Adler (The Henchmen MC 14)

"Yes," she agreed, sending me a smile I felt in my cock. "I think a guy being able to find and capture me - someone who makes a living finding and catching guys - would be great foreplay."

"Only the worthy get the goodies."

"Exactly," she agreed, eyes dancing, glad I wasn't judging her.

"I think that sounds fun. I bet ya I get the goods."

"Oh, yeah?" she asked, something taking over her face, something I couldn't quite read.

"I don't think I like that look."

"How about this," she started, and I was starting to recognize challenge and wicked pleasure in her eyes. "Once my uterus stops throwing its baby-less fit, I disappear."

"Oh, ya are fuckin' evil," I decided, shaking my head. "If I don't catch ya, I don't get ya at all?"

"That's the plan."

This woman.

Turning sex into a game.

Offering her body as a trophy.

"How would it work? Do I get a file? Known contacts?"

"Not a damn thing," she told me, eyes dancing. "If you are as good as you say you are, you will be able to track me down."

"With ya as the prize, duchess, I know I will find ya."

"So, it's a plan. I guess I will see you in... five days."

"Wait... what? Why five days?"

"Because that's when my lady bits will no longer be a crime scene."

I snorted at that. "Aye, but why can't I see ya until then?" Her lips formed into an O at that, her shoulder shrugging. "Christ, duchess. Haven't we established that I want more than just sex from ya? Want the other stuff too."

"What other stuff? I don't have a job that I know of anytime soon. I'll just be going on runs. Fucking around the house."

"Does this 'fucking around' include cooking?"

To that, she let out a small laugh, light and airy, girly even, a sound you wouldn't think she was capable of. "You know, if you learned to cook, you wouldn't have to beg others to cook for you."

"Aye, but why learn to cook if I can have a beautiful woman cook for me? Preferably in the nude?"

She smiled then, all white teeth and genuine joy, the first time all day I saw her truly look happy. "Nude, huh? Have you ever reached into an oven to fetch supper? Do you want me burning my boobs?"

"Okay, so in a bra and thong."

"Let me guess... and heels?"

"Now ya are getting it."

"You know, it might not be a hardship having you around, Adler."

"Well, good. 'Cause it sure as fuck ain't a hardship bein' around you, Lou. But ya look like ya are about to drop," I told her, noting the heaviness of her eyelids.

"It's been a long day," she agreed, taking a deep breath.

"Ya managed to chase down a skip in another state while nursing a hangover and having... that whole situation," I said, waving at her lap, "goin' on. Ya need some rest. Want me to take Linny for a walk for ya? I'll let myself back in. Won't wake ya up."

"I think I can get behind this co-dog-parenting thing," she decided. "But you have to take that bone and stuff it with the extra crunchy peanut butter in the cabinet for her when you get back. That's her nightly ritual."

"Got it," I agreed, leashing up Linny, looking back at Lou as she flopped back down on the couch, hitting the play button on the remote so the eerie pulse-pounding intro to Buffy started playing, yanking the blanket up to her chin, her eyes already starting to flutter closed. "Goodnight, duchess," I called, realizing it might have been the first time in my entire fucking sorry life that I said goodnight to a woman.

And what did Lou say back?

A long, incoherent grumbling noise.

Which, in the moment, was the best sound I had heard in a good, long time.

It was right about then that I realized how fucked I was.EIGHTLouThe next few days were the oddest, most interesting ones I had experienced in longer than I could remember.

I had no calls from Geoff, leaving me to do exactly what I said. I worked out. I cleaned. I did three month's worth of laundry. I shopped.

And, well, I hung out with Adler through all of it.

With the situation with the president's daughter - for the time being - settled, the club seemed to have little demand on his time. He went in some nights after he left me, pulling some guard duty while I slept, leaving me to wonder when he himself got any rest.

But, quite frankly, I was too selfish to demand he take some time to himself, to rest, to recoup.

Because, as I quickly found out, I liked having him around. I liked his head on my shoulder, looking down at what I was mixing on the stove, his chest expanding wide against my back as he took a deep breath, like he could taste the food by sniffing it.