She nuzzled her cheek against him contentedly.
"Thank you, master."
Hayley felt warm arms around her. Big and muscular. She opened her eyes to the daylight and came face-to-face with the fire breathing dragon. It seemed to slither down his arm, its fierce mouth spewing flames as it went.
She sighed contentedly.
"Good morning." The words rumbled from his chest.
She snuggled against him. "Morning."
He shifted, then prowled over her. She gazed up at his smiling face, his whisker roughened jaw an intensely sexy sight. His lips found hers and his tongue invaded her mouth, swirling inside as if he owned her.
Which at this moment he did.
And last night. She'd been mastered by him. Thoroughly. And pleasurably. She'd never experienced so many orgasms in a row.
He could own her anytime!
Her stomach growled and he withdrew his lips and grinned down at her. "Hungry?" he asked.
"A little."
His grin broadened. "Me, too."
He slid down her body, kissing her torso on the way. Then she felt his mouth nuzzle against her lady parts and she smiled. Then gasped as his tongue glided over her slit. His thumbs parted her folds and he licked her clit. She arched against him, clutching his hair as he licked and nibbled her to dizzying heights of joy. Within moments she was gasping, pleasure rocking through her. Then she catapulted to sheer ecstasy.
Finally, he stopped his pleasurable torture and she dropped to the bed, panting for breath.
"My God, that mouth should have a warning label," she said.
He laughed, then pushed himself beside her and held her close. She could hear the thumping of his heart against her ear. She wrapped her hand around his stiff cock and started to slide down, but he stopped her.
"Just relax. I want to enjoy holding you in my arms."
A sexy biker guy who liked to cuddle? Surely she'd died and gone to heaven.
Half an hour later, Hayley walked into the hotel restaurant with Rip by her side. It would be amazing if Marianne saw her with her handsome biker-man, now dressed in jeans and a tank top that revealed his sculpted muscles and sexy tattoos.
Once the waitress brought their coffee, Rip gazed across the table at Hayley.
"So what do you do, Hayley?"
She stirred some sugar into her coffee. "I'm an accountant. Boring, right?"
"You're not boring. Why would you chose a career that's boring?"
She shrugged. "Well, I like working with numbers. It just gets a bit tedious at times."
He sipped his coffee. "So if you don't like doing it, why don't you stop?"
"Stop?" She frowned. "But it's my job."
He shrugged. "So find something else."
Uncertainty washed through her. "What would I do?"
"I don't know. What do you like to do?"
She shook her head. "This is silly. I'm an accountant. That's what I do."
"Life is too short to be stuck doing something you hate."
The waitress brought their breakfasts, then refilled their coffee cups.
"You know," he said, "I was stuck in a situation I didn't like, but I finally realized that I could change it, even though my training and interests had all led me there."
"You made a radical career change?" she asked.
"I made a radical life change."
She put down her fork and stared at him. "Tell me about it."
At his hesitation, she sighed. "I'm sorry. It's none of my business."
Rip frowned. He never told anyone his story, except his biker brothers.
But he found himself wanting to tell Hayley.
"I used to be a cop. Undercover. I joined an outlaw MC and rode with them."
"MC?"
"It stands for Motorcycle Club."
"But it really means a gang?"
He shrugged. "Let's just say they don't care much about the law."
"You must have spent a lot of time gaining their trust. Why did you decide to leave?"
He leaned forward. "You've got to understand. I wanted to be a cop all my life. I thought I could make a difference. Stepping into a criminal life in order to ultimately make things better seemed a valuable thing to do, but it's backwards in its way. You live the life of a criminal. You do what criminals do." Resentment burned through him. "You become a criminal."
"Did you have to do something you're unhappy about?"
He laughed bitterly. "Yeah, all the time. But that's not what ultimately made me walk away."
She gazed at him with wide eyes. "What was it, Rip?"
