Owning Beauty (Taking Beauty Trilogy 3)

“I guess you could say we aren’t your usual club… And I’m not your usual MC president. There’s seven of us. We’ve known each other forever, grew up together, went into the service together, basically we’ve gone through hell and back together. We stick together, no matter what.”

“So, you’re not running drugs, money, or girls?”

“No,” I laughed, taking note of her suspicious gaze. “We mostly fix bikes. We have a bike shop in town. That’s how we make our money. But those guys back there? At Otto’s? Those are the kind of guys you’re talking about. The bad guys. But we’re not them.”

“Then why were you there? At Otto’s.”

“I just stopped for a drink. Wasn’t exactly looking for trouble…” I said, my voice trailing off as I took another gulp of my beer.

“What were you looking for?” Gabby asked, her eyes flashing at me curiously.

That was a damned good question. I had a bottle of whiskey in my kitchen, along with a case of beer. It’s not like I needed to stop for a drink because I didn’t have any booze of my own. So why was I there?

Fuck, I hated to even admit it to myself, but I’d found myself feeling a twinge of loneliness lately. And that was something I thought would never say. I thought I’d be happy to be alone forever, ever since I’d started living my life without Maggie.

Maggie’s beautiful face flashed in my head, and I did what I always did when that happened. I closed my eyes and tried to drink in as much of her beauty as I could because I was terrified the day would come when I wouldn’t be able to conjure up her face.

“Are you okay?” Gabby asked next to me.

Shit. I’d done it again. Drifted off into thoughts of her. It’d been over five years and I still couldn’t have a normal conversation.

“Yeah, sorry. Want a shot?” I asked, standing up and walking to the kitchen.

“Sure, I guess,” she replied to my back. I couldn’t look at her. I couldn’t let her see the look in my eyes, the last thing I needed was to show her the pain that lingered there no matter what I did to erase it.

I poured the whiskey into two small glasses, hoping like hell I could get through this night without being haunted too much by my past.

Gabby

Dante was a hard nut to crack. I couldn’t read him. One minute, I was positive I saw him checking out my tits, and the next he was jumping up from the couch like he couldn’t get away from me fast enough.

What was his story? I wondered.

He sure looked the part of the big, bad scary biker, even if he said he wasn’t like the others. Not to mention he was sexy as fuck. But it’s true, he wasn’t like any of those assholes back at the bar. I wasn’t afraid of him at all.

In fact, I was intrigued. I couldn’t stop staring at him. I watched the way he moved, drinking him in as much as I could.

He was dripping masculinity, his jaw twitching as he walked away, his tight jeans hinting at the muscles hiding under his clothes.

He was this hot, and yet he lived way out here in the middle of nowhere, hidden away in the woods, with not another soul in sight. Why didn’t a man like him have a woman waiting for him at home? This place was quiet as a church.

Well, except for that mess of a dog that was currently snoring loudly, as he napped by the fire.

Something didn’t seem right.

“Do you know a girl named Bella?” I asked, suddenly wondering if this was Bella’s biker. That would suck, I thought to myself.

“Nope, should I?” he asked, looking over his shoulder before he disappeared into the kitchen. He returned with two glasses full of whiskey. I’d barely taken two drinks of my beer. He worked fast, I noted. He sipped from his glass as he waited for my answer. Sitting next to me, the warmth coming from his large frame competed with the fire. Light flickered in his long wavy hair and I resisted the urge to reach out and touch it to see how soft it was.

“Well?” he prodded.

“What?” I replied, staring up at him like I’d never seen a man in my life. I shook my head, trying to shake the fog from my brain. “Sorry…never mind.”

“Who’s Bella?”

“My best friend…well, I mean, she used to be,” I replied, reminding myself that I was pissed at her for getting me into this situation.

“Used to be? Why’s that?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Because she - um — I — never mind,” I stuttered, clamping my mouth shut quickly.

“Tell me,” he said, prodding me again, adding a gentle smile this time.

