Wild Heart- Extended Edition (The Wild Heart Series) (15 page)

If there was one thing for certain, it was that her life had become more interesting that it had ever been before. She was beginning to realize that her heart longed to run wild and free. If any man dared to try and claim it, he would have to accept that, he would love her in her wildest form. He would never try to tame her. He would run wild with her, because that is what love is.

THREE WEEKS LATER

“You got that screwdriver, babe?” Knox’s voice echoed off the walls of the compound’s garage.

“Yeah, here you go, lover,” she smiled as she came toward him; this man was beginning to consume her world. It seemed as though anytime she wasn’t at work, she was with Knox. The more she had gotten to know his softer side, the harder she found herself falling for him. But she’d even come to enjoy the fact that he was rough around the edged. Life no longer seemed complicated, it just worked. It was if all the pieces of the puzzle had finally started to fall into place.

She watched as he took apart the engine of the old Harley sitting on the rack in front of him. He’d been working on this old motor for the past two weeks, and thank God, he wasn’t getting any closer to finishing it either. The sweat on his skin glistened in warm afternoon sunlight coming in through the doors. She could never tire of watching him work on motorcycles, especially when he was shirtless. He pushed the black Ray Ban sunglasses down his nose and looked over at her.

“Why do you look so devious?” he smiled.

“Oh, nothing.”

“Known you long enough now to know that when you have that look in your eyes, it’s because you’re plotting something.” He pushed the glasses back up, wiping his hands with the worn cloth sitting at the end of the work bench and then tossed it back onto the old car seat next to them.

“Who me?” Her eyes were devious, the as her voice. She attempted to stroll by him without so much as a care, until he reached out and grabbed her hand, pulling her toward him with a squeal.

“Aye, you.” His hands lifted her and set her down onto his lap, facing toward him as his fingers traced down her arms and found a resting place at the round curve of her ass.

“Well, if you must know, I’m planning to take over the world; one M.C. at a time.”

“So I’m nothing more than a pawn piece in your ploy for world domination?” He ran his hands along the bare flesh of her outer thighs, “I like these shorts, by the way.”

“Way to change the subject.”

“Couldn’t help it. You come prancing around here in shorts this short, it makes my imagination go wild,” he eyed up at her.

“I want to learn to ride.” She glanced past him to another old Harley that sat at the back of the garage. She really
did
want to learn how to ride. One day. Just not at this particular moment.

“Aye, what was that about changing subjects?”

“There are a few other things I want to do on a motorcycle too,” she leaned down and kissed him, grinding her hips down against his semi hard cock. They had exchanged a thousand kisses with their eyes all afternoon, so now that she had her prize, she was going to take her time and let it linger. She was slow, deliberate, as her hips moved against his groin. And with each touch of his fingers, drifting along her spine under the white tank top she wore, a fire flamed out over her that couldn’t be easily extinguished.

“Keep that up and you’ll get your wish,” he whispered as his lips grazed the edge of her ear.

“First,” she whispered back, “world domination,” she chuckled as she stood from his lap, laughing at the dramatic groan coming from his lips as he flopped down onto the car seat as if she’d just struck him in the stomach with a baseball bat.

She rolled her eyes and twirled around toward the main clubhouse. She could hear Kate’s light, airy laughter as she came in the front door and walked down the hallway. Mugshots, pictures, and brightly lit signs hung eclectically on the walls of the long black hallway into the building.

“Ani! Help!” Kate called from the couch where Rage had pinned her down and was playfully tickling her.

“Bloody woman, you’re evil! Where did you put it?” Rage asked.

“I’m not telling you!” Kate laughed out.

“It was a limited edition! I can’t get that one again.”

“I don’t care! It had naked women in it!” Kate rolled off the couch, taking Rage to the floor with her.

“What the hell are you two talking about?” Ani giggled from the chair she had plopped down into at the bar, watching as they continued the wrestling match.

“Your damn wicked friend stole my Playboy,” he answered Ani before turning back to Kate, “Last chance or that fancy leather jacket I bought you is going back to the store.”

“Ok, ok! It’s in Charon’s room.”

“Christ, woman, he’s probably already gummed up the pages!” Rage hopped from the floor and took off running up the stairs.

Kate laughed as she made her way over to where Ani sat, “You wanna beer?”

