The night my bookstore burned down is the night I realized just how much this town has come to mean to me.
And one particular man. Reaper hasn’t left me a day by myself since he slipped his ruby club ring onto my ring finger. We haven’t rung the wedding bells yet, but really, that’s okay. The day will come and when it does, I’ll celebrate it hard and furious just like I do everything else with Reaper in my life.
I’m happy just being his.
“How’s this?”
I hiss in pain and then sigh in relief when the needle of Burke “Lean” Shaw’s tattoo iron stops stabbing at my skin. Haven’s tattoo artist and the Sinner’s treasurer puts the final touch on my patch.
I bring my eyes up and instead of seeing the skull circled in chains that match Reaper’s tattoo, I see the man himself. Pride and love shine in those sparkly black eyes and I fall a little harder for the biker that almost got away from me.
“I love it,” I tell Lean and it’s the truth. Delicate lines, the flash of ruby red in the eyes to match the ring on my finger, and the circle of chains make the design flawless. “It’s absolutely perfect.” And anyone who sees it will know I’m Sinner blood. If not by actual blood, then by love.
Reaper helps me up from the artist’s chair and I raise the scoop collar of my shirt. I never thought I would get a tattoo in my life, but this sits close to my heart and I couldn’t love it more.
Reaper leans in and there’s a burning in his eyes I’ve grown to recognize. He wants to get me alone and take things from calm to hot and heavy between the sheets like right this second.
“You’re mine, woman,” he growls hungrily.
Our foreheads rest against each other. “Eres un lobo, papi. Cálmate. Pronto. Te prometo.” I whisper just for us. “You are a wolf, daddy. Calm down. Soon. I promise.”
“I’ll make sure you keep that promise.”
He loves it when I speak Spanish. It makes his cock hard as steel and he knows I know. I give a knowing look at his crotch before hugging Lean. “Make sure you come to the bookstore tonight. Free coffee, cupcakes, and sexy snippets.”
“Wouldn’t miss it.”
“Seriously, your talents are wasted here you should go big.”
Lean smiles and that sweet blush cause Reaper’s possessiveness to rear up.
“Down, she’s mine.”
“Fuck you, prez,” he says but there’s no heat to his words. Both clasp hands and bump shoulders in that manly thing men do instead of hugging.
After getting care instructions Reaper leads me out the door, his large frame casting me in shadow from the late fall sun.
“You know, I wouldn’t mind getting some ice cream.”
He grunts, calling me on my bluff. “And then seeing how fast it melts all over your body once we get back to the store.”
I swat at his chest and slip my hand into his, twining our fingers. A few minutes later we step into the Dead Tree Asylum 2.0 and I breathe in the pumpkin and cinnamon scent of fresh cupcakes I picked up for tonight’s book club meeting.
His phone rings. “Reaper.” We both stand in the middle of the store and I see the second he’s gotten bad news.
“What’s wrong,” I mouth.
He covers the mouthpiece. “It’s the Savages. Shit has hit the fan with Riot. The man finally found his wife.”
My brows pinch in confusion. “Good thing?”
“Depends. She’s working for the enemy now and is out for his blood.”
I leave Reaper dealing with club business and head to the shelves where I feel calmest and at peace. I take a few books, intent on arranging them on some shelves, but what I want is a moment to myself.
The last few weeks are nothing short of a miracle. The entire town came together to help me clean out the store. After the flames were tamed and snuffed out there was too much damage to continue with the contract. Luck for me, the owner had a new local right across the street. Gotta love small towns.
I run my fingers over the new shelves Reaper had a hand in building for me.
I’m practically married to the man I had a one-night stand with years ago. I can hardly believe it even as I live it. What a wild night it had been. But it didn’t prepare me for the whirlwind this man brought into my life.
And I almost missed it all. All because I was scared of what might happen because of a misconception. Not all bikers are douches. I’ve learned that pretty quickly.
“You’re rather quiet back here. How about I change that?”
My skirt is around my waist and my breath is stolen as Reaper comes up behind me and pins me to the back shelf I am leaning against. He lifts and my legs open for him.
When we come up for air, I ask, “And how do you plan on doing that, lover?”
“With every sin I know in the book.”
I was wrong in thinking I needed to tame a dirty sinner. Nothing can wrangle the fire this hellraiser brings to my life. No. Instead of taming him, I discovered I needed to burn just as brightly, and when I’m in his arms, his breath mingling with mine, his body heat becoming one with me…I do. I burn. I sin. And I love.
“You look at me like I’m your world,” he says roughly.
“That’s because you fucking are.” The sting of the fresh tattoo on my skin, the caress of his shaft against my folds and the idea anyone can walk into the store at any time has my heart jackhammering against my chest.
“Good. Because you’re mine. It’s you or nothing. You die, I die. That’s the simple truth, Arabelle.” His words drag tears from my eyes to wet my lashes.
“No tears, but I do want you to scream for me. And by the way, if you’re not already pregnant with my baby, tonight is the night it happens.” Dark, possessive, and dominant. I shiver with anticipation.
“After the book club, right papi?” I ask with a purr and a dip of my lashes.
His thumbs sneak around and dip under the sides of my panties. “Nothing wrong with a little foreplay, right amor?
I gasp, my hips moving all on their own.
The bell over the front door goes off and my eyes widen.
And that is how I end up screaming into the hand covering my mouth as the Dirty Sinners’ president strokes me into bliss in the middle of the romance aisle.