“Let’s just say she gave me some bad advice,” I said, dragging my eyes from his smoldering gaze.

“We’re going to be here all night, you might as well tell me,” he said, scooting over closer to me.

I hesitated, biting my bottom lip as I tried to decide how much I should tell him. I didn’t know anything about him, hell, I didn’t even know if I was really safe here, but all I had to go on was my gut, so I decided to trust it until it steered me wrong. Still, I chose my words carefully.

“Bella is the one who convinced me to go to Otto’s. If it wasn’t for her, I wouldn’t have been there…” my voice trailed off, the lie sliding off my lips, leaving a lingering taste of guilt on my tongue. So, she hadn’t convinced me exactly - in fact, she didn’t tell me to do it, nor did she even know I was there, but in my defense she had gone on and on about her biker. That was just about the same thing, if you asked me.

“Only two reasons a girl goes to Otto’s,” Dante said, raising an eyebrow.

“And what are those?” I asked, a ripple of electricity running through my body as I met his gaze again.

“Drinkin’ and fuckin’, basically,” he said, shrugging his shoulders, winking at me. “Mostly fuckin’.”

A hot blush crept into my cheeks as I pulled my eyes away again. For fuck’s sake, was it that obvious? Of course it was. What was I thinking?

I was being completely naive. What the hell was wrong with me? I knew better than this. I was a Loprinzi, for fuck’s sake. I knew not to trust anyone.

“Look, I really should go home,” I stood up quickly, more determined than ever to get out of here. To get away from this man who’s eyes peered into mine like he was looking into my soul, as if I were standing stark naked in front of him.

“Sure, sure,” he said, leaning back on the couch, stretching his long, thick arms along the back of the couch, a slow, lazy smile spreading across his incredibly beautiful face. “Tomorrow, Gabby.”

“What? Tomorrow?! I’m sure those guys are gone by now,” I protested. There was no way I could wait till tomorrow.

“Maybe. Maybe not. But we haven’t even had dinner yet. Tell you what, you sit here and enjoy the fire, I’ll make us a few steaks and we’ll talk about it again after dinner,” he reached over and patted my knee, his hand hot and heavy, before he stood up, leaving me alone with Bear, the flickering orange flames, and my frustration.

Dante

As the steaks sizzled in the pan, I tried to convince myself I wasn’t attracted to her. Hell, I hadn’t felt these sensations in a while, and I could just as easily chalk them up to too much whiskey or some newly developing health problem, but I’d only be lying to myself.

I wanted her. I wanted her bad.

I’d gone into Otto’s just to test the waters and instead I’d plunged into waters that were a little deeper than I expected. Now, it was up to me to swim or pull myself back to shore. But damn, if these waters weren’t fuckin’ warm and tempting.

The fire, the whiskey, the quiet silence of the night…not to mention the smokin’ hot black-haired beauty that was waiting for me on the couch…all of it had me thinking about what it might be like to plunge back into the dating scene…or at least the one-night stand scene.

I almost felt like a virgin. Which sounds totally fuckin’ stupid to say, I know. I’m Italian, after all. But Maggie’s death hit me like a freight train and even though it’d been five long years, I still hadn’t

so much as kissed another woman since then. I’d gotten a lot of shit about it from the guys, that was for sure. But once we’d gotten back to the States, I’d just had no interest in starting anything up with anyone else. It just never seemed right. I felt like I’d be betraying Maggie’s memory or something.

“Fugettaboutit,” I’d reply to their occasional ribbing. “When I’m ready, you’ll know it.”

“Yeah, we’ll know it because it’ll be like Mt. Everest erupting in your fuckin’ pants!” Romeo said. Romeo Romano is the ladies man of our club. He probably hadn’t spent one fucking night alone since we returned from overseas. I was surprised his dick hadn’t fallen off yet.

“Shut the fuck up, Romeo. Not everyone lets their dick rule their life,” I replied, doing my best to defend myself at the time.