a ride, getting something to eat, and then you’d bring me home. I didn’t plan to invite you in.” That sounded harsh, so I tried to soften it. “I’m still not sure what we’re doing. I mean, I like you, and I’m not sure why you’re being so nice, and I guess I’m waiting for you to start not being nice again. How will you be around your brothers?” I couldn’t bring myself to say I wanted someone who treated me the way Mad Dog treats Velvet, or the way McGyver treats Iris, or Dementor with Ember.
He settled his silverware on his plate and leaned back in his chair. “I plan to tell my brothers you aren’t Banshee anymore. You’re Cheyenne, and they may see me with you at the restaurant, and I expect them to treat you as mine. Not going to ask for a vote on what it’ll take to bring you to the clubhouse yet, but they’re going to have to be okay with you being in the restaurant. It’s a first step. You need to see me around my brothers. You need to understand things will be different.”
He took a drink of his tea. I was sipping mine hot, but he’d put ice in a glass to cool his off. Technically, I wasn’t supposed to be on MC property, and that included the restaurant. If Mad Dog gave him permission to take me, that was a good sign.
“Not going to push you for sex,” he continued. “I hope you’ll want to stay tonight, but if you aren’t ready, I’ll take you home. When we left this morning, I wasn’t sure I’d bring you here. I rented it hoping things would go well enough, but I wasn’t sure. I’ve had a blast with you today. If we eat and leave, so be it.”
“I don’t want to eat and leave.” I wasn’t certain sex was a good idea, but I also wasn’t ready for this date to be over.
“Then we won’t. There are poker chips and cards, if you want to play poker.” He grinned. “Or we can leave the chips in the box and play strip poker.”
“Snowy owls aren’t nocturnal, right?” I mean, that’s what the internet said, but I’d thought all owls were, so I asked.
“Right, but you’re a night hunter.”
“Could we go for a hike without flashlights? Do you have good night vision?”
“It’s decent enough, sure.”
But probably not as good as mine. Well then, that left us one option. “I saw a hot tub.”
He gave me a half smile. “You did.”
My insides did a somersault. Yes, we were probably going to have sex. Yes, I was probably going to get my heart broken. If I was smart, I’d go home and forget the sexy man sitting across the table from me, but I’ve never been a genius when it comes to men.
His smile faded. “Why do you look sad all of a sudden?”
Because it isn’t going to be just sex for me, and you’re going to break my heart, and I’m going to let you.
Instead of answering, I took another bite of steak and tried to change the conversation. “The steaks are perfect. You have serious skills.”
He sat back in his chair and crossed his arms. “Who named you Banshee?”
Right. He’d been in jail when I’d first come to the clubhouse. I rolled my eyes and told him, “Dementor, long before he met Ember. He didn’t mean it in a good way. My screaming annoyed him.” And I’d told him if he didn’t want to hear me scream in pain, he shouldn’t be so damned rough on my ass.
“And once you were given the name, making you scream became a thing, right?”
I shrugged. If so, I hadn’t realized it, but it was possible he was right.
“I guess I need to understand whether...” He leaned forward and met my gaze. “I need to understand how much anal sex you’d had before you came to us, and how you felt about being mostly anal while you were at the clubhouse, and whether that’s a dynamic you want to keep between us? I mean, I admit I enjoyed tearing you up, but mainly because I know you enjoyed it. If you’ve decided that isn’t for you anymore, you need to tell me.”
That’s why he thought I was sad? Well, it was better for him to think it was about anal sex than for him to know the truth.
“I’d never had anal sex before. Gil had fingered my butt