Copper (Hell's Handlers MC 4)

“Really, Mav? Because yesterday Steph was telling me about this new vibrator she got. Said it was better than any man she’d ever been with.” Shell shrugged innocently and gave the rest of her family seconds on the java.

“What?” Mav’s jaw dropped to the ground. Maybe most groups of mix-company friends didn’t joke about vibrators and sex all the time, but with the MC, pretty much nothing was off limits. The guys were raw, dirty, and very rough around the edges.

Just how she loved them.

“Bullshit. You’re making that up.” Mav dug his phone from his pocket as Copper, Jigsaw, and one of the prospects LJ cracked up. “She’s not answering. Why isn’t she answering?”

“Didn’t she have a hair appointment this morning?” Shell asked. “At least that’s what she told you. Probably spending time with her new toy.”

“Fuck.” Maverick scowled at her. “Sleep with one eye open, Shell.”

LJ dropped his oven mitt-sized hand on Shell’s shoulder and gave it a bone-crushing squeeze. Sometimes these huge men didn’t recognize their immense power. “Damn, girl. That was good. He’ll be tied up in knots all fucking day.”

A growl came from directly across the table. All three men and Shell gaped at Copper. His gaze was glued to LJ’s hand on her, and if Shell wasn’t mistaken, LJ wouldn’t need to bother saving for retirement. He’d be lucky to make it to the parking lot. Immediately, as though her shoulder was made of corrosive acid, his hand fell to the table.

Shell cleared her throat. “Um, anyone need anything else?” she asked, extra chipper.

Jig and Mav still stared at Copper, who hadn’t stopped murdering LJ with his bullet-firing glare.

“Another pancake?” she asked weakly.

LJ squirmed like a kid sitting before a prune-faced principal. “Hey, Copper, I’m sorry, man. Meant no disrespect.”

Seriously? He was apologizing for an innocent touch? The same kind of contact every single man in the MC gave her all the time. Friendly. Affectionate. Sisterly. Completely non-sexual.

Surely Copper wasn’t about to make the poor twenty-one-year-old prospect pay for something so innocent.

“No worries, LJ.”

“Thanks, Prez.”

Phew. Bullet dodged.

“Hey, LJ,” Copper went on. “Been a while since I washed my bike. Thinking when we get back to the clubhouse, you need to get on that.”

“Oh, uh, yeah, Prez. For sure.” LJ flicked a look at Shell then focused back on Copper.

“Thinking the guys on my exec board could use the same treatment.” Copper hadn’t so much as cracked a smile, but Jig and freakin’ Mav were grinning like a bunch of creepy circus clowns. The assholes were loving this.

“Copper,” Shell whispered. “It’s forty degrees today.” Usually, in their area, March was pleasantly in the sixties, but this past week had been chillier than the norm. Poor LJ’s hands would freeze off if he had to wash six bikes outside.

“Ain’t a thing, Shell,” LJ said. “Happy to do it.”

She frowned as guilt wormed its way in. Somehow, even though she hadn’t done anything, this felt like her fault.

Copper turned his gaze on her and his entire expression transformed. Soft lines, no more death rays shooting from his eyes. In fact, a grin even peeked out from his bearded face. Shell swallowed as lust warmed her belly. Over the past year, she’d gotten used to hard, almost impatient looks from Copper. As though everything she did pissed him off to some extent.

None of that look remained.

“Uhh, why you staring at her like that, Prez?” Mav asked. When Copper didn’t turn away but raised an eyebrow, Mav said, “You not get enough for breakfast, boss? Cuz I’m kinda getting the impression you’re gonna hop up and eat our girl.”

Copper just flipped him off, making Shell laugh.

“Stop it, Cop. It’s freaking me out.”

It was freaking her out too, but not in the way Mav meant. For the life of her, she couldn’t tear her gaze away from Copper’s piercing green stare. The coffee pot hung limply from her hand, in grave danger of crashing to the floor.

Seconds ticked by. Aware that she had tables waiting on food, and that Copper’s men were watching them like they paid for the show, she tried to untangle herself from the web that was Copper.

Useless effort.

“Fuck it,” Copper said as he sprung out of the booth. He loomed over her, grabbing the coffee put and thrusting it at Mav. “Take this.”

“Uhh,” Mav said, for once without a snappy quip.

With the bulky form of Copper hovering over her, Shell felt like a small animal about to be devoured. “Wha—” she started only to be silenced by the delicious slide of Copper’s tongue into her mouth.

Customers? What?

Orders waiting in the kitchen? Huh?

Friends and family gawking at the display? Uhhh…

Her mind went berserk as he kissed her until her knees weakened and her body sparked like a live wire in a puddle of water. Hands at her lower back, he held her close and made it known to the general public, in no uncertain terms that something was going on between them.