After I got dressed, I tried to do something with my hair. Since I didn’t have much more than a hair tie, a ponytail it was. I wished I had some makeup that would make me look better. I wanted to look my best around Bear. Well, if wishes were horses, then beggars would ride, or something like that. My mom used to say that to me.
I walked back out of the bathroom to find the bed made and Bear sitting on the floor with Hope. He was playing with her bunny, making him talk and dance. She was laughing at him. I watched for a moment with a smile on my face. God, to think this man couldn’t have children. It was a cruel joke. He would have made a perfect dad.
He looked up and smiled. “You caught me. This is my alter ego, Mr. Bunny Pants,” he joked. “Are you ready?”
“As ready as I’ll ever be. Not much I can do. Where are we going?”
He stood up and picked up Hope. “Why? Is there something you need that I don’t have? We’ll get it when we go shopping today.”
“Whoa, shopping? No one said anything about shopping. Bear, we don’t need to shop for anything for me. I hope you meant for you.”
He came over to me and leaned down to kiss me softly on the mouth. “I meant for you and Hope. And the name is Donovan, remember? There has to be things you two need.”
“W-we don’t need anything,” I stuttered. It was a lie, but I didn’t have money for anything. My cash was down to my last few hundred dollars. Hence, the need to find a job. “What I need to be doing is finding a job. I was planning to revisit some of the places I left resumes at to see if they happened to change their minds.”
He took my hand and led me out of the room and down the stairs. He grabbed Hope’s diaper bag as he passed it and took me through a short hallway and into a laundry room, then out another door. I tried to take in the house as we passed through it. We were in his garage. Inside was his bike and a truck. He opened the back door of his truck. Inside was a car seat. He started to strap Hope inside.
“Where did you get that car seat, Donovan? Surely you don’t keep it around just in case.”
He shut the door and faced me. “No, I don’t have one. I borrowed this one for the day from Devyn. She had one for when Hayden gets older. We’ll get one for Hope today and return this one.” As he talked, he led me around the truck and opened the passenger door. I looked at the height of the truck. What was it with men and big-ass trucks? I let out a squeal when his hands grabbed my waist and he picked me up. I scrambled into the seat. I looked at him. He was grinning and gave me a wink.
“Don’t want you to hurt yourself, tiny.”
He shut the door and went around to the driver’s side. As soon as he got in, I let him have it. “I’m not tiny. It’s just you men and your big-ass trucks. Why do you drive them? Is it to compensate for something else?” I could be a smart ass. I clapped my hands over my mouth. Oh shit!
He slowly turned his head to look at me. His eyes were blazing, but not in anger as I expected. It was lust. “Tell me when you’re ready and I’ll show you. This truck isn’t compensating for anything, Beloved. I’m positive I can make you scream with what I’m packing.”
Instantly, I felt my panties get damp, as I imagined him and me naked with him pounding into me. Before the rape, I’d enjoyed sex. I wasn’t a tramp or anything, but I’d had a few boyfriends. Since then, I hadn’t felt desire at all, or at least not until I met Bear. I squirmed in my seat.
“I bet you can. I was teasing, Donovan. You’ll find I can have a smart mouth and I don’t always think before I speak,” I warned him. If he wanted to be with me, he should know what he was getting.
He leaned over and dropped a kiss on my lips. “I can handle that mouth. If it gets too smart, I know exactly what I can do with it,” he whispered.
I shoved at his chest. “Drive. You’re making me crazy.”
“Good, I’ll take that, for now. Okay, we’re going to stop at the front gate on our way out. Do you have your keys to your car with you?”
I rummaged in the small bag I had. Someone had thought to bring it with us last night. I expected I had one of their ladies to thank. “Yeah, here they are,” I said as I held them up.
He opened the garage door after starting the engine and he backed out. As he did, I saw that we were on what I guess was a large property. There were a few houses around us, but not too close. As he drove, we passed them and then a huge mansion I would call it. He pointed out as we went by them whose house was whose. At the mansion, he stopped. There were several bikes outside of it.
“This is the clubhouse. When we get back, I’ll show it to you. It’s where we hangout, party sometimes and the single guys live there.”
“All of them?”
“Yep, all but me. I need peace and quiet.” He put the truck in gear and we were moving again. Not far from the clubhouse, I saw a gate and walls ahead of us. A guy was standing there when we got to it. Bear stopped and rolled down his window. “Mitch, here are Ilara’s car keys. I need you to go into town and pick up her car. It’s in the alley out back of the bakery.” He took my car keys out of my hand as he explained.
“Bear, he doesn’t need to—”
“That’s what he does, Ilara. We’ll be busy.” He turned back to the calm Mitch, who was taking the keys. “Mitch, this is my Ilara and her daughter, Hope. Ilara, this is Mitch. He’s one of our prospects.”
“Nice to meet you, Ilara. Mad told me about you and Hope. Glad to see you came to stay here. It’s not a problem for me to pick up your car. Go have fun.” He stepped back and waved, as Bear threw a quick thank you out the window. The gate opened, and we pulled out onto the hardtop road.
“Donovan, that really isn’t necessary. I don’t like putting people out. I already put enough people out last night.”
“You didn’t put anyone out last night. That’s bullshit. As for Mitch, as a prospect, he has to earn his patch. This is one of the things he’s expected to do to earn it.”
“Fetch for you?”