Hellbent Hero by Naomi Porter

19

Tara

MY EYES SLOWLY opened. I never needed to set the alarm on my phone. I had a fail-proof internal clock. I woke up every morning at the same time: 6:05 a.m.

In college, Madeline always grumbled about it, because she was a light sleeper. The moment my foot hit the floor of our dorm, she was up too.

I curled into a tight little package under the covers as a mammoth yawn took hold of me.

Hero!

Had last night been a dream? Was Hero really out of jail and in my home? I reached my hand behind me, where I recalled him being when I succumbed to exhaustion after stripping out of my clothes to show him my scars.

The spot was empty.

Raising up on my elbows, I flitted my tired eyes across my room. A soft glow of light found its way through the blinds.

His leather cut stood out among my clothes in my closet. I didn’t recall him hanging it.

I wrinkled my forehead as a scent filled my nostrils. Is that bacon? My stomach growled as I inhaled the deliciousness. I’d missed dinner yesterday, as I did most days, but this morning I actually felt hungry.

Kicking off the blankets like a kid on Christmas morning, I jumped out of bed, smiling like a fool. Goose bumps spread across my nearly naked body. It was freezing, so I tugged on sweats and scuffled into the bathroom.

I quickly brushed my teeth and combed my fingers through my wild red mane. No time to mess with it. This was me before a proper shower. I wasn’t Beyoncé. I didn’t wake up flawless.

Tiptoeing down the hall to catch him in the act, I stilled to peer around the corner.

Unbelievable.

Hero had his back to me, humming an unrecognizable tune at the stove. Bacon sizzled and popped in perfect harmony, as if it were his band. I crept around the corner to admire him in my kitchen. No man had ever cooked for me before. Not even Dad.

Sure, I could fix a few easy prep meals by the time I was twelve years old. Mostly ramen, grilled cheese, scrambled eggs, and waffles. Pretty much anything that could go into the microwave, boil in water or cook in one skillet.

I put my hand on my chest, grateful for this second chance with him.

My mouth watered and it had nothing to do with the bacon.

Why did men look so fucking hot shirtless with their jeans hanging off their hips and barefoot? I wanted to kiss every inch of his tan skin. Drag my tongue through the dips and valleys of his six-pack abs. Smell his musk and taste his cum. I desired him more than any man before him. I needed to reacquaint myself with this superhero of a biker.

Last night was incredibly peaceful, sleeping in his arms. I felt safe, cared for. Adored. I appreciated his understanding beyond words. I’d thought for sure he’d force me to talk.

As I recalled how everything unfolded, I wasn’t sure what had gotten into me. Hero had pounced on me, smothered me with a kiss that had my clit throbbing, panties damp with my arousal. Desperately, I ached for his cock. Would’ve let him fuck me against the wall, had Luna not interrupted.

It went downhill from there…

Now this morning? I was like a bitch in heat.

Horny as fuck.

Aching nipples? Check.

Pulsing clit? Check. Check. Check.

I needed my man more than a friggin’ slice of bacon. That was saying something. I fucking loved bacon.

Hero’s muscles flexed and danced with his movements. He was incredibly handsome. Sinfully bossy. I couldn’t get enough of him.

But he didn’t let me call the shots. Not a chance. It was how I preferred it.

A weaker man would’ve left last night after getting kneed in the nuts. Usually, men dumped my ass because of my no-filter mouth and take-control attitude in the bedroom. I liked to be rough. Liked it more when the man was rough with me.

No one before Hero ever did it for me. And for a good reason. My perfect match hadn’t entered my life. Last night proved it. He cried with me. Didn’t run after he saw my scars. When at my most vulnerable, he proved he could be trusted.

Luna perked up on the counter when she saw me. Naughty girl. Or rather, naughty boy. I never let her up there or on the table. Copper had warned against it. I had listened carefully to everything he’d said the day I brought her home. I mean, he’d owned a cat. That made him an expert.

I sighed dreamily at the scrumptious Latino. Was Hero really my man?

“Roja, I hear you.” He turned around with a cocky grin. “You only sigh like that after sex. Did you come just from watching me?”

My cheeks heated. “You paid attention.”

He came toward me with a panty-melting swagger and a hungry look in his dark eyes. “Damn straight, I did. But my woman shouldn’t come without my permission.” He cupped my face and kissed me hard. One hand grabbed my ass to push me into the firm bulge in his pants.

I moaned into his mouth. “Oh God, I missed you.” We might have only spent two days locked together in his bedroom at the clubhouse—two months ago—but it had been the best thirty-nine hours of my life. After weeks of flirting and teasing, what we accomplished in that short amount of time was what other couples took months, maybe even years, to achieve.

