KNOW ME (DEFIANT Motorcycle Club)(26)

to Riverbottom, taking his box of wine with him.
I stacked the dishes in the cabinet as Rachel finished washing and grabbed a towel.
“It’s going to rain,” I said helpfully.  
She gave me an odd look.  “Yes,” she said slowly, “I know.”




Chapter Eleven


The sky did more than rain.  First a wild wind kicked up, bringing with it an

impenetrable wall of dirt.
“Dust storm,” Rachel had murmured, looking at the window to where Riverbottom was

scarcely visible.  She turned to me.  “You should stay in for the rest of the night. 

If those washes start to flood into the house there’s a pile of sandbags in the

garage.”
“Okay,” I said, staring out the window with fascination at the ferocity of the desert

storm.
Rachel left and I locked the door behind her.  The walls of the house shuddered under

the fierce wind and just as I finished cleaning off the dining table the power snapped

off.  The darkness was now impenetrable both inside and outside.
I remembered seeing some candles underneath the sink.  Orion had left a cigarette

lighter on his dresser so I fumbled my way in there to retrieve it.   The glow of the

lit candles cast eerie shadows as I moved around the house so I decided to stay in the

bedroom.
It was still early, barely eight o’clock, and I was far from sleepy.  I had six

candles lit on the small table in Orion’s room and combined they gave off enough light

to read by.  I opened the Dick Wick Hall book Orion had bought for me in Salome.  I

learned in the introduction he hailed from a cold Midwestern climate and when he came

to the Arizona territory he promptly went about remaking himself, right down to his

name.  Actually, his name became entwined with the vitality of his new identity. Paging

through the book, I was charmed by the detailed illustrations and quirky stories

originally published in the Salome Sun nearly a century earlier.
The rain began with a suddenness which startled me.  It battered the house and fought

with the wind.  I remembered what Rachel had said about the washes and wondered how all

the small creatures who dwelled out there were faring.
Another brutal gust of wind sheered against the building and I thought about Orion. 

Teague had more or less confirmed he and the other Defiant members were on their way

back from wherever they’d gone.  My heart lurched at the thought of him trying to

navigate the stormy roads.  Traveling on his motorcycle he would be vulnerable to the

ruthless elements.
When I heard an echoing noise like popcorn popping I went to the small window and

raised the frame.  The wind was enough to nearly knock me over and I struggled to shut

the window as pieces of hail barreled inside and stung my skin.
So focused was I on sealing the window I took no notice of his entrance.  The noise of

the storm had evidently masked the arrival of the motorcycles and as he reached around

me and shut the window his drenched clothes soaked me immediately.
“Orion,” I breathed, turning around and touching him.  His face, his shoulders, his

chest.  All solid, all too good to be true.
“Baby,” he moaned when I felt between his legs.
His clothes were removed hastily and I licked the cold moisture from his skin, wanting

to warm him. He groped around in the dark for the hem of my shirt and then ripped it

impatiently when it took too long.  I moved my hot breasts up and down his chest and

then knelt between his legs, taking him in my mouth. He loved it when my tongue moved

to the tender sac behind his organ; his hands seized my hair as he showed me how he

wanted the rhythm.
Orion didn’t want to finish that way though.  He pulled me up and laid me down

crossways on the bed.  My legs spread on either side of him eagerly; none of that

clenching tightness which had impeded us the first time.  He entered me good and hard

with one fluid thrust.  I writhed underneath him, getting so close so quickly, but

Orion had extreme control.  He brought me to the brink and pulled out, then plunged in

with a ferocity which grew deeper every time.
When I came I was not in my own head anymore.  I couldn’t do anything but thrash and

plead as the throbbing orgasm lasted and lasted.
“Orion, I love you so f*cking much,” I cried and didn’t care that I’d said it

because it was true.
He moaned in an agonized voice.  “Kira, baby. Shit, what have you done to me?”
Then he climaxed hard, driving himself in so deep he consumed me.    
When we were both spent and panting, Orion nestled his head between my breasts.
“James,” he whispered.
“No,” I said, confused.  “It’s me, Kira.”
He laughed and propped himself up on one elbow.  “It’s the name I was born to.  James

Cavanaugh Jackson.”
I traced his face in the dark.  “Orion suits you better,” I told him.
He pulled my hand to his mouth and kissed the palm.
I chewed my lip.  “I meant it,” I said, referring to my passionate outcry.