Reeve (The Henchmen MC 11)

Like any normal man wanted to get to know one of the most gorgeous - and in her case, unusual - women he had ever met.

The desire was so foreign, so long-buried that I almost didn't even recognize it at first. But it was there. Right there pressing up against all my reasons - and excuses - for why I couldn't get to know her the way I wanted to.

But once I saw it for what it was, it seemed to break free from the shackles that my past kept on it, soaring up to the forefront of my mind.

Even as I watched the sun sneak up into the sky, saw the whole town slowly start to come to life, it was still there.

The almost adolescent desire to take her out.

It didn't matter where.

To dinner. A movie. The fucking pound to search for unwanted dogs she could love.

Just to be around her. Hear her talk. Listen to her stories. See her give me one of those smiles. You know, the type I didn't have. The unguarded ones. The open ones. The ones that invited you to smile along.

Fucking cheesy, that was what that line of thinking was.

But that didn't make it any less true.

I wasn't sure the last time I felt anything even akin to this. I was probably hardly twenty-one.

A lifetime ago, it seemed.

It was disarming how powerful the urge was though.

It had to be closing in on noon when I saw a lone figure moving down the street, the only nut in the town willing to brave the five-below temperatures we were having this morning, despite the sun beating down.

I think it went without saying that this woman was holding my jacket again. And only wearing that fucking cape thing again as well.

The urge was there to rush down and out and head her off before she got too close. But there was no way. A group of the guys were standing out front, likely discussing the drop, and there was no way I would get there before they would see her and let her in.

Hopefully, one of them would do me a solid and just take the jacket and shoo her on her way.

I watched the group, hoping Reign or Wolf - someone sensible and not into dicking around where they didn't need to - caught sight of her.

But that wasn't my luck.

Oh, no.

And it couldn't have been Edison or Pagan who were happily settled with Lenny and Kennedy.

Nope.

It was the very single, very dedicated skirt-chaser Sugar who eyed her first.

Even from my perch all the way up on the roof, I could see the way his lips curled up, could see him getting ready to lay it on thick in that way that I had seen him do countless times before.

Successfully, I might add.

Effortlessly, really.

The man could make a fucking nun blush.

And his sights were on Rey even as he turned and made his way toward the gate where she was clearly heading.

It was for the best.

That was what I was trying to convince myself.

Sugar was a better option than I was.

Maybe he fucked around a lot, but so had Cy, and look how fucking loyal he was now.

It just took the right woman.

Rey looked a fuckuva lot like the right woman.

Sugar wasn't dense. He might see that too.

But even as I tried to convince myself that this was the best solution since if she belonged to one of my brothers, she was off-limits for life for me, my hands curled into fists on the glass as I watched the interaction.

Sugar was turned away from me, his arm resting on the gate fence above his head, curling him forward in a way that was both dominant and non-threatening. I could see a sliver of Rey, but not her face.

I had no idea what was said, what required such a long interaction.

But then Sugar suddenly turned slowly, looking up toward me. I knew he could see me, just as well as I had seen Roan the night before. Better, actually, in the light of day.

I was hoping he would let it drop at that, but then he raised an arm, pointing toward me for a second before turning to open the gate.

He was bringing her in.

I didn't think he would bring her into the basement then up the ladder to the glass room. That shit was private. Only club members, old ladies, and the kids knew how to get to the glass room. But then I heard voices from below the closed trap door.

"Yeah, babe, right up," he told her. "Don't worry; I won't let you fall."

On a resigned sigh, I reached down to drag open the door and moved away, hearing her feet hit the rungs of the ladder as she got higher.

"Company, Reeve," Sugar called even as her head poked into the room, squinting a bit at the bright light after the dim basement. "Not even going to help her up?" he asked, tone a mix of teasing and confused. "Step the fuck up, man."