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“She did? I thought she was going to be like Noelle.” Jezebel laughed merrily. The woman was absolutely beautiful. Had I been in my prime, I might have been jealous of her, but every day I looked in the mirror, I knew I was going downhill fast. There was no reason to be jealous, because I was never going to attain that kind of beauty ever again.
“Noelle’s an MMA fighter,” Esther said. “Fury told Shotgun she knocked out Shadow, and he’s three times her size.”
“Wow,” I exclaimed. “And Holly would rather be like Jezebel than Noelle? That’s impressive.”
“I know, right?” Celeste’s laughter seemed to make the whole place smile. These women were truly extraordinary.
“If I forget to tell you guys later, I had an awesome time,” I said. “I’ve never had such wonderful friends as all of you. Thank you.”
The women all huddled around me, pulling me into their embrace. We all stood there for long moments before Lyric broke us up.
“We’d better hurry,” she urged. “We still have the spa to go to. I want Swan as relaxed as she can be before we help her dress. Nails. Toes. Massage. Hair. Then we head home.”
“Did you get the makeup artist, Lyric?” Celeste handed out tissues around to a couple of the girls, myself included, as we dabbed our misty eyes.
“Yep. He’ll be there in about three hours. So we need to hurry.”
By the time they were finished with me at the spa, I was relaxed as a puddle of goo, yet I was excited and even a little nervous. The makeup guy said there wasn’t much to do other than conceal the dark circles under my eyes and make my cheekbones look less sharp. He used color sparingly and covered my lips not with a ruby red like I’d expected, but a nude gloss. Celeste and Esther fluffed my hair a little and smoothed my dress, almost as nervous as I was.
“This is so surreal. I can’t believe I’m going out on a romantic dinner date. And with a guy who seems more like a steamroller than a hopeless romantic.”
“I can’t believe it either,” Jezebel said. “At least, not with El Segador. Me and Liam have a bet going. I’m betting he wears leather. Liam says he’ll get him into a suit and tie even if it kills El Segador.”
“I know, right?” I smiled, but I wanted to defend Reaper. Only problem was, I couldn’t imagine him in a suit and tie, either.
“All right, Swan.” Lyric rubbed her hands together. “You ready?”
I sighed, smoothing my dress once more as I looked in the mirror. “As I’ll ever be.”
The girls escorted me down the stairs and into the main room. There were bikers hanging out from one end to the other, but no women unless they were with one of the men. Even some of those were given the stink eye by one or more of my escorts. It was touching how these women looked out for me. I couldn’t remember a time in my life where I felt so cared for and protected. And it wasn’t just from Reaper. His whole club seemed to have adopted me. It struck me how much I’d isolated myself from people since my diagnosis. I’d done it to protect myself, to keep from caring about someone only to have them realize being with me was more than they could handle. I knew it didn’t automatically follow that they’d abandon me, but it would hurt them. I didn’t want to hurt anybody.
Then, like in a movie, a group of the guys parted, and Reaper stepped from their midst. He was dressed in an obviously tailored charcoal-gray suit, his large frame encased perfectly. He wore a lighter gray shirt and a burgundy tie. One tattoo peeked out from his collar, giving me a sexy glimpse of what I knew lay beneath the sophisticated wrapping. He took my breath.
“Wow,” I whispered.
“Indeed,” Reaper responded. He approached me slowly, his eyes intent on me. His gaze narrowed as he looked me up and down, taking me in more completely than anyone ever had. “Not sure I want to take you out, though. I’ve been told fighting isn’t gentlemanly behavior, and I have a feeling I’ll be fighting men off you left and right.”
I couldn’t help but giggle. “Well, if you get in a fight with men looking at me, I’ll take it as permission to go postal on the women looking at you.” That got some chuckles from the men. I wasn’t sure what I expected, but I thought Reaper might get teased about our date. Instead, everyone looked at us with approval.
“Since I can’t have my girl breaking a nail marking her territory, I’ll have to keep it to scowls and murderous looks, I suppose.” That got some more chuckles from the guys. He walked to me and held out a hand. When I took it, he brought my hand to his lips and kissed my palm. “I have something for you.” Reaper pulled a flat, square box from his inside jacket pocket. He opened the box and turned it to face me, and I gasped.
“Reaper?” I looked up at him, unable to stop the smile on my face. “This is too much. So precious…” It was, but I still couldn’t stop myself from reaching out to touch the beautiful necklace. One single, nickel-sized pearl on a thin chain of diamonds. Under the lights of the common room, the necklace sparkled like stars in the sky.
“It’s not as precious as you, little Swan. But maybe it’s a start.” He took the necklace from the box and urged me to turn around. I met Jezebel’s gaze as Reaper fastened the necklace around my neck. The pearl sat in the hollow of my throat like it had been created for me.
He urged me back around and pulled out another, smaller box. When he opened it, the earrings inside made me gasp. They perfectly matched the necklace with a pearl surrounded by diamonds. Lyric came forward and helped me with them. We giggled as I fastened the backs on them before focusing on Reaper again.
He rested his hands on my shoulders. I looked back at him. My rough biker now had his shaggy hair tamed. He looked like a rich, powerful man. And for all I knew, he was. But he was also my tattooed biker. I just wasn’t sure which one I preferred.
Scratch that. I knew I preferred the biker. This version of Reaper, however, was very intriguing.
“You like it?” He raised an eyebrow, acting as if my answer meant nothing to him. But I could tell it did. There was just something in his eyes. My reaction, how well I liked his gift, meant everything to him.
I gave him what I hoped was my best smile, then threw myself into his arms. “I love it, Reaper. It’s so beautiful. It’s perfect.”
He clutched me to him in a tight embrace, burying his face in my neck. Then he did something wicked.
“When we get home tonight, I’m gonna fuck you while you’re wearing nothin’ but that fuckin’ necklace.” Reaper whispered his naughty idea in my ear. I had no idea if anyone else could hear it but figured they couldn’t. Seems that several members of his club were paying out bets lost. On Reaper?
