Starting Over by Mia Malone

Chapter Seven

Vanilla bean

Rosie

Having dessert with Tony did apparently not involve sitting down like a mature couple at his dining table or behaving with any kind of decorum.

It meant walking into his bedroom, dimming the lights slightly, and putting the containers on the bedside table.

“Come here,” Tony murmured, and I walked into his arms.

He slid his strong hands up over my back and around my neck until he cupped my cheeks, pushing gently, so we were facing each other. There was a smile in his eyes, and I felt my lips twitch.

Then he slowly lowered his head and moved his lips softly over mine. I opened my mouth slightly, and his tongue made a brief sweep over my lips.

“Tony,” I crooned. “Are you ever going to kiss me for real?”

“I thought you wanted me to take the lead?”

“You could take the lead by kissing me,” I suggested.

I felt his smile against my mouth, but then his tongue slid inside, and I moaned softly.

I’d missed that quiver between my legs and how my heart suddenly beat a little harder. His hands were on my hips and then on my behind, and I felt his crotch against the lower part of my belly.

“You should get undressed,” he mumbled after a while, and moved his hands around to pull my top upward, so I raised my arms and let him pull it off. “Christ, you’re gorgeous,” he murmured and moved his index finger along the peachy pink lace on my bra.

I pulled at his tee, but he took a small step back and was suddenly shaking his head.

“What?” I asked.

“I’m too horny, babe. We can’t get me undressed just yet because if we do, then I’ll be inside immediately, and it’ll be over a lot faster than I want.” He grinned and started unbuttoning my jeans. “So, we’ll start with you.”

He was gorgeous, and the tight tee showed off his fabulous chest, and the thought of being completely naked in front of him made me a little self-conscious.

“Um,” I mumbled, and when he frowned, I added, “I’m fifty-three.”

His brows went up, but then he started laughing loudly.

“Babe,” he said with a chuckle and pulled me into his arms again. “For fuck’s sake.”

“What?” I snapped.

“I’ve been jerking off constantly for a month fantasizing about your body. Pretty sure there isn’t any need at all for you to be shy.”

I leaned back to look up at him, not sure if I’d heard him correctly.

“You’ve touched yourself thinking about me?” I breathed out.

“Well, yeah,” he said.

“Constantly,” I added, which was a little stupid.

“Pretty much, yeah,” he said with a crooked grin. That grin suddenly turned sly, and he added, “Are you going to tell me you haven’t once thought about me?”

I hadn’t planned to tell him that since I hadn’t planned to discuss the numerous times I’d had my hand between my legs entertaining fantasies about him, embarrassingly enough even a few times back when I thought he was Tony-the-jerk.

“Um,” I mumbled again.

“Get undressed,” he whispered hoarsely. “The ice cream is melting.”

“Well, we can’t waste Addie’s ice cream,” I said, aiming for cheeky but only achieving breathy.

He didn’t seem to mind, and since he kept kissing me while I got undressed, I forgot to be embarrassed. Then we were on the bed, and he pushed my arms upward until I touched his headboard.

“Don’t move,” he said. “I’m gonna...” he reached for the plastic tub, opened it, and used his index and middle finger to scoop up some ice cream. “Have some dessert.”

The ice cream was cold and made my nipples harden even more, and I couldn’t hold back a soft gasp.

“Aha,” he mumbled. “Guess I’ll have to warm you up again.”

I was about to confirm that he should, but he licked the ice cream off me in a way that made me gasp again. Then he took the nipple in his mouth and sucked it clean.

He was on his side, and when he leaned over me to scoop up some more ice cream, his tee scraped against the nipple he’d just had dessert from and tingles shot straight down to my pussy, so I wiggled my hips impatiently.

“I want to eat dessert too,” I mumbled, hoping that he’d get undressed so we could get to the part where he was inside me.

“I’m calling the shots,” he mumbled and watched as he made a cold trail around my breasts. “There’s no hurry.”

I wanted to tell him that there was, but his tongue moved over me in a way that made me forget, and then he reached for some more ice cream.

“Love this curve here,” he said and moved his hand over my waist and hip, creating a cold trail. “Love having dessert here.” He shifted me slightly, and the way he used his lips and tongue to lap up the ice cream made me shudder. “Old war-wound?” he asked, and I twisted my head around.

He used an index finger to outline a long and jagged scar on the back of my right hip.

