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  As I meandered along the edge of the wash, I noticed two of the Defiant were watching me. They idled against the side of Riverbottom, smoking cigarettes and talking in voices which were too low to reach me. Perhaps they had been ordered to keep an eye on me, but I also didn’t miss the way their bodies shifted as they stared up and down. I figured it was better I couldn’t hear them.

  As the daughter of Crest Tolleson, I’d been expressly off limits to any man both in his circle and out of it. It was a protective shield I’d never fully appreciated until now. I supposed here I was off limits as well, but for a different reason. Here, I belonged to Orion. At least for now.

  I meandered by the wash for a long time; examining pretty rocks and small objects which had been left when the temporary waters dried up. Several times tiny squirrel-like creatures skittered across my path. One curious fellow reared up on his hind legs and observed me boldly for a full minute before resuming his travels.

  When my mind began wandering it was filled with unpleasant things. Dice. Talon. Mario. Ford. All the others who’d belonged to the harsh world of the Warlocks. Punctuating the memories of all those rough men and their tumultuous stories was always the face of my father. And then the scream of wrath which had ripped from his throat as he met Ruger and the other SF’s in a final, furious battle that he’d lost. I hadn’t asked Orion what he knew of the massacre and I hadn’t sought out the internet since I’d arrived. I already knew more than I wanted to. Whatever else there was would surely not add any comfort.

  The two club members who had been watching me disappeared and were presently replaced by others. Finally, I grew thirsty enough to make my way indoors. I waved at the Defiant men, looking them in the eye. Crest had always warned me not to keep my head down. He said something in the base natures of all men demanded that challengers meet them face on. He said they would never respect one who looked away, especially not a woman. Crest Tolleson was a wise man.

  The clubhouse was quiet, though the smell of recent cigarette smoke hung heavy in the main living room. The sunken couch was shabby and the table in the center was badly chipped, but the place wasn’t too badly tended, leading me to wonder who was keeping it up. In the shadows of the bar I had glimpsed two other women besides Rachel. They were young and watched me with quiet curiosity. I wondered who they were to the Defiant men.

  With a sigh I straightened out the couch cushions and made my way into the kitchen. I wasn’t even sure who else lived here besides Orion. Obviously the men tended to wander in and out of the club headquarters as necessary, but I’d also counted a half dozen trailers on the bare ground beyond the property. Rachel had mentioned that she occupied one of them with Casper, who seemed to be a man of some importance around here. I’d seen the patch on his jacket which made him second only to Orion.

  As I entered the kitchen I felt a blush creeping over my skin, remembering what had happened the last time I was in there. It wasn’t like me to fall under a man’s spell so easily. I shied away from the things other girls sought so eagerly and pushed aside the urges in my body as stubbornly as I could. Perhaps that was why Orion was able to reach me. All it took was one resolute touch and he saw through me plain as if my story were written on my face. Of course, Orion Jackson had lived two of my lifetimes. His benefit of experience was something the tentative boys of my past didn’t have.

  The sight which greeted me in the kitchen caught me off guard. I stopped dead in my tracks and stared, feeling rather than hearing the gasp in my own throat.

  I hadn’t seen Orion since our brief, heated tryst this morning. But he must have found his way back here at some point. No one else would have left a large box of Kraft Macaroni and Cheese in the middle of the table with the word ‘KIRA’ scrawled across the front in black magic marker.

  I picked up the box, listening to the lose pasta rattling around inside. It had been my favorite meal as a kid. A simple one that I was capable of making all on my own very early on. I used to take some pride in cooking up big batches of it and placing servings in front of the bemused Warlocks as if I’d just slaved over a gourmet extravaganza. And Orion remembered.

  The box stayed in my hands for a long time as I stared at it, seeing not the familiar pictures on the front but the faces of the past. My father, his Warlock brothers. Orion. With a sigh I rooted around in the rickety kitchen cabinets until I found a serviceable pot for boiling water.

