled brain. His gaze flew back up from her tempting lips to her cold, hard eyes. Had she just said no to him?

His fuzzy thinking cleared as he reined in his erratic breathing and racing heartbeat. Minutes ago, as he’d watched her trying to unfasten those damn, stupid helmet straps, he’d been captivated by how amazingly beautiful she was—inside and out—and his need for her had snapped. His hungry eyes had devoured her lush body from top to bottom—from her rosy lips as they’d pouted at the inconvenient knot, to her cap of chocolate brown hair highlighted in the sunshine, to her ripe breasts straining beneath her sweater, to her tight, denim jeans cupping her full, rounded ass.

But it wasn’t just her sweet body that he longed for. It was more than that! She had a serene, quiet, gentleness about her that the badness in him craved, like a junkie needing a fix. She was kind and decent and good—everything he wasn’t.

A primitive force had gone off inside him, demanding pleasure and cleansing and release; and he’d known that only she could give him that—no one else. In fact, he burned for her—for the noble, small-town schoolteacher and preacher’s daughter—like a tortured soul in hell who thirsted for a single drop of water to ease his pain.

In an instant, his skin had grown hot and slick with aching need, and a throbbing heat had invaded the rest of his body, making him hard. But it wasn’t only her goodness that he wanted to absorb into him, it was her everything. He wanted to taste her moist lips beneath his own frantic ones, and to feel the softness of her skin against his taut, rough body, electrifying every nerve ending in him. He wanted to see her naked and clinging to him, and to hear her moaning and purring as he drove into her hot, tight core. Then afterwards, he wanted to hold her tight in his arms, knowing that she was his and his alone. He’d whisper in her delicate ear that he knew that they’d been created for each other and by coming together, they had righted one more wrong in this cruel, crazy world.

Blood pounded in his brain at the mere thought of all that, and his insides melted. Why was he feeling like this? It wasn’t like he was some inexperienced, gawky, teenage kid who’d never been laid before in his life. He was a grown man who’d had his fair share of women, and then some. Whatever he’d wanted and whomever he’d wanted, he’d had. After all, fucking was in his lifeblood. But this was different. She was different. And she made
him
different.

But she’d said
no
just now, and this was new territory for him because no one ever said no to him on anything. But she had!

Yeah, she wanted him too; he knew it as sure as shit that she did. In fact, he’d seen it blazing in her eyes, but she had made her decision. And he now knew she would never ever come to him—
willingly
—of her own accord.

He pulled a fraction away to control the fierce heat for her, spinning out of control in between his legs. Rejection hurt like hell and he did have some pride. He forced his eyes to match the coldness glistening in hers.

“I didn’t read your signals wrong, Tori. You want to kiss me, you know you do. Admit it,” he drawled, his voice low and edgy with a threatening undertone to it, like a volcano before it blows.

Tori angled her chin up and met his defiant gaze head on. “Okay, I’ll admit it. I do want to—kiss you, I mean—but I won’t. Sometimes, when the devil has his arm around you, and he’s handsome and nice, you don’t know he’s the devil.”

“But you do?”

“Something like that.”

Savage felt the anger in him rise at her insulting words. “But you have no qualms about buying the devils’ services when you need him, do you?”

Tori blazed with fury at his accusatory words. “I need your skills in navigating through this town, nothing more!”

“Then you should have hired yourself a fucking tour guide instead!”

“Look, Mr. Monroe, I’m not standing in judgment of who you are.”

“Sure sounds like it to me, lady.”

Tori watched in fascination as a small vein pulsed at the base of his throat. No doubt about it, he was furious. Okay, maybe she had gone too far with what she’d said but she was scared—scared of herself really. What would happen between them if she didn’t get this crazy situation under control—and under control fast? Because right now, all she wanted was to slide her arms around his neck and feel his searing lips on hers. In fact, she was burning for it.

“I’m sorry if I’ve offended you. I don’t mean to, but I just want to keep this professional between us, all right? Nothing personal.” Inside, her heart was beating wildly against her ribcage but on the outside, Tori made sure she was a block of ice.

Savage backed away. His mouth spread into a slow, knowing grin. “Well, well, well, Snow White has fangs. I’m actually impressed. There’s more to you than I thought.”

“If you want to back out of our agreement right now, you have that option. I’ll understand.”

“What about the balance of the thousand bucks you still owe me?”

“The job wasn’t done to my satisfaction so, sorry, I’m not paying you.”

Savage burst out laughing. “You’ve got balls too, big ones, considering you know exactly how I usually collect what’s owed to me.”

Tori’s hands clenched into fists at her side as a flare of fury shot through her. “Let me make this perfectly clear, Mr. Monroe. If you harm me or my grandmother in any way, I will go to the police and have you arrested. I’m not like Wizard or Roger. I’m not afraid of you,” she seethed.

Savage took in her angry stance and his blood boiled even more at all the nasty, insulting things she’d just said to him. How could they go from an almost kiss to an almost kill within the blink of an eye? And yeah, he was fuming mad at her right now but did it make him want her any less? Hell, no! In fact, he wanted her even more.

Mentally, he counted to ten and reined in his temper. His lips curled into an easy, charming smile. “Okay Snow White, I won’t back out of our little arrangement. I’ll finish the job—to your satisfaction—and when my complete services are rendered, I’ll expect payment in full.”

“Of course, without question.”

“And the devil will remove his arm from around you. You don’t have to worry about that ever happening again. How does that sound?”

“Professional, as things should be between you and your client,” she spouted. A pang of remorse shot through Tori at his clipped words but this was the way it had to be.

Savage’s eyes narrowed on her but he said nothing. Tori couldn’t discern what he was thinking. He walked around the Harley, strapped on his helmet and straddled the bike. He put on his sunglasses and turned to her.

“We need to speak to your grandmother again, so come on, let’s ride.” He used a very formal, matter-of-fact tone of voice. It was obvious he was taking her lead and keeping everything on a more businesslike level from now on.

Tori positioned her helmet and tightened the straps underneath her chin. Perching her dark sunglasses onto her nose, she straddled the bike. Nudging her hips forward, she came up against his back and immediately felt a rush of desire as his clean, male scent, mixed in with his pheromones, enveloped her. She eased her hands around him and over his chest, feeling every hard muscle and ripple along the way. His body felt warm to the touch and she could feel the rapid beating of his heart beneath her fingers. For one brief moment, she closed her eyes and savored the feel of him in her arms. What would it feel like to make love to him?