When I gripped the hard, hot length of him and dragged my nails up his shaft, he moaned profanities, his hips jutting, filling me with a sense of power.
A victory short-lived.
Dane rolled me to my stomach, peeled my panties over my butt, my thighs, then yanked hard, ridding me of the cotton barrier. Tense and heavy, he lay over me. Tucking his arms under my chest, locking me in place, he shoved his face into my hair, his cock between my legs, and filled me, stretched me, claimed me in one brutal thrust.
Unable to move, or draw a full breath, I lay helpless, accepting his weight, his strength, the unforgiving bites on my shoulders and neck, the vulgar words he rasped in my ear, while he rendered me boneless with each merciless stroke. Relentless and brutal, he pounded into me, and when I couldn’t take anymore, I begged, “Dane. Dane, wait, I can’t…”
His weight left my body. Breathless, I pushed to hands and knees.
“On your back.” He gave me room to move, though his tone left no room for argument.
The moment I rolled over, he caged me again, pinning my arms above my head, and sliding into me, forcing a moan, the fullness of him beyond perfect.
“That’s right,” he grunted, rolling his hips and building a rhythm. “Fuckin’ take me, baby.” His teeth sank into my neck. Then my breast. His tongue soothing every pinch.
He continued that way, biting, licking, kissing, marking every inch of skin he could claim. I wanted his mouth, ached to feel his heat under my fingers, but he wouldn’t let me move, chasing his pleasure, greedy and merciless, never pausing, only pounding, growling, fucking me into the mattress, into oblivion.
I cried his name into the dark, a praise, a plea, and finally, he released my arms, grabbed my hips, and tilted me to accept him deeper. My body arched in pleasure, and I fisted his hair to ground myself.
Grunts, moans, and the slap of flesh hitting flesh filled the room, none of those sounds as erotic as the filthy declarations whispered in my ear. Your pussy is heaven. So sweet. So fucking wet. Gonna ruin you. These tits are perfect…
On and on he continued, working me, mind and body, into a frenzy. My spirit soared. As pleasure reached its peak, Dane sat back on his heels, lifting me with him, snaking his arms around my waist and helping me ride his cock, chase the high, claim my release.
Voice thick and strained, he rasped, “You’re mine. My fucking salvation.”
Those words hurled me over the edge. My thighs burned from exertion, but Dane pumped into me from beneath, and I was done, mindless and boneless, and as he grunted profanities through his own orgasm, I came, too, my pleasure, my emotion spilling over. “Oh, shit. Oh, shit. Yes. Yes. Dane. I love you.”
My bad boy stilled.
The world came to an abrupt halt, everything suspended and floaty.
How desperately I wished I could take those words back, chew them up and choke them down.
In the torturous seconds that followed, I debated apologizing for my slip, blaming the heat of the moment. Denying my sincerity would make me a liar. So, I let his silence brew into a poisonous concoction of unspoken truths. The fact being, I’d crossed a line that Dane wasn’t ready to breach.
Dane’s breath hitched. He pressed his lips into my hair, lingering for painful seconds, then laid me down, and left the bed.
My body would be bruised after what he’d just done to me, but my heart? My heart. Oh, God.
Crushed. Battered. Shredded.
How could I have been so careless?
I listened, eyes pinched, while he shut himself in the bathroom, ran the water, came back out, shuffled around for his clothes, then stomped out of the bedroom. He paused by Mim’s door, then continued, out the front door, dragging my heart and guts along for the ride.
The locks engaged, and I was left alone.
# # #
“Dr. Anderson said you did great yesterday.”
Mim smiled, a dribble of milk forging a path down her chin as she chewed her Lucky Charms.
“Tomorrow is Saturday. We get the whole day together. What do you think we should do?”
Eyebrows scrunched, lips puckered, she looked to the ceiling, then raised a finger, hopped off her chair, and skipped to the counter to rummage through the stack of junk mail. She returned with a full-page flyer for the mega baby store in town and pointed to a picture of a crib.
My eyes burned, threatening to spill over. “You want to go shopping for the baby?”