“Sure. Hit me bartender.” Ani checked to see if Rage had gone up the stairs, “We still on for tonight?”

“Of course!” Kate slid a beer across the bar toward her.

“What the hell are you two plotting in here?” Jameson strolled in from the kitchen, a plate in hand as he made his way toward them.

“Nothing. Where’s Starla?” Ani tried to bluff as well as she could.

“Don’t believe you. Don’t believe you one bit. You women get together and start whispering, means you’re plotting,” he sat down at the bar next to Ani, “Where’s my drink?” He acted as though he were offended at the lack of service.

“You tell me where Starla is and I’ll make you a drink.” Kate leaned across the bar and stared at him.

For a moment he stared back before rendering the fight useless, “She’s dropping the kids off at her sister’s and then heading this way,” he mumbled as he took a large bite of his sandwich. “Still don’t know what you women are doing in the clubhouse.”

“Oh come on. You know it smells a hell of a lot better in here,” Ani laughed.

Between Starla, Kate, and herself they had scrubbed probably three years of liquor, smoke, and God knows what kind of bodily fluids off every wall in the clubhouse. Though most of the members still didn’t like the women to be around the club, they did appreciate the regular cleaning and cooking. Even though Rage and Knox both had rooms here, they stayed at Knox’s cabin most nights. And the girls didn’t step foot at the compound without them.

“Yeah, ok. But the first of you to put some pink shite in here is getting banned. Permanently.” He took another bite of his sandwich, “Where’s my drink?”

“Here.” Kate slid the beer across the bar toward him and sighed.

“We partying already?” Charon came in and took the seat on the other side of Ani.

Charon was a huge beast of a man, covered in tattoos. His hair hung long and stringy down his back. Most of the times that Ani had seen him, he’d had it tied up in a ponytail or tucked under a beanie hat. He had brilliant blue eyes that stood out from his dark hair and the same deep accent that the other men had. He lived at the compound permanently; and had been there the first day Knox had brought Ani over. He’d been one of the only members to seem as though he truly enjoyed having the girls around.

“So your name is Sharon? Nice, same as my aunt.” Ani smacked Kate’s arm at her boldness.

“It’s Charon, as in the ferryman to the underworld.” His face was stern as he looked over the bar at them, causing Ani’s stomach to turn. Knowing Kate, she’d probably offended the man.

“Oh, where’d you get that name from? You kill a man?” Ani dropped her face into her hands; she couldn’t believe Kate would actually ask him that. Then again, she could it as Kate had no boundaries.

“No, got it because of my handsome singing voice.”

The two stared at him, wondering about the weight of truth in that statement. His face stayed blank and it wasn’t until Kate let out a loud belly laugh that a warm smile spread across his face showing his sarcasm.

“Yeah, and Repo got his from repossessing cars,” Kate giggled.

“You leave me the hell out of this,” Repo said from the end of the bar, shooting a tall glass of tequila before going back to the magazine he’d been reading.

“It’s from repossessing souls,” Charon whispered across the bar toward them, a playful laughter coming from his throat. “Bastard’s getting old though, so he only repossesses the innocence of trashy women now.”

“No, that’s later tonight,” Ani smiled deviously toward Kate.

“What’s later tonight?” Starla came in sitting a bag full of liquor bottles onto the counter.

“Nothing,” Kate smiled.

“Plotting,” Jameson gave Starla a kiss before heading out to the garage.

Each of the women at the bar were now staring anxiously at Charon. “Aye, this must be my queue to go.” Charon stood from his chair, grabbing his beer and heading out after Jameson.

“Lawd, I thought they’d never leave,” Kate said exasperatedly.

“Time to go get dolled up ladies,” Starla smiled devilishly. Tonight was going to be a night to remember.

The three went up the stairs toward Knox’s room, grabbing the bag that sat on the end of the dresser. Ani emptied the contents onto the bed and each girl grabbed the dress they had packed, changing quickly in an effort to not get caught in the middle of their plan. The sun had already set behind the trees, so they didn’t have long before the guys would be chugging beer. The dress Ani had brought was a dusty blue and shimmered all over, it was short and backless, exposing just enough skin. She put on the gold chain that Knox had given her and draped it down her back so that the Celtic symbol displayed just below her hair. Starla was gorgeous in a black skintight dress, and Kate in a cream colored one. They fixed their make-up and hair, slipped on their heels and headed off downstairs.

