When the elevator doors opened up she began to yell. “Hello? Can you please open up the door?"

  "Sure," said Will softly.

  “Wait," she insisted. "I just want to warn you I don't have any clothes on. And I am covered in rug fur and oil."

  There was something of a long pause before the door simply knocked opened. Will hadn't needed to fuss with the lock and that raised a lot of questions in her mind.

  "How did you-?" she asked. "I could not get that thing to budge."

  "I just," he said and demonstrated pushing the door in. "There is no," he made a motion to turn the knob.

  It was then that she realized the doorknob was fixed. It hadn’t been locked the entire time. All she had to do was pull a little harder than she had. She was completely overtaken with how dumb the whole scene was – how dumb she was. But maybe, even still, she wouldn’t have been able to do so with it being slick with oil.

  She knew she was a spectacle. She avoided looking Will in the eye, though he was certainly staring. 'Thank you for doing that.”

  "I heard the bath run a couple of times. I came up to check on you – see if you were okay." His face was a mix of bewilderment and amusement.

  Laura gave a little laugh, embarrassed. "Just me. Playing with the oil."

  "I see that" he said. He opened a closet in the short hall between her bedroom and the bathroom, and pulled out an extra-large towel. Without foretelling his intent, he enveloped her with it and began to rub her down vigorously.

  Her skin still bore a thick film of soapy oil that had to be rinsed off but it was better. "I’m fine," she said interrupting his very thorough attention. "I just need the water to be hot again."

  "Come," he said, wrapping the towel around her snugly. "The bathroom on my floor will have hot water."

  They both loaded into the elevator to the floor below. Stepping into the elevator car began a transformation between the both of them. An elevator, her naked, and the two of them put thoughts in both their heads that electrified the atmosphere. Laura knew he was thinking what she was thinking. His face showed the gathering storm of intent.

  As the elevator stopped on his floor, Will was commanding. He was very hands-on as he guided her towel-wrapped, but otherwise naked, body to the bathroom. Of course she could take it from there, but Laura realized how much she craved his attentions. She wished she could wipe the slate clean and have it be just the two of them with the purity of their passion.

  Will drew a hot bath for her. The steam curled into the air and misted the mirror. Laura didn't need his help, but he was very helpful all the same. When he unwrapped the towel from her body, he suppressed a laugh. Though most of the rug fur was off of her, there were still hairs plastered to her skin.

  The situation was beginning to get awfully familiar. It was reminiscent of the other night when he gave her pleasure. Laura wanted more or she wanted nothing. As spectacular as she knew it was going to be, if that was, indeed, the way it was going, as much as she wanted what she could get from him, she would have to rebuff any advances – unless he was willing to go the distance with her.

  "I think I can take it from here," she said, her voice husky with arousal.

  "Sure you don't want some company?" he asked.

  "Yes I am sure. I do. I don't want just a taste. I want all of you. And if I can't have all of you, I don't see there is any point," she said. It was killing her to turn him down.

  He pressed his lips to her forehead. "Fine," he said softly. And he left her alone.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  The light of the day was falling. Nothing about Ocean Beach said winter except for the early nightfall. They took the party down to the shore and a couple of the Disciples lit a beach fire. Will and couple of the bikers enjoyed some beers. Every so often, Will looked over to Laura with a hungry look in his eye. Laura knew she wasn't exactly himself. She had never known him to be intoxicated, but he wasn't exactly sober. Laura was certain he was what they called 'high and horny.'

  She got up and walked to the water's edge to think. Like a ghost besides her...surrounding her...she could feel the memory of him when they were at the height of being in love. They had been at the beach another time. A sweet recollection of his arms around her, the two of them rolling around on the wet sand, invaded her mind. Laura's legs were wrapped tightly around his hips and he was driving into her. There was nothing on earth like the feeling of Will Shriner making incredible love to her. Laura looked longingly at the last traces of the sun setting into the ocean.