She nodded, studying my face with bright, hopeful eyes.
Fireworks erupted in my chest, carving new grooves, making space for all the extra love. “Oh, Mim. That sounds like fun.”
Shopping was the furthest thing from my mind, but how could I deny that sweet face? “Maybe we can go to the toy store, too, and find you some new puzzles.”
For a brief moment, I allowed myself to think that maybe Dane would want to join us. However, after the I love you slip, aside from a text saying he would be out of town for a few days, he’d pulled a Houdini. Honestly, though, what did I expect? We’d only known each other a few weeks. In that short period of time, he’d had a six-year-old girl, an emotionally unstable woman, a baby surprise, and an I love you thrown at him like a Molotov cocktail. The whole situation was crazy and unbelievable.
Any sane person would cut and run.
I couldn’t blame him. Didn’t mean I wasn’t hurting. After all, he had begged me never to leave him, no matter how bad he messed up. But the moment I’d blurted my feelings? Poof. Gone. Leaving me to choke on a black cloud of bad boy dust. That was bullshit. And dammit, I had every right to be angry.
The doorbell rang.
I checked the clock. “That must be Rocky and Slade. Hurry and go brush your teeth. They’re taking you to see Leticia today.”
Mim dashed to the bathroom while I answered the door. Slade wrapped me in a warm and much-needed embrace, while Rocky shouted, “Hi, Moriah. Where’s Mim?”
I pointed down the hall, and he disappeared.
“Please tell me you have coffee.” The smile I’d grown accustomed to seeing on Slade’s face hid behind worried eyes.
“I have coffee.”
Slade followed me to the kitchen and made herself comfortable at my small table. “So, how are the two of you settling in?”
“Mim is doing so well.” I pulled a mug from the cupboard and shoved a K-cup into the coffee machine. “Much better than I expected. Although I have you and Rocky to thank for that. If I’d had to find childcare, I don’t know what I would’ve done, or how she would’ve handled strangers.”
“Rocky reminds me so much of Tango when he was young. So protective.”
“That’s what she needs.” I set her coffee on the table.
Slade blanched, eyes going liquid. “You know, Dane has always been that way, too. Only, he was subtler about it, almost as if he were ashamed, didn’t want to make a show about caring for people.”
“I know, right? He gets all grumpy, acts like it’s a burden when Mim needs him, but behind closed doors, he’s all gooey and sweet with her. He sings to her when he thinks nobody is listening.”
“That’s Dane. When we were kids, his cousin, Addison, used to get herself into all kinds of trouble. He would get so mad at her, but swear to God, he was always there to bail her out, even when she didn’t ask for help, even when she fought him tooth and nail.”
“Where’s Addison now?”
“She died.” Slade turned her head. Rubbed the back of her hand over her cheek. “Almost eight years ago.”
“Oh.” I finished pouring creamer into my cup, then joined Slade at the table, resting a hand over hers. “Must’ve been hard losing your friend.”
She nodded, teary gaze aimed over my shoulder. “Harder for Dane, I suspect. Although he’d never admit how much he misses her.”
Slade took a sip of coffee, set her mug down, then fidgeted, dragging her fingers over the flyer Mim had set down earlier. “Have you heard from Dane? He isn’t returning my calls.”<
br />
God, that question hit like a punch to the gut. “No. Haven’t heard from him in a few days.”
Slade studied my face, her bright blue eyes reflecting the turmoil that ate at my insides.
“Can I ask you something?” She leaned forward, crossing her arms on the table.
I nodded, unease slithering through me.
“Are you and Dane an item?”
My blood ran cold, eliciting a shiver. Dane and I were something, though I was hesitant to add a label to our unusual relationship. My brain reeled, searching for a suitable answer.
A problem solved by two effin’ kids.
Rocky came barreling down the hall, Mim in tow, their hands entwined like long-time best friends. “Mom! Mom! Guess what Mim just told me?”
Much to my horror, he did not wait for Slade to guess.
“Mim is going to have a baby brother or sister and Dane is going to be their daddy!”
