STORY EXCERPT

“Really, Charlotte. You should ask him out. He’s interested in you. I can tell,” Nina suggested.

“Just because you’ve found Jack doesn’t mean I have to have anyone right now. I’m taking a break from dating. Men are such jerks,” she complained.

“You just haven’t found the right man yet. Don’t give up. You never know when Mr. Right will come along.”

Charlotte figured she’d had her chance at Mr. Right, and now they were divorced. He’d asked her for some things she didn’t feel comfortable doing. Now when she did, he wasn’t available anymore. It had nearly killed her to see him get married again. One thing she could say about him, he had awakened a desire inside of her she couldn’t seem to find an answer, too.

“So, Baxter got to ride his bike again. He looked pleased about it.” Charlotte changed the subject.

“Pleased? Right. He was like a ten-year-old boy about to get his first BB gun,” Nina said with a laugh.

“I can imagine. It is how he’s gotten around for most of his life, so he’s bound to be a little excited about it.”

“Hey!” Nina suddenly said.

“What?”

“You could come with us.”

“Go where with you and when?” Charlotte was lost as usual with Nina’s subject change.

“We’re going on a weekend ride the end of September. You could go with us. I’m sure Baxter wouldn’t mind if you rode with him.”

“Oh, no. Isn’t that how you two got in trouble in the first place?”

Charlotte was referring to when Jack had taken Nina on a weekend ride and attracted the attention of his old biker gang’s leader again. They’d later kidnapped Nina, and Jack had to go back in the gang to get her back. It was how they’d met Baxter, and how he’d ended up shot and staying with Jack and Nina.

“The Devils are gone now. We’ve been on two rides since then and had a ball. You have to come with us!” Nina pleaded.

“Nope. Sorry. Not going to do it.” Her cell phone rang, and she looked at the number and grimaced. She ignored it and let voice mail pick it up.

“Is that Neal? Is he still bothering you?” Nina asked.

“Yeah, he’s an annoying fly in my soup,” Charlotte said.

“Maybe you should get a restraining order against him,” Nina suggested.

“A restraining order?” Jack asked, walking into the kitchen. “Against who and why?”

“This guy has been harassing Charlotte for the last three weeks. He won’t quit calling her and has even shown up at work trying to get her to go to lunch with him,” Nina told him.

“Do you tell him no?” Baxter asked as he walked in behind Jack.

“Let’s all get involved, why don’t we?” she fussed.

“So, have you?”

“Of course, I told him no, and I keep telling him no.” Charlotte leaned back against the kitchen wall.

“Maybe Jack and I should pay him a visit,” Baxter said in all seriousness.

“No! I don’t need anyone causing a scene. He’ll get tired of it soon enough. I’ve had problems with guys before. Some men just don’t take rejection well.”

“Right, and some of those turn out to be stalkers and serial killers,” Nina told her.

“Really, Nina. Your imagination has really expanded in the last few months,” Charlotte teased.

“Well, I never imagined I’d end up a biker bitch in a gang either.”

“Look, I’ve got to go. I promised my neighbor I’d help her put up pear preserves this afternoon,” Charlotte said. “I’ll check with you later, Nina.”

They hugged, and Charlotte waved at Jack. When she turned to tell Baxter bye, he wasn’t there. She just shrugged and walked through the kitchen to the garage door. The moment she stepped outside, she knew he was there.

“Baxter. I’m on my way home. Glad you’re back on your bike again.”

“You need to take this guy seriously, Charlotte. If he’s bothering you, he could get nasty.”

He called her Charlotte, so she knew he was being serious. She sighed and kept walking toward her Jeep.

“I’m not stupid. I’m careful, and if he really does or says anything remotely threatening, I’ll be the first to line up at the judge’s chambers for that restraining order.”

“Have you had self-defense training?” Baxter asked, following her to the Jeep.

“Yes, Nina and I’ve both been to several classes at the police station.”

“Maybe you need to have a refresher course. I’ll be glad to go through it all again with you…and Nina of course,” he offered.

“Thanks, I’ll talk to Nina. Maybe she’ll want to do that. I really need to go now,” she said.

