Taming Blade (Kings Reapers MC Book 5) by Nicola Jane (mini ebook reader TXT) 📕

pressing my lips together. I've never been growled at before, not by a human anyway.

“Don’t tell me. It’s none of my business and I don’t need to know.”

“But I didn’t want you to think I was a whore. It was out of character for me to behave like I did,” I explain. “You send me a little crazy.”

He marches towards me. It startles me, and I move back until I hit the counter. His hand goes into my hair and he tugs my head back so I’m looking up at him. “You gotta learn when to stop talking,” he hisses. His lips brush mine and I instinctively open for him. His tongue sweeps my mouth and I groan. His kiss is strong and possessive. My toes curl in my shoes until they ache and my fingers turn white from gripping the counter behind me so hard.

“Goodbye, Matilda,” he whispers against my mouth.

My eyes stay closed until I hear the door open and close. I watch him as he rushes back across the street, throwing his leg over his motorcycle, and riding off without a backwards glance.

My grandmother calls into the shop a few times a week. She’s seventy years of age and retired last year, but she loves this place and it’s still her investment, so she likes to check up on it.

“Nan, when you met Gramps, did you feel butterflies in your stomach?” I ask. She’s told me the story of her and my grandfather a million times, but it still makes me smile, and I’ll use any excuse to hear her talk about him with a look of pure love in her eyes.

“When I first met him, no,” she says, smiling. She takes a seat on the stool placed beside the serving counter. “He grew on me, then the butterflies lasted all our marriage,” she says proudly. “Married at eighteen. That’s forty years of marriage before he passed.”

“I hope I marry someone who makes me as happy as Gramps made you,” I say.

“That boy you’ve been running around with won’t make you happy,” she says, her face stern. She’s never liked Travis, and she’s always been a good judge of character. “He’s the type of boy your mum would have dated back when she was a teenager. Always the bad boys,” she adds, shaking her head.

I smile. “I told you, we don’t date these days. It’s not called dating, Nan.”

She rolls her eyes. “Your generation is ridiculous. You’re either dating or you’re not. I bet boys made this stupid rule up so that they can see lots of girls at once.”

I smirk. “Probably.”

The door opens and Sara breezes in. She kisses Nan on the cheek. “Good morning, beautiful people.”

“Why is she so happy?” asks Nan suspiciously.

I lean closer like I’m conspiring. “Because she got some ‘you know what’ at the weekend.”

Nan smirks. “And is that with a boy she’s dating?”

I laugh. Sara shrugs out of her coat. “Nan, no one dates these days. If you mention the word ‘date’, men run a mile. These days, we say that we’re talking.”

“And was it just talking you did with this new boy?” asks Nan.

Sara fans her face dramatically. “Oh, Nan, there was nothing boy-like about this one. And I most certainly did not sit talking. With some men, you have to let them see the goods so they keep coming back.”

Nan scoffs. “In my day, you kept some bits back to keep them wanting more. Now he knows about the goods you have on offer and he’s had them. What's to come back for?”

“Some goods are worth a second visit,” says Sara, wiggling her brows.

“Madness. That boy’s never coming back, sweet girl. The only time you’ll see him again is if he can’t get it elsewhere because now he knows where he can get it easy.”

Sara’s mouth falls open. “Nan, don’t say that.”

Nan kisses her on the cheek. “I speak the truth, you know that.”

“He’s not a nice man, anyway,” I say. “He’s in a biker gang,” I add, grinning at Sara because now she’ll get a lecture on her choice in men. Sara scowls.

Nan stares at us for a while. “Biker?” she eventually asks.

“Yeah, you know,” I say, “drives a big shiny bike. Hangs out with loads of others and they all wear the same jacket. Trav told me to stay out away from them, that they’re trouble.”

Nan nods sternly. “I hate to agree with that waste of space, but Travis is right about that. Stay away from them. Nothing good will come from hanging around with the MC.”

“MC?” I repeat. “What do you know about it?”

Nan holds her handbag to her chest and stands. “More than I should. Motorcycle gangs have been around for a long time. I’ve never met a good, honest one yet.”

BLADE

Charlotte smiles at me from across the clubhouse. She’s hot, but I’ve been there once before. After saving her from Cobra’s shit show of a club, she came back here to the Kings. That’s when we discovered she was the little sister to one of my brothers, Lake. Since I found that shit out, I’ve stayed the hell away. Lake’s laidback like me, but he wouldn’t appreciate me tapping up his sister.

“You not tempted to go back there?” asks Chains. I shake my head. “Not even in secret?” he pushes.

“No, brother. I don’t shit on my brothers like that.” I wince when I realise what the fuck I’ve said. “It was different with you and Leia,” I say quickly. Getting the Pres’s sister pregnant wasn’t a smart move, but Riggs is over that now . . . almost. “Sorry,” I add.

“Don’t be. But if you keep passing women up, you’ll end up alone,” says Chains.

“Told you,” I mutter, “I’m not after an ol’ lady. I like sharing my love around.”

Chains rolls his eyes. “You can’t sleep around forever, Blade. Someday, you’re gonna need to settle down.”

“Why?” I ask. “Where in the law does it say I have to marry and settle down?