14
TEX
The bar was already loud when we rolled in.
Bikes lined the gravel lot out front, and music thumped faintly through the wooden walls. The place wasn’t fancy, just an old roadside bar with neon signs in the windows and decades of cigarette smoke baked into the floorboards.
But it was familiar.
And familiar was good.
I killed the engine and swung off the bike and Rowan climbed down behind me with trembling legs, and all my dirty mind could think of was all the other ways I could make her body tremble like that.
She smoothed a hand over her hair as she pulled off the helmet and handed it back to me before glancing around nervously.
“That was…” she began, and I loved the way her smile had grown. The flush to her cheeks and the way her chest heaved. I had heard her squeal as we had ridden here, and I couldn't deny how much I loved hearing it.
I smirked. “I know, Rowan. Why do you think we all love it so much?”
“It’s like riding a horse, really, but just, different somehow.”
“Faster?” I asked, because I had pushed my bike hard, loving the noises she had made, but loving more the way she had clung to me.
“Horses are really fast, cowboy,” she laughed. “I don’t know, there was just something about being on your bike, with you.”
She looked up at me through her lashes and gave me one of those soft smiles of hers. I knew exactly what she meant though. No explanation needed. Riding with her on the back of my bike tonight had been the best ride I’d had in a long time.
I reached down and grabbed her hand, pulling her with me. “Come on, let’s get in there. You’ll be safe with me.”
She rolled her eyes but didn’t let go of my hand, and I slammed shut the lid on the voice inside me that started whispering things I didn’t want to hear.
The moment we stepped inside the bar, a few heads turned.
Not because of me, but because of her.
Rowan looked good tonight. Too good. Far too fucking good for a bar like this, and definitely too good for a man like me. I knew that every man was looking at me with jealousy, and I couldn't deny how much I liked that feeling. I had never wanted to own anything other than my bike before, and I sure as hell didn’t want to own a woman, but the thought of a woman belonging to me and me belonging to her was definitely growing on me.
We moved through the bar with me giving a hard glare to every man that looked at her. And every man was looking at her. The short denim skirt, the boots, the way her hair fell loose around her shoulders. It was the kind of look that made men stare without even realizing they were doing it.
My jaw tightened slightly as I guided her toward the back where the Kings had taken over two pool tables.
Moose spotted me first. “Well look who finally showed up.”
JD leaned back in his chair beside him. “And he brought company.”
“Did you bring us entertainment?” Ridge said, leaning on his pool cue.
I practically snarled in his direction and I heard Moose and Swampy laugh.
“I’d keep any thoughts of her being entertainment to yourself if I were you,” Moose said. “Brother gets real protective over his woman.”
“As any man walking in with a woman looking like that would,” Confessor said, a tired expression on his face.
“She’s not my woman,” I said, and Rowan slipped her hand from mine. “But I’d keep all thoughts of Rowan out of your head altogether if you want to keep breathing,” I added, glaring at them all.
Rowan laughed from beside me. “I’d listen to him if I were you.”
Ridge held up a hand in apology and backed away toward the pool table, and I shook my head and turned my attention back to JD. Rowan gave them all a polite smile while I clasped hands with the guys.