  Just then, he was up and behind her. He was standing cheek to cheek, his breath not unpleasantly laced with alcohol. "Beautiful," he murmured. He was remarking about the California sky. He took the liberty of wrapping his arm around her waist.

  She couldn't deny that his powerful arm, so warm as she now fit snuggly against him, felt wonderful. "Yes it is," she agreed wanly. Laura wished things were different. How was it the one and only love, and an amazingly passionate and fabulous one at that, got so tangled with the ugly reality of her young brother getting mixed up with a gang? Between losing her mother and father and her relationship with her brother in peril, it seemed Laura was not to have a close, loving relationship with another human being – at least not in the immediate future.

  AND YET THE MERE TOUCH of Will Shriner lit Laura’s body with arousal. Right or wrong, she could drag him to a remote corner and take him. Will chuckled softly in her ear and it tickled.

  "What?" she asked.

  "The sight of you with that hair all over you. Tell me again what had happened?" he asked.

  As she began to explain about the oil and the rug, his hands found their way under her shirt and gently stroked her tenderly, ever so lightly on the skin of her belly. The sweet sensations caused her to stutter and stammer. She couldn't think straight. Even in the dark, before the glittering ocean, even while he had a few, Will knew exactly what he was doing to her. Even above the noise of the waves, her heavy breathing could be heard.

  “You okay?" he teased.

  "Will," she pleaded.

  "Let me come see you tonight," he said.

  "Is it a good idea?" she asked.

  He laughed out loud. A great burst a little too loud for her ears. And then he got super quiet, darkly so, like a predator and he had closed in on her, she his captured prey. "Is it a good idea? Well, just think about it," he coached her in a soft yet commanding voice. Laura closed her eyes. "Are you thinking about it?" he whispered. "Thinking about the look on my face as I’m looking into your eyes, the way I look as I am standing over you, about how good it feels with your legs spread for me, about my wet mouth on your tits," his fingers very covertly found her nipples as he said that, and grazed them until they were erect. "Now think about," he said and he guided her firmly against him. She could feel his definite hardness press into her. "Me super hard for you. The way my cock feels as I graze the soft inside of your thigh, as I press into you and you are so, so wet and hot for me."

  "WILL," SHE BEGGED AGAIN.

  "So what do you think there, Goldie Locks? Think that's a good idea. Me, personally, I think it's a wonderful idea. Every time I think about it," his voice was like honey against her.

  "Do you think about it?" Laura asked her.

  "All the time," he replied, completely sober.

  There were sounds of other people joining the Disciples around the fire. Women. Laura turned just to check it out though it made sense. These were healthy men and the one thing the West Coast Disciples had in common with the East Coast Disciples was their pension for passion. Laura's eyes narrowed. Becky.

  "What is she doing here?" Laura inquired. Will whipped around to focus on what she was focusing on.

  "That's Lucas's girl. He asked if we would bring her. We didn't care. It was annoying, but he paid her way. We just asked that they didn't travel together."

  Laura bristled. It shouldn't bother her that her brother had a girlfriend but that wasn't it. "What's the matter?" Will asked.

  Laura recalled the sort of dopy looks both Will and Becky's faces when they had their few exchanges. She couldn't very well tell Will she was jealous but that was what it was.

  "Uh oh, something is bothering you," Will remarked. Even with some drinks in him, Will didn't miss a trick. He reached up and drew down her new blonde ringlet and let it go. It sprung back up softly. "So pretty."

  "I have to go," she said agitatedly. "I wanna go back to the house."

  "Okay," said Will.

  "No. You stay. I am going up to my room," she said.

  "Laura," he said, the alcohol definitely sounding in his voice.

  Her brother was alert and now he approached them. "Everything okay?"

  Will immediately was defensive. "None of your business," he answered.

  "She is my sister," Lucas replied.

  "Oh now that occurs to you," Will mocked.