“Yeah,” I breathed out.

I wasn’t going to explain that right then, and he anyway smiled in a way that made me forget about it.

“I’ll make the boo-boo go away,” he said with a brow wiggle, and I’d never in my life thought I’d giggle over that particular scar, but I did.

Then his fingers moved again and his mouth, and I arched my back. When he’d finally made his way over my belly and gently pushed my legs apart, I was breathing choppily and assumed that he’d finally get out of his pants.

“Addie said something about fudge sauce,” he murmured and grinned when I made a frustrated sound. “I want to taste.”

He opened the other container, put his index finger in the sauce, and let it drip over my thighs. Then he dipped the finger again, and slid it through my folds, spreading the sticky sauce and caressing me at the same time.

“God, Tony,” I said. “Please.”

“Yeah,” he said and moved slowly until he was crouched between my legs. “You’re gonna come for me, Rosie.” He lapped up sauce from the inside of my left thigh. “Then we’ll...” He cleaned the other thigh and raised his head slightly to grin at me. “See what happens.”

My laughter changed into a moan when he put his mouth between my legs and started to move his tongue. I was so turned on it took him no time at all to push me over the edge, and I held on to the sheet as I arched my back and let the hot waves crash through me.

“You good?” he rumbled, and I was about to confirm that I was feeling beyond good, but he pulled off his tee, and my breath hitched.

I’d suspected that he would look amazing naked, but my imagination had been nowhere near reality. He wasn’t a young man, so he didn’t look like one, but I hadn’t known a man our age could still look that fit. A big tattoo made mostly in shades of gray covered one of his shoulders and part of his chest and upper arm. There was a tattoo on his other arm as well, but it was smaller and there was some color in it, and he had a ring in one of his nipples.

He pushed his jeans down slowly and then his briefs.

“Rosie,” he murmured, and I should say something intelligent, but then he put a knee on the bed and leaned over me.

I pulled him down toward me with one arm and couldn’t hold a smile back.

“Yowza,” I mumbled against his lips and felt his laughter more than I heard it. “My time to have dessert.”

My fantasies about Tony had mostly been focused on him inside and me coming. Reality turned out to be ice cream all over his chest and me licking fudge sauce off his belly, and while we moved lazily, the mood got hotter until our laughter had turned into hoarse breaths.

“Shit,” Tony said suddenly and moved to get up.

“Tony?”

“Forgot to bring –”

He heaved himself out of bed and disappeared toward the bathroom but came back immediately and threw a handful of plastic squares on the bedside table. A couple ended up on the floor, and I realized that he didn’t have contraceptives stashed all over his house. It wasn’t that I expected a man looking like him to never bring women to his home, but it still felt good that he wasn’t ready for anything at any time.

When he kneeled between my legs and slowly slid inside, I couldn’t hold back a satisfied, low moan.

“Good?” he rumbled and put his big hands on my hips to raise me up a little.

“God, yes,” I breathed out.

Then he started to buck his hips slowly and moved a hand to put his thumb on my clit. I arched my back and smiled.

“Fuck,” he rasped out, “Jesus, can’t –”

Both his hands were on my hips again suddenly as he pressed deep and tilted his head back slightly, groaning softly. I felt his cock jerk and watching him while he came sent little sparks of heat through my belly and down between my legs in small shivers.

When he fell forward, catching his weight on his elbows, I wrapped my arms and legs around him and kissed his neck.

“Sorry,” he mumbled into my hair. “That was a bit quicker than I wanted.”

“I liked watching you,” I whispered, hoping it would make me sound like a fool. “You look good.”

“Baby,” he murmured and started moving his hips slowly again. “Wanted you to be there with me.”

I gasped when he suddenly hit a spot inside, and he raised his head.

There was a satisfied grin on his lips, but the look in his eyes was hot, and then he pressed deep again, grinding against me, and a quiet moan made its way up my throat.

“Yeah,” he said. “Just like that.”

It built again, and then it suddenly washed over me in soft, long waves. I held on to him and buried my face against his shoulder when he moved faster and faster. The orgasm didn’t end, or perhaps another rolled over me, but I was too far gone to care.

“Oh, God,” I whimpered when he put a hand on my chin, pushing until I was facing him.

“You’re so fucking beautiful,” he pressed out. “Keep coming, baby, it’s –”

His face hardened, and then he started pounding harder, putting his mouth on mine and growling down my throat.

