Crash & Burn (3 page)

Hell, he knew things could blow up in their faces, and she could opt not to be their mate, but deep down he knew she belonged to them. It wasn’t just her touch, but her scent. Even under the smoky smell, he’d been enthralled with her scent, had wanted to bury his face against her neck and just inhale. He remembered watching their father do that to their mother, and figured it was just a tiger shifter thing.

“Hey, Burn?”

“Yeah, Crash?”

“Think she’ll let us keep her?”

Burn smiled. “I’m sure as hell hoping so. She feels pretty damn perfect lying here between us, doesn’t she?”

“Yeah. You get the feeling that everything is right in our world?”

“You mean that relaxed, contented feeling? Yeah, I’m feeling it. Hell. If she turns us away, I don’t know what we’ll do. I can tell by your tone that you’re already getting attached, and so am I. I think I may have bonded to her the moment I smelled her.”

“It felt pretty incredible to have her on the back of my bike tonight. I know she was scared, and she probably still is, but I don’t think I can let her go.”

“Then we won’t. When it comes time for her to make a decision, we won’t take no for an answer. Hell, we’re shifters and bikers, since when do we wait and see what someone else wants? We don’t! We take what we want and to hell with everyone else.”

Crash chuckled.

“Get some sleep, bro. I have a feeling tomorrow will be intense. Blitz is going to want to go after those creeps that escaped tonight. And I’m with him. I don’t want them coming after Willow.”

“Me neither. Maybe one of us should volunteer to ride with him and the other stay to guard Willow.”

Burn snorted. “Do you honestly think Blitz is going to let us do that? No. He’s going to want both our asses on the hunt. He’ll probably assign Prospects to watch over her, which I’m not too thrilled about. Maybe we can at least get him to leave someone behind. Hell, if Blaze will bring Luna here for safe keeping, then I know Blitz will assign someone to guard duty.”

“We’ll discuss it with him tomorrow. Night, Burn.”

“Night, Crash.”

Burn buried his nose in Willow’s hair and sniffed. Damn, but she smelt good!

Whatever she’d washed with only seemed to enhance that delicious scent that rolled off her. Her scent reminded him of Christmas: sugar cookies, peppermint, and pine. It figured his mate would remind him of his favorite holiday. He wondered if Crash smelled the same thing, or if she reminded him of something else.

Closing his eyes, he forced his mind to slow so that he could get some rest. Even as he relaxed more, he was hyper-aware of Willow lying in his arms. He hoped like hell they got to fall asleep like this every night for the rest of their lives. He’d never wanted a mate so much before, but Willow was worth the life sentence to one woman.

Willow stretched and frowned when she felt pinned down. She was used to

being tied to a chair at night, but for some reason, she was in a bed. Her eyes slowly opened and stared hard at the man lying next to her. His hand was on her waist and one of this thighs was wedged between her legs. As she took in the strong lines of his face and his dark hair, bits and pieces of the previous day came back to her.

She was no longer with the Double Deuces. There had been a fire, and she

remembered a tiger coming to her rescue…no, not a tiger. The man lying next to her. A shapeshifter. She studied him while he slept, then remembered there were two of them.

A glance behind her, showed the bed was empty except for the two of them. If Burn had slept with them last night, then he was already gone for the day.

It was nice, being this close to him. Comforting. He didn’t terrify her like the others had. While he was part of an M.C., he seemed…gentle. At least, he was with her.

He’d been very polite and had seemed genuinely concerned about her last night. When he’d noticed her swaying on her feet, he’d tucked her into bed and asked if she needed anything else. While her stomach had rumbled from lack of food, she had been too damn tired to eat, so she’d closed her eyes and within minutes she’d been out.

Now that it was morning, her stomach was reminding her that it had been

almost twenty-four hours since she’d had a bite. Feeding her hadn’t been high on the Double Deuces’ list. She didn’t want to wake Crash, but she had a feeling the President of the Steel Riders didn’t want her poking around without an escort either, at least until she made a decision.

