An Outlaw Wedding (2 page)

“You
look like you’re thinking hard, Alexis.”

She
looked over at
Nico
, who had his hand in the front
pocket of his plaid shorts, and was making his way toward her. She smiled
instantly.
Nico
was the twin of Lucas, and son of
Tallin
“Jagger” Landon. He was the same age as she was, and
they had been through everything together, but their closeness wasn’t just
about that. She felt connected with him, more so than to any of the other
Grizzly MC kids. Even now she still thought about the first time he had
approached her and said he was going to marry her. They had been two, and he
had given her his favorite tow truck to “cement the deal”. It still made her
smile to this day when she thought about that.

Nico
moved onto the
deck and sat beside her. He dangled his feet, too, and she stared at how much
bigger he was compared to her. He may be her age, but the scent that surrounded
him was on the verge of animalistic. He would soon be going through the change
where he could shift into his grizzly bear. It something a boy bear shifter
didn’t do until they were entering adulthood. It was strange to think of
Nico
, her childhood friend, and the boy she had crushed on
her whole life, as becoming a “man” in the shifter world.

“I’m
thinking too hard.” She smiled and leaned her head against his shoulder,
closing her eyes again and just absorbing the heat and scent of him. She may be
a bear shifter, but she would never be able to shift. Instead she felt this
animal inside of her, always prepared, but never able to escape.

“What
were you thinking about?”
Nico
said in his deep
voice.

She
kept her eyes closed and smiled. “You, my dad and family, the MC … everything I
guess.”

He
reached out and took her hand with his, speared his fingers between hers, and
rested both of them on his thigh.
“Me, huh?”
There was
amusement in his voice.

“I
was thinking about your prized truck you gave me when we were little.” She
pulled back and looked up at him.

“I
can’t believe you remember that,”
Nico
said, but when
he smiled she knew that he was only teasing.

She
nudged him in the arm. “Don’t act like you don’t.” She grinned, and he did the
same. “I was also thinking about how I can smell your bear coming closer to the
surface.” She stared at him, and he stared back at her. “You’ll be able to
shift soon. Does that scare you?”

He
faced the lake once more and didn’t speak for several seconds. He finally
exhaled roughly and looked at her again. “Honestly?”

She
nodded. Suddenly the conversation took on this very serious note.
“Always,
Nico
.”

He
stared into her eyes for a long second. “Fuck no.” He burst out laughing, and
she narrowed her eyes.

“You’re
such an asshole,” she said but grinned.

“Maybe,
but you love me regardless.” He was still grinning at her, but she felt her
heart rate increase.

If
he truly knew how she felt he probably wouldn’t come within a ten-mile radius
of her. It wasn’t like they sat around reminiscing about what had happened
years ago, but she sure did think about it ... about him. It was just a boy
that had shared his toy, just a boy that hung out with her, talked to her, and
was always there. As she stared at him, looked into his bright blue eyes, and
saw the way his black hair was short, but still long enough to sweep across his
forehead, she wanted desperately to kiss him. It was unheard of, even in the
small town of Steel Corner, to be sixteen and not even have kissed a boy yet.
But most girls didn’t have a dad like Brick.

The
longer they stared at each other, the harder and faster her heart pounded.
Could he hear the physical response he caused within her? As it was it felt
like her heart was about two seconds from bursting right through her chest. But
they were friends,
only
friends, and
she would be crossing a major line by being so forward. But she had seen the
way
Nico
looked at her sometimes. At least she
thought
she had seen him look at her as
maybe more than a friend. It was the kind of look that had her heating in a lot
of places, places that she was embarrassed to even think about. She would have
assumed that living around a bunch of hardened bikers would desensitize her in
the sexual and bold aspect of life, but again, the members of The Grizzlies
were a protective bunch when it came to all the women. And even though she
wanted
Nico
as more than just a friend, and perhaps
he felt the same way, too, they could never really be together. Her father, his
dad, and the rest of the MC didn’t believe in mixing business with pleasure.
And despite the fact they had grown up and knew everything about each other,
the drama that being with
Nico
would cause could put
a lot of strain on the MC and everyone’s relationship within it.

“Alexis,”
Nico
said low and deep.

This
shiver worked through her, and she found herself moving closer to him. Her lips
felt so swollen, and they tingled fiercely. All she could think about was his
mouth on hers, of his hands on her and of him holding her tightly. She could
imagine nothing stopping them from doing what she had wanted to do with him for
a long time.

“Someone
could walk back here any minute,” he said, but was looking at her lips.

No,
she was definitely not imagining the sexual chemistry that was bouncing between
them right now. Her inner bear felt his need for her, felt his rising animal
try to claw out, as if needing to escape. Alexis even watched as his pupils
dilated because of his bear, because he was so close to being able to shift.

He
brushed his thumb back and forth along her hand, and her belly clenched
painfully. “They would see us, and I know how your dad feels about guys.” He
slowly leaned forward an inch, so close that their breath mingled together.

“They
would see us doing what?” she said breathlessly.

The
corner of his mouth kicked up.
“Me kissing you, Alexis.”
He said it softly, slowly, but with so much heat she felt it in her core.

“Yeah,
there would most definitely be consequences.” She lowered her gaze to his
mouth.

“But
I’d be lying if I said I didn’t give a fuck about the consequences if Brick
caught me kissing his daughter.”

Her
heart stopped in her chest, and she swore she couldn’t breathe. “I’ve wanted
you to kiss me for my entire life,
Nico
.” She was
being bolder than she ever had. They were staring right into each other’s eyes,
and she could feel the electricity bouncing between them.

