“You might want to go for a drive,” I told Marie, wishing it didn’t need to happen. I’d wait for her to get back, but still . . . lotta ways for things to go wrong under the circumstances. “We’ve got business.”

“Do you mind, sis?” Jeff asked. She shook her head, looking almost wistful. Then she pulled herself together and smiled at us—that same bright, fake smile she’d given earlier—as she went to the door and grabbed her purse.

“Well, nice to meet all of you, um . . .”

Picnic stood and offered a wolfish grin. I didn’t care for that one bit—I’d have words with him later.

“I’m Picnic, and these are my brothers, Horse and Max.”

Marie looked at me, her expression puzzled. I raised a brow, waiting to see what she’d do next. Ask about my name, maybe? Nope, she was chickening out.

“Nice to meet you, Mr. Picnic,” she said.

“Just Picnic. Thanks again for the food.”

There was that admiring tone in his president’s voice again. Time to shut it down.

“I’ll walk you out to your car,” I said, voice firm. Pic gave me a knowing look and I realized the man had been fucking with me.

Again.

Asshole.

“Take your time, we can wait,” Pic said, pulling Marie’s car keys from his pocket and tossing them to her. She stepped out of the trailer, me right behind her. The door slammed shut, the warm evening air surrounded us, and I felt myself relax. Dealing with Jensen was a pain in the ass, but it would be worth it because I planned on having a hell of a good time with his sister before I was finished.

I snagged her hand, pulling her toward the table, turning and tucking my hands under her arms to pop her onto the end. She stared up at me, blinking rapidly as I slid my hands down her sides, wedging them between her legs and pushing her knees gently apart. Then I leaned into her, inhaling her scent once more.

Marie smelled even better now than before, with a hint of fresh bread added into the mix. I gave serious thought to biting her shoulder, just to see if she tasted half as good as that scent of hers suggested.

“I don’t think this is a good idea,” she said, her voice quavering. She pulled away from me, glancing toward the trailer. “I mean, everyone is waiting for you, right? I can just go, let’s forget this, okay?”

I leaned back, studying her, wishing I felt half as unaffected as she seemed to be. If she didn’t want me touching her, why would she let me hold her like this? This tension between us was incredible. It couldn’t only be on my side. Could it?

The fading evening light caught on her bruise.

Fuck.

Maybe her spirit really was totally broken. I decided to poke at her and test whether she’d fight back, even a little.

“That how you gonna play it, sweet butt?” I asked, deliberately taunting her. Her eyes narrowed and flashed. Sexy as hell.

“I’m not your sweet butt,” she snapped. “Fuck off.”

Now that was more like it—my girl hadn’t checked out entirely after all. I laughed, loving the spark in her and wanting to see more of it. That wasn’t all I wanted, though. I grabbed her waist and pulled her into my body. The hot, welcoming softness of her pussy hit my cock and it felt better than I’d imagined, which was saying something. I closed my eyes for a second, swiveling my hips and dragging my length up and down across her clit through the fabric of our pants, all but tasting the moment I’d sink into her sweet opening.

It was official.

Marie was the hottest piece of ass I’d ever met.

She gasped as I slid my dick against her again, more forcefully this time. I leaned down into her and blew softly on her ear, thinking about kissing her. Then I thought about that spark of anger in her eyes—I wanted to see it again. Marie soft and willing beneath me was great, but Marie telling me to fuck off, all cute and pissy?

Now that really turned me on.

“Nice ass. Sweet. Butt,” I whispered softly.

She bit me.

Hard.

I jumped back, ripping my ear out of her mouth, wondering if she’d taken a chunk with her. Holy shit—she bit me. A trickle of warm fluid ran down my neck. Blood. I couldn’t help it, I burst out laughing because she was tiny and angry and hissing at me like a wet cat on top of the table. I wanted to fuck her more now than I had five minutes ago. Damn, though . . . my ear hurt. That wasn’t a love bite.

Who was this woman?

Marie scowled, her message coming through loud and clear.

“I get it, hands off,” I said, shaking my head, holding up my arms in pointed surrender. My dick might not be amused by this turn of events, but for once I didn’t give a flying fuck what my dick wanted. I was having way too much fun. “Play it the way you like. And you’re right, we’ve got business. Go drive for an hour, that should be enough time.”

Marie slid off the table, darting around me as she ran to her little piece-of-shit car. I followed, bemused, wondering if she had some magic power that turned grown men into pussies. Marie opened her car door but turned back to look at me, teeth worrying at her lip. I waited for whatever the hell would come out of her mouth. After that bite, I was on uncharted ground. At least it wasn’t boring.

“Horse isn’t your real name, is it?”

I smiled. Now that was better . . . Playtime wasn’t over yet, after all.

“Road name,” I replied. “That’s the way things work in my world. Citizens have names. We have road names.”

“What does that mean?”

“People give them to you when you start riding. They can mean all kinds of things. Picnic got his name because he went all out planning some pansy-assed picnic for a bitch who had him twisted up in knots. She ate his food and drank his booze, then called her fuckwad boyfriend to come and pick her up while he took a leak.”

She frowned.

“That seems . . . unpleasant. Why would he want to remember that?”

“Because when the fuckwad showed up, Picnic shoved his head through a picnic table.”

Her breath caught and I saw indecision written all over her face.

“And Max?”

“When he gets drunk, sometimes his eyes go all wide and he looks fuckin’ crazy, like Mad Max.”

“I see,” she said, glancing toward the trailer. I waited, but she kept her mouth closed. Smart girl. I’d be damned if I’d let her off the hook that easy, though.

“So aren’t you gonna ask?” Silence fell between us, then she opened her mouth.

“So why are you called Horse?”

“’Cause I’m hung like one,” I replied, unable to control my smirk. She blushed hard and ducked in the car. I had to jump back and away as she jammed it into gear and peeled out of the driveway.

Now that was fun.

And weird.

I still wanted to nail her, probably more now than before. But that little exchange—bite and all—that’d been better than the average blow job.

Go figure.

________

“The money’s all there,” I said, clicking through the list of accounts. I glanced over at Jeff, who sat by the kitchen bar smoking a little glass pipe. He’d gone from jittery to stoned in the time I’d been outside with Marie. Hadn’t seen that coming. Pic must’ve really wanted the asshole to shut up, because normally he’d never tolerate someone getting faded before business was finished.

“Of course it’s all there,” Jeff said lazily. “I already told you. It was just a little mistake and I fixed it. I don’t know why you got so worked up about it.”

“I got worked up because I thought you were stealing,” I replied. “And you know what happens to people who steal from the club. We need to go over the rules again?”

Jeff took a long hit, then started coughing, smoke shooting out of his nose in little puffs. He grabbed his beer and sucked it down before answering.

“You don’t have to keep threatening me. I knew what I was getting into. We’ve been working together for nearly two years and I’ve never screwed you, have I? Trust needs to go both ways.”