Calming the Riot Read online

  Her eyes were intent on his, and he wasn’t sure what she was thinking. “I didn’t mean to do that to you, babe. You’re killing me though. If I don’t stop now, I won’t keep myself from stripping us naked and seeing what both of our tongues can do to each other.”

  The look she gave him had his dick standing at attention because it said she wouldn’t mind doing just that. He shook his head. “It’s a little soon for that, Andrea. You don’t strike me as a quick lay, am I wrong?”

  She pulled away from him. “No! You’re not wrong. Why are you here? Certainly not to fatten me up with donuts.”

  He was glad she had put some distance between them, but her attitude was turning him on nearly as much as the taste of her. “I just wanted to get to know you. Didn’t know what your plans were for today. I damn sure didn’t expect to see you sunbathing.”

  “Well, after I was done lounging, I was going to take a shower and probably walk to the Urban Bean for lunch.”

  Liar cocked his head at that. “Now, I coulda sworn you said you don’t drink coffee, but if Urban Bean is the same joint just a block or so away, then I gotta wonder what the hell you’re doin’ eatin’ lunch there.”

  She shoved his bicep with the flat of her palm. “Don’t be a jackass. They serve tea there, and some of it is stuff you don’t even find at the more mainstream coffee houses. Besides, their waffle boats kick ass as a Sunday brunch item. Though, now that I’ve had a donut that would be sugar overload.”

  With a deep breath, he buried her mention of taking a shower and focused on the strange idea of a waffle boat. “How about this. You go take your shower while I eat a donut and finish my coffee. When you’re done, I’ll take you out on my bike. Sundays are pretty good for rides, and this might be the last warm and sunny weather we have for a while. Have you ever ridden before?”

  “Henr- erm, Volt, took me out once at Jackie’s insistence when they first got together. It was…an experience.”

  He arched an eyebrow at her because this was a definite issue. “You got a problem with bikes?”

  One of her shoulders shrugged. “Not really. I just don’t understand the fascination; I mean Volt took me around the block of our condo in Riverside. It didn’t seem like such a big deal. Besides, I’m not big on using wheels to go somewhere when I could walk or bike. Like bicycle, bike.”

  Liar pushed up from the futon and pulled Andrea up with him. He slid his arms around her waist. “Go shower. Believe me, Volt did not give you the full biker experience. You’re in for a treat, Andrea,” he said just before he kissed her again.

  ***

  Half an hour later, Liar wasn’t sure if he was glad his Street Glide Special didn’t have the leather backrest for a passenger or if he was annoyed with himself for not getting that feature. While the bike was moving forward the rush of wind was a difficult force to fight against for a novice rider. This meant Andrea had her perfect tits pressed to his back and her arms were clutched to his midsection, and it was the worst ride on his bike he had ever had. For the life of him, he couldn’t seem to relax with her body pressed so close to his. A traffic light in Green Cove Springs forced them to a stop and Andrea loosened her grip on him. His breath left him in a rush, and for the first time, he felt relief. It was short lived because as soon as the light turned green, Andrea scooted closer to him latching on again. He hadn’t thought she could get any closer, but he was painfully aware of her crotch against his ass. What had he been thinking, suggesting a ride on such a beautiful day?

  She seemed to be enjoying herself he thought but couldn’t be entirely sure because she hadn’t said anything to him. Of course, that traffic light would have been her first real opportunity, but she hadn’t said a word. His original plan was to drive them to St. Augustine, but that was too long of a ride for someone who hadn’t been on a bike at full speed. It was also too long for him, but he wouldn’t let himself dwell on it. Once they were out of the town limits of Green Cove Springs, he found a place to make a u-turn and did so. Andrea’s arms tightened, and he heard her giggle over the roar of the bike’s engine. Yes, she was enjoying herself, and that was a good sign. Definitely.

