Coletrane (4 page)

As a whole, we took this shit seriously. We took pride in the place. We weren’t one-percenters but one hundred percent legal.

Mostly.

As long as the guys didn’t find out I’d pretty much been a crank fiend who’d blown my veins out, smoked it, snorted it . . . got off on it in all ways. Back in the day I’d liked it any old way I could get it.

“What crawled up your ass and shot sperm?” Boomer—apparently a wordsmith—set his ring of keys on the bar, beckoning for the usual order of beer plus shot.

“Not your cock.” I attempted a smile that came out more like a frown.

“Hope not.” He massaged a hand through his short black hair. “I try to reserve that for the ladies.”

“What ladies do you speak of?” Brodie joked.

His ice blue eyes dead-cool, Boomer flipped up the middle finger behind his back.

Kinkaid placed the drinks down then started massaging my big shoulders. “You’re all kinked up, bro.”

“And that is seriously fucking kinky. PornHub here we come!” Sadie hooked two fingers into her belt loops and leaned on the bar next to Boomer. “I don’t like to share, but maybe just this one time. Can I watch?”

“I’m not gettin’ into bed with your boyfriend.” I elbowed Kinkaid away.

“
Uhhh
, no.” Kaid leaned across the bar top and took Sadie’s lips in a hot slow kiss. “Only one I make love to is you.”

“We got a sweet talker in the house!” Boomer called out.

Next thing I knew, Brodie Steele stood next to me with the blender he unearthed from a low shelf turned to
loud
as he chucked in ingredients. A minute later, he presented a pastel pink strawberry daiquiri to Kinkaid.

“Keep it sweet, man.” Brodie winked.

Everyone in the room laughed their asses off over the stupid ritual I’d only witnessed a couple times—making fun of any brother who got too sweet with his woman in the MC house.

Kaid turned ten shades of red. Being blond like that had to suck.

Sadie licked her lips, picked up the frothy frozen drink, and downed it in one. Knuckles rapped on tables. Wolf whistles splintered the air. Men and women yelled when she set the emptied glass down.

“
Aaaand
we’re going home now.” Kinkaid, mesmerized by Sadie, made a quick exit with his woman in tow.

The hoots and hollers didn’t stop until Brodie slipped me a full shot of the clear stuff with a wink. “You never answered Boomer, hoss. What’s the problem? This about the hottie last week? What was her name again?”

A dozen groans echoed around the room at the mention of
the new cherry
.

“Sinclair. Sin. Not about her.” After sucking back my tequila, I glared all around, daring anyone to give me anymore guff about the lady.

“Never figured you had much game anyway.” Brodie’s cold blue eyes lightened. “Don’t be so goddamn grouchy.”

“Oh, I got game.” I reached into my pocket then splatted a Magnum condom on the bar top.

“So, it’s like that?” Brodie lounged beside me, one corner of his mouth kicked up.

“It’s like that.”

“I always heard it’s not the size that counts,” he answered.

“Only guys with little dicks say that!” Tail laughed uproariously.

“Want me to haul it out?” Brodie cupped his crotch, shaking his hips toward Tail.

I was just glad the attention had moved away from me.

“
Fuuuck
no.” Tail shuddered head to toe.

Brodie shrugged. He turned his evil grin on me, flicking the foil-wrapped condom back at me. “Save that for your lady.”

“Anything I can help with?” Hunter shouldered up.

And all the attention swung back to me.

“Nope.” I ended the conversation just like that, ducked my head, and got back to work.

Everything got worse a few minutes later when a screaming engine had the men racing outside.

I knew that sound.

Sin. In her Trans Am. Trademark hotness.

I ambled reluctantly into the parking lot after them.

SEXY SIN STEPPED OUT of the hot as hell
hot rod
, and I swear, every man’s mouth dropped to the pavement.

I preferred to glare.

Her arms clutched in Sadie’s and JB’s, Sin was girlfriend tag-teamed into the MC while the leather-clad goons rolled their tongues back into their mouths.

Of course, Sin didn’t even send a glance my way. She wouldn’t. Not after I’d told her the best thing she could do for both of us was stay out of my life.

Brodie slapped me on the shoulder. “Looks like your cherry couldn’t keep away.”

“Not. Mine,” I snarled.

He let loose with a freewheeling laugh. “Yeah. Heard that so many times I lost count. And last time I checked all the brothers who said the same damn thing are happily shacked up with the woman they least expected.”

Detective Ashe Kingston, the ass-kicking Vice cop, tucked her head against Brodie’s shoulder. “You too.”

He dragged her up to his lips. “Not complaining. Just stating a fact.”

I left them to get all touchy-feely and stalked back inside. Straight to the bar. Not sneaking glimpses at Sin at all. Nope.

But what the fuck? Why was she here again after I’d warned her?

And what the hell was she wearing this time?

Not jeans. Not leathers. South Carolina in the summer made the women’s wardrobes smaller, tighter . . . sexier. She still looked pure class, but that skirt was only a couple of inches below her ass. She better not be planning on playing pool and bending over a table tonight, unless she wanted to bend over and present that plump ass to me.

