Page 97 of Break Out

This close to him, I felt and heard his rumbly chuckle. “If that’s the price, baby, I’ll pay triple.”

I stepped aside while he unlocked a sliding glass door and I followed him onto his deck.

If the front of the house reminded me of Mom and Dad’s, the back of the house was all Uncle Cal’s place. A kick-ass in-ground pool stole my attention before Steel opened a wine-fridge and brought out a bottle of sparkling water. That would have been where Uncle Cal kept the kegs for his two built-in beer taps. There was a huge grill and a sink, but Steel’s set-up was much more top-of-the-line. Ironic, since Uncle Cal was a great cook, but Steel wasn’t.

I took in the rest of the deck. “A fireplace?”

“Darlin’, this isn’t southern Georgia, this is north Georgia and we’re very close the South Carolina border. It doesn’t snow here often, but it gets damn cold. I’m not gonna let that keep me from being outdoors.”

I nodded. “Does that mean your pool is heated?”

He smirked. “It does, but we aren’t going swimming right now.”

I returned his smirk. “It’s for future reference, my man.”

“I’m gonna go get our bags.”

“In your undies?”

He shrugged. “I’ll put on jeans, but who the hell’s gonna see me, Simone?”

“Rafferty, maybe? He said he’d be swinging by around five.”

Steel drew his fingers along his jawline. “Yeah, and it’s not even two-thirty, Jade. We’re gonna take a bath, catch a nap, and see what your buddy thinks of Augusta.”

Turned out, Steel gave good baths – if you wanted a bath with multiple mind-melting orgasms that left your body completely limp.

The man was a machine, though when I shared that, he claimed it was me being a vixen. Either way, we’d dried off and fallen into his bed and conked out.

Now, late afternoon sunshine glared into his bedroom but he wasn’t in bed with me. I shrugged into his t-shirt and tugged on my panties and shorts. Through the blinds, I saw the backyard. Spring was in full swing with pollen dusting everything in yellow. I wondered what his backyard looked like in the fall.

I wandered out of the bedroom, through the living room, and to the kitchen. No sign of Steel.

The murmur of male voices came from the other side of the kitchen, and I realized there was a fourth bedroom there.

“This room is on the opposite end of the house from mine. You’ll be fine,” Steel said.

“If I get followed, I’d rather not lead anyone here,” Rafferty said.

“Why would you be followed? Did you do something?”

“No. Just rode around town, got the lay of the land.” That hesitation in his voice sounded familiar – like when he’d fib to his parents or Alexandra’s.

It wasn’t cool of me to eavesdrop, but I couldn’t charge in there now. I had to see if Steel caught on to him or not.

Steel chuckled. “Right. I believe you rode around town, but you aren’t pulling anything with me, Rafferty. What’d you do?”

He sighed. “I left my cut in my saddlebags, went to the Player’s Palace and hung out. Watched two Corrupt Chrome members give the girl serving drinks a ration of shit she didn’t fuckin’ deserve. I left before I got too fuckin’ pissed and interfered. Still, they followed me out, saw me at my bike and asked if I was interested in a club.”

“That’s unusual,” Steel muttered.

“That’s what I figured, but I played dumb.”

“Do not try to get inside their organization,” Steel said, his tone firm.

“I’m not, but why are they looking for new recruits? Seems like they’d have plenty of interest if they’re as flush with cash from drugs and shit like they say they are.”

“You have a certain look about you, Rafferty. Clubs always need fresh blood, and it takes time to move from hang-around to prospect to fully-patched member. They’d be idiots not to approach you. Hell, that says they’re more observant than Tie or the others give them credit for.”

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