  CHAPTER SIX

  Andrea

  After Liar’s abrupt u-turn he took us to a small seafood restaurant on Fleming Island. It was an excellent choice because I was able to eat light while he chowed down on a boatload of fried shrimp. Our waitress eyed him with come-hither eyes, but lucky for me, he was oblivious to it. I expected our conversation to be stilted, but he was very chatty. He told me about serving our country in the Navy, and how he came across the Riot MC, which segued into his love of motorcycles.

  “This ride’s different from the one you took with Volt, right?” he asked popping a French fry in his mouth.

  I nodded as I sipped some of my water. “You can say that again,” I said after I swallowed. “Volt didn’t go very fast, and he definitely didn’t execute a one-eighty. That was pretty fun, I have to say. Nothing like it would feel in my CR-V.”

  One side of his mouth twitched up. “Nothin’ about bein’ on a bike is the same as any other vehicle, babe. Your salmon good?”

  I lifted my chin at him. “Yes, and I’d ask about your shrimp, but seeing as it’s all gone, I’m pretty sure you won’t be asking our server to return it.”

  He leaned back in his chair smiling. “I’m from the Gulf Coast, Andi. We damn sure know our shrimp there.”

  A small thrill went through me hearing him call me by the diminutive of my name. I needed to keep those thrills in check, but he did say this morning that if he didn’t break the kiss, we’d be using our tongues on each other’s bodies. He may not have wanted me to think he thought of me as a quick lay, but I seriously wanted to see him in the buff. The urge was so strong that I didn’t much care what I had to do to make it happen. I gave into the small thrill and smiled at him.

  “Jesus,” he groaned.

  “What?” I asked.

  Running a hand through his hair, he looked away, and then he swung his hand in a check-like motion, and I saw he had eye contact with our waitress. When he turned back to me, he said, “That’s quite a smile you’ve got.”

  “What do you mean?” I asked cautiously. In the past, people had accused me of having caps on all of my upper teeth because nobody could possibly have such a straight gleaming white smile. Then when I had fully matured, the cattiest of women would accuse me of having a sugar daddy because they’d say I had a boob job and my teeth bleached. It was ridiculous really. I thought I had forgotten it and was over it, but his statement brought it all back to me.

  I almost missed his quiet chuckle. “I mean, you got one damn gorgeous smile, Andrea.”

  We were back on the road to my place, when I realized something seemed off with Liar. It was strange how rigid and stiff he was on his own bike. When I rode with Volt so many years ago, he sat on his bike like it was a physical extension of himself. Liar, on the other hand, sat on his bike as though it was causing him physical pain. Pain was something I could work with though.

  He parked near the stairs to my apartment, but he didn’t power down the bike. I swung off and tried to shout my question over the noisy engine. He shook his head at me and finally turned the bike off.

  “You want to come upstairs for a drink?” I asked again.

  His lips pressed together, and I noticed he had auburn stubble surrounding his lips. “No thanks, Andrea. Thinkin’ I should head back.”

  I tilted my head at him. “I saw how much iced tea you drank at the restaurant. Surely you need to use the bathroom?”

  He shook his head but relented. “You’re right. That tea is runnin’ through me, but after I’m done, I gotta jet.”

  I shrugged and led the way to my door. Once we were inside, Liar prowled straight to the guest bathroom and closed the door. I turned on the calming wall-mounted waterfall. He sauntered into my living room looking more relaxed than he had on the bike, and I marveled at his presence in my space. His eyes ca
ught mine and I could see the tension mount in him.

  “Like I said, I gotta get going.”

  “Why are you so tense?” I asked.

  He sighed. “I’m not tense, babe.”

  I moved directly in front of him. “I can see the tension in the way you carry yourself, Liar. I can help you work that out.”

  He closed his eyes longer than necessary. “Can assure you, Andrea, you cannot help me work this tension out. Your methods will lead to things I’m not ready to do to you. Not today. ”

  Not today, my ass. It wasn’t my normal behavior, but this man brought something out in me; so I pressed my body to his and took his lips in the hottest kiss I could muster. His hands went to my hips and were applying pressure, but I ran my hands up his arms and applied pressure to the connective tissue between his neck and shoulders. My leverage was lousy because I was standing in front of him, and of course, my concentration was divided between feeling his muscles and kissing him.