  The light was fading outside and the sounds of the bar were growing louder. I peered out of the window and saw more bikes parked outside. Still, no one entered the house. I had dumped the pasta into the boiling water and was stirring carefully when I happened to look up. Orion stood in the doorway staring at me. I hadn’t even heard him come in.

  As he leaned casually against the wooden door frame, my breath caught at the sight of how imposing he was. Almost with a will of their own my eyes strayed down his body; roaming across the black leather cut and dark cotton shirt which bulged with muscle. And then my gaze lingered over the evident swell of his manhood. He caught me looking and smiled knowingly. I turned back to the boiling water.

  Orion’s voice was glib and sarcastic. “Hello, dear. Dinner almost ready?”

  “Mock if you want. But I make a mean mac and cheese.”

  Orion laughed lightly and I glanced up. “So some things don’t change,” he said. Then he looked me over, his face growing more serious. “And some things do,” he said so softly I almost didn’t hear.

  “Where is everyone?”

  His eyes bored into me. “Gone for the evening. On my orders.”

  “Oh,” I said, feeling a little lightheaded. I caught his meaning full well, remembering the way he’d whispered ‘Tonight’ in my ear. As he’d already assured me, Orion always kept his promises.

  I gave the pasta another stir, the heat in my face having little to do with the steam rising out of the pot. Orion hadn’t moved from the doorway.

  “Hey,” I said, turning and frankly meeting his silent gaze. “You think you could watch this for a minute?”

  Orion shrugged but willingly took the spoon from my hand.

  “Please the shit out of him.”

  Rachel obviously knew her way around men and I figured her advice was worth gold. In the bedroom I changed hurriedly into the one sexy article of clothing I had managed to find picking through the scanty merchandise of Quartzsite’s shops.

  I fluffed my long hair out and rolled on some red lipstick. After I left the bedroom I paused by the bathroom mirror, running my hands over the smooth fabric of the slick black dress which scarcely covered my ass. I looked cheap. I looked sexy. I looked ready for the leader of Defiant.

  Evidently I wasn’t the only one well versed in the fine art of making macaroni and cheese. Orion had drained the pasta and added the pouch of cheese. He was ladling the gooey concoction into a pair of plastic bowls with a small frown on his face. I laughed outright and he looked up, startled.

  “You have no idea,” I giggled, “what a sight you are, looming over the stove in your leather.”

  Orion was unfazed. With one easy move he pulled both his shirt and his cut over his head, tossing both onto a chair. “Better?” he asked, lighting a cigarette as I sat at the table and stared at his muscled torso.

  “Better,” I muttered.

  I took a small sip of the beer Orion handed me. He sat across from me and began eating, his piercing blue eyes regarding me carefully. I couldn’t quite read his look; it was as if he was going back and forth about something inside his head.

  The strap of my dress kept falling off my shoulder. I wasn’t wearing a bra underneath. Orion watched me coolly as I struggled to keep my dress up.

  “Let it fall,” he finally said, reaching over and pulling it all the way down and exposing the top of my left breast. “Good,” he smiled.

  “So where were you today?” I asked.

  Orion didn’t like the question. “Drink your beer,” he answered.

  “Are you trying t
o get me drunk?”

  He swallowed a bite of food and lit another cigarette, taking several deep inhales before speaking again. “I’m trying to get you relaxed.” He reached underneath the table and pushed his hand between my knees. “It’ll be so much nicer if you relax, Kira.”

  I tipped the bottle back and let several long swallows pour down my throat. In the process I loosened the tension in my knees and allowed Orion’s hand to slide between my thighs.

  He was observing me with close intensity. I realized that he was waiting. And that he wouldn’t wait long. I placed the bottle back onto the table and let my thighs swallow his large hand, meeting his stare and nodding just perceptibly.

  Orion didn’t waste any more time. He pushed the table aside so roughly my bowl of mac and cheese clattered to the floor. As he lifted me out of the chair my legs wrapped around him automatically. I clutched at his broad shoulders and when his mouth covered mine in a crazy dance of heat and tongue, I was lost.

