Hearts of Iron (8 page)

Katie’s breathing hitched, “I wouldn’t be here with you if I wanted a poet.” Her gaze dashed around his face, and then her lips parted and she kissed him slowly, her tongue wrapping around his.

Lance threaded his fingers through her hair, rolled her onto her back. “I don’t know if I can leave you just yet. “He kissed her throat, pulled her shirt open, popping the buttons that didn’t open quickly enough. He sat up on his knees. “Tell me to stop before it’s too late.”

Katie breathed heavily and remained silent.

Lance needed her like oxygen, yet his need made him breathless. She writhed beneath him and looked just about the most beautiful creature he’d ever seen. “I need you so damn much.” He kissed her. “What about the law?”

“Take all that you need.” Katie held her arms out to him, panting. “Be my lover before my hero.”

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Katie bared her soul, laid her heart on the line, left her ego at the door. Right or wrong, she had feelings for this man and wanted him in her life. And she believed he felt the same.

Sure, her friends might question her mental health at first—she’d done a complete 360 on her opinion of him and his kind. But that was because of her ignorance; nothing else. And they would see passed the tats, the patched leather vest, the bike, and know, through her—the man.

Or not; she really didn’t care right then.

She oozed love and desire for him. Her pussy longed to hold onto his cock as much as her arms longed to hold onto him. His fierce emotion and his confession of love had touched her so deeply, more even than he had physically, and that said a lot.

He kissed his way down her neck, nipping at sensitive skin. Elevating her upper body to remove her blouse, he revealed her red lace bra. His pale eyes darkened with desire before she removed his t-shirt. Everything about him on the outside was hard and strong, so primitive and carnal. But she knew how the soft features of his crystalline blue eyes, his full mouth, the silky golden waves of his hair, all offered glaring clues to his true nature. Sure he could be wild and untamed. He could knock a thug out with one punch. But he was also capable of forgiveness, compassion, and honest love.

He unclasped the front fastener of her bra, revealing the soft mounds of her breasts. “Christ, you’re beautiful.” He leaned down slowly and took a rigid nipple in his mouth, suckling gently before licking it with the flat surface of his tongue. “I haven’t been able to get your taste off my mind all day.”

Katie moaned at his touch, her need growing fiercer. Taking matters into her own hands, she unbuckled and unbuttoned his jeans. “Let’s get naked. Clothes are in the way.”

“You need this?” He beamed, fisting his swollen, claustrophobic cock.

Katie pushed him backward, allowing her space to stand. Lance watched while she quickly removed her skirt and panties. “I need
you
.” Once naked, she raked her nails through soft hair over his chest, enjoying when he shuddered. “Get naked, quick.”

Lance stood, and his jeans fell to rest sexily on his hips. Pubic hair was peeking up over the top, until he pushed the jeans down and they fell further, revealing his giant, purple-headed cock, ready and raring to go. “You have no idea what that hungry look in your eyes does to me.”

“Oh,” said Katie, licking her lips and glaring at his cock. “I think I do.” Then she cupped her breast, enjoying how doing so made her pussy pulse in preparation for him.

Lance straddled her, kissed her with such passion their teeth banged together, and they were panting in each other’s eager mouths. His kisses soon moved downwards again, to resume his treatment of her breasts. The contrast of gentle massage and tongue friction drove Katie wild. “Oh Lance, I need you. All of you.”

Lance moved lower, dragging his long wet tongue from back to front of her entrance, hooking beneath her folds, finding her throbbing clit. He prepared her, moving from one, to two, to three fingers until her hips road them expertly.

Then he prowled back up, his thick arms on either side of her head, the look of the wild about him. His messy mane hung around his broad shoulders, his eyes so dark with lust you’d never guess they were blue, and his breathing deep and slow. His tummy lowered, one hand steering his heavy cock in place, his gaze locked onto hers. Slowly he entered her, inch by glorious inch. Filling her up physically, like no one else. But he also filled her emotionally, as he moved slowly, kissing her cheeks, her mouth, her eyelids—so softly, like a whisper.

“I wanna be so close to you,” he said, searching her face for something. “If I could I’d climb inside you and never come out.”

“You are inside, and I love it.”

He smiled and kissed her softly, working his tongue with such sensuality she sighed audibly, gripping onto the bed sheets.

“I know.” He nibbled on her ear lobes, then whispered, “but I need to be closer. I don’t think I’ll ever get close enough to you.” He hoisted her upper body into his arms, holding her so that she was lost in his embrace. “I’ll never get enough of you, Katie,” he whispered, squeezing, grinding, nibbling on the crease between her neck and her shoulder.

She gulped back a joyful sob, placed her cheek against his pounding heart. He’d said it perfectly—exactly how she felt. “Oh,” she began, holding back tears, “And you said you weren’t a man of words.”