The goddamn skirt was white and frilly, and it barely covered the tops of her curvaceous thighs. Long, toned legs ended in sweet little thong sandals, and her pretty toenails were painted outrageous red. The silky-looking top clung loosely to her. It had some kind of netting all down the back, which made it pretty fucking apparent she wasn’t doing the bra thing.

And then her nipples popped up when a cold blast from the A/C hit her.

Fucking A.

My lips thin, my shoulders tight, I filled Sin’s, JB’s, and Sadie’s drinks order while Sadie waited barside. She delivered them to her best buds, and I watched Sin suck and swallow and lick her lips as the beverage slid down her throat.

She’d probably never swallowed come in her life.

I wouldn’t mind breaking that streak.

But I was too busy ignoring her.

Riiiight
.

She, on the other hand, had no problem paying
no
attention to me whatsoever.

When the inevitable rush of guys began hitting on her, she started flirting. Her lips curved—once again shiny, red, and bold—and I almost crushed the glass I was polishing. The dude who’d gained her attention looked like he’d just won the lottery. He was gonna win my fist in his face if he placed hands on her.

I’d underestimated Sin though. She managed the polite and friendly—the come hither but not too close—effortlessly. She’d clearly been hit on a million times before by unsavory dudes, and she knew how to deal with them.

And that begged the question: what the fuck was she doing on my turf again?

About the time she racked up the pool balls, I imagined her flashing her fine ass to all and sundry. Fights would break out. Me? I’d probably be the prime suspect.

Her eyes slid to me.

Gotcha.

I vaulted over the bar, waded through the throng, and grabbed the cue stick before she could take aim and break.

“I don’t think you wanna do that.”

“Why not?” Her eyes flashed up at me.

“Because you got a slavering pack of male animals waiting for a glimpse of your ass. And I’m not in the mood to share.”

“Who the hell said I was yours to share?”

“I did.” A wicked smile curved my lips as I egged her on. “PS. It’s no surprise you’re gonna protest, go all catty on me. I don’t care.”

“You arrogant asshole,” Sin hissed.

Placing the pool stick back in the stand, I stared her down. “That all you got?”

She hauled back and slapped me across the face.

Her fire lit to rip-roaring rage, she stomped on my foot for good measure, too.

I rubbed my cheek. “Anything else to get out of your system, precious?”

“You’re a controlling dick,” she all but spat at me.

“Yup.”

“I do not like you.”

“Then why are you here again?” I asked. “Why’d you show up at Inksanity?” Bending forward, I whispered, “Why’d you agree to let me pierce your pretty nipples?”

“You . . . just . . .” Spluttering to a halt, she whipped her head back. “Fuck off.”

“
Ooh
. Mommy and Daddy know you cuss like that?”

Meanwhile, all the nosy bastards got a good show. Pool, darts, drinks forgotten as they leaned forward and hung on every hushed word we slung at each other.

“I know a lot more curse words than that. Stop treating me like a little girl. I’m a grown woman.”

I looked her over. That she was. A Grade A woman at that. I took Sin’s hand into mine and tugged her to me. “Let me get you a drink, and maybe we can dial it down? Before we set off more sparks.”

That would be good. Talking. Anything that didn’t involve her flashing her ass to the entire MC.

Sin curled her fingers around mine, stepping down. “I could do with a drink.”

I settled her at a table and retrieved a whiskey for her, a beer for me.

Of fucking course I screwed everything up as soon as I sat down and opened my big dumb mouth. “Life on Easy Street too boring for you?”

Sinclair didn’t even take a sip. She charged straight up off her chair. “You absolute bastard! I don’t even know why I let Sadie talk me into this in the first place.”

I lounged back as she hesitated halfway between totally interested and way long gone. “So why
are
you here.”

“What?”

“You think I’m disrespectful.” Planting my elbows on the table, I swirled my beer. “You probably don’t even like me.”

Sin sat down with a sigh. “I do like you. That’s the problem.”

“Why?”

“You’re nothing like any of the men I’ve dated before.” Her pale green eyes positively glowed as she took in my arms, my chest, and the ink revealed by my muscle shirt.

She’d probably never been with a guy whose nipples were pierced either.

I smirked, twin dimples seating into my cheeks. “Can’t say I’m surprised.”

“And you’re egotistical.”

“Not really. You just don’t know me and how good I can love you.”

Her breath halted. Her cheeks turned pink.

“You might just think I’m sexy. I have a brain too. Most guys only care about getting into my bank account or my bed,” she rushed out.

“And you might think I’m the bad boy you can live out your fantasies with.” I jerked her chair closer, and it left skid marks on the floor. “But I’m a human being. I got a college degree and everything.” My warm breath coasted up her neck. “Maybe we should start at zero. Because I already know you’re way more than sexy.”

“Zero level?”

I sat back. Clinked my bottle against her glass. “Yeah. No expectations. And no more bickering.”