  The sensation was one of spinning as Orion carried me to the bedroom. As he deposited me in a kneeling position on the bed, he watched my face as his hands pushed the dress down over my breasts. He ran his fingertips lightly over my hard nipples and then firmly massaged the valley between then, reaching over my belly and lower. I bent into his touch, loving every inch of it and wanting him more by the second.

  “Shit, look at you,” he groaned, easing the tight dress over my hips. “You’re so goddamn perfect.”

  I wanted to touch him. So I did. He waited for me to get my fill of feeling the hard outline of his aroused dick. And then, without being coaxed, I unzipped his pants and released him. I stared at the giant organ in my hand, suddenly realizing it would somehow need to fit inside my tight depths.

  Only my panties remained as an obstacle and Orion made short work of those as he lowered me onto my back, settling his considerable weight over me. My knees were on either side of him, poised and tense. Orion reached between my legs, pushing a finger into my core. He suddenly stretched over and grabbed a small bottle from the bedside table.

  “The wetter, the better,” he explained wryly, rubbing the oil into my pleading center.

  I felt a sense of unreality as he pushed my legs wider and began pushing his dick against me, trying to ease it inside. I bit my lip and stared at his face. This was Orion Jackson, I reminded myself, the man who had once picked me up and placed me happily on his shoulders so that I could see above the circus crowd. I remembered how he had looked up at me with merry blue eyes, asking, “That better, baby girl?” And I had nodded and hugged him before returning my attention to the elephant tricks in the ring.

  Orion massaged my thighs. “Stop clenching up,” he commanded.

  “Will that keep it from hurting?” I said, then hated myself for uttering such a childish question.

  His face softened just a touch and he kissed me on the forehead. “It’ll hurt like a bitch this time anyway. But a little less.”

  I nodded and Orion pulled me into a long kiss. I closed my eyes and felt the tension in my muscles melt away. And then, with a mighty thrust, Orion Jackson drove himself into me.

  The cry which broke from my lips was automatic. Orion was right; it did hurt. As I opened my legs as wide as possible I was afraid he might be too much, that he wouldn’t fit inside of me.

  At my first whimper Orion moved his mouth to my neck, kissing tenderly as he cradled me to his broad chest. But he continued to thrust deeply and with increasing pressure. His rhythm intensified and what was at first a sharp pain receded into a dull ache. And then my body began to open up, becoming used to the iron feel of him. A part of me which had never been touched before awoke and I moved my hips, trying to satisfy it.

  Orion groaned and swore profusely as my hips bucked and I felt the same sense of exhilarating power as I had when I took his dick in my mouth. Sex could be both a tool and a weapon. Even though I’d never used it, I’d always known that. Growing up among the club it was hard not to see the truth, no matter how much Crest tried to keep me out of the way.

  I pulled my knees all the way back, opening so wide I thought I might break in half. That brought Orion to the edge. His hands went underneath my ass and he lifted me, pulling me against the rigid invasion of his pulsing organ.

  “Orion,” I moaned and he stiffened, hissed an obscenity and then shot an alarming stream of warmth inside of me as he came with a series of mighty plunges, clutching my breasts.

  “Fucking shit,” he panted, rolling off me and onto the bed.

  I closed my legs and pulled my dress over me like a scanty blanket. Orion raised his head and gave me a vulgar grin as he propped himself up on an elbow.

  “What?” I asked, self-consciously playing with the ends of my hair.

  “For a virgin,” he explained, grabbing my dress and tossing it impatiently to the floor, “you sure know how to work it.”

  I squeezed my legs together, feeling vaguely irritable. “Look, I hadn’t done that before whether you want to fucking believe it or not.”

  Orion laughed uproariously, rolling onto his back. In a fit of anger I jumped out of the bed, grabbed my dress, and pulled it on in a hurry. I sure as hell wasn’t going to lay there like a blinking ingénue and let him mock me. Orion continued to laugh. I threw a pillow at his face.