It was why I’d fallen so hard for him.

And why he was able to shatter me.

Without breaking our liplock, Hero took a few steps back. Then, he turned off the stove, moved the skillet off the burner, and put Luna on the floor, all while making me weak in the knees with his sensual lips.

See? Superhero.

“Missed you too, baby.” He lifted me onto my small square dining table, tugging my sweat pants and panties down while licking his lips.

I giggled at him. Was he serious? “We’ll break my cheap table with how hard you fuck.”

He spread my legs apart, eyeing his target. “Not for what I’m about to do to you.”

A shiver speared down my spine, curling my toes. “But I’m gonna want your cock.”

He firmly grabbed my thighs, digging into my flesh with a gentle sting of pain leveling pleasure up my body from his fingers. “Don’t be a greedy bitch. You’ll take what I give you.” His harsh voice nearly made me come. When he looked at me with a feral glint? God help me, I turned to goo. I want him to ravage me. Dominate me. Own me body and soul.

Hero showed he remembered how he affected me when talking this way. It had taken some coaxing to get him to call me names like bitch and slut. At first, he seemed hurt. It was sweet. Sometimes, I just wanted it dirty.

“Then you better give me what I want, big guy. You have a lot to make up for.”

He growled, dragging his nose through my patch of red curls. At the same time, his tongue pulsed on my clit. I held his head in place, bucking my hips as he stole the oxygen right out of my lungs.

“Fuck, Roja. I ain’t never tasted a sweeter pussy.”

Libby’s pretty face flashed in my head. I hit the back of Hero’s head for jerking me out of the moment. “Don’t you dare talk about any of the bitches you’ve fucked. Not cool, asshole.”

He growled into my body, biting my clit.

I screamed as electricity crackled inside my pussy. It seemed Mr. Hero remembered how I liked biting too. I used to think I was a fucked up broad, back in college. When girls talked about sex, it was always sweet and passionate. Never raunchy or electrifying.

Boooring.

Pleasure and pain were my addiction. I craved both. During sex, it was okay. Even Dr. Kelly had said so during one of our sessions. So long as I didn’t let it go too far.

“Won’t happen again, mi vida.” He teased my entrance with his finger but didn’t stay there. No, no. The mischievous bastard gathered my arousal and plunged his finger into my ass. My hips shot up, smashing my pussy into his face.

“Fuck, Hero!”

“That’s what I’m doing, Roja. Fuck you just the way you like, baby.” He flattened his tongue and stroked it across my opening.

Once.

Twice.

Three times.

So maddening slow, my body shook with a force more potent than my high-intensity vibrator.

I moaned so loud I swore the roof shook above me. Gripping my head between my hands, I squeezed as my orgasm built at lightning speed. My tin trailer house spun as if a tornado had ripped it off the foundation. I closed my eyes, feeling woozy as I whirled into the clouds.

Dorthy’s voice cut through my pleasure. There’s no place like… No! I didn’t want to hear her. She wasn’t welcome in my home. She wasn’t invited into my world.

Stop. Stop. Stop!

“Roja? Baby, was I hurting you?” His hand pressed to my cheek and wiped under my eyes. “Fuck, mi vida. I thought you enjoyed this.”

“I was. I mean, I am.” So when did I start crying? Was I losing my mind?

He kissed my lips softly. A breath hung in my lungs at the sight of worry in his eyes. “You cried out for me to stop.”

“What?” I hadn't even realized I had said that aloud. One phone call from my dad was all it took to have him in my head again. Shit, this wasn’t good.

“You yelled for me to stop, and I did.” He stroked my cheek with his thumb. “I’d never hurt you, baby. Never.”

“You didn’t.”

Was he serious? I’d yelled for him to stop? I guessed being enraptured did crazy things to someone.

“Let’s eat breakfast.” He went to pull away, but I reached for him.

“No. Don’t leave me.”

He studied me. I wished he could read my mind. Make it all better.

“I’m here. I’ll never leave you.” He scooped me into his arms. “Never, Roja.”

I curled into him, pressing my lips below his ear. “We need to talk.” I had to bring Hero up to speed on my hidden secrets. If we were going to be together, he needed to know what he signed up for. I’d give him an out. Release him from the madness that was me.

Why?

Because I loved him.

I needed to choose my words carefully. I didn’t want Hero to feel obligated to be with me. I didn’t want his pity. I didn’t want anyone to look at me like I was an unrepairable woman.

Fuck that shit. Don’t think like that, Tara!

