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“Whatever.” Race picked up the remote and turned on the television. Yes, he’d been checking out Bellamy’s ass. She had a great ass and he was particularly fond of her form-fitting long skirts with the slit up the back. When she wore high heels with them, her ass was phenomenal.
“So, do you use these binoculars to look inside her house?” Shannon asked innocently from the window.
“Wow.” Race’s hand covered his heart as though wounded. “You, too, baby girl?” Shannon snickered, thinking he was funny.
Just when he thought they’d all drop it, Liza and Derrick shared a look between them that did not bode well for him. It actually kind of made his balls shrink up. He had to put a stop to this before it got out of hand. “Enough, you two. I am not spying on my neighbor.” He was surprised lightning hadn’t struck him at the outright lie.
“Yeah, Dad. Whatever you say.” Derrick’s smile was knowing, but he at least had enough good sense to drop it for now. Thank God.
His son had been dead on when he described Bellamy’s eyes and hair and of course, her ass. But he didn’t say anything about her full, strawberry pink lips. He often wondered if that was their true color or if it was some kind of lipstick she used. He also wanted to know if they tasted like the strawberries they reminded him of. The problem was that if he ever got a taste of her sweet mouth, he was afraid he’d become addicted. Telling himself all he had to do was avoid her, he was convinced his obsession with Bellamy would fade.
* * *
Bellamy madeit to work with just enough time to unlock the door and flip the sign to OPEN. If it hadn’t been for Race and his son shoveling the snow at the end of her driveway, she would have been a lot later. She needed to return the favor and do something nice for them. Maybe she could bake them some cookies or brownies or maybe a cake?
It hadn’t escaped her notice that Race always had her driveway shoveled after each snow. He’d done it a couple of times and then men from the club started showing up to take care of it. When she asked him about it, he grunted and said he was her landlord, so it was his responsibility. She’d told him that she felt bad that the men were being taken away from their MC duties only to have him explain that the men were prospects and their duties were whatever he said they were.
Whether it was Race’s responsibility or not, she was grateful. She didn’t think she had the strength or stamina to get it done. With that thought in mind, maybe she should fix dinner one night as a big thank you. Maybe she could do it on a night he had his kids so there wouldn’t be any awkward silences between them.
She stowed her coat and purse in her office, then checked to see how much of a mess her hair was after wearing her knit cap. Not too bad. At least no static this morning. She filled her Keurig with water, popped a pod and lined up her mug. She hit the button and waited the handful of seconds it took to brew before it was finished. She added a little creamer and a teaspoon of sugar and she was set.
She was working by herself this morning, her full-time employee, Cathy, needing the day off. One of her part-time employees would be in later this afternoon when she got done with her college classes.
Moving to Redemption after her store had been taken out by a fire had been a gamble. In Denver she had an established customer base and a growing reputation that had made Bling Boutiquetheplace to shop for unique women’s clothes and accessories. She’d been afraid of uprooting her business, but honestly, there was nothing keeping her in Denver now that her grandmother was traveling and Calliope had found her happily ever after with Jackson here.
She’d been surprised at how well her store was doing. She owed it all to the citizens of Redemption welcoming her with open arms. They’d immediately loved the handmade, unique and sometimes one of a kind merchandise she offered. Even more surprising was seeing some of her Denver customers making the trip to Redemption to visit her store. Other customers who couldn’t make the trek had been asking if she would ever have an online store. She’d put some thought into it, but hadn’t gotten very far with it.
She set her mug on the glass counter near the register, found a box cutter and opened a box of new merchandise she hadn’t had time to unpack yesterday. Reaching into the box, she pulled out a pair of stunning earrings. She was pleased to see they were even more beautiful in person than in the pictures she’d been sent. They were silver and turquoise. There was a larger circle in hammered silver with a smaller circle of turquoise in the center. Dangling off the bottom were small, round pieces of turquoise. Next, she pulled out a hammered silver cuff and a matching ring. Oh, she really liked these.
Being the owner, it was sometimes tempting not to keep everything for herself. Needing to make a profit to pay her bills was the only thing keeping her from doing that. Sure, her brother would be more than happy to support her, but she just wasn’t built like that. She wanted to make her own money and make her own way.
