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Hope Grimes carried her shoes and slipped out of the suite of rooms of the man who equally infuriated her and set her pulse thrumming. She considered herself a pretty happy person most of the time. She could always seethe possibilities and positives in a situation.

But that man, holy smokes! When he actually didn’t speak and just showed her how he felt, he made her body sing. Which was something considering she was fifty-two and he was in his seventies.

Hope had given up any possibility of growing old with someone. She’d been married, lost a good husband and had taken over raising her grandson because despite trying to raise him right, her son was a good-for-nothing waste of space currently serving time for multiple crimes. How he fathered such a sweet boy like Benji, she had no idea.

If Benji had been with her last night, maybe she wouldn’t have made the colossal mistake of falling for Locks’ tempting kisses and his hands running down her body. But Benji had been having a sleepover at Slice and Faith’s house as an end of school party. Faith had planned this huge weekend kicking off at their house on Friday night and moving over to a huge sleepover and gaming tournament at the clubhouse tonight.

Thank goodness Hope was on task to help with tonight so she wouldn’t drop her panties and invite Locks to have a repeat. She wouldn’t be quite so furious at herself if she and Locks hadn’t been playing this same freaking game for the last couple of months since her sister Faith’s wedding to Slice.

She and Locks had spent the night before the wedding making love for the first time. Well, she’d considered it making love. She assumed they were making a commitment to each other and she’d actually dreamed of a happily ever after— even after she’d warned herself that she could never live up to the love he and his deceased wife had had.

But then she’d opened her legs to him like some two-dollar floozy on a Friday night. Hope snickered. A two-dollar floozy had been her and Faith’s mom’s term for a loose woman. Venetia cautioned her daughters to not give it away because why would a man marry a woman who didn’t value herself. Things had changed for women, at least some, but Hope still felt cheapened after her first night with Locks.

The man had more stamina than someone his age should and he’d even gotten up for refreshments for them to tide them over. She’d fallen asleep on his shoulder and then woken up to the cold shoulder. He’d been dressed with that grumpy look on his face that she only usually saw directed at her or the MC’s prospects. He’d tossed her bra and panties at her and said she needed to get a move on. Kicking her out like she hadn’t given him something special. It had been over three years since she’d had a flesh and blood man between her legs and he’d acted like he’d bought her for the night.

Hope dropped her shoes inside her suite and locked the door, sliding the special lock that only someone inside could open because, fuck her life, she lived in the man’s house and he could go anywhere.

Why after that first night did she continue to put up with him and his blowing hot and cold? She’d always had more respect for herself but it seemed when she was in Locks’ presence every self-preservation instinct she had flew out of her head and her brain ceded control to her pussy. And her pussy was a hussy who had been lonely. Neither she nor her pussy should be trusted around Locks with his tousled gray hair, lean body and comforting smell that she thought had meant she’d found home.

She walked into the beautiful en suite, flipping on the hot water. She needed to wash this night away. Too bad she couldn’t wash the tenderness between her thighs away along with how she’d begged Locks to take her harder last night. If only she could wipe the memories away.

She couldn’t keep doing this to herself. It was two weeks until the club’s second annual D-Day Commemoration weekend. Benji loved the kids on the compound and she needed to figure out how she could move from Locks’ home but still give Benji the growing up experience he deserved.

She and Benji had moved onto the compound when there had been a threat to little Michael, Slice and Faith’s youngest. The threats had been over for a while but neither she nor Locks had ever brought up her moving out.

She sniffed and wiped her eyes of the tears filling her eyes. This wasn’t the first time Hope would need to start over but hopefully it would be the last. She could live without a man but she would not live with a man who didn’t value and love her.

She’d start today with chatting with her friends. These women at Bluff Creek had welcomed her and she couldn’t believe how close they were. Maybe Clara, Regina or Meg could guide her to some solution. She just knew her heart couldn’t handle the ups and downs. Last night was the last time, she would give into Noah “Locks” Franks’ talented words and lips. Nope, never again. If she was horny, she’d see about ordering a vibrator. It would be safer for her heart.