CHAPTER ONE
Addison Murphy feigned sleep as her husband, Lincoln, rose from their bed and headed into the bathroom. She waited for only a minute after she heard the shower come on. She threw the covers back, jumped out of bed, stripped naked, and hurried into the bathroom. She opened the door to the shower and sucked in her breath at the sight of her husband’s naked back. She reached up and ran her hands down his strong muscles and down to cup his ass.
“Morning,” Link said, with his back still to her. He suddenly turned and backed her up against the wall. He leaned down and kissed her as he lifted her, and as soon as her legs wrapped around his waist, his engorged cock sank into her.
“Mmm,” Addy murmured against his lips. “I missed you last night.” Several minutes later she sighed, and said softly, “Lincoln, I love you so much.”
“Not as much as I love you,” he said, and kissed her deeper. The next several minutes left them too busy for talking. Twenty minutes later, when the hot water began to cool, they quickly finished washing and stepped out. As they dried off and went back into the bedroom to dress, Link looked at his wife and smiled.
“Thank you for that.” He pointed at the bathroom.
“No problem. Never a hardship to make love with my husband,” she said as she dressed in a skirt and blouse. As she put on her heels she sighed as she looked over at him as he dressed in a pair of well-worn jeans and t-shirt. “I wish I could go to work dressed like that.”
Link grinned at her. “Come work for me and you can.”
“Like I know anything about engines.” She laughed as she finished her makeup. “Oh, hey, don’t forget I have that thing tonight.”
“Thing?”
“The Andersons’ anniversary party.”
“Oh, so you won’t be at the clubhouse?”
“Probably not. Then I have the Maddison wedding tomorrow,” she said as she finished dressing, and together they went to the kitchen and Link started the coffee. Addy owned a party planning business and seemed to always have a thing. No matter how many times Lincoln listened to her, he could never grasp the concept of what she tried to tell him she did for a living. It took a few years to get her name out there, but in the last six months it seemed to take off.
Link owned the local garage and was a member of the local motorcycle club and he employed quite a few club members. “So you won’t be there tomorrow for the pig roast?”
“What time is it?”
“Starts around six at night. Tonight we’re going over the last-minute details. So tonight’s not really important for you to be there.”
“You sure? I could help with the planning.”
“Addy, you plan other people’s parties every day of the week. The club doesn’t expect you to plan ours,” Link said as he handed her a cup of coffee. “More importantly, I don’t expect you to plan anything for the club. When you’re there, I want you there to relax.” He didn’t think his statement was harsh, but he frowned at her expression after he told her about not planning for the club.
“Oh,” Addy said, and sighed. They had dated for two years, and had been married for five years now, and she still didn’t feel like she was accepted by the other members of the club and theirwives or girlfriends. Sure, she was friends with them, but she didn’t feel accepted.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“Addison?” he asked sternly.
At his tone, she deflated. “I’m sorry. I still don’t feel accepted by the women at the club. We’ve been married for five years, dated two years before the wedding, that’s seven years we’ve been together, and you’ve been in the club for eight. It’s not that they slight me, or ignore me, but I don’t feel accepted. I’m not trying to be whiny here, but that’s how I feel whenever I’m at the clubhouse.” She paused and then walked up and hugged him tightly. “That’s what I love about you. You know when I’m feeling off or unsure. You get me. I love you for that, and the fact that we can talk about anything, no matter how busy our lives get.”
“I feel the same way, Addy. But I don’t know what to tell you about the ladies in the club.” Link sighed as he hugged her, then took the plate of bacon and eggs she handed him. “I know they always ask about you when you’re not there, so do the guys. I know they like you.”
“Oh,” she said as they ate their breakfast, then cleaned up the kitchen together. “I’ll be home late tonight. The anniversary party starts at six. Tomorrow the wedding starts at two. I might be able to get away around eight, nine at the latest.”
“Don’t kill yourself to make it,” Link said as he kissed the side of her head. “I know you have your thing, I don’t know exactly what it is, but I know it’s for your job. If you make it, you make it, if not...” He shrugged and then grabbed his leather jacket with his vest of colors and a couple minutes later Addy heard his Harley start up then leave.
“Damn it,” Addy said, and sighed as she finished up her coffee. “How the hell am I going to feel accepted if you don’tcare whether I show up or not?” she asked the empty kitchen. She continued talking to the empty room. She had this habit of talking to herself to try to convince herself that she had the confidence to do something when her gut screamed that she couldn’t do it. “You’re a good person, Addy. Just show up and start talking to them. They’ll eventually accept you. You got this. I’m your husband, I’ll be there to support you.” She snorted and actually jumped when her phone rang, then as she answered, she put her personal phobias away and got down to business.
Several hours later, Link walked into the clubhouse, and the first thing he did was go to the bar and get a beer. He’d had a hard day at work, the parts he’d been promised hadn’t arrived, and he spent several hours on the phone trying to track them down. That put his project back a couple days and the customer was calling, demanding his car back.
“Link.” Mary, the president’s wife who was tending bar, acknowledged him. “Addy with you?”
“No, she had a thing,” he said, and studied the woman’s face and saw disapproval in her expression. He noted that she didn’t ask what kind of thing. As he studied the other woman, he realized that whenever Lincoln would tell anyone at the clubhouse that Addy had a thing, they never, ever questioned him on what it was. He wondered if his wife might not be as paranoid as he thought she was.
