Page 70 of Old Flame

I can’t believe I’m going to a biker party.

Live a little, beautiful.

This is more living than I anticipated.

You’ll be fine. I always told you that I loved walking into a room, knowing my wife was the most stunning female there.

You were blinded by love.

No, Salem. You were.

I closed my eyes tightly, blocking out that internal dialogue. This was my imagination, dammit. Why did it have to turn on me like that?

My bikini no longer felt so revealing when I saw what Goldie and Nina were wearing. The evening was warmer than it had been, but there was still a little nip in the air. When the sun began to set, it started to cool down some. The pool was heated, but I still doubted I’d get in it.

Nina was climbing out of the hot tub, connected to the pool, with a cocktail in one hand and a cigarette in the other when she noticed me and waved me over. Her animal-print swimsuit consisted of some string up her butt and two triangles covering her nipples. Well, her vagina had a tiny part of fabric covering it, but that was about it. A diamond near her belly button caught some light, and I noticed it, realizing she had it pierced. There were a few small tattoos, but nothing like the men. She seemed to have no issue walking around without covering up in front of this crowd.

I barely glanced over at the fire, where the rest of the people seemed to be. Pepper had been right.

There was only Goldie in a metallic-gold bikini with a tad morefabric, but not much. She was sitting on the edge of the pool, letting her feet dangle in the water, holding a drink that looked exactly like Nina’s.

Dolly looked like a petite pinup model.

That isn’t at all intimidating, I thought sarcastically.

The hot-pink bikini she wore was by far the least revealing out of the three, although her boobs were bigger than the other two. She had them covered up for the most part. I had a feeling that was a Micah requirement. He was likely to murder any man who looked her way for longer than a second. Which had to be difficult for the other men because I was a heterosexual woman and I could admit that Dolly was hot.

She noticed me from the raft she was floating on in the water and waved at me. Her friendly smile instantly eased me. Pepper hadn’t returned to the room, and she wasn’t out here yet, it seemed.

“I made a pitcher of my margaritas!” Goldie called out. “Come get you a glass.”

Alcohol would be helpful. Especially if they pushed for me to get in the hot tub or pool. That would require I take off the clothing. Dolly made curves look sexy, but I wasn’t so sure I would do the same. I wasn’t overweight exactly, but my butt had always been an issue for me. I’d embraced my boobs when it was clear that boys—okay, fine, Rome—liked them. He’d liked them a lot back when I was young, of course. My bottom was also something he’d liked, but that had been the teenage version of it. There were dimples now—and not just the two on my lower back, right above it. There were a coupleonit.

Why didn’t Pepper own a bathing suit that covered one’s entire ass?

Goldie had hopped up and was already pouring me a glass when I reached them. She held it out to me. “Warning: it is strong, but”—she nodded her head in the direction of the bonfire—“when they get rowdy, it is a requirement.”

I took the glass, ready to down it in hopes that it’d help boost my self-confidence enough for me to take off my clothing.

“Also, you look fucking hot,” Goldie added with a grin, her eyes darting back over toward the bonfire. “I have a hundy on Lick being the first one over here. Nina has a hundy on Tex.”

I bit back a groan. I felt like I was in a pageant that I had no chance of placing in, yet I had a cheering squad who was clueless to that fact. They’d both be let down. The brief glance I did, I saw no less than three topless females with bottoms on that had less fabric than Nina’s.

“I need a refill,” Nina said, holding out her glass, then looked at me. “Take off the clothes and get in. The pool water is warm enough, but the hot tub feels better.”

I dropped my gaze to the glass in my hand and figured I might as well get this one down and get a second. “Let me drink enough first,” I told her, then began to gulp. I stopped, realizing that Goldie hadn’t been joking. There was more tequila than mix in this margarita, and my eyes watered as I choked.

Goldie chuckled. “I warned you.”

“Please tell me you don’t need liquid courage to take off your clothes. If I had your tits and ass, I might strip down to nothing but what the strippers are wearing,” Nina informed me.

Goldie let out a bark of laughter. “I’d love to see that. Jars would leave a pile of dead bodies on the ground before he got close enough to cover you up.”

Nina smirked and turned to wiggle her butt at us, but I realized she was pointing at a tattoo, which had the Judgment logo from their vests and saidProperty of Jarsjust above where the swell of her bottom started. Wow. Okay then…she’d been marked permanently. On her skin. Claiming to be a man’s property. Why would she have done that?

“He had it put there. No one else is gonna be stupid enough tolook,” she said, then strutted back over to the hot tub with her drink.

Goldie laughed and rolled her eyes.

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