  As Will walked toward the fire, he shoved Lucas. Laura hadn't actually seen it but she heard it. It was definitely a body slam. Laura turned around and witnessed the aftermath. Lucas had a mix of rage and confusion on his face and Will was just angry. He was clearly under the influence of his drinking.

  "He's walking me home," said Laura. She glared at Will. "Let him pass."

  "Fine," Will said and threw his hands up in the air. Then he made a mock bow and motioned Lucas along.

  With some apprehension, Laura turned her back to the drinking Disciples as she and her brother took the stairs up to the main street.

  When it was just the two of them, Lucas turned to her. "I have a small savings. We can go get a place of our own. I don't like it here with these guys. And my feeling is that you aren’t any happier with them. I understand where they are coming from. I can't change my past, but I can take care of you. We don't need them."

  "Don't you?" Will asked. Laura and Lucas turned around to face him. He sauntered up to them. "You're a dead man without us," he said directly to Lucas. "And you know it. She doesn't know it. You really want to take that chance with her? You’re really going to use her just to prove you aren't such a bad guy?"

  "Stop it!” Laura ordered and covered her ears.

  "Don't want to hear this?" Will asked and gently pulled her hands down. "In case you hadn't noticed, you two are on the run. I didn't change your appearance because I have a thing for blondes."

  Will had just confirmed what Laura feared. He did prefer her new hair color. He did like Becky. "I don't like you anymore,” said Laura. "I just want a normal life. I am tired of these ups and downs. I am tired of you putting my heart in a vice."

  "Join the club, Goldie Locks! Try dealing with having the woman you love more than anything in the world walk out on you instead of sharing her pain with you." Laura scuttled across the street to the house. Lucas was right behind her and behind both of them was Will. "It's going to be tough to get in without a key," Will said triumphantly. He held a key out to the doorknob, but he was clumsy about it.

  Lucas took the key from him impatiently and Will took another swing. The two huge men tumbled immediately into a full-blown brawl, narrowly missing Laura. Fear rose within her and choked her. She could not cry out. She dumbly pressed against the side of the enormous house as the giants fought.

  Ever alert, Knights' Disciples rushed across the street, their female entourage right behind them. "Break it up!" Darren ordered. "Break it up!"

  The Disciples bent to pry the wrenched bodies apart. Even in the dark, with just the scattered spot light on them, Laura could see that Will was embarrassed. Lucas was shaken. Despite his time as a gang member, Laura believed in her heart that Lucas was the good boy she had raised. Will rushed passed the crowd into the house.

  Darren and Pete did a preliminary exam of Lucas. "You okay?" Darren asked.

  At the moment, Laura liked Darren a whole lot more than she liked Will. As far as she was concerned, everything was Will’s fault right now.

  Becky weeded through the huddle to Lucas.

  "Oh what are you doing here anyway?" Laura demanded rhetorically before she disappeared into the house.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  Laura was at a definite disadvantage because she didn't know the house and it wasn't an obvious layout. She had entered on the living room level. She wandered over to where she thought the elevator opened up and decided to take it. She got in the car and hit a button. They were all unmarked so she had to figure them out. It was a bit confusing and she had just wanted to get out of the car and walk up, but the elevator started moving...only it was going down instead of up.

  Oh who the hell had an elevator with an unmarked panel in their house? She was terrified. She would wait for it to stop and she would get out. It landed and automatically opened up. She was now in the garage. It was extremely cold and eerie in the dark. Laura felt claustrophobic. She had no choice but to get back in the car and go up. She hit another button and after she did, the scheme of the panel dawned on her. The buttons were arranged in the order of the floors of the house: the first button was for the bottom floor; the last one had to be for her floor. She pressed that one while the elevator was in motion and it stopped the car.

  "Help!" she screamed. "Help!"

  A phone rang from behind a panel in the elevator. She opened it up and answered it.

  "You stuck?" Will asked.

  "What do you think?" she replied bitingly.

  "Count over four buttons and press," he directed, ignoring her attitude.

