Sanctum: A Motorcycle Club Romance Novel (13 page)

“I can’t
believe I know how to
throw you around now,
”
said
Maggie with a laugh as she cracked them both another beer.

“
Only if I attack you from
behind,
”
said Jase, and immediately regretted the way it
sounded. But Maggie only laughed. He cleared his throat.
“
Put
that damn beer down, you need to practice this move.
”

“Jesus, okay Bruce Lee!”
she
carefully nudged the open beer bottles next to a large rock and jumped around
to loosen her body up.
“
Never seen someone
who wants to get thrown in the dirt so badly.
”

“
Want
has nothing to do
with it,
”
said Jase with a low chuckle
—
though
his heart wasn’t quite in agreement with that as he wrapped himself around
Maggie in the attacker
’
s
stance once again.

Jase made Maggie practice the rear attack
a few more times before they moved on to a few other scenarios. They practiced
until she started to get muscle pains, some of which were from her laughing her
ass off at being able to toss him around. And he knew both of them needed the
sweet release of something funny and physical like this after the horror of the
day. Maggie seemed all too happy to lean into it, and having her relaxed,
playful, acting like herself at her best, made Jase happy in a way he hadn’t
felt in a long time.

When they finally quit, Maggie handed him
one of the open beers and drank some of her own in between ragged breaths.
“
I
basically feel like Rambo tonight.
”

“
I
don’t think you
’
re remembering
those movies correctly,
”
said
Jase.

Maggie glared at him from behind the beer
bottle mid-drink. Jase just laughed at her and shook his head. He leaned over
the bike and flipped off the headlight, letting the night air and the moon
’
s
light sink into the space between them.

“
You always acted like
Rambo, anyway,
”
said Jase as he moved
towards the edge of the ridge to take in the view. He heard Maggie
’
s
footsteps following in the gravel behind.
“
Now
you’ve just got some moves to go with it.
”

“
Yeah, well, the way we
act sometimes isn’t the way we feel,
”
said
Maggie.

“
Still, I was
…
surprised
…
to
hear about your ex,
”
said
Jase. The words were out of his mouth before he could stop them.

Maggie nodded very lightly but said
nothing. She stared into the distance.

Jase said, “
Honestly, though.
Why
’
d you let that happen to
you?
”

She took a drink and frowned.
“
Let
what?
”

“
Let some guy beat you. I
never thought you
’
d put up with
that,
”
he said.

A bit of anger flashed through her eyes
and he thought he
’
d lost the moment,
but she just clenched her jaw and took another drink. She looked out at the
night sky.
“It
’
s
trickier than it seems, Jase. I mean, look at where we are. I
’
m
learning how to shoot and take down giant men with my bare hands just to get
away from a guy. Does that sound like a simple situation to you?
”

Jase felt regret immediately stab at his
heart.
“I
’
m
sorry. I didn’t mean it like that. I shouldn’t have
…”
He looked down at the bottle in his hands.
“
People
used to ask my mom the same damn thing. Even then I knew it was a shitty
question. They didn’t see how hard she fought, all the maneuvering just to keep
ahead of him.
”

The anger fell from Maggie
’
s
face. She nodded, but was clearly struggling to look at him.
“
Thanks.
And trust me, I’ve asked myself that same damn question for a while now. I’ll
give you the answer if I ever figure it out.
”

Jase went quiet for a minute, drank a bit
of his beer down. He was trying to collect some courage.
“You
’
re
stronger than you think. You always have been. Even after all of this, don’t go
around thinking you
’
re
weak, because you
’
re not.
”
He went straight for the beer after he was finished,
and only got the gumption to turn and look at her when he realized that she was
staring at him openly.

In the low moonlight, he saw on her face
an expression he didn’t have a name for. She was hurt. She was grateful. She
was curious. He looked at her eyes and she held his gaze for a moment. It was
painful in some deep part of his heart. She said,
“
Thank
you, Jase. Really. Thank you.
”
She
turned away, her eyes getting wet. She drank her beer.

They didn’t say much else as they passed
an hour on the ridge. They wiped off the six pack and shared cigarettes between
them until Maggie finally said she was ready to leave. The mood had changed
—
the
playfulness had certainly died-- but it wasn’t all bad. Jase only felt
something big building as Maggie climbed behind him on the bike and wrapped
around him. Her touch was softer, and somehow more encompassing. He could feel
her cheek, and the edge of her helmet, lying gently against his back along with
the rest of her. He almost didn’t want to start up the bike, knowing it led to
the inevitable end of this moment.

But he did. He just took the slowest route
back to the clubhouse as possible.

Only a couple bikes were present when they
arrived back at the clubhouse. Jase parked and waited for Maggie to dismount
before he joined her.
“
We should clean
that Bersa before we hit the hay.
”
Really,
the gun cleaning could wait. He just wasn’t ready to say goodnight to her.

