King phoned me earlier on, wanting to know how I’m holding up and warning me to keep my cool. He didn’t tell me, but I know he sent Gunner and Dixon to keep an eye on me. I caught their scent a few times, and their presence was as strong to me as if they were standing right next to me. I know that me wanting it or not, my brothers won’t leave me on my own. We always have each other’s back no matter what.
I come back to the present when Dakota starts walking towards me, her movements smooth as if she’s gliding, her essence intoxicating. Any man would be lucky to have her as a mate. She isn’t only beautiful and sexy as hell, but she seems to have a fiery temper to go with it. Life this morning started to look a whole lot brighter. This woman before me doesn’t know it yet, but she will be treated like a queen. She is my mate, and as such, the most important person in my life, my other half, and the future mother to our children.
When she is standing before me, I take her hand in mine. A bolt of energy races up my arm and instantly has me wanting to pull her against me and devour her perfect lips with a blistering kiss that would leave us both wanting more, but instead, I turn and start making my way towards the door. I hear her huff before she tries to pull her hand away, but I hold fast.
“You’re really very forward, aren’t you?” she grumbles as she falls into step next to me as we leave the salon. “Don’t think you will always get your way, because you won’t.”
I smile. She doesn’t even realize that she is already confirming that there will be a future with us. “I just go for what I want, and don’t have any doubts, Dakota, I want you,” I say, and feel her trying to pull her hand away again.
“You don’t even know me; how can you say you want me?” she argues.
“Well, beautiful, that is what we are going to be doing. Getting to know each other, as I want to know everything about you.”
“Humph, like you would be interested in anything except sleeping with me,” she mutters.
Stopping, I place my free hand on her arm to hold her still, stepping before her so that she must look up at me. “Yes, I want your body, but I also want everything else that is you. Don’t have any doubts, Dakota, I will know your hates, your likes, your dreams, and all your fears. I don’t just want your body. You might not believe me, but you will see.” She raises her eyebrows in suspicion, but what I said is true, and I will prove it to her.
If I told her that I also want her love, her very soul, she would run the other way, and she seems half ready to run already, so I would rather not trigger her fear. I get the feeling there is something that has this woman wary about my intentions, but I will prove to her that everything I say is true.
“We shall see. So where are we going?” she asks, which is a clear topic change, but I will let her get away with it for now.
“There is a great steak place just down the road. The owner knows me well, and it’s quiet.” The last thing I want is to go somewhere with men around. If any of them look at Dakota, I might just bite their heads off. Just walking down the street with her is testing. I’m trying to make it as quickly as possible to the steakhouse, because otherwise, there will be bloodletting of some asshole who thinks it’s okay to look at my woman.
“Well, what are we waiting for? The steak is waiting,” she says as I continue to stand before her.
“You’re a sassy one, aren’t you?” I quip as I turn and continue our walk to the steakhouse. Luckily, we arrive there without me having to kill anyone, which has me relaxing slightly.
“Hunter, didn’t expect to see you here today. Are the others with you? Don’t know if I have enough meat,” Tony jokes. He must be about seventy, but he still runs his restaurant with a firm hand. The others and I usually ride here on the weekends and have a nice meal, and nothing better than rare steak.
“Nope, sorry, Tony. Today it’s just me and Dakota. Have you got something out of the way for us?” I ask.
He smiles and nods as he indicates a table by a little corner of the restaurant. “Sure do. Take a seat and I will get someone to come take your order.”
I guide Dakota towards our table and then pull out her chair, which has her looking at me suspiciously. “A biker who pulls chairs out for ladies. Something isn’t adding up,” she quips. “Either that or you are a Casanova and have a lot of these dates.”
One thing I will try never to do with Dakota is lie, but she sure wouldn’t appreciate knowing how many women I have slept with, and yes, some of them I have taken out for a meal, but in my defence, she is the first one I have brought here.
The others and I like coming here, and it is somewhere we trust. We have been coming here for years, and Tony doesn’t raise an eyebrow at the amount of meat we eat or the fact that our steak is barely cooked.
“We’re not barbarians, you know, just because we ride motorcycles.” I see her cheeks darken with colour, which surprises me because of her sassiness.
“I’m sorry. That was presumptuous of me,” she says as she lowers her eyes.
“It’s okay. We are a little rough around the edges, and you will find that out when you meet the others.”
She looks back up at me and frowns. “Presuming that I want to meet your biker friends.”
“They’re not just my friends, but my brothers too. We have been together since we were kids. We trust each other completely and know that we are there for each other no matter what.” She will meet the others, because we are a family and family is there to protect each other, and once Dakota and I have bonded, they will be there to protect her when I’m not around.
“What about you, Dakota, any family?” I see her tense at my question. Her eyes lower to the table again, a clear sign that she doesn’t want to talk about herself. Well, that is just too bad, because I want to know everything about her. She is temporarily saved from answering as Julie approaches the table with a big smile on her face.
“Hunter,” she greets.
“Hello, Julie, how have you been?” Julie is sixty-two, and last year when we came in, we all picked up that she wasn’t doing too well. It wasn’t just the smell of sickness but the sense of pain that we could pick up. So, I pulled her aside and insisted that she go see a doctor and threatened to go with her if she didn’t go. To her credit, the next day, she booked an appointment and was told that she was sick. Luckily it was detected early on and she has been able to pull through, but ever since then, she goes out of her way for me and the others.
“As fit as a fiddle, my boy,” she says as she looks over at Dakota. “Ooh, you are a pretty one, aren’t you?” And then she points her finger at me and lowers her voice in a conspiring way. “Now Hunter over here is a real decent young man. Don’t mistake his roughness for trouble, because I can tell you now if it weren’t for this man over here, I wouldn’t be here right now.”
“But you are and I’m happy you are. After all, who else would look after me as you do?”