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Bared:Dirty Cruisers MC(6)

By:Brook Wilder




"Yes, I remember. Thanks," Elle said sharply, interrupting him and Honey just shrugged.



"I just thought, since we'll be working together at the farm that – "



"Wait, working together?"



"Yeah. I thought Carla told you. I'll be working there on my off hours – "



‘She did, but … she told me that you would barely be there."



"Well, I'll probably be there most of the days that you're working. They need the help and I can – "



"So we'll be working together," Elle said faintly, more to herself than to him, "Nearly every day."



"Would you stop interrupting me?" Honey growled the words at her, drawing her gaze up to his and it was instantly trapped in their dark, mysterious depths. "I just wanted to, you know, extend an olive branch. Because every time we're in the same room for more than five minutes it seems like we end up arguing."



By the end of his sentence, his voice had dropped an octave, the low, rumbly sound vibrating over her and sending moisture pooling low and hot. She opened her mouth to say something, anything, but then he was there, his mouth hard and needy on hers. Desire burned through her as his kiss deepened, for a single moment letting herself melt against him but then she remembered the last time. What had happened. How she'd lost control.                       
       
           



       



"No," with a hand on his shoulder she pushed him back, standing up to put more distance between them, "No, Honey."



"Why do you always push me away?" he bit out the words and she glared back at him.



"Why do you try to win every argument by kissing me?"



"Oh, I'd like to do a hell of a lot more than just kiss you," Honey growled, rising to his own feet as he faced her. He opened his mouth to say something more but she shook her head, cutting him off as she pointed towards the door.



"Go, Honey. Just … get out of here and leave me alone." Anger and frustration and need and desire roiled uncomfortably inside her and she prayed silently that he would just do as she asked. Because she was terrified of what would happen if he tried to kiss her again. Not of Honey, but of herself. Her own weakness.



He stared at her for a long moment, their gazes clashing like fireworks but finally he turned, and without another word, he left.





Chapter 4


The next morning dawned far too bright and early for Elle. After that … interaction with Honey she hadn't been able to get a wink of sleep, tossing and turning, sweaty and needing and unsatisfied. Finally, just as dawn had begun to break through the Colorado mountain range that ran along the horizon in the distance she drifted into a fitful slumber, haunted by images of him. Of Honey. Of his hands and his lips and his body. She'd woken up an hour later, gasping and trembling, and even more unsatisfied than before.



She was in a foul mood as she tromped to the kitchen to brew a pot of tea, and she blamed it all on Honey. With a huff of frustration, she tied her pink robe closer around her and sat with a thud at the small table. Her thoughts were distracted, tangled up in him like a fly caught in a spider's web, as she took an unheeding sip of the steaming hot tea.



"Ow. Darn it!" she hissed as the too hot liquid touched her lips, burning her tongue and she set it down with a clatter, sloshing some of the tea over the rim. Elle blamed him for that too. Her turbulent thoughts crashed and warred within her. She couldn't spend a whole day with him. Not after what had happened. She just couldn't.



The thought of it made her stomach clutch painfully as anxiety flooded her, the same anxiety she'd battled since she was a child. Slowly, her resolve hardened. She shouldn't have to put up with him. She would just call Carla and tell her that she couldn't work that day.



Guilt joined the anxiety at the thought. She hated to let down her friend but she just couldn't face him. That crippling sense of claustrophobia set in just at the idea of it and without waiting another minute she picked up the phone and dialed Carla's number.



"Uh … Hello, this is Carla, can you hold one moment?" her friends frazzled voice came over the line and before Elle could respond the slow, rhythmic beep of being put on hold met her ear. Elle tapped her fingers in time to the sound as she waited. And waited. Finally, after an interminable minute, as guilt battled her anxiousness in an endless circle, Carla was back.



"Hi, sorry for the wait, how can I help you?"



Elle's mind raced, suddenly wondering just how, exactly, she was going to explain why she couldn't help at the farm today.



"Um, Carla?" Elle said, then forced a few coughs, "It's Elle. I think I … ah...I think I must have caught a bug or something … cough, cough … I probably shouldn't go to the farm today. I'm, uh, I'm sorry. I really am."



"Uh huh," was all Carla said after a long, drawn out silence. Elle waited for her to say something else, covering the uncomfortable tension with another fake cough.



"Well, I uh, I should probably get some rest."



"Oookay, Elle," Carla said, drawing out the word, "You better do that. I hope you feel braver –  I mean better, in the morning."



Elle cringed at Carla's supposed slip, knowing full well that her friend wasn't fooled for a minute by her act. Without saying anything else, she quickly hung up the phone, that guilt once more rearing its head as she took a sip of her tea.



Less than an hour later Elle looked up at a knock at her front door. Curiously, she answered it, blanching as she found herself face to face with her best friend. Carla's gaze swept over her with a knowing look before she held out a Tupperware bowl.



"I come bearing gifts. Of soup. And friendship." Carla smiled, and it didn't ease Elle's guilt at all as she opened the door a little wider so the other woman could come inside.



"Thanks, Carla. You shouldn't have," Elle said with a forced smile of her own as she took the soup and brought it over the fridge, tucking it towards the back. It was where the stuff would probably stay. She'd been unfortunate to have Carla's cooking before and it hadn't been good.                       
       
           



       



It took a few minutes for her to have the water heated up and then another moment as she poured the tea into two china cups and carried them into the other room.



"I know," Carla said with a shrug as she plopped down with a sigh on the overstuffed couch in the living room.



"You know what?" Elle asked distractedly as she concentrated on setting down the fragile tea cups with sloshing any of the steaming liquid onto the coffee table.



"I know that I shouldn't have." Carla gave her a look from under her dark brows and Elle gave in with a small sigh as she took the seat next to her friend.



"Carla, I … I have something to tell you."



"What is it?"



"I'm, well, I'm not actually sick," Elle forced the words out and watched in horror as Carla threw her head back as she let out a loud, belly laugh. Her shoulders were still shaking with mirth as she looked back at Elle.



"I know! I'm sorry Elle, but you're a terrible liar." Carla's humor made a smile of her own growacross Elle's face and, after a moment, they were both giggling.



"It was pretty bad wasn't it?" Elle asked between laughs.



"Bad? It was awful!"



They both went off again, laughing so hard that Elle had to clutch her ribs they hurt so bad. Finally, the humor dwindled enough for Elle to take a sip of her tea and she was surprised by the serious expression on Carla's face when she looked over at her.



"Listen, Elle … " Carla started slowly, obviously searching for the right words to say, "I know you lied about being sick, but … why?"



It was such an honest, direct question that Elle found herself answering before she'd even realized the words were coming out of her mouth, "It's Honey. I can't … He's impossible to work with."



"Look, I know I said I wouldn't ask any questions – "



"You promised, Carla."



"And I won't," she finished with a pointed look, "But I want you to know that I'm here for you, okay? If you ever do decide you want to talk it through. I'm your friend, Elle." Carla reached out, grasping one of Elle's hands in her own for a brief moment before releasing it, "The truth is, though, I really, really do need your help at the farm. We're so short staffed and we have all of these orders that need to be processed … "



Carla trailed off, taking another sip of tea and Elle could see the worry lines crease her forehead.



"How? How are you so short staffed? I thought you had the Dirty Cruisers at your beck and call so to speak."



Carla was silent for a long moment, her worry deepening into concern before turning back to Elle, "There's been … some problems."