Slade’s coffee landed on the floor with a dull thud, splashing my feet and legs. Neither one of us acknowledged the spill, sharing a silent stare down laced with tension.
I silently begged her, “Please keep this between us.”
She wordlessly communicated disappointment, her eyes narrowing, a red glow spreading across her cheeks.
Unable to bear the scrutiny, I hopped up to grab a towel, then gripped the counter, fighting a wave of nausea.
Behind me, Slade said, “Mim. Go grab your swimsuit and a towel. It’s supposed to be hot today.”
I waited for the pitter-patter of feet to reach Mim’s room before turning, and blurting, because I really needed her to know, “I love him. I don’t know how or why, or that I could fall in love with anyone that fast, and I know it sounds crazy, but I love him.”
“Oh, Moriah.” Slade wrapped her arms around me once again. “I’m so mad at Dane right now, and I wish I could tell you why, but I can’t. And I am happy for you. I really am. And I think I’m happy for Dane, too. At least, I would be, if I wasn’t so mad at him. But. Oh, God. He’s going to be a dad, and you’re going to be a mom, and if there’s one thing I know about that big jackass is that he’ll move heaven and Earth to take care of you and that baby. He will.”
She took a deep breath. “But be careful, okay? He hasn’t had an easy life. He grew up surrounded by crazy, and you should know what you’re getting into.” She leaned back, studying me, then brushed a tear off my cheek. “I get it. I do. Underneath all the scary ink and muscle, and his grunts and one-word conversations, he’s a good guy. He doesn’t believe he’s got a redemptive bone in his body, but I’ve seen it, and you have too, obviously. But if you love him, and want any kind of relationship, you have to know things are not going to be easy. With Dane, you’re going to get dark and dirty. You’re going to live and breathe all the gritty, ugly details of his life.”
“That’s the thing, Slade. I think that’s what I love most about him. He lives unapologetically. He knows who he is. Doesn’t try to hide it.”
Slade snatched the towel from my hand and cleaned her mess. I watched, unable to move, considering her words.
Despite her warning, I sensed she had my back. And I could swear she hid a smile as she squatted to mop the spilled coffee off the floor.
# # #
“Thank you, Lettie. I would love to come for dinner. Can I bring anything?”
“I’ve got it covered. Just bring yourself. I’ve missed you. It will be nice to catch up.”
I laid my phone on the desk and finished typing up the proposals Tango had emailed earlier, the knot in my stomach tighter than it’d been all day.
I still hadn’t heard from Dane, and I refused to call him. The ball was in his court. Maybe I’d scared him away. So be it. I would survive. Heck, I’d thrive.
Tango came out of his office, his green eyes popping amidst the dark purple bruising around his face, and stood to the side of my desk, head down, raking a hand through his hair. “Hey. Have a minute?”
“Considering you’re the boss, all my minutes are yours.”
He laughed, shoving his hand in his pockets and nodding to his office. “In there, where it’s private.”
“Do I need to bring a notepad?”
“No.”
I followed him inside his office, and walked to the window, enjoying the view of Lake Willow. Boats of all shapes littered the water, and a parasail caught my attention in the blue sky. “It must’ve been great growing up in this town.”
“No better place to raise a kid, far as I’m concerned.” He stood at my side, and sighed.
“What did you want to talk about?”
Tango turned to face me. “I heard.” He dropped his gaze to my stomach, then met my eyes. “And don’t be mad at Slade for telling me. She was worried about you.”
“I won’t let it affect my job. You don’t have to worry.”
“I’m not concerned about your job performance.” He stepped back, resting against the window sill. “I wanted to assure you that my feelings for Dane Reynolds will have no bearing on our work relationship.”
“I appreciate you saying that.”
“That being said,” he continued, crossing his arms, “I would never hinder Rocky and Mim’s friendship. I know how important they are to each other. But if that piece of shit is going to be part of your life, I’ll have to respectfully request that he is never brought into this office, or anywhere near my family.”
“Tango, I—”
“And,” he interrupted, “if he hurts you, or Mim, in any way, there will be consequences.”
