One broad hand clamped onto the back of my neck, the push of his thumb on my spine inviting me closer.
For such a big man, he held me carefully.
The softness of his lips lingered on mine, and when he palmed my hip, I leaned into him.
A roar of sound filled my head. Cheers from the crowd soared, but beneath it all, the roar of my pulse drove me closer to Bishop.
5
BISHOP
Three days after my kiss with Noelle, and I couldn’t get her out of my head. I thought about her when I worked out, then in the shower, which led to jacking off like my life depended on it.
Damn that woman and her incredible kiss.
Ash passed me in the hallway. “Need to prep. Storm’s coming in.”
He thumbed over his shoulder. “And not the metaphorical kind. Weather reports say the snow’s coming in harder than they thought. Could be a long one.”
I grunted that I’d heard and turned toward the storage closet. “Rafe planning on staying here?”
I indicated the clubhouse where we spent most of our time. The bar section in the front and the ‘hidden’ back rooms gave us plenty of space to run our operations.
It also gave us an excuse to be around town when and where we needed to be as Christmas approached.
“Yeah. He says there’s no need in leaving. Noelle’s sticking around too. Rafe wants her to finish her first article soon.” Ash ran a hand through his hair before setting his hand on his hip. “I’m not sure we’re taking the right approach here. We know nothing about her.”
“You sound like me.” I’d talked to Rafe about all the time Noelle had been spending in the clubhouse.
We hadn’t shown her our private rooms hidden behind the walls, but she had seen and heard more at the Christmas fundraiser than I thought appropriate for a stranger.
Even if she was a reporter who wanted to help us gain a good rapport with the locals.
Ash made a choking sound. “God, no. We can only tolerate one Bishop in the group.” He gave my back a heavy slap. “Good thing she’s open to the situation.”
I wasn’t as certain as Ash, but I kept my concerns to myself.
Talking to Ash was like riding a rollercoaster backward.
Just when you thought you had things figured out, he changed directions.
He’d been all about showing Noelle a good time with our strip tease, but then he turned off the sexual attention and commented that we didn’t know enough about Noelle to trust her with our secrets.
It was a line straight out of my playbook.
Then again, I hadn’t trusted anyone in years except for Rafe and Ash.
And that decision came after several years of working together.
They’d seen the worst of me, from my nightmares to the PTSD that sometimes shut me down entirely, and they never made me feel like I was less than because I had issues.
“Where is Noelle?” I straightened the bottles and cans on the storage shelves.
We kept enough supplies to last several weeks depending on how many people stayed.
Rafe had dismissed the club half an hour ago, telling them all to go home and prep for the storm.
We might be needed at any point to help out the less fortunate around town, though we’d not be welcome when we arrived.