  Liar wrenched himself from me. “Do not test me, woman. I told you—”

  “Yeah, and I don’t care what you told me. I’ve been itching to touch you all over since the day I laid eyes on you. I know who and what I am, and I am not an easy piece of ass. But I am damn sure attracted to you, and you’re tense. I don’t know why, but I know I can correct it. If that means we’re bo—”

  His lips were on mine, and his tongue was back in my mouth. He expertly walked me back to the futon, and suddenly he was on top of me. I slid my arms around him and kissed him with abandon. Things were just getting good and heated when he pulled away from me. “You’re the entire reason I’m tense, babe.”

  “You’re kidding,” I breathed.

  “No, I’m not. Told you I didn’t want you to feel like you were some quick lay or —”

  I put a finger to his lips. “I don’t. Take your damn shirt off while I pull the futon out fully. I’ll give you a rub down, and if the consequences mean you’re tenser in other places, I can alleviate that too.”

  He groaned, but I wiggled out from under him. “Get up. Shirt off.”

  To say he was slow about such a simple task was an understatement. I had the futon unfolded and pulled away from the wall enough for him to lay down, but he had only taken off his leather cut and folded it on the nearby armchair. I crossed my arms, tilted my head, and gave him a look that said, “Seriously?”

  The smirk he shot my way thrilled me. “Didn’t want you to miss the show, hon.”

  “Don’t go getting full of yourself, mister.”

  Liar’s hands grabbed the bottom of his shirt, and he pulled it up slowly. His midsection was so well-defined; my first impression of him was spot-on. He was a perfect specimen for pinpointing exact muscles on the male anatomy. By the time he had the shirt off of his body, my lungs were burning from holding my breath. I exhaled sharply when he spoke.

  “Christ, your eyes are so damn expressive. I might just believe you want me as much as I want you.”

  With a coy smile, I gestured for him to lay on the futon. “Seeing as how you haven’t acted supremely pissed off to be around me like you did last night or the first time we met, I have no reason not to want you.”

  While Liar situated himself, I hurried to my bedroom and got a small bottle of massage oil. His eyes followed me as I returned to the room squirting a quarter-sized amount into my palm. Putting the bottle on the coffee table, I rubbed my palms together to warm the oil.

  “Isn’t that oil in your hands?” he asked smiling at me devilishly.

  “Yes,” I responded with a playful pout.

  “Funny, you didn’t mention trying to use that on your Honda’s door hinge last night.”

  “Are you making fun of me, Liar?” I asked as I rubbed his bulging shoulders in earnest.

  His answer was garbled with a groan of sheer relief as I worked my magic. With a croaky voice, he finally said, “Not making fun, just trying to figure out how your mind works.”

  I chuckled. “You must like a challenge in your life. A man who’s trying to figure out the mind of a woman, any woman, definitely has his work cut out for him.”

  The croaky sound to his voice went away, and if I didn’t know any better, I thought he sounded a little more relaxed. “I don’t believe that. People are people. Different things make each of us tick regardless of our gender.”

  “You’re right about that. Anyway, I didn’t mention my massage oil because it’s not the same as other oils, and I would imagine using an oil scented with lavender or other fruity or floral oils would attract bugs or worse.”

  “Or worse?”

  “My step-mother, God help her, once had a squirrel get into her car and die. Stunk to high heaven for months.”

  Liar’s frame went tight under my hands as he let out a guffaw of laughter. “Why should God help your step-mother? Did you two not get along or something?”

  I chuckled. “God should help anyone who ends up with anything dead in their vehicle. I wouldn’t say we didn’t get along, but whatever we got it was damn sure for a long time. Things are better now that she and my dad are in New Hampshire and I’m in Florida.”

  While I squirted a bit more oil into my palm Liar asked, “You from up there?”