Baxter was standing next to the door of the Jeep so that she couldn’t open it without him moving. He put an arm on either side of the door and leaned into her. She wasn’t sure what he was doing until his lips met hers. He gently brushed them against hers like butterfly wings glancing off a flower. Then he leaned closer and nipped at her lower lip until she opened her mouth, and he slid inside.

He moved his tongue alongside hers to explore her mouth. He delved beneath her tongue and then nipped at it, trying to coax it out. Charlotte moaned into his mouth as he tickled the roof of her mouth and then sucked in her lower lip to tease with his tongue. When he began thrusting his tongue in and out of her mouth, she realized she was holding on to him as if he were her lifeline. She gasped and pulled back from his kiss.

“What was that for?” Charlotte asked, bewildered.

“I thought you would fight me, and I could show you that you needed a refresher course, but I’ll be damned if you didn’t kiss me back,” he said.

“You caught me by surprise. I wasn’t expecting it.”

“So, your normal behavior is to kiss anyone who kisses you first?” Baxter asked.

“No! I mean that you surprised me. I…I didn’t think you would kiss me. I mean…”

“I’m attracted to you, Charlie. Why wouldn’t I kiss you?”

“You’re attracted to me?” She couldn’t believe she was having this conversation with Baxter.

The man was a silent giant who rarely spoke, at least around her. He called her Charlie to annoy her and studiously ignored her early attempts at being friends with him. What had gotten into him?

“Does this feel like I’m attracted to you?” He placed her hand on his jeans where his hard cock throbbed against her hand.

“Men get hard at the drop of a hat.” Charlotte dismissed it and tried to pull her hand away from his crotch.

“Let’s just say you dropped your hat and I’m responding to it because you turn me on, Charlie.”

“If you were really attracted to me, you wouldn’t have acted the ass you have toward me for the last six weeks,” she said, snatching her hand back.

He stepped back away from the Jeep. She jerked open the door and climbed in. When she would have slammed the door shut, he stopped her.

“I didn’t think you were my type at first. I’ve changed my mind.”

“Yeah, well, maybe I’ve changed my mind, too,” she said with a frown and a pointed look at where his hand held her door open.

He smiled and moved it. She slammed the door and started the Jeep. He didn’t move but remained where he was as she backed out of the drive and drove off. She watched him in her rear-view mirror until she couldn’t see him in more. Her stomach continued to do somersaults and cartwheels even once she was home alone. Why after all of these years did she finally respond to someone and it had to be Baxter?

ADULT EXCERPT

Charlotte slammed her car door when she got out of the Jeep to follow Baxter inside his house.

He locked the door behind them and then pushed the inside remote to the garage door to close it. He turned and looked at her with a smug smile on his face.

Charlotte felt like the canary with a cat smacking his lips looking at her. She didn’t like that look on Baxter’s face one bit.

“Let me see my bag, so I can be sure you put everything I need in it.”

“Remember, we have to travel light. Your bag is a backpack, and you’re going to have to ride with it on your shoulders,” he said.

“I know. Nina explained it to me. Still, you are not a woman, in case you hadn’t realized that.”

Baxter advanced on her and backed her into the corner of the bar and the wall. She swallowed around the knot forming her throat at the predatory look in his eyes.

“No, I’m most definitely a man. A man whose dick is so hard he could pound nails because of you.”

“I…I…” She couldn’t think of a thing to say. She whimpered instead when he closed the distance between them.

“I’m going to kiss you, Charlotte,” he said just before he dipped his head toward her.

He closed his lips over hers with purpose. He then licked along her lower lip and closed his hand over her breast. She opened her mouth in a gasp, giving him the opportunity to slide his tongue inside. He teased hers until she ran hers alongside his. The feel of him pressed close to her gave her no doubt what was on his mind. He mimicked fucking her using his tongue even as his hard cock pushed at her belly.

Charlotte trembled, not in fear, but in anticipation. She wanted him, had wanted him since the first time she’d laid eyes on him all those weeks ago when he’d walked into Jack and Nina’s house a wounded animal. That was how she’d viewed him then, dangerous, like an injured wolf. Still, she’d ached for him, knowing he was way out of her league.