"In that life, I couldn't have any real relationship. It would have been a lie. I was living a lie."
"And you only met women who were criminals, I assume."
"That's true. Until I met Marissa. She was having trouble starting her car and I stopped to help. At first, she was nervous of me, because … " He shrugged. "Big motorcycle. Tattoos. Not the boy next door, right? But I got her car started and she decided to take a chance on me and we went to lunch. One thing led to another."
"You fell in love?"
He frowned. "I don't know. Could it really be love when someone walks away without even giving you a chance to explain?"
"Explain what?" she asked.
"She found out about my criminal connections. She assumed, realistically, that I was a criminal, too." He sipped his coffee. "I mean, hey, I get it. A woman doesn't want to hang with someone who might hurt her." His fist clenched. "But I would never have hurt her. I can't believe she didn't know that."
Marissa had just up and left. He knew she'd been thinking about a transfer with her job, but she'd accepted the offer without telling him and then was just gone. He'd already decided to walk away from his job. To encourage her to take the transfer so both of them could move away. He'd intended to get a desk job just so he could be with her.
Hayley placed her hand on his. "I'm sorry, Rip. That must have hurt."
He sat back in his chair. "It was what it was. But it did make me face the fact I wasn't happy with my life, so I made a change."
"And now you're traveling with your friends."
"I'm still figuring stuff out." He glanced at her. "And I'm thinking, why don't you join us?"
He hadn't actually thought about it until just that moment, but she was unhappy, and the two of them had great chemistry together.
Her eyes widened. "You mean travel with you and your friends?"
"Yeah, why not?"
"Well, I don't have a motorcycle."
He smiled. "No problem. You'll ride with me."
He could tell she thought the suggestion was insane, but it also appealed to her. Or maybe it was the thought of riding his big bike every day, and him every night, that lit the fire in her eyes.
He wasn't sure why he thought this was such a good idea. Why did he want this kind of commitment to a woman he'd just met?
Part of it was knowing she'd be walking out of his life any minute now. She was only here for the weekend, and probably had a flight booked this afternoon. Last night with her had been fucking fantastic and he didn't want to let her go yet.
"I don't mean forever," he continued. "Just a few months of having fun while you figure out what you want. Call it a vacation." He leaned toward her. "You said you wanted to do something edgy and different."
She laughed. "I think last night was plenty edgy for now." She pushed her half finished breakfast away. "But you know, I'm not leaving until tomorrow, so we could spend the day together."
He raised an eyebrow. "And the night?"
She nodded.
"Okay, it's a deal.
After breakfast, Hayley stepped out of the air conditioned hotel into the bright sunshine, Rip behind her. She wore jeans and a light T-shirt, and the sun felt wonderfully warm on her bare arms.
His suggestion over breakfast had caught her totally off guard. Why did he even think she'd consider such a thing? She couldn't put her life on hold for something so tenuous. And there was no way she could make a commitment to a man she'd just met.
But she couldn't stop thinking about it. Riding on the back of his big, powerful motorcycle, the wind in her hair. Her arms wrapped around his strong body.
And the nights in his arms.
She drew in a deep calming breath.
"It's a beautiful day," she commented. Rip had suggested they take a ride on his motorcycle and she could hardly wait. The big machine between her legs, her arms around Rip's muscular body. Ah, heaven.
"There's a lake about five miles out."
"Juniper Lake," she said. "I used to swim there as a kid."
He turned and pulled her close to his body, smiling down at her. "It's a hot day. We could go swimming together."
"I should go up and get my bathing suit."
He pulled her closer, his pelvis tight against hers. "You won't need it."
He led her to his bike, which was parked around the corner, and soon she was clinging to him as they sped along the road to Juniper Lake. When he finally turned in the entrance, he bypassed the main parking area, which had several cars parked-not surprising given the warm day-and continued along a narrow path another mile or so. He stopped in a secluded area and dismounted, then lifted her from the bike.