Just as she came down the stairs, the rumble of the men’s voices caused Ani to pause until Kate’s hand landed on the small of her back and pushed her on into the room. She walked out and caught eyes with Knox, whose mouth had already dropped open in shock by the way she was dressed. He didn’t seem upset by the sudden over exposure of her skin, but more enticed by the fire that was in her eyes. On any given day, Knox could find her in shorts and a tank top with her dirty old Georgia boots on. But this, this was something entirely different than how he’d seen her before. She embodied the elegance of a queen and the sexiness of siren luring men out to sea.

She hoped that their plan would work and he would want to actually go out instead of haul her back upstairs and lock the door. She nervously looked around, taking in the shocked expressions of the other men as well. Jameson was staring at Starla in a way that Ani had never seen before. Kate had already pranced up to Rage and was coaxing him with their plan to go out. It had been weeks and though they partied, hard, they hadn’t gone out to party and the girls wanted to get a taste of the nightlife.

“To what do I owe this pleasure?” Knox eyed her up and down, reaching out and entangling his fingers with hers. As he pulled her toward him, he twisted her hand up to his lips and planted a warm kiss on the back.

“Well, we were hoping that you would take us out on the town.” Ani looked up at his dark eyes with hope.

“You want me to take you out and show you off, baby?” his voice was low, fueling her longing for him.

“Yes,” she pleaded softly.

“Aye, I gotta go get cleaned up then.” He leaned down and wrapped his solid arms around her waist, pulling her into his body. His lips brushed softly against her own as the whiskers of his beard and mustache tickled along her face. He kissed her with a passion that she’d never felt before. He was a king, claiming his queen, and it was if he wanted the entire world to know it. Their lips parted, allowing him enough time to reclaim his thoughts and head toward the stairs followed by Rage and Jameson.

“Well that was easy,” Kate laughed as she topped off her beer.

“Shite, I’ll go too.” Charon jumped from his stool and bounded up the stairs.

CHAPTER TEN

STAY OUT OF MY TERRITORY

Ani tugged at her skirt as they pulled up to the nightclub just inside the city limits of Gatlinburg. Two hours on the back of Knox’s motorcycle and her ass was now completely numb. The men parked their bikes in front of the club and the group made their way toward the door. Flippant yelling and cursing came from the line that flowed out the door and down the long sidewalk as they made their way straight to the bouncer. Ani watched as the bouncer eyed up at Charon’s leather cut, he stood a good two feet taller than the bouncer and a solid sixty pounds more. A brief conversation and a quick slip of money and they were making their way toward the VIP section of the nightclub. The club wasn’t huge, but it was packed from wall to wall and as loud as a live concert. The rap music blared from the overhead speakers, coursing the bass through their bodies as they found their way to the back of the club.

Ani clung to Knox as he led the way, whistling for the waitress as he took a seat on the black suede couch. Kate, who followed closely behind them, had already started dancing; pleading Ani to go with her to the dance floor. Ani now felt slightly out of place in the middle of the chaos of the club, but she had made a deal with the girls to have a fun night out and she’d make the best of it. A few people passing by eyed them, only fueling her self-consciousness.

“You look beautiful tonight,” Knox leaned over to her ear and whispered, as if he knew the anxiousness she was feeling.

“Thank you. You don’t look too bad yourself,” she smiled up at his beautiful steel colored eyes.

“Should’ve just stayed home and taken you to bed, baby. That dress is getting me harder by the minute.” His eyes traveled down to her long bare legs as he adjusted his pants for relief.

“We can always sneak away for a moment,” she eyed him and then the back of the club with a wicked grin.

His eyes had a mischievous look in them when they met hers; she leaned closer to him as the waitress returned with their first round of drinks. She grabbed a shot of whiskey from the table and threw it back, letting it burn down to her stomach and fuel her bravery. Tonight was about having fun, something that Ani was starting to remember how to do. She had a man by her side that wielded the sexiest smile she’d ever seen and she could feel his hunger for her. It didn’t take long for the combination of the whiskey, along with Knox’s touch along the bare skin of her back, to have her playfully dancing in her seat.