Then he tossed my phone to me, muttered, “Be back,” and took off before I could say word one.
I stared at the door that closed behind him wondering how he would know how to find my landlord.
Then I stared at the door trying to convince myself that didn’t just happen.
Then, when I realized that did just happen, I tamped down the urge to throw something at the door.
Then I stabbed at my phone and called Shy.
I did this repeatedly.
He didn’t answer for forty-five minutes and when he did, his greeting was, “Got month-to-month, babe. Tell Lan to load you up in his truck. I’m makin’ steaks tonight at your place. Meet me at King Soopers on Colorado Boulevard.”
Then he hung up on me.
Yep. Hung. Up. On. Me!
Apparently he used his badass biker ways to find my landlord and strong-arm a month-to-month lease out of him. Although this was what I wanted, contradictorily, the way Shy made it come about (specifically my nonparticipation in that), didn’t make me happy.
Lan didn’t chime in until I was fuming in his truck. “Let him do what he’s gotta do.”
I kept my mouth set and my eyes out the side window.
“Tabby, seriously, listen to me,” Lan carried on. “He’s my big brother and a long time ago, he cast himself in the role of protector and he’s good at it. He was scary capable of taking shit and giving it, just as long as he saved me from havin’ to do either. He gets off on this crap. Let him do it.”
I didn’t like the sound of that but I let that part go. I’d talk to Shy about that later.
Instead, I turned to look at Lan. “He can’t go around threatening and intimidating everyone in my life to get me what I want or what he wants me to have.”
Lan grinned at me and replied jauntily, “Sure he can.”
I glared at him.
“Bet your dad does that shit,” Lan went on. Dad did, for me, Rush, Ty-Ty, any of his brothers, anyone he gave a crap about.
God.
I was screwed.
On the ride to King Soopers, I decided to let this go and fight another day. Today needed to be a good day for everybody and anyway, month-to-month worked for me and I doubted Shy stuck my landlord with a knife, so I decided that all’s well that ends without bloodshed.
We got groceries. We had steaks. We drank beer. Lan took off to crash at Shy’s place. I explained to Shy that while he was off terrorizing my landlord, I’d called the hospital and learned they’d already advertised my position so if I wanted it back, I had to apply for it.
His response was, “They’ll pick you, baby.”
Then he picked me, as in picked me up, and carried me to the bedroom.
Commence making love which led us to now.
I broke the silence with a soft, “You… in my bed.”
I closed my eyes when Shy tightened his arms around me and stayed that way, but he said nothing. Then again, the arm thing said it all.
“I’m glad your brother’s back,” I mumbled into his skin, and he gave me another squeeze.
“Me too.”
“It was cool how he surprised you,” I noted.
“Yeah,” he agreed.
I pulled in breath. Then I stated, “Just for the record, before you go off to play biker badass on something that affects me, I’d prefer it if we talked about that thing that affects me first. There were other ways to solve today’s problem. If we decided month-to-month was the way to go and they didn’t give it to me, I could have stayed with Dad and Tyra or Natalie until my life got back on track and I found a place I liked or, if we were there when that time came, we found a place we wanted.”
“My way was faster and less headache,” he replied.
Crap, he had a point.
I sighed.
His body shook, I knew he was silently laughing but I ignored that.
Then he murmured, “Slide off me, Tabby, but do it slow. I like it like that.”
That gave me a tingle, but instead of sliding off, I thought about why he needed me to, which was so he could go to the bathroom and deal with the condom.
“I’m on the pill,” I told him quietly.
His arms gave me another squeeze but this one felt reflexive, so I lifted up to look down at him.
Then I pulled in another breath and started carefully, “Before, were you—?”
He didn’t make me finish.
He quickly cut me off with another squeeze of his arms, the pressure not releasing, before he stated firmly, “Always.”
“So we can—?”
He again interrupted me to order gently, “Slide off, honey.”
I held his eyes a beat before I nodded then I slid off, slowly, watching his face as I did, which stated eloquently he liked the feel just as much as I did.
Once I’d slid him out of me, he rolled me to my back, leaned in to kiss my chest and then the underside of my jaw, then he gave me a sexy smile then he rolled off the bed.
By the time he sauntered back into my room naked, I was standing by the side of the bed and had on a pair of undies but had yet to get to the nightie. I didn’t get a chance to locate one before Shy had me back in bed with him on top of me, his face serious.
“Right, we’ll do this quick and hopefully not painful,” he began ominously. “For three months, it’s only been Rosalie. The month before that, nobody. I didn’t lie, babe, always careful. Always. But I’m gonna get tested so you know I’m givin’ you nothin’ but me when it’s only you and me with nothin’ in between. We’ll wait for the results and then it’ll be just you and me. You cool with that?”
I was, totally. It was way beyond what I expected he’d do without me even asking and it made me feel safe in more ways than knowing making love with him would be safe.
“Thanks, Shy,” I whispered.
“You’re welcome, Tabby,” he whispered back.
I grinned.
Shy kissed me.
Ten minutes later, my panties were gone.
Two hours later, I passed out on top of Shy, sated, exhausted, relaxed as all get out.
And happy.
Chapter Eleven
Thick and Thin
Three and a half weeks later…
“Shy, oh my God. Shy!” I cried, my hands, curved around the edge of the kitchen counter, went to his head between my legs. His hands cupping my behind pulled me deeper into his ravenous mouth. My head flew back, slammed into the elevated bar and I came really, freaking hard.
Still coming, I barely processed losing his mouth from between my legs but I didn’t miss his c**k slamming into me.