Protective instincts bubbled to the surface. Dane would never hurt Mim. He’d never hurt me physically. He could only hurt me emotionally, and only if I allowed him that power, which I had no intention of doing.
Curiosity got the better of me. “What did he do to deserve so much hate?”
Tango dropped his arms, the veins in his hands popping as he clenched them into fists. “That’s between me and Dickface. He wants you to know, you’ll know.”
I nodded, unsure how to respond.
“You and me, we’re good.” He headed toward his desk. “Your job is secure. That’s one thing you don’t have to worry about. And if you need anything. Anything. Don’t hesitate to ask. We take care of our people, and you’re one of us now, okay?”
“Thank you, Tango.”
“Oh. And fair warning.” A sinister grin lit his face. “Rockster can’t keep a secret to save his life. I’m sure everyone knows that you’re pregnant by now.”
“Perfect.” I feigned annoyance, despite the relief lifting my spirits.
“I’m sure Lettie will offer her services.”
“I just got off the phone with her. She invited me for dinner.”
He laughed. “Yeah. She’s gonna work you.” He shifted a paper on his desk. “Little advice? Let her be your doctor. Nobody smarter than that woman. And, it’ll do her good to get back to work. Put all that fancy, expensive medical equipment at the mansion to good use.”
“Thank you, Tango. I was nervous about dropping the baby bomb on you. You just lifted a thousand-pound weight off my shoulders.”
I excused myself. Sat at my desk. Lifted my chin. Put Dane, Mim, the baby, and all my worries to rest.
And vowed to be the best damn administrative assistant the world had ever seen.
Dane
“She’s the best fighter I’ve ever seen.” Tito rubbed the hem of his shirt over one of the many weapons he had hidden on his person. Have you seen the way she handles a blade?”
“No.”
“Just sayin’. Don’t piss off that woman.”
Jesus. Fuck. I got it. Aida was a badass. Didn’t understand why Tito felt the need to keep drilling that fact into my head.
“Remind me why I’m here.” I shifted my ass, hoping to encourage blood flow and ease the pinch in my hip. Not easy to accomplish inside the cramped sedan that measured two sizes too small for a guy of my stature.
“Tucker likes to keep hi
s hands clean.” Tito turned his shiny blade over for one last inspection, the dim light catching the carvings on the black handle. “I work better in the mud.” He tucked the knife back into his boot. “Need some backup for this job. And I know from experience, you don’t mind getting your hands dirty.”
The smug bastard leaned back, arms crossed, and settled into his seat, like he hadn’t a care in the world. “Besides, thought you might want to blow off some steam, have some fun before the baby comes.”
The tin can shrank around me, heating a thousand degrees. “The fuck you know about a baby?”
“Mim told Rocky. Rockster told everybody. That kid can’t keep a secret for shit.”
“Jesus. Fuck.” Had I room to move, I would’ve knocked the smirk off his face. Instead, I closed my eyes, shook my head, and tried to forget how I’d walked out on Moriah after she’d said those three foreign words that had never been aimed my direction. I love you.
“Don’t know whether to congratulate you or beat your ass for being so fuckin’ careless.”
“Was an accident.” Why the fuck was I explaining myself?
“An accident?” Tito huffed. “What, your bare cock accidentally slipped between her legs?”
I had no comeback. Truth was, I’d been so drunk on whiskey and Moriah, I’d let my guard down, and we’d fucked countless times those first two nights. Maybe I’d forgotten to wrap my dick, or maybe the damn condom had slipped, or broke. The how didn’t fucking matter. We’d made a baby. The what next was what had me in a mood.
Tito quirked a brow, scratching the scar on his face. “You plan on making an honest woman of her?”
His question struck me like a head-on between a two-speed and a Mac truck, pulverizing my weak frame, leaving nothing but twisted metal.
Rings and wedding bells? Fuck no.
But damn, the woman was crazy enough to think she loved me. Jackass or not, I was smart enough to realize she’d given a rare and precious gift. One I would treasure whether we shared a last name or not.
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