  “I’m glad you think I’m funny you dickhead.”

  He wasn’t about to apologize but he stopped laughing and gazed at me playfully. “Kira, that goddamn cherry of yours was in there so deep I’m not gonna be able to sit tomorrow. Jesus, you were tough to pop.” He grabbed my arm and yanked me roughly back into the bed, kissing my shoulder. “Trust me,” he said in a serious voice, “there was no mistaking your innocent status.”

  I rolled my eyes. “I’m so glad to hear it.”

  “Look at me.” The tone in his voice dared me to disobey.

  I looked at the man who had been my father’s best friend. The man who was now my lover. His bright blue eyes were not unkind as he reached out and pushed my hair aside. “You okay?”

  I stared him straight in the eye. “Fine,” I said, although there was a pulsing soreness between my legs coupled with an alarming leaky feeling. But I’d be damned if I’d show Orion Jackson any further weakness.

  He gently pushed me to my back and kneeled between my legs, running his hands over the contours of my body. “Kira,” he said mildly, “you learned how to ride a bicycle, right?”

  “You know I did. You helped Crest teach me.”

  The mention of my father’s name clouded his eyes for a moment. I sat up and touched his face, letting him know it was all right.

  “You kept yelling at me to let go,” I said, resting my head against his shoulder.

  “Yeah,” he remembered with a shake of his head. “And then you did.” He pulled back, gazing at me clearly. “And you were okay.”

  “Yes. I was okay.”

  “Anyway,” he sighed. “The point I was trying to make is that fucking is the same thing. You get the feel of it, you let go, and then you can ride like hell.”

  I touched my sore center tentatively. “Hell might have to wait.”

  Orion pulled a pack of cigarettes out of his pocket and lit one, handing it over to me. He chuckled. “I don’t doubt it.”

  I took a shallow inhale and passed the cigarette back to Orion. He leaned against the wall on the far side of the bed and smoked in silence for a few minutes before snuffing the cigarette out. I figured now that the evening’s chore was out of the way, he would make his exit and leave me to my own devices until he was ready for a repeat.

  Instead, Orion propped two thick pillows up on the bed and pulled me to his chest. I was surprised at the way his arms tenderly circled me and I sank against him gratefully as he stroked my hair. I thought about what Rachel had said about being alive. I was glad to be alive. I knew Crest would be glad I was alive.

  “Orion?” I asked sleepily as I listened to the measured thud of his heart.

&n
bsp; “Yeah?”

  Now that I’d had a taste of this new world I wanted more. “You’ll show me everything?”

  He tipped my head back and kissed me passionately but didn’t go any further. “I will, Kira,” he promised, his fingers threading through my hair again. “There’s no stopping that now.”

  Chapter Seven

  Orion was gone early the next morning. I touched myself gingerly as I slid out of the bed. Deep inside I was sore as hell and the rest of me felt rather stiff.

  As I stumbled into the bathroom, I noted the ringing silence throughout the house. As I stood under the hot water I kept thinking about that decisive moment when Orion entered me. A warm feeling curled in my belly and traveled between my legs. I wished he was there.

  I’d gotten over the strange sensation of wanting him the moment he’d kissed me. Orion Jackson wasn’t one to pour out the contents of his mind and heart but as I remembered the way his arms curled around me it was enough to make me feel somewhat tender about him.

  The house was still strangely empty when I emerged from the shower. The kitchen clock told me it was only 7am. There was no note anywhere. I frowned, pouring a bowl of Rice Crispies. At some point Orion or someone else had cleaned up the mess from the macaroni and cheese. I peered out the kitchen window and noted that the bikes which were usually lined up outside Riverbottom were missing. So whatever it was which pulled Orion away involved the rest of the club. I started to feel uneasy.

  Rachel had only mentioned that she lived in one of the trailers on the outskirts of the property. She didn’t say which one. The closest dwelling was an old Airstream which appeared to be nicely kept. A row of clay pots containing aloe plants were lined up in the dirt to the left of the door.