As she pulled items out of the box, she entered them into the store inventory and gave them each price tags. She absently replayed how she’d covered Race in snow and knocked him on his ass this morning. She’d felt bad, but it was pee in your pants funny, too. Race surprised her by not getting angry. Instead he found the humor in the situation, going so far as to tell her to laugh and get it out of her system. So she did and his smile had been breathtaking. Like, cause her breath to catch in her chest and feel her panties get wet amazing.
In that moment he almost seemed human, approachable, not the complete jerk she’d known him to be. Especially when he introduced her to his son and pointed out his daughters standing at the window. They’d been so cute, smiling and waving their direction. She’d lived next door to him for a few months now and this was the first time she’d had an opportunity to meet them. She’d seen them at his house a lot and had to admit she liked the way he wasn’t too macho to show his kids affection. Like today, she’d been stepping outside when the kids arrived and had gotten to see the joy that lit up Race’s face at having his children at his house. It wasn’t the first time she’d witnessed it and it never got old seeing how much he loved them. And it was obvious how much they adored him.
From her experiences with Race, the man could be semi-pleasant like today or a complete dick for what felt like to her ninety percent of the time. She didn’t know what she’d done to deserve his bad attitude and she didn’t care. She couldn’t say he was outright mean to her. It was more like cold and indifferent whenever she was around. Especially when Calliope dragged her along to club parties. He ignored her so completely, she felt like she was invisible.
Growling, she shook her head, trying to clear all thoughts of Race. Instead, her thoughts went back to his son, Derrick. And in doing so, she couldn’t help but compare him to his father. Uh. There she was thinking about him again. Derrick was as tall as his dad, had the same black hair and dark blue eyes and they smiled the same. Heck, they even stood the same while standing side by side. She could already see it now. The boy was going to be a heartbreaker. From what little she’d seen of his girls, the older one was absolutely beautiful and the younger one was already showing signs of following in her sister’s footsteps.
Finished with her task, she moved around the store, placing the new merchandise until the sound of motorcycle pipes coming down the street had her glancing out the window. She spotted a couple of the Sons of Redemption on their bikes despite the cold temperatures. She’d learned that if the roads were clear, it didn’t matter the temperature, those men were always on their bikes. She moved to the front window and watched as four Sons backed their bikes into parking spots in front of the building three doors down from hers. Calliope had told her that the club had been thinking about opening a tattoo shop in the space.
“Oh, shoot.” Seeing Race’s club brothers reminded her that she’d forgotten to mention to him this morning that she thought her hot water heater was going out and her refrigerator was on the fritz. Before she could forget again, she grabbed up her phone and shot him a text. She didn’t expect him to deal with it while he had his children, but maybe Monday would be nice. Her showers were getting colder and shorter.
Before she could set her phone aside, it dinged, indicating she had a text. She swiped the message. It was from her brother.How are things in Redemption?
Great. Never better. Things with Bling Boutique were going great. It was things in her private life that left a lot to be desired. Hell, the closest she’d gotten to seeing any action in the last six months was seeing Race get lucky in his hot tub.
Glad to hear it. I’ll be by sometime in the next week.
Okay. See you then. Be safe. Love you.
Love you, too, Bell.
She smiled and set her phone aside. She loved her brother Isaac terribly, but due to his line of work, he tended to be a worry wart. He always took extra precautions when it came to contacting her or visiting her. That’s why he always called from a burner phone and only visited her at night.
She realized that to most everyone he was thought of as an unforgiving crime lord. To her he was a loving older brother who sometimes tended to be a little overbearing. For example, he’d never liked her ex-husband, Dallas. He’d warned her that he was trouble, but she’d refused to believe him. He’d pushed for her to get a prenup, which she refused, and all but begged her not to marry him.
Needless to say, she’d found out the hard way that her brother was right. Within two years of marrying Dallas, he’d figured out that her business was making money and he quit his job. The sad thing was she didn’t realize that he’d quit his job for at least nine months after the fact. She was so busy making her new business a success, she hadn’t noticed he was living off her. Since he did the bills at home, she didn’t realize he was no longer contributing financially. It took Isaac pointing it out for her to know what was going on. She still wasn’t sure how he’d figured it out. Oh, and he’d discovered that Dallas liked to gamble. Yeah. Nice.