  She did what he said and the car began to move again. The doors opened up. A dark and brooding Will Shriner met her.

  Laura reached for the elevator controls. Will clutched her hand. "What are you doing?" he demanded.

  "I would rather be stuck in this stupid elevator than be here with you!" she replied.

  Will whisked her up at the waist and twirled her out of the car. "Sorry about that, Goldie Locks. And sorry about your brother," he answered.

  "Stop calling me that!" she demanded. "First chance I get, I am coloring it back."

  "You are not," he said sounding something of his usual self, despite the drinking. "We're going to stay stuck on this floor, I've decided, until we iron this thing out."

  "What thing?" Laura demanded.

  "This thing between you and me. This is not about Lucas or gangs. This is about you and me and we are going to come clean about it once and for all," he proclaimed.

  "What are you going to do? Force me?" she blurted out.

  Will's eyes narrowed, the insult firmly landed. "What is that supposed to mean?" he demanded, but he didn't let her answer. "Do you deny that you want me? Have I ever had to coerce? Was the passion you had for me not the same fiery passion I have for you?" he clutched the back of her hair. "The same maddening passion from the first moment we were alone together?"

  Harkening back to that first time in a hallway of her house amidst the war-like atmosphere when the gang members had attacked Lucas. The way Will drove into her with such need made Laura quiver just thinking about it now. It made her weak for him now, but Laura couldn't be with him now. Not after tussling with Lucas and certainly not while he seemed to be kind of drunk. And then it occurred to her. Maybe that's why he only met her halfway that night a few weeks ago at Luckie's? Maybe she hadn't given him a chance to explain that it wouldn't have been fair of him to take her while she had been drinking and vulnerable. She didn't even talk to him about it. She just made assumptions.

  She pressed a gentle hand to his face. Under the influence or not, this giant of a man was laying it out there for her. He wanted an emotional throw down. She had no place to go. She had nothing to lose but him, and she thought she had already done that. She guided him to his bedroom and sat him down on the corner of the mattress.

  She knelt down and removed his shoes. Will watched as she did for him what she usually did for her. She raised his muscle-heavy arms up above his head and tried to skim off his tight T-shirt. She was bound and determined, but she was clumsy. She inadvertently pressed her bust line into his face and he nibbled.

  "Stop," she laughed, not able to maintain anger while she found him funny. "I am going to give you a bath next. This is very serious," she giggled.

  Will's expression was unchanging. He gazed at her with arousal. His was one of smoky intent. She managed to remove his shirt, baring his massive, muscled torso, ripped with powerful shoulders that look even larger naked than they did when he stood in a room and blocked out most of the light. Laura left his side to run the water.

  "Better let me handle the bath oil," he called to her, still playing the straight man, but joking.

  She giggled. While in the bathroom, she pared down her attire to her satiny push up bra and panties. She rejoined him at the bed, surprising him with a scantily clad bod.

  His eyes danced with delight. He held her still, the white light of an outside fixture spilling in upon them.

  "Come," she said and guided them both to the bathroom.

  The floor was tiled in big squares like the one on her floor. There was a thick Berber bathmat by the tub. "Oh so give me the animal fur," she teased.

  "I don't think the lamb rug was your problem, Goldie Locks. You got carried away playing with the good smelling stuff," he drew in a whiff of her hair, shampooed with the exotic soap that had been in the bathroom.

  "What did you do? Raid a Persian market?" she teased.

  "Oh no. That is pure California. You get a ticket if you don't have some form of patchouli on your person. I had to leave it out for you. I was protecting you," he murmured.

  She turned to him. "You always are, aren't you?" Now her look was sensual, she could feel it. She unfastened his jeans and stripped him clean of all clothing. She guided him to step in the tub, and down he went, easing into the lusciously hot water.

  "Feels great," he admitted, his eyes closing, luxuriating in the bath.

  Laura dipped her hands to wet them and spilled soap into her palms. It was some of the same of the stuff that got her into trouble before. It smelled and felt amazing.