“He’d
kick my ass before he killed me,” he said the words almost distantly, as if it
was an afterthought. “It would be so worth it, Alexis.”

She
was done fantasizing about him, done thinking about what would happen if she
just said screw it and what everyone else thought. She gripped the back of his
head and pressed her mouth to his. She tangled her fingers around the short
strands and tugged gently when he slipped his tongue along her bottom lip.

“You
taste so good, Alexis,” he murmured against her lips, and then took her mouth
harder, more demandingly. They kissed for long, drugging seconds, and she felt
herself getting lost in the feel, smell, and taste of him.

Her
heart was beating so fast she swore it would burst right through her chest. And
then when he groaned she swore she felt the tingling inside of her body
intensify. The sound of twigs snapping had her pulling away quickly and moving
to the side. She didn’t know who was coming over, but if it was one of the
little kids they had mouths bigger than the Grand Canyon and would take
pleasure in running and telling the adults. Right now she didn’t want or need
any drama concerning this. She glanced to the side and saw Lucas, Odin, and
Tarren
making their way toward them. Lucas held a small
cooler, and when all three of them stepped on the deck they stopped right
before them. The other two seemed oblivious to the way she was fidgeting, but
Lucas had this smirk on his face as he looked between her and
Nico
. Maybe it was because Lucas was
Nico’s
identical twin and they had some kind of twin superpower? Maybe he could feel
his brother’s emotions? She laughed internally at that thought. It seemed silly
to even think about it, but she had seen them finish each other’s sentences
back in the day, and several times when one of them would get hurt the other
acted as if he were in pain.

“What
are you two doing?” Lucas smirked wider and lowered his sunglasses just below
his eyes. He and
Nico
looked exactly alike, even down
to the way their hair fell over their foreheads.
Tarren
,
Dallas’s daughter, was the same age as they were, but she looked nothing like
her biker father. Maybe it was the bear genetics that won out most of the time,
and that was why most of The Grizzly kids looked like their fathers? The males
took after their fathers’ physical attributes, while the female grizzlies were
more built like their human mothers. It was strange and something Alexis used
to wonder about.

Ugh, why are you thinking about this
right now? Because you want to get your mind off of the
obvious,
and that is that Lucas keeps smiling even wider, and he knows exactly what the
two of you have been doing.

“Dude,
shut the hell up,”
Nico
said with a bite in his
voice. Whereas she felt how hot her face was, and knew it was redder than a
tomato,
Nico
was calm, cool, and collected, aside
from the clear annoyance reflected in his voice. “What do you have in the
cooler?
Cokes?”
Nico
asked
and cocked an eyebrow.

“Cokes,
man?” Lucas started chuckling. He set the cooler down and popped the lid. Right
on top of a pile of ice were some Cokes, Sprites, and other non-alcoholic
drinks. He pushed the ice and the cans away, and underneath all of that were
cans of cheap beer. “Todd Delany hooked us up, brother.” Lucas grinned and
grabbed two beers. He tossed one to
Nico
and then to
her.

“If
any one of our dads comes back here you know they will raise hell,” she said
but still popped the top and brought it to her mouth. She didn’t even like
beer, but right now she needed some help in calming her frayed nerves.

“Alexis,
you think any of our dads didn’t do this shit when they were our ages?” Lucas
said and opened a beer for himself. “Shit, I bet they partied so hard they
couldn’t even see straight.”

“I’m
sure they did, but it’s different because it’s us and not them, and that is
exactly what they will say to us.”

“I’m
ready to go for a swim,”
Tarren
said and put her beer
on the deck. “And done talking about whether our dads will catch us.” She took
off her tank and shorts. Now in nothing but a bikini she stretched her arms
wide high above her head and grinned over at them.

“Damn,
Tarren
, when did you get so curvy?”
Lucas said. He
was staring at her in a totally lewd manner, and brought his can to his mouth
to take a long drink.

“I’m
not a little kid anymore, Lucas. I mean, look at you and the other guys.”

Lucas
glanced down at himself.

They
were all pretty muscular from playing high school sports, but it wasn’t just
about them all being athletic, but because of their genes, too. “Yeah, but I
think you got that way overnight,” Lucas said through a grin.

All
of the guys liked girls, and in school they were known for their indiscretions
with them. The Grizzly MC had a reputation for being trouble and that people
should stay away from them, and that trickled down to the kids of the MC as
well.
But no one screwed with a Grizzly kid, and not just
because they had bikers for dads.
They were a force to be reckoned with
in
themselves
, and were not afraid to get into fights
to prove their point—and
Nico
and Lucas were the
worst of them all.

Alexis
looked over at
Tarren
, who was watching Lucas speak
to
Nico
. The other girl had a thing for Lucas for
sure. That much was clear by the way she stared at him when she thought no one
was looking.

“Come
on, I’m ready to get in.” Odin took off his shirt and tossed it aside He went
to the edge of the deck, right between her and
Nico
,
and dove right in.

The
squeal that came from
Tarren
had Alexis and
Nico
looking at her and seeing Lucas pick her up right
before he tossed her in the lake, too. And then he cannonballed right in the
water, which had it spraying all over her and
Nico
.
It was cold despite the heat outside, but everyone started laughing.
Nico
grabbed his beer and finished it off before he stood
and chucked off his shirt. All she could do was
stare
at the hard, defined, and lean muscles that graced his chest. He certainly was
a piece of work.