Hell. Crash and Burn wanted to mate her. Marriage to two shifters. All right, marriage to two sexy-as-hell shifters who made her tingle in all the right places, despite the awkward circumstances. She’d never reacted to a man before last night. Even though she’d been exhausted and emotionally worn out, she couldn’t deny the pull she’d felt toward them. After not having the opportunity to pursue a relationship with anyone, she wasn’t certain she was equipped to take on two tigers at once. One would be daunting enough with her lack of experience, but they seemed determined to share her. And she had to admit, secretly, that gave her a thrill. Before the Double Deuces, she’d been allowed to read and had devoured romances. In some of them, there had been two men with the heroine, and Willow had always been curious about how it worked. Didn’t one man ever get jealous over the other?

The door opened and she tensed, watching and waiting to see who was coming.

Would they take her away? Had they lulled her into a sense of security only to turn the tables and enslave her the way the other M.C.s had done?

Burn came through the door carrying two trays, then kicked the door shut. When he saw her watching him, he smiled broadly.

“Morning, sunshine. I hope you’re hungry because this breakfast is going to get cold if you don’t eat it soon.”

Her stomach rumbled.

Burn laughed. “Good. You are hungry.”

He set the trays down then kicked the side of the bed. “Hey, butt face. Wake up.”

Willow snorted a laugh, but stifled it quickly, not certain if laughter would be allowed. She’d learned early on to keep her amusement and other feelings to herself.

Saying or doing anything without permission never ended well for her.

“It’s all right, you know,” Burn said softly. “You can laugh. Hell, I laugh at Crash all the time.”

She smiled, the first genuine smile she’d had in a long while.

Crash groaned, pulled her tighter against him, and then rolled onto his back.

“What time is it?”

“Eight o’clock,” Burn said. “Brought breakfast. Figured the three of us could eat together, then we could figure out a shower schedule and get ready to face the day and see what Blitz has planned. You know that ornery cuss has been up all night plotting revenge.”

Crash sighed and pushed himself up, leaning against the headboard. He glanced her way and smiled, wrapping his hand around hers. “Morning, sweetheart. Did you sleep okay?”

Willow nodded.

“Good. All right, Burn. Feed me.”

“You’re not a man eating plant,” Burn said, biting into a piece a bacon as he handed a plate to Willow, then another to Crash.

Man eating plant?
She didn’t understand, but then, there was a lot she didn’t understand. She could only watch TV when her captors did, and they favored mostly toward motorcycle shows and gory horror flicks. She could watch as someone’s brains were dug out of their skulls and their intestines were spilled while she ate a plate of spaghetti, but she couldn’t tell you what was fashionable at the moment.

Whoever had made breakfast had added cheese to the eggs and they melted in

her mouth. The bacon was nice and crisp, and someone had even put jelly on her toast.

It had been a long time since she’d been allowed to have something like jelly. She usually ate plain, cold oatmeal for breakfast, a peanut butter sandwich for lunch—no jelly—and dinner consisted of the scraps after everyone else had their fill. It seemed her fortune had changed when the twins had claimed her as their own.

Burn nudged some sacks under the desk. “I brought you some boots and the

other things on your list. I wasn’t sure what hair stuff you needed, but I did get you a brush and some of those ponytail things. I figured you’d want to pick your own shampoo, make-up and crap, not that I think you need any make-up.”

“I’ve never worn it,” she admitted. “I wouldn’t even know how to apply it. I’d probably end up looking like a clown if I tried. Does that bother you?”

“It infuriates me, but only because it reminds of what was done to you,” Burn said. “And I know my brother feels the same.”

“Whatever your life was like before last night,” Crash said, “you can put it behind you. Things are going to be different now. As soon as we know what Blitz has planned, we’ll make arrangements to take you shopping for the rest of the things you’ll need, and we’ll see if Blaze is okay with you meeting his mate, Luna. I’d imagine you’d like to have another female around.”

“One who isn’t a whore,” Burn muttered.

Crash kicked him. “Shut it.”

“Do I stay in this room while you have your meeting with the Pres?” she asked between bites. “If you’re going to tie me up, could it be to the bed?”

Crash dropped his fork onto his plate with a clatter. “What the fuck? Hell no, we aren’t tying you up!”