I’d held my own against the Wizard, aka Dad. I was a survivor. A badass bitch. I might have lost my bearings for a few weeks after Hero fucked with my emotions. Regressed a bit, burning myself again. I was only human. But I’d picked myself up, dusted off the ashes, and called Dr. Kelly.

I didn’t need no man to fix me. Care for me. Love me.

I didn’t need Hero Fuentes to be happy.

But I wanted him.

To want and need were very different. I could admit I desired him with every cell in my body. I could admit I dreamed about a future with him. Longed for it.

If that irresistible Latino did me wrong again, I’d drop his ass so fast and be gone before he could make sense of what happened.

Hero carried me back to bed and tucked me in. He removed his pants, joining me seconds later.

I rested my head on his solid chest and absorbed his heat as his arms wrapped around me, lips pressed to my forehead. I wanted this more than I’d ever wanted anything.

“Mi vida, before we get started, I need to make some things clear.”

“Okay.” Instantly, I went on the defense. My walls vaulted up. The iron gate to my heart sealed shut, fearing he was about to let me down easily.

His hand glided up and down my back. “Whatever you tell me, it changes nothing,” he whispered into my hair. “If you think I don’t see the real you behind all the attitude and that smart mouth of yours, I’m telling you I know it’s all a front.”

What was he doing? Trying to unfold the many layers I hid behind to protect the real me? I knew I could trust him but I wasn’t sure I was ready for this.

“I don’t know what you mean.”

“¡Cállate!” He slapped my ass.

“Did you just spank me and tell me to shut up?”

Fire practically shot out of his narrowed eyes. “I’m warning you, Roja. I’m not playing.”

Whoa, temper. “Sorry.”

“If you think you could ever scare or push me away, you can’t. I won’t let you. And I’ll paddle your ass until it’s black and blue if you try.” He blew out a breath. “I don’t say these things to be a bossy, possessive asshole.”

I hiked an eyebrow. “Oh, really?”

He squeezed my ass cheek in his hand and dropped a kiss on my lips. “I am sometimes. But I’m telling you all this because you’re mine. All my brothers will know it.”

“How will they know?” Was it wrong to love the possessive asshole side of him? I’d experienced his tenderness. Hero felt emotions deeply. Good and bad. Something told me I’d struck gold with him.

“Because I’m claiming you in front of them at Storm’s birthday party Friday night.”

I tilted my face up to his, utterly stunned. There was an unyielding spark in his dark depths that said he wasn’t to be fucked with after his speech. He lowered his lips to mine before I could say anything.

Hero’s hands went into my hair, deepening the kiss. I tingled and squirmed against him. My freakout moment was already an afterthought. Maybe I should get Hero to fuck me instead of telling him about my issues and past.

Except I couldn’t, despite how much I wanted him deep inside me. My dad had crawled out of the rock he’d been hiding under. Eleven years had passed with not a single word from him. So I’d assumed he was dead.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t that lucky.

“Are you sure you want to do that? Claim me, I mean? We haven’t been together very long. Isn’t it a step below marriage?”

Hero shook his head. “In an MC, claiming a woman, making her your old lady is above marriage. Afterward, you’ll get my mark tattooed on you. Then, the whole club will respect and protect you with their life. We’re doing this, Roja.”

If only he could hear me screaming inside in sheer delight.

“Is that an order?”

“You’re my woman. Best you start acting like it and obey your man.” He pushed me onto my back and covered my body with his. He kissed me with no small amount of loving-kindness. It gushed out of him like Niagra Falls. “Now, talk to me. Tell me your secrets so we can deal with them. I need to fuck my woman, so hurry it the fuck up, baby.” He flashed me a megawatt smile.

I laughed because why the fuck not? Hero made me feel secure. Wanted. And not alone.

“Okay, big guy. I think I’d feel better with you pretty pecker inside me when we have this conversation.”

No words.

Hero stripped us both of our bottoms and drove his cock into my warm, wet pussy. I arched my back feeling immense pleasure being filled to the hilt.

We groaned at the same time. “Fuck.”

“All right, baby, I gave you what you wanted. I’m not moving until you tell me about your burns and everything else. I’m here. I’m yours. No need to keep that shit bottled up. Let me bear the burden with you.”

“Are you for real? Didn’t you used to ignore me?”

“I’ve always been the strong silent type. Now don’t go telling my brothers this… I was afraid of you. Afraid of screwing up before I could pin you to the bed and show you all I could offer you.”

Hero had to be screwing with me. I’d let him. “Well, you’ve done that and quite well, I might add.”

He kissed me, twisting his tongue with mine. I loved the way he practically swallowed me whole. Loved everything he did to me. His teeth captured my bottom lip, then released it.

“Talk, Tara.”