Claimed By The Devil - Joanna Blake Page 0,51

We had barely started dating when Mom started to really decline. Everything was kind of a blur after that.

But I knew how I felt about him. I couldn't fight my feelings for Nick anymore. I wanted him in my bed and in my life. I had finally let go of my guilt for falling for him while Mom was dying. And more than that, I wanted to feel something other than sadness. Anything other than sadness.

He took my hand.

"I won’t take half of anything on paper, but we can talk about that later.”

My heart sank. He was thinking about the stables, not moving forward with our relationship. As lost as I was, what I needed right now was a lot closer and more intimate. I was hoping to start being his girlfriend for real.

“As for the sex, I want you to sleep on it. For a couple of days, at least." He scooped up the stack of bills. "I will take a look at these and see which ones we need to deal with first."

My jaw must have dropped. Nick chuckled at my obvious disappointment. He pulled me to my feet and brought me in for a kiss. I leaned into him, hoping I could change his mind.

“Are you sure, Nick? I want us to be together. For real.”

“We will be. Soon," he whispered. “Now, let’s get you into bed.”

Chapter Thirty-One

Becky

"Oh, my God, I love a good makeover," I squealed. The boys were having another barbecue this weekend. The first one since Meg passed away a month ago. And the best part was, this time, it was Melissa's idea. Well, Melissa had talked to Kaylie, who came up with the plan. All she had to do was put a bug in Dev’s ear. She’d said something along the lines of ‘something to take everyone’s mind off the grief’. And that was part of it. But we girls had a secret agenda. Basically, the boys had no clue to the reason behind it.

But we did. We had a job to do. We had to catch a fly with honey. A big, burly, biker fly. Nick had no idea what was about to go down.

Him.

With the crew working together, the big guy didn’t stand a chance.

We girls stuck together. We always had. I was lucky as hell to have my circle of sisters. Just in our case, instead of blood, we were bound by motor oil.

This time, we aimed big. The barbecue was for the whole club and hosted at the clubhouse, starting in the afternoon and going well into the night. There would be other men there. Lots of men. Once we worked our magic on sweet little Melissa, she was going to cause a riot with the bikers.

There was nothing like a beautiful, innocent girl to make the guys go nuts. Especially since she was new to the club. They were used to us wives and the club girls who hung around. But Melissa was in a different category altogether.

Nick would have no choice but to step in and protect his woman. Claim her. She didn’t know all the details, and definitely not about that part of the plan. The girl was way too modest to realize the effect she had on men. That was Janet and me putting our diabolical heads together. Out of everyone, we were the most willing to crack skulls and take names. I knew Melissa didn’t want to upset Nick, but her man was being a dunderhead and we were ready to step in.

Nick was a goner and he didn’t even know it yet.

When Melissa had come to Kaylie asking for advice on getting Nick to take her to bed, she had set off a furious round of texting, phone calls, and secret meetings. We had her back, and then some. We were also looking forward to watching Nick crumble like a block of blue cheese.

God, I love cheese, I thought as my stomach rumbled. I was always hungry these days. I pushed the thought aside and rolled up my sleeves. There would be time to stuff my face later, in between watching the fireworks.

Melissa had asked for help and we were ready to give it to her. All we had to do was help her tip Nick over the edge. She had Mother Nature on her side, but the man was digging his heels in. The girls and I had been chuckling about the situation all week.

Apparently, Nick was flat out refusing to have