When we finally relaxed, I was stunned and sated and wondered how on earth I’d ever find the energy to move again.

“Wow,” I breathed out against his cheek, and he groaned softly as he raised his head.

“Am I heavy?”

“Don’t move.”

“Good,” he said with a crooked smile. “Not sure I can.”

***

Tony

He woke up slowly and didn’t move as he drifted into being fully awake. Rosie’s fantastic ass was pressed against his dick, and he felt her soft breasts under his arm and smiled into her neck. He usually slept on his back, but there he was, on his side and wrapped around the woman he hadn’t been able to get out of his mind since he first met her.

Reality had far exceeded his imagination, though.

His recovery time had always been pretty short, but he’d been in his twenties the last time he’d come twice like that, and his dick twitched at the thought of how she’d looked as he moved inside her.

And how she’d looked when they were in the shower to wash off what remained of Addie’s fantastic vanilla bean ice cream.

They had laughed while they stripped the soiled sheets off the bed, and then they sat on his couch, watching the outline of the mountains in the distance, sharing a beer and talking about her house and the room he’d offered her.

Rosie had suggested that they could go and look at it, but he’d managed to push that forward with the excuses that it was late, he was tired, and there was enough time for that later. He would have given in if she pushed, but it was probably for the better that she agreed because he’d meant to clean the space up for a while.

“Good morning,” Rosie mumbled, stretching a little as she turned around. “Um.”

He frowned when he saw the faint blush on her cheeks.

“Um, what?” he asked, and added firmly, “Don’t even think about leaving.”

“I wasn’t,” she protested. “But you know? Morning protocol?”

“Morning what?” he asked and leaned forward to make a trail along her neck with his mouth.

“I don’t know exactly what I’m,” she gasped softly, “supposed to do.”

“But you don’t have to do anything,” he said against her shoulder. “Just relax, and I’ll do all the work, Rosalind.”

“You’ll –” He moved his hand slowly over her hip and further down, sliding it along her thigh to wrap her leg around his hip. “Oh.”

“Yeah,” he said and raised his head to grin down at her. “Oh.”

***

“You’re looking jovial,” Coop said and placed bags which hopefully were filled with burgers and fries on his kitchen table.

“I’m feeling jovial,” Tony said.

There was a short silence, but Tony looked calmly back at Coop, who raised his brows slightly.

“Huh,” Coop grunted.

It wasn’t as if they shared details about their sex lives, but a brief commentary wasn’t out of the ordinary, so the surprise was expected, but Tony had no intentions to share anything about Rosie.

“Let’s eat,” he said. “I’m hungry.”

“Jesus.”

“What?” Tony asked although he suspected that he knew what Coop meant.

“You’re serious about her?”

“We’ve dated a couple of weeks and fucked once,” Tony told his friend. Finn made a low, scoffing sound, and Tony couldn’t hold a grin back as he amended his statement. “Well, one night anyway.”

“And you’re serious about her.”

It hadn’t started out that way, and if someone had asked him a week ago, he wouldn’t have known what to say, but after a night like the one he’d just had, Tony knew that this wasn’t just a quick fuck, or a woman to have some fun with for a while. He didn’t believe in ‘the one’ or love at first sight, but there was no doubt in his mind that if they continued what they had started, Rosie would become something serious.

For the first time in many years, the thought didn’t make him squirm.

“Yeah, Coop. I am,” he said calmly.

Since they’d known each other for years, Coop read his intentions accurately and nodded slowly.

“Guess I should make an effort to get to know her.”

“That’d be good,” Tony said, decided that any discussion about his relationship with Rosie was over, and changed the topic. “So, tell us. What’s my fucking father up to?”

“He’s such an asshole,” Coop said with a sigh. “Seems like Andy Ryan is about to start up a new club with a few guys Booger threw out from the Graws.” He winced and added, “Word is that they are calling themselves Cascades MC.”

Tony burst out laughing loudly, surprising both Cooper and Finn, but it really was too pathetic.

“What a fucking moron,” he chuckled. “Five assholes from a small club in the mountains and an old geezer just out of jail? Trying to pretend they’re Cascadia?” He shrugged and was perfectly honest when he added, “Whatever.”

“Booger said one of his former men bragged about how Andy says the design of the bird is his and they’re going to use it.”

The bird?