  I stifled a snort. “No. Not even close. I grew up in Vero Beach, then I came up here to go to the University of North Florida. Didn’t take me long to realize majoring in Art History wasn’t going to pay the bills, especially if I moved to a place like Chicago or New York. Even if I did that, the jobs would be extremely hard to come by unless I wanted to teach, which I didn’t. I dropped out of UNF and started massage therapy school, which was around the time I met Jackie-A.”

  Putting my hands at the base of his skull and running them down his neck and through his shoulder muscles, I could tell he was much more relaxed than he was earlier.

  “Why do you call her ‘Jackie-A’?”

  Since he was more relaxed, I moved to the adjacent armchair and looked him in his eyes. “When she agreed to marry Volt, her last name would become Adler, and I’ve always thought she’s a classic beauty like Jackie-O, so it all fell into place in my crazy mind.”

  Liar

  Laying on that futon, Liar should have had a difficult time keeping his eyes open. The tension in his pants prevented him from closing his eyes for even a moment. He would have sat up or even stood up at this point, but without his shirt or cut on his body, there was no way he could hide his boner. She might talk a good game about not thinking she was a quick lay, but he was serious about trying to treat her the right way. While he didn’t believe in love at first sight, he damn sure believed in lust on sight, and he had that in spades. She said she’d wanted to get her fingers on him from the day she laid eyes on him; well, she wouldn’t want to know what he wanted to do to her the moment he laid eyes on her.

  Even with that in mind, there was something about her which he couldn’t put his finger on, but whatever it was made him want more from her. He didn’t pursue long-term relationships, there was a lesson from the Navy which stuck, but she had definite staying power. She was right though. He had been tense, and she damn sure corrected that…in his shoulders anyway. His thoughts were interrupted with an unexpected question.

  “What’s your real name? I know it’s not Liar, just like Volt’s name is really Henry. So, what’s yours, Liar.”

  Hearing her emphasize his road name made him want to tell her he had no other name to go by, but true to the perverse nature of his road name, he couldn’t possibly lie to her. “Jim. Jim Huntley.”

  She stretched lifting her fists to her ears pushing her chest outward. The t-shirt and shorts combo she chose to wear for riding on his bike were nearly as skimpy as what she wore to Volt’s house. Every line of her bra could be seen under the paper-thin teal fabric of her tee. Liar felt a surge of blood to his groin. He was going to have to bite the bullet and let her see how affected he was by her, but one way or another he was getting the hell out of there. She relaxed, str
etched her legs out in front of him and declared, “You look like a Jim. I like it. Can I call you ‘Jim’?”

  He pushed up to his forearms, but she protested. “Don’t do that! I just worked all that tension out of you, and there you are forcing those muscles to hold up your huge head.”

  His head hit the futon mattress with a thud as he belly-laughed.

  “What in the universe is so damn funny?”

  Turning his head to look at her, he couldn’t wipe the grin from his face. “I’m forcing muscles to hold up my huge head all right, but it ain’t the head you can see, babe. And if you didn’t catch on, that means you didn’t work all that tension out of me after all.”

  Before she could respond, Liar’s cell rang.

  He engaged the phone, but before he could say anything Beast asked, “You call that Andrea chick?”

  Liar refused to think of her as that Andrea chick, but responded, “You could say that.”

  “No way. She ain’t suckin’ you off right now, is she?”

  That visual did nothing for the situation in Liar’s pants. “No.”

  “You taste her?”

  A wicked smile ghosted his lips. “Yeah,” he answered even though it wasn’t the answer to the question Beast had really asked.

  Beast chuckled. “Now you really are a damn Liar. You’re not really with her. We’re —”

  “You want her to say hello?”

  Andrea piped up in a movie-star sultry voice, “Hi there.”

  Liar groaned, but Beast hooted. “You dog! You really are with her.”

  “I’m actually on my way out. What were you about to say, ‘we’re’ what?”

  “We’re leavin’.”

  “Not without me, you aren’t.”

  “Say again? We’re headed to Biloxi.”

  “You ain’t goin’ to Sarasota?”

  “No, and I damn sure ain’t doin’ that shit unannounced. We’re outta here in ‘bout thirty. You gonna make it back here in time?”