After sliding her crimson red lips against the rim of her glass, she coddled the drink in her hands. “You always give me the good stuff. Not Jack.”

“You noticed.”

“I notice a lot of things. Like those horrible guys at the tattoo parlor. Why did you feel the need to warn me about them?”

“I’ll take care of them.” My knuckles turned white as I clenched my beer. “You don’t need to worry.”

Hell, I’ll take care of her if she’ll give me half a chance.

“What if I’m worried about you?” Her hands covered both of mine.

I pulled free. “You don’t have to be. I got backup.” Not that I was telling the MC dudes about the new screw in the works.

Fuck. I couldn’t believe I was sitting here, in Retribution, talking to beautiful Sin. She goddamn knocked me off my feet and blew my mind. She definitely didn’t need a front row seat to my stupid-assed past.

“Tell me about you, precious.”

“Why do you call me that?” Her head cocked, a brilliant bright blonde tumble of curls falling below her shoulders.

“Don’t know.” I rubbed my hands through my hair. “You’re like a china doll. So damn perfect.”

“I’m not. I assure you.”

“Well, I figured. You’ve definitely got a mouth on you.”

“Cole!” She kicked me under the table.

“C’mon. No way you can deny that shit.” I hadn’t had this much fun in . . .

Never.

She smiled, shaking her head as she studied me. Her eyes dropped to my chest, and I wondered if she was thinking about how the barbells pierced through my nipples would feel on her tongue again.

I sure was.

“You’re very sexy, you know?” Her voice dropped, husky and breathy. “Those eyes . . . so dark blue.” Reaching over, she dragged her fingertips down my cheek, across my stubble. “At first I thought you looked scary. Rugged as hell and a little frightening—and I know that’s what you want me to think, Cole. But your eyes are like sapphires. They show your whole soul to me.”

Withdrawing her fingers, she sampled her drink while I tried some silent breathing exercises to get my cock under control. My pulse stampeded throughout my body.

“You two up for a game?” Kinkaid gripped my shoulder while Sadie dipped down beside Sin.

“Nah,” I said.

“Pass.” Sin reiterated, her brilliant smile once again all for me.

God. When she smiled at me I felt like rolling over and begging for her.

Definitely not my style.

But the smile, the green eyes, the possibilities.

I can definitely work with that.

I still wanted to know more about her, find out what made her tick, so I shifted the conversation back to her. “What was your speech about the other night?”

“A charity thing. We’re raising money for lowcountry children with cancer.” Sin’s eyes turned glossy, her lashes dewed with tears. “My little cousin died five years ago. It was horrible watching Jaime go through all that pain.” She lowered her head. “It was bone cancer . . . they had to amputate one of her legs, and it still didn’t stop.”

Reaching over, I caressed Sin’s cheek. I whisked away the small tears. “How old was she?”

“Twelve. She was like a little sister to me.” She brought her shining eyes to mine. “That’s part of the reason I work really hard. Why the foundation does a lot for the local community, especially for children.”

I pulled my hand back, resting it on the table. “I lost my sis.”

“Oh, God, Cole.” Sin’s hand flew to her mouth. “That’s terrible. Was it cancer?”

“No.” Nothing remotely like that.

I cleared my throat and inspected my beer before taking a swig.

I shouldn’t have said anything. I didn’t want to talk about it. Didn’t want to think about it.

“Anyway, sounds like you love your job. That’s cool.” More than cool, it made the woman damn near irresistible.

The brains, the body, the wit, that fucking car. One hell of a killer combo.

She played along with my abrupt change of conversation. “Looked like you enjoy your job too, judging by what I saw the other day.” She sipped her whiskey then shot me a flirty smile.

Rubbing a hand across my chest, I hooked an eyebrow at her. “You liked the ink?”

She ran the tip of her tongue along her bottom lip then bit into it with a pointy little incisor. Made me wonder if she liked to bite and scratch in the sack.

Usually I wouldn’t allow that. But for her? Maybe.

Especially when she followed up with, “I might like to see that ink again.”

A low growl rumbled through my chest as the heat flared between us.

I leaned closer and skimmed my lips up the side of her neck. “Remember what I said about control?”

“Yes,” she breathed out.

After kissing the corner of her shiny wet lips and hearing her low whimper, I drew back. “Thought you didn’t want to give it up.”

“I’m too used to being in charge of every aspect of my life, including my job. Maybe it’s time to let some of that go.”

My heart started pounding in my ribcage. “To me.”

“Yes, Cole.” Rising from her chair, she slowly walked over to me, every roll of her hips beneath the short skirt absolutely hypnotizing.

I kicked my seat out from the table, and she settled herself onto my lap. With both her legs across my thighs, her luscious ass butted against my suddenly so fucking hard cock. She linked her hands at the back of my neck and drew me into her kiss.

This second kiss of ours was smoldering hot, slow and languorous. It was wet and smooth. Her tongue coiled around mine as I explored the sleek insides of her mouth. She darted past my lips, into my mouth, and rubbed with delicious friction.