He bought her face to his, eyes drinking her in. “I need your mouth.” He kissed her deeply as he plunged deep inside of her.

Katie sucked in a startled gasp against his hungry lips as he thrust.

Lance continued impaling her powerfully. Each grinding plunge of his hips encouraged a slow burn of erotic, emotionally intense pleasure. When he came up for air, he said, “…and only
your
mouth.”

He couldn’t be clearer about how he felt about her, and she couldn’t have felt safer, more needed, more desired, more loved, anywhere else, with anyone else, in her world.

Their bodies joined, his arms wrapped around her, her legs wrapped around his back, they made love face to face, mouth to mouth. They ground against each other for the pure need of closeness and connection until they both groaned in tandem, trembling on the edge of the precipice of their perfect union.

“I love you,” cried Katie as her orgasm stole away her fear.

And as crazy as she knew it was, she really did.

***

Lance’s heart had never felt so contented. So filled up with the “good stuff.” He thought the smile of his face might never leave and found it incredibly difficult to keep his hands off of Katie while they both dressed.

“Stop, already. My pussy needs some healing time. At least until after…”

“Hey, you don’t worry about all that.” He ignored her protests and pulled her in for a cuddle. “I’ll sort the law problem out. Of course I will.”

She pulled away. “I appreciate that, I do. But what’s the plan?”

He shrugged.

“Tell me you have a plan. They have guns. I won’t… lose you.” 

Lance reveled in her need of him, her concern for his safety. “I’ll be fine. I got serious reasons to be now.” He stroked her face.

“Stop fooling around.” She beamed, then frowned again. “Why didn’t I listen to you, Lance? I’m such a fool, and now you’re in danger.”

“The only thing I’m in danger of is never leaving this trailer.” He winked and kissed her cheek.

She lowered her gaze and saw his problem. Her eyebrows rose. “Oh, I see. Ready to go for it all the time?”

He placed his hands on her ass and rested his forehead against hers.
“Only for you.”

“Oh yeah? Sounds… serious.” Stepping back she put her hands on her hips and looked to the basin. “Now, should I carry a spare toothbrush in my bag for sleepovers… or just move in?”

Lance tickled her while she giggled.

His phone vibrated in his back pocket, disturbing their fun. “Yeah,” he answered, laughing.

“We got us some law trouble on camp. You coming?”

“I’m on my way. And leave them to me. I got this.” He hung up and looked at Katie, whose expression dropped. “It’s time. Take your car home or stay here; up to you.”

She shook her head and grabbed her car keys. “Um, I’m coming with you. It’s all my fault remember?”

He smiled, loving her courage for one so small and, physically at least, so fragile. “You don’t even know where I’m going, or what I’m going to do.”

“I’ll follow you. I’ll find out when we get there.”

Lance laughed, splashed his face with cold water, and dragged damp fingers through his golden waves. Grabbing his keys he said, “You can try.”

CHAPTER TWELVE

Katie couldn’t keep up as Lance predicted, though she sure did try. And her car was pretty fast, just not as fast as his Hog. He did not intend to endanger her life or let her see how he took care of business. If things got messy, he didn’t want her to see him with blood on his hands. He wanted her to see him as a decent man; he cared what she thought.

When he arrived at camp, four lawmen sat tied up and gagged in the center by the roaring campfire. “Hey, good job guys. Never expected you to get these pinned down tonight, not after dealing with those ugly fuckers and the whiskey we drank to celebrate.” He grinned and Josh shook hands in greeting. “Thought you were heading to Josie’s for the night.”

“She threw me out again, “ Josh said, shrugging. “Felt like causing a little trouble, so a few of us rounded these sons-o’-bitches up and brought them here, ready for you.”

Lance had already planned to deal with the lawmen when they arrived, but as soon as he’d seen Katie in the bar he knew he had to move quickly. The distress they had caused her made him want to pummel their faces.

Lance came to Miller from Hampton, Florida. The most corrupt place in the U.S. He saw how law went out the window for decent folks when the underworld took over. Of course, if they had turned out to be legitimate, he might have let things lie. Let the law have Miller; as long as they got out of his way, they’d stay out of theirs. But he wouldn’t let scum take over his town. He sure as hell wouldn’t allow them to intimidate his lady. Lance planned on getting rid of them. He just wasn’t sure how to go about it.

Since he and Katie had made up, it became even more important for things to go… smoothly. He couldn’t face her with blood-stained hands. She radiated goodness, in spite of her irresistibly dark bedroom style, and he wanted to deserve her.