Burn looked furious. “Willow, you’re free to move about the room as you please, and if you want to go out into the clubhouse, maybe sit at the bar, you just let one of us know. Until Blitz makes up his mind about you, you can’t have complete free reign, but no one is going to tie you up. Not now, not ever again.”

She felt her cheeks warm with embarrassment. “I didn’t mean to offend you. I just…don’t know what to expect. My life has always been one particular way, then suddenly I was the property of the Double Deuces and treated more like a dog. And now…I’m owned by yet another M.C.”

“No, honey,” Crash said, setting his plate aside. He cupped her cheek with his hand. “You aren’t owned anymore. Blitz may not let you leave the club, but you are no one’s property.”

“Not yet,” Burn muttered then cleared his throat. “You know about old ladies, right?”

“I was kept away from the few the clubs had. I was considered beneath them.”

“If you agree to be our old lady, our mate, then you’ll receive a cut or jacket with a property patch on the back. It will say
Property of Crash and Burn
. In a sense, I guess we’ll own you, but not like what you’re used to. It means we’ll be responsible for you, and your actions will reflect on us. If you screw up, the Pres is going to have our asses, not yours. Understand?”

“I think so.”

“Sweetheart, do you understand what it means to be our mate?” Crash asked.

“It’s like a wife, right?”

“It’s more than that. When a shifter takes a mate, he never wants another

woman. Ever. We’ll be faithful to you, and you’ll become our entire world. You’ll never want for anything, and you’ll have more freedom than ever before. We’ll even buy a house so we don’t have to live in this room. You can help pick it out.” Crash tugged on a lock of her hair. “Just say the word and we’ll give you the world, angel. We’re dying to make you ours, but we also want to give you whatever space you need.”

“Within reason,” Burn said. “Blitz won’t wait forever. And neither will we.”

“I understand,” she said. “And I appreciate that you’re willing to give me some time to process everything; I promise not to take too long. I’m honored that you want me as your mate, but it’s a little…frightening. All of this is almost too much at once after having nothing for so long.”

“We want to spoil you, if you’ll let us,” Burn said.

“While you’re in your meeting, may I watch TV?”

Burn’s eyebrows rose. “Of course. Watch whatever you want. We even get a few movie channels.”

“Thank you,” she said softly. Willow handed her empty plate to Crash, then

settled back against the headboard again. Everything was so surreal. Willow was almost afraid to believe this was her new life and terrified that it would be snatched away when she least expected it. They were offering her everything she’d always wanted, and she
did
want it, she was just afraid to reach for it.

The guys finished their breakfast and took their showers. Once they were

dressed, they each kissed her on the cheek and left, closing the door behind them.

Curiosity got the better of her and she rummaged through the sacks, checking out her new things, and then dressed quickly. It took her a moment to figure out how to work the TV, but when she mastered it, she selected a movie and stretched out across the bed with her head propped on her hand.

Freedom was a strange concept to Willow. Oh, it wasn’t complete freedom, but it was far more than she’d ever experienced before. The brothers trusted her, and she would never betray their trust. But while they had explained the mate thing to her, she still wasn’t entirely certain what they wanted from her. Obviously, sex would be part of the deal, and that made her stomach flip and flop. She’d never so much as kissed anyone before, much less done
that
. Yes, she’d read romances and had seen her fair share of men screwing women up against a wall, but something told her the experience with the twins would be different from her books or what she’d observed.

“I want them,” she admitted to herself. But admitting it, while in a room by herself was one thing, admitting in front of them was another matter.

The question was, what was she willing to do to make them hers? Being mated for life scared her. Not because she thought they would treat her badly, but because she worried she would be a bad mate. What did she know about relationships? Going from never having a boyfriend to having two husbands was a bit daunting, but she wasn’t going to say it was completely out of the realm of possibility.

Maybe they’d take things slowly? A kiss would be a good place to start,

wouldn’t it? And then if something more happened, it would be because she desired them, and
wanted
something more to happen. Would they take her at the same time, like some of the books she’d read? Or would they take turns?