Now, when the opportunity was there, was she going to chicken out or go for it? He confused her with his on-again, off-again moves. Right now, he was very much on again, and she was right there with him.

But she was scared.

He teased his tongue along hers even as he squeezed her breast. He held her head still for his assault on her mouth. The slow, sensual marauding of his mouth over hers had her unstable and dizzy. His hand at her breast began a gentle squeeze in time with his thrusting tongue and grinding pelvis. Charlotte couldn’t breathe with all of it. She tore her mouth away from his, panting. She stared up into his eyes and saw need and something else that excited her. Determination. He was determined to make her his.

She had nowhere to go. She was between the bar and the wall. She needed air, but she needed him more. Her gaze remained captured by his when he slowly lowered his mouth again and began to nibble along her chin and jawline.

Before she knew what his intentions were, he threw her over his shoulder and carried her into the bedroom. When he dropped her onto the bed, she scrambled to her knees and backed away from him.

“What do you want?” she asked.

He didn’t answer her. Instead, he dragged his T-shirt over his head and dropped it by the bed. The still pink scar tissue at his right shoulder drew her attention, and she thought about how close he’d come to dying.

“Baxter?”

“What, Charlotte?”

He unbuttoned his jeans and kicked off his boots before sliding them off. His cock sprang out, heavy with need, a drop of precum pearled at the slit. He didn’t wear boxers or briefs. She shivered.

“What are you doing?” She couldn’t take her eyes from his straining cock.

“Getting undressed. You need to do the same, Charlotte. Or…” He let it trail off.

She swallowed hard and licked her lips at the sight of the dew waiting for her to lick it off.

“Or what?” she asked.

“Or I’m going to rip them off you, and you won’t be able to wear them again,” he finished.

When she didn’t immediately start stripping, he took a step forward, placing one knee on the bed. Charlotte gasped and scooted off the other side, nearly landing on her ass in the process. She slipped off her heels and then quickly unbuttoned her blouse.

Baxter climbed on the bed like a predator, never taking his eyes off his prey. He leaned back against the headboard as if waiting for her to finish. Then what?

Nervous fingers bungled the last button, and she had to stop and take a deep breath to finish. Then she slipped the blouse off her shoulders and let it fall to the floor. She unzipped her skirt and let it drop, as well. All she wore now was her bra and garter with stockings and panties. The set matched, and she knew she’d worn them for Baxter now. She rarely wore matching underwear for work. Something deep inside of her knew this moment would come.

“Take off your bra and panties, but leave the garters on, Charlotte,” Baxter instructed her.

She licked her lips before reaching around to her back and unfastening her bra. It loosened in front but didn’t fall off. She had to pull it off. It rasped over her distended nipples. The sensation sent a shiver through her body that darkened Baxter’s eyes even more. She stepped out of her panties, never taking her eyes from Baxter’s gaze.

He curled his finger. “Come here, Charlie.”

Shaking, she slowly slid onto the bed and crawled toward him. He growled when she stopped just shy of reaching his knees.

“Closer, Charlotte. I want to feel that hot mouth of yours on my dick.”

How could she ever get her mouth around something that big? It was enormous and long enough to choke her. Would he expect her to swallow him? She was slowly working herself up into a full-fledged panic attack. Something she hadn’t had since her marriage.

Suddenly, he was on his knees there in front of her.

“Suck my cock, Charlotte.” He positioned her before him and, using her hair, pulled her head down with his hand.

She relaxed into his hold and opened her mouth. She darted her tongue out to taste the drop of cum on his cockhead. It was salty, with a light musky taste. She ran her tongue down into the slit for more of the salty snack. He hissed and wound her hair tighter around his fist, but he didn’t jerk her down to swallow him. He let her explore instead.

When she closed her mouth over just the crown and sucked, he growled and pushed upward with his cock, shoving more of it into her mouth. He was so large. She put a hand around the base of him, unable to encircle him with it. She added her other hand and began to lower her mouth down the long stalk in an effort to take as much of him as she could.

When he hit the back of her throat, she relaxed and breathed in through her nose and sank just that little bit farther before she swallowed around him. He held her head there as he groaned and then released her, and she pulled off him again.

“Again.”