“You like the sound of that, Rosie?” he rasped into my panting mouth.
“Sounds alright,” I tried to say casually, but I could feel the hot flush in my cheeks, the low lids of my eyes and the rush of my breath from my suddenly tight chest.
He laughed into my open mouth then kissed it firmly, before pushing me gently away. “Don’t worry, I’ll have you saying easy, pleading yes, Lion’s by the end of the night.”
I waited to shudder when he turned to grab my helmet and by the time he handed it to me, I was mildly composed. He watched me throw my hair over my shoulder, clasp the dome to my head and climb onto the Harley behind him. I pressed a kiss then a bite to his shoulder and promised, “I look forward to seeing you try.”
The bar was filled with Berserkers and their friends. It was celebration time, a mini party to congratulate the brothers on a job well done stealing thousands of dollars’ worth of weed from their rival MC. Every member of the chapter was there, their old ladies and one-night pieces, their kids if they had any, and trusted friends.
So, basically, I’d spent the last three hours separated from Danner and hating it.
I watched him from the pool table where I was playing a game with Reaper, Grease, and Wrath, as he held Laken loosely in his lap, nodding as she used her hands to illustrate some story, her huge breasts practically in his face.
It was easy to forget, when it was just the two of us, that Danner wasn’t only mine.
He had two girlfriends, a biker chick and a straight-laced cop.
Both beautiful, both perfect in one way or another for his life.
It would have been easy to be jealous, but I wasn’t.
Mostly, because when I’d left bed earlier that day telling him I was going to study in the library before my exam, I’d gone into the North Van PD and met with my handler, the one and only Diana Casey. I’d briefed her on the heist even though it was clear from her reaction, Danner had already told her most of the story, and I was annoyed to find out that she was not only beautiful, she was kind. She’d genuinely asked after my health after Cricket’s assault, if I was having nightmares and if I’d met with the trauma counselor. I wasn’t, and I hadn’t, but only because I had Danner and Hero to keep the demons at bay.
I didn’t tell her that.
But she did let slip, as we were walking out the door of her office, her C.I. notebook with my secret identifier #69 on the front, that she hoped Officer Danner was looking out for me in the field. I agreed he was then pushed a little more, asking if they worked closely together on the case.
Her lips had pursed, her eyes lost some luster and she gave a little blasé shrug that tried to mask how hurt she was.
He’d been her boyfriend, she said, for over two years, but he’d broken up with her over a week ago.
She looked horrified by her blunder. I was a criminal from a criminal family and her confidential informant. There wasn’t supposed to be an exchange of any personal information. But rules were meant to be broken, and Danner had told me that they usually were between handler and C.I. because it wasn’t a relationship that could form without trust.
Diana Casey thought she could trust me, and I hated that that made me feel guilty and good at the same time.
I said nothing to Danner about it because he’d said nothing to me. It was obvious that she wasn’t important enough to bring up, he hadn’t even spoken about her once in the time we’d spent together, but Laken was another story.
“Stop starin’ like a witch brewin’ a curse and get playin’,” Wrath murmured to me as he stepped up to the felt to take a shot beside me. “You’re bein’ fuckin’ obvious.”
I rolled my eyes, but I wasn’t too concerned. Grease and Reaper were playing us, but they were distracted, muttering between themselves, Reaper checking his phone every few minutes.
“Something’s goin’ down,” I muttered after Wrath sunk his shot and aimed for another.
“Yeah, they found a new way to smuggle guns in from the States. We’re supposed to get a test shipment in tonight,” he whispered into my ear, grabbing me as if to press a kiss to my hair.
He smelled good, classic and manly like Old Spice deodorant.
I hummed, my mind whirring. If a shipment was coming into the Port of Vancouver that night and I knew the man who’d be bringing it in, what other information did I need before I could act on it?
The shipping company and crate number.