Taming Blade (Kings Reapers MC Book 5) Nicola Jane (suggested reading TXT) 📖

didn’t. I fell to sleep staring at my phone. And then I get mad at myself for even thinking about him like that. Ethan deserves my full attention yet Blade keeps creeping in my mind. What is it about bad boys that hooks me in?

I shake my head as Sara spins in a new dress she’s trying on. “It’s too short,” I say. “You can’t wear that to your dad’s charity ball.”

“It’d give the rich bastards there something to gossip about,” she mutters.

“Oh my god, I thought it was you,” says a female voice. Eva enters the shop followed by Lake. He eyes Sara and grins, making a beeline for her.

“Hey.” I smile. “How are you?”

She rolls her eyes and takes a seat next to me in the window. “Honestly, I’m drained. I’ve been shopping for an hour and Lake is no help. He tells me everything looks fine.” She glances around the shop and stands, grabbing a dress off the rails. “This is it,” she gasps. “This is the one.”

“Try it on,” I encourage. “I’m waiting around on Sara anyway.”

“You’re a real doll. Thanks.” She smiles, rushing to the changing rooms.

I watch Sara and Lake talking in a hushed whisper. The way she looks at him is something I’ve never witnessed from her before. She really likes him, and it breaks my heart.

“Tillie, could you come in here and help me?” shouts Eva.

I go into the change room as she pulls back the curtain. “I can’t fasten it,” she says, turning her back to me. I take the zipper firmly and tug it up. “I can’t do this with Lake.”

“Weren’t any of the women free today?” I ask.

“Anna is looking after Riggs and the kids, so she’s got it pretty full on right now. Leia is throwing herself into motherhood, rightly so, of course, and Gia is a nightmare when she comes shopping. She has a million outfits but still buys a million more and insists on trying everything on. She looks amazing and it makes me feel fat and frumpy.” Eva turns and eyeballs herself in the mirror.

“It looks great,” I say. “And I find it hard to believe you’d ever look fat or frumpy.”

“I think Cree will hate it,” she mumbles. “He’s weird about me showing this much skin.”

I scoff. “Tell him to shove it up his arse. Be proud and show it all off.”

Eva laughs. “Men like Cree can’t be stressed like that. It causes all kinds of naughty drama. He’d lock me away in the bedroom until I promised never to wear it again.”

“What?” I gasp, horrified.

She smiles. “No, nothing like that,” she insists. “He loves me so much, he’d never hurt me. He just likes me to be his in every way. He doesn’t want other guys staring at me like that. It pisses him off.”

“Sounds a little controlling to me,” I mutter.

“I’m not explaining it so well,” she says. “The guys in the MC aren’t like ordinary guys.”

“You’re telling me,” I retort.

“They’re complicated and broken. They’ve been through a lot thanks to this damn government and the Forces. Cree’s past is,” she pauses, “dark. But he’s amazing and I wouldn’t have him any other way. A moment with him is worth all the stress of avoiding scanty dresses like this, cos when he gets stressed, he takes it out on me,” she says, winking seductively. The penny drops and my mouth forms an O shape. “And most of the time, I can handle that. I’d wear something like this just to get his blood pumping. But tonight, I want something pretty and elegant. I want his eyes on me the entire night.”

“Where are you going?” I ask.

“Enzo’s nightclub. It’s Cree’s birthday.”

“I know the perfect dress,” I say, heading back into the shop and retrieving the dress I saw but couldn’t afford.

I hold it out to her and she smiles wide. “I love this,” she gasps, taking the white dress. I unzip the short dress and she shimmies out of it, quickly trying on the white dress. It hugs all her curves. The split running up the thigh isn’t obvious until she walks, which is the perfect balance of elegant yet sexy. “So, how’ s things with you? Are you seeing anyone?” she asks.

I smile. “Why are you asking?”

“Just interested,” she says. “I told Blade he’d fucked up. You won’t be single for long.” My heart squeezes at the mention of his name, but I resist the urge to ask after him. “These guys are stubborn and foolish at times. It makes me mad when they mess up a perfectly good relationship.”

“We weren’t in a relationship,” I tell her.

“But you could have been if he hadn’t of . . .” she pauses, looking at me with sympathy. “That first date was a wash out, I get that, but he isn’t all bad, yah know. Blade is funny and easy to talk to. All the women love being around Blade.”

“I bet,” I mutter.

“Oh fuck, I didn’t mean like that. God, I’m messing this all up. Why don’t you come tonight and I’ll buy you a cocktail to make up for it? I can put you and your friend on the guest list.”

“I dunno. I don’t really want to see Blade.”

“He won’t be there. He’s on a job.”

I shrug. “I’ll see if Sara wants to, but I doubt it.”

“Are you shitting me?” squeals Sara when I ask her. She jumps about excitedly. “If it means I get to see Lake, then hell yes.”

“Oh, I was hoping you’d want a quiet night in,” I say, and she rolls her eyes.

BLADE

“What are you doing here?” asks Eva, her eyes wide as I enter the VIP area of Vinn’s night club.

“I’m here for Cree,” I say, confused.

“But Riggs said you were on a job tonight.”

“What’s going on?” I snap impatiently.

“I might have fucked up.” She winces. “I invited Tillie.”

“What?”

“I’m supposed to befriend her, remember?”

“Away from the club, Eva. Away from me!” I hiss. I turn to leave,