Dirty Ride (Wind Dragons MC #3.5)(22)

Ardan returns with a plate of food, which he hands to me. I thank him and offer some to Jess, who politely declines. He sits next to me as I eat, and Lana and Tracker join us.

“Your hair is so beautiful,” Lana says to me, her brown eyes focused on me. “I don’t think I’ve seen hair like that before.”

“Thank you,” I tell her, touching the ends. “Ardan tells me you write books?”

She looks confused for a moment, but then her eyes widen. “Oh, Irish, right. Yes, I do. Romance novels. Are you a reader?”

I nod. “I am, but mainly nonfiction, especially biographies. I’d love to give your books a try, though—I’m sure I’ll love them.”

“Maybe my next heroine will have hair like yours.”

“Maybe I’d like that,” I reply, smiling at her.

She returns it and says, “We’re going out to Rift this weekend. Do you want to come with us?”

“Rift?” I ask, never having heard of the place.

“Okay, that’s enough of that,” Ardan says, shooting Lana a look of disapproval. “Valentina is busy this weekend.”

“I am?” I ask, feeling amused.

“You are,” he says, not offering any kind of explanation.

“Let the woman breathe, Irish,” Lana says, not put out one bit by his words. “You have to let her bond with us. We’ll look after her, you know we will.”

“Fuck, I know you will; it’s not that. I’m not being a possessive *,” he explains to her. “She’s got some shit going on right now, and until it’s taken care of, she needs to be careful—and getting drunk and dancing on tables with you lot is pretty much the opposite of careful.”

“That only happened twice.” Lana pouts, then says, “If there’s anything we can do to help, let us know.”

“We’ve got this,” Tracker says to his woman, wrapping his arm around her. “We just need everyone to stay out of trouble for a little while. We don’t need any f*ckin’ cops on our asses for any reason.”

I never thought about the fact that the cops could decide to hassle the MC because of Darren. Feeling worse than I already did, I throw Ardan a look that says, This is exactly what I didn’t want.

“Don’t look at me like that,” he says, taking a chicken wing off my plate. “We’re just looking at the situation from every angle. We don’t know what shit he’s going to pull, or how much power he holds here, but we need to lay low until we figure it all out.”

I look at Lana and say, “I’d love to come out with you as soon as I can.”

She grins. “It’s a date.”

Tracker looks at me and says, “Now onto the important stuff. Lana doesn’t want me to cut my hair, so will you cut it for me behind her back?”

Lana elbows him in the stomach. “The man bun looks so damn sexy on you! Don’t cut it!”

“Man bun,” Ardan snickers from beside me. “Fuck’s sake, Tracker.”

“Hey,” Tracker says, sounding offended. “It gets all the bi—” As if just remembering his company, he clears his throat and tries again. “It got me this beautiful woman by my side.”

“Nice try,” Lana mutters, then runs her hand through his hair. “It’s always been like this ever since I met you. If you cut it off, that’s like false advertising. You made it seem like I’d always have this, and now you’re just going to take it away? You need to keep yourself how you were when I fell in love with you.”

“Where do you come up with this shit?” he asks, his lips twitching. He looks to Ardan. “She comes up with shit on the spot like that all the time. No wonder she’s so good at her job.”

Lana grins at me. “Lucky he’s cute, right?”

I laugh at their banter. The two of them obviously love each other so much.

“I’m more than cute. I’m a cover model,” he boasts, lifting up his T-shirt to show off a set of rock-hard abs. “I’m a god. And I’m practically famous.”

“Because you’re my man,” Lana adds, raising her eyebrows. Jess laughs and stands to leave the room. “See, you’re chasing everyone away now.”

“Including us,” Ardan says, smirking. He stands and offers me his hand, taking the now-empty plate from me. “Let’s go inside.”

We mingle with everyone for another two hours before we go back to my apartment. All I can think of after meeting everyone is that I really hope my being in their lives doesn’t bring them any trouble.

That, and that Ardan is a very lucky man to have such great people at his back.



The next morning, I wake Ardan with my mouth on him. I watch as he slowly awakens, his dark eyes pinned on me as my tongue works its magic. Keeping our gazes connected, I take as much of him as I can into my mouth, pulling back when I start to gag a little, bobbing my head as I pleasure him.

“Fuck, Valentina,” he growls, his hands gripping the white sheets. He lets go and brings them to tangle in my hair. He tugs on it a little, turning me on even more.

“Just like that,” he groans, sinking his teeth into his bottom lip.

I give it to him just how I know he likes it, swiping my tongue over him and sucking with just the right pressure. It’s not long before he comes, and I swallow every drop, loving the almost growling sounds he makes as he finishes. I sit back and smile at him and say, “Good morning.”