“
Yeah, sure,
”
she said. She pulled the 9mm from her waistband and
handed it to him.
“
We should also do
some shots.
”

Jase laughed at her absently. That feeling
of something building was beginning to bubble in earnest as he unlocked the
clubhouse and followed Maggie in. The place was dark and quiet; from one of the
bedrooms came a TV
’
s
muffled din. The den was empty, but the lights had been left on. As he put the
9mm on a hallway table, Jase tried to remember the last time he
’
d
heard the clubhouse so silent.

“
See, here we go!
”
said Maggie as she walked up to the pool table.
Someone had left an open half-bottle of Jack on the table
’
s
surface. She took a swig and turned to face him.

Jase stopped in the door way and found
himself struck again by the view of seeing Maggie Oliver, back in the clubhouse
as if nothing had ever gone wrong. She was right there, smiling up at him,
offering him a pull of whiskey. He could still feel the warmth of her arms
around his chest, and he only wanted to feel it again. All those years of
darkness and heartbreak collapsed in on themselves in that moment, and
evaporated.

Jase couldn’t take it anymore. He walked
towards her with determination. He saw her expression change to one of curiosity
as he approached. He wrapped one hand around the side of her face and held her
there while he brought his lips to hers in a bold kiss. His other arm locked
around her waist and pulled her into him tightly. He felt the small surprised
intake of breath before their lips met, but almost instantly Maggie kissed him
back with hunger. He heard the sharp thump of glass as she released the bottle
of whiskey carelessly on the pool table so that she could tangle her hands in
his hair and caress his face as she kissed him.

Explosions fired in Jase
’
s
mind and body as he kissed Maggie, the long-burning desires of a thousand night
hours, the salve to all his heartbreak. She threw her arms around his neck and
he responded by moving his arms beneath her and lifting her to sit on the pool
table. As he leaned down over her, keeping her pressed close, he felt her hands
roaming his body in ways he had only dreamed of in the past years. One grasped
desperately underneath his cut, roaming around his chest and back, digging
nails into his skin. The other pulled at the leather itself, trying to get him
undressed. Jase couldn’t whip it and his thin white shirt off fast enough. He
had to pull away from the kiss to get the shirt off, and when he looked back
Maggie lay on the table, her eyes devouring every inch of the body he was so
grateful to have whipped into shape. She couldn’t reach but her fingers
grasped, begging for his body to return to her touch. Seeing how badly she
wanted him made him harder than he
’
d
ever felt in his life.

But then there was her body to consider,
this sweet, short, curvy body that reminded him of history books and pictures
of goddesses carved out of marble. He practically groaned as he ran his big
hands up from her hips to her breasts, mapping the feel of every curve. He
kneaded her breasts firmly through her shirt and bra, and the moan that floated
from Maggie
’
s lips made Jase
even hungrier for her. He leaned all the way over and smashed his lips onto
hers. She welcomed him back with arms draped over his neck, fingers caressing
his hair.

Jase didn’t want to leave her mouth again. He fumbled
between them to unhook her jeans and his; the latter fell to the floor with
ease. Jase enjoyed the feeling of the denim on Maggie
’
s
legs slowly revealing her soft, most secret skin as he peeled her jeans off.
Impatient, he let them bunch up around her ankles as they dangled from the pool
table.

Maggie moaned into his mouth, her kissing
a ferocious aphrodisiac. The feel of her tongue sliding over his was almost too
much to bear. He climbed up on the table and lay over Maggie, pressing his
hardened dick against her panties. Her moans only grew louder and more
desperate, and the hands roaming his shoulders stopped to dig their nails into
his skin.

“
Please
…”
she whispered against his lips, her voice shaking with
lust.

Jase reached down between them and put
anxious fingers on her sex, rubbing her clit. She squirmed and cried out with
such pleasure that Jase had to smile before he covered her mouth with his again.
He could only take it a few more moments before he felt like he was going to
burst himself. Fingers already soaked with her wetness, Jase simply moved her
silk panties aside and pushed his full, hard length into her. Both of them
seized up at the sudden and overwhelming ecstasy. Beneath him, Maggie shoved
her own fist in her mouth to keep from screaming loud enough to wake whoever
was still in the clubhouse.

As Jase pumped into her with forceful
passion, he leaned over her and kept her body close. He felt her nails and
teeth dig into his shoulder, tiny muffled moans coming with every thrust of his
body against hers. Over the pounding of his own heart and the sound of his own
baritone growling, he could hear Maggie saying his name with each desperate breath.

He wasn’t going to last long and he didn’t
care enough to be worried about it. Every second he spent inside her was a
second he would never regret. He put one hand under her ass and the other under
her shoulders and lifted them both up at an angle where he could kiss her
easily. He held onto her beautiful ass tightly as he fucked her, his rhythm
quickening as he came close to the edge. The way Maggie
’
s
cries had become high-pitched and breathless, the feel of her wetness
tightening around him as he thrust, he knew he had found her spot. He didn’t
slow until he was finally coming. When it happened, he pulled Maggie tight
against him, pressing their foreheads together so he could watch the orgasm
ripple across her gorgeous, sweat-sheened face.