Besides, killing just caused too much trouble for everyone. Killing the
law
was downright stupid. “So Sheriff, seems you pissed off the wrong doctor today. And Doc is my lady. You piss her off, you find yourself in a huge pile of the brown stuff. You hear me?”

The sheriff shook, fear behind his eyes, without answering. He’d felt a little pain in Lance’s absence. Lance, in reply, flicked a knife open and traced the tip along the sheriff’s jawline and down his throat. “I said, you hear me?”

This had the desired effect: the sheriff nodded frantically and mumbled, “Yeah, yeah.”

“Here’s what’s gonna happen. You leave town, make your excuses to your bosses. Say there wasn’t enough money to be made in Miller, say the people here are too poor. Say what you like. But you leave Miller and you stay gone and you make it sound as unappealing a prospect to anyone else who thinks they can come here and mess up the state of play. You come back, alone or with more lawmen for…
revenge
, or anything like that, and we’ll get more of our boys to track down your families and close every one of you fuckers down.” He kicked the sheriff’s leg hard to make his point. “Got it?”

The sheriff coughed out in pain. “Ah!”

When gibberish passed through his gag, Lance removed it and said quietly, calmly, “You wanna talk to us now, huh? Then talk.”

The sheriff looked at all the guys standing ready to beat him to a pulp if he didn’t do as they said. “We’re good with those terms. Nothing interesting around here anyhow, like you said. And we’re not into your kind of trouble if there’s no money to be made. That right, men?” He asked his deputies, who were even more terrified, their faces drained of all color.

“Y-yeah,” they said, nodding and mumbling with wide eyes.

“Good,” declared Lance, replacing his knife into his vest pocket. “You’re not as thick as you look.”

Josh grinned, loving the control they had over a sheriff and three deputies.

“Load them up in the truck and drive them out of state somewhere,” he told Josh. “Leave them at the nearest motel, but keep their guns and choose two of the best cars to sell to cover two people’s medical bills.” He kicked the sheriff’s leg hard again. “I offered yours to Dan, the guy who got his nose broke.”

“No way,” said one stupid deputy, without thinking it through.

Lance swung around and smashed him in the stomach with his fist so hard he fell to the floor gasping, still tied the chair. “You complaining?”

Sheriff looked down at his deputy and said, “Fucking deserved that, you dick.” Then he turned to Lance and said, “Take his car, he’s a jerk.”

Lance didn’t like how he turned his back on his own. “I’ll be taking yours, Sheriff, like I said. It’s not my style, but I figure I could get a few thou’ for it. Stab another man in the back in front of me and I’ll take your wife, too.”

His deputy smiled, or tried to, while he gasped for air. The sheriff remained tight-lipped, staring at him.

Josh hoisted the deputy off the floor and Craig and the others started to drag the chairs to the truck. They would be easier to transport tied up that way. “I’m gonna like selling your cars,” Josh laughed. “Your hardware’s cute too. Maybe my girlfriend could use it.”

The sheriff grimaced at Lance, but knew not to complain.

After they all left camp, Lance called Katie. “On my way.”

“What happened?” she asked. “Are you okay?”

“Let’s just say it all worked out in the end
and leave it like that.”

“What did you say?”

“Everything’s fine, I’ll…”

“No, you said ‘it all worked out in the end’.”

“Yeah, that’s what I’m—”

“I know what you’re saying. It’s just, well. That’s my motto… and it was my father’s.”

“Really?” Lance smiled.  He wouldn’t call it his
motto
, but he decided it was true. It really had worked out in the end. “Anyway, quit talking. I wanna get on the road.”

Katie sniffed. “You sure you’re okay?”

“I’m more than okay.” And he was; he loved the idea of Lance and Katie, maybe with a few kids. “Can’t wait to celebrate with you, that’s all.”

“Me too. Thanks so much, Lance. You saved the town from my stupid mistake.”

“You couldn’t know they’d be corrupt as hell.”

“No, but you did. So thanks.”

He wanted to wrap his arms around her, make love to her, tell her how important she was to him. “You just saved me, period.”

There was a moment of silence where he thought he might have gone too far, said too much. But then she said in the softest voice, “God I need you, Lance. Like I never needed anyone.”

His heart hammered in his chest and he ran to his bike. “Gimme five.”

“Be quick, but drive safely. If that’s at all possible.”

“No chance,” he said before ending the call, aware of the huge smile spreading across his face. He had hope for the first time in a long time that his future was one he wanted to run toward, not from.

He climbed onto his bike and drove as fast as he could though the night, imagining the wind in his hair was actually Katie’s fingers. He couldn’t wait to hold her close, to climb into her bed, to climb inside of her body and stay right there for as long as she allowed him. He didn’t know if bikers dated doctors or, if they did, how things worked out, but he did know he’d be racing home to her every night from then on.