The one they all carried at the backs of their vests since it was a part of the Cascadia shield?

Finn barked out a short laugh, but there was no humor in it.

“Nope,” he said. “Not happening. My dad drew that bird, so if anyone has the rights to it, then that would be me.”

“Jesus, how I hate that old asshole,” Tony said with a sigh. “They can be a pathetic little wannabee club and call themselves whatever they want. Might lure over a couple of the old-timers from Cascadia. I do not care. But the shield? I do care about that, so let’s tell the douche that the line in the sand goes there and see what he does.”

“I agree,” Coop said. “Pretty sure we can hit back legally if we have to.”

“Don’t want to spend air and cash on it if I don’t have to, so let’s start with a clear warning. Who talks to him?”

“Not one of us. Not our seconds,” Finn said immediately. “Let’s have Eye do it.”

“Yeah,” Tony agreed. “It’ll be good for him to start doing shit like that.”

“You think he’s the one?” Coop asked.

Tony flashed a quick smile in appreciation. Cooper Mason had always been sharp, so it wasn’t surprising that he immediately understood what Tony meant.

“Might be. He’d be good if he wants it.”

“It’s a good choice to have him talk to Andy either way,” Coop mumbled. “No official role in the club, so it’ll be a nice slap in ol’ asshole’s face. He’s also a Hagen and Black’s son, so they won’t touch him and risk starting a war with both Cascadia and Thor. I’ll talk to him.”

“Yeah. Make sure Eye understands that I won’t step down in the next decade or two, so if he wants it now, he can forget about it. If he wants it later, then he should know that he’s one of the men we’re looking at.”

While they finished their lunch, they talked about various options for how to handle Andy Ryan and his small crew of assholes, and then Tony got up to make coffee.

“Let’s give him the message and wait to see what he does,” he said.

There were two cups and plates in the sink from the breakfast he’d shared with Rosie that morning, and he couldn’t stop his lips from twitching with a sappy smile his brothers wouldn’t see since he kept his back to them.

“Yeah.”

“Since you’re both here, let’s start moving things.”

“Moving what things?” Coop asked, which made Finn chuckle.

Tony explained about Rosie’s issues and how he would be her landlord for a while. Coop closed his eyes and let his head fall forward in a gesture that would have been funny if it hadn’t been at his expense.

“It isn’t a room, buddy. It’s a shit hole.”

“It isn’t a shit hole,” Tony protested.

“No,” Finn agreed as they walked toward the garage. “It’s a fucking dump.”

***

The room looked a little worse than Tony remembered, and he wondered how the hell he’d managed to save so much crap over the years. They had a lot more to do than he’d anticipated, but Hilt and two recruits showed up from fucking nowhere, which meant Coop had called them, and the speed picked up. By the end of the afternoon, they weren’t done but had made enough progress to call it a day and were having a beer on his back deck when Addie joined them after her shift at the Roadhouse.

It was a sweet evening like countless before, but an hour later, Tony caved in and went inside with his phone in his hand.

“Hey, babe,” he said when Rosie picked up. “When will you be here?”

There was a brief pause, which wasn’t surprising since they hadn’t made plans for her to be anywhere.

“Be where?” she asked.

“My house.”

“When was I invited?”

“Just before you left this morning.”

“It was almost lunchtime, and you said,” she faked a deep male voice, “Got shit to do. We’ll talk later, yeah?” then she went on in her normal voice, “I wasn’t aware that this was an order to show up at your place.”

He barked out a quick laugh and rolled his eyes toward the ceiling even though she couldn’t see it.

“Well, it wasn’t an order, exactly,” he said and lowered his voice. “It was an invitation to please join me for dinner.” He made a brief pause and added, “And then we’ll see what happens.”

She tried to hide her soft giggle, but he heard it and hoped it meant that she would indeed join him and the others.

“I have a couple of things to drop off at my ex’s place, but I’ll be over after that.”

“He has a car, doesn’t he? Put it outside the garage and tell him to come get it.”

She was quiet for a beat, and then she sighed.

“I should have done that, shouldn’t I?” she asked.

“Yeah, babe. You should,” he confirmed. “Call the dick, tell him something came up, and get your ass over here.”

“Okay,” she mumbled but added more decisively, “Yes. I will do just that.”

“Good,” Tony said and drawled, “Because according to Finn, we should apparently have heated up the fudge sauce.”