Guts & Glory: Hunter (In the Shadows Security Book 3)

by Jeanne St. James

  Frankie released a long dramatic sigh since this wasn’t the first time Hunter dragged her out to stare at the construction and they’d had this conversation before. But she just needed to deal with it.

  “We know what it’s going to look like, we designed it and have seen the plans.”

  He tugged at her long dark hair, then wrapped a lock of it in his fist. He loved pulling her hair, especially when he was making her come. “Let your man have his fantasy, will you?”

  Frankie snorted and lifted her face to his, her grin wide. “You want a fantasy, I can whisper one in your ear, which would be better than picturing a house.”

  “First of all, it’s not gonna be just any house, it’s gonna be our home. And, secondly, I don’t need that sort of fantasy, I have you.”

  “While that’s sweet, it’s bullshit. All men have fantasies,” she told him.

  That was true. But all of his involved Frankie. Admittedly, some were pretty fucking obscene. However, when he shared some of them, Frankie was always willing to try them.

  He loved that his woman was sexually adventurous and sometimes came up with crazy ideas of her own. His loquilla.

  “On the subject of fantasies, once we move in, one of the house rules is you don’t mow the lawn in a bikini top, hear me?”

  She raised one of her eyebrows. “It’s humid in the summer.”

  He raised one of his. “We’ll hire a lawn boy.”

  “If he’s at least twenty-six and really hot, I’m okay with that.”

  “How about if he’s thirty-seven and really hot and he knows how to fuck you until your toes curl and you leave a massive wet spot on the sheets?”

  She planted a hand on his chest and, even though he now had a firm grip on her hair, she turned into him. “Remind me to buy some more towels.”

  “They better be really thick.”

  “Are you complaining?”

  “Fuck no. The wetter you get, the better, baby. That means I’m doing my job right. I just don’t like sleeping in the wet spot.”

  “And that’s why we need more towels, because somehow you never sleep in the wet spot, I do.”

  He grinned. “Are we fighting?”

  “No.”

  “Damn. I like the rough, angry sex we have when you get pissed off.”

  She rolled her eyes and turned her head back to look at the concrete foundation where their future home was being built, two lots down from Slade and Diamond’s house.

  Slade was getting what he wanted.

  Hunter was getting what he wanted.

  Leo was getting a father, an aunt, an uncle and a cousin. Along with a whole bunch of other kids to play with.

  Most importantly, Frankie was getting Hunter’s dick every night when he was in town.

  Life was perfect.

  For the most part.

  He had something else he’d been thinking about and needed to address with her.

  With her being in a good mood, and no baseball bat in sight, now might be the perfect time to discuss it.

  He had mentioned it a few months ago in Manning Grove. But with all the shit that had gone on since then with the investigation, moving Frankie and Leo, getting them settled in his condo, getting her introduced to the DAMC sisterhood, finding her a job within one of their businesses, then moving Diane down a month later, they hadn’t discussed it again.

  He expected her to bug him about it since it was usually more important to a woman than a man. However, she hadn’t said a word, which made him believe she didn’t think he’d been serious about it.

  He was.

  He never thought he would be. The thought of being tied to one woman for the rest of his life should put him in a tailspin. It didn’t.

  While he wasn’t in a rush to put a ring on her finger, he also didn’t want to wait too long. He was creeping up on thirty-eight and wouldn’t mind giving Leo a sibling before he was forty.

  That was if Frankie agreed. If she didn’t want any more kids, he was fine with that, too. He planned on adopting Leo legally, so if Leo was all they had, he was good with it.

  But if Frankie wanted him to plant his son or daughter in her belly, if she wanted to nurture their child inside of her and give him that gift of life, he’d accept it and cherish that decision.

  But knocking Frankie up wasn’t the discussion he wanted to have. They could have that one night while they were naked and she was at her most agreeable.

  “What are you gonna do about your name?”

  “You mean because I no longer have to avoid using my real name? I like Frankie, it’s grown on me. And it’s short for my middle name Frances anyway, so there’s that.”

  Hunter fought the roll of his eyes. They’d been over this before. “Frankie, it’s no shorter than—” She jammed a finger against his lips. He pulled his head away, grabbing her hand and planting it once again on his chest, this time directly over his dog tags.

  He never wanted to hear the nickname Sussy again after Taz used it, and there was no way he was calling her Sucely, so he was fine with her continuing to use Frankie. It fit her. “I meant your last name.”

  “What do you think we should do?”

  His brows knitted together. “We?” Apparently, they weren’t on the same page.

  “Yes, Leo and I. If I change my name back then he also needs to.”

  “Well, there’s nothing wrong with either Reyes or Hernandez, if that’s what you want. I know which one I’d prefer, though.”

  “Which?”

  “Delgado.” When she didn’t say anything and simply stared at him, her dark brown eyes becoming soft and warm, not typical Frankie, he continued, “You could always hyphenate. Sucely Frankie-short-for-Frances Reyes-Hernandez-Delgado.”

  “Jesus,” she muttered.

  Hunter shrugged. “Okay. Sucely Frankie-short-for-Frances Reyes-Hernandez-Delgado-Jesús. But that seems a bit too long, just saying.”

  Her lips twitched, but just barely. “Adding the Jesús is the tipping point?”

  “Yeah. Easier just to pick Sucely Frances Delgado and Leonardo Francis Delgado. No one needs more than three names.”

  “Uh-huh. Just like Danny Just-Call-Me-Hunter Delgado, Jr.”

  “Forgot my middle name.”

  “Which is?”

  Hunter grinned. “Diego.”

  Frankie covered her mouth and a muffled “noooooo” escaped. “Danny Diego Delgado, Jr.?”

  He nodded, trying to keep his expression serious. “That’s what we’re naming our second son.” Shit, so much for waiting for the naked pillow talk.

  “We are not naming him Diego!” She face-planted hard into his chest. Like mother, like son, apparently.

  He wrapped his fingers around the back of her head. “It’s a good, strong name.”

  “And you can keep it. We’re having a girl anyway.”

  “It’s my sperm that decides and I’m going to start coaching my balls to only shoot the male chromosome.”

  “Not sure your balls are going to listen.”

  “I’m sure they’ll listen better than you do.”

  She lifted her head and set narrowed eyes on his face. “Are you trying to pick a fight?”

  “I’m just trying to prove you don’t listen.”

  “You’re just trying to piss me off, so we go home and have rough, angry sex.”

  He grinned. “I was wrong. You do listen.”

  “There are other ways to have rough sex without being angry.”

  “Okay, now I’m listening.”

  Frankie smirked, her eyes sliding to the kids roughhousing in Slade’s yard. “Think Slade could babysit for a bit?”

  “If we return the favor later. I think they’ve been trying for number two, but number one keeps cock-blocking them.”

  “That sounds familiar.”

  “Which is why I think he won’t have a problem with keeping Leo for a couple hours.”

  “You won’t need a couple hours.”

  Smar
t ass. “I didn’t say you were getting fucked for a couple hours. You’re getting it for five minutes. The rest of the time I’m taking an uninterrupted nap.”

  Frankie slapped his chest. “Whatever.” She sighed. “Though, that does sound good.”

  “Stick with me, baby. I’ve got good ideas... Like this one...” He grabbed her hand, dropped to his knee in the dirt and stared up at the woman he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. Even though he didn’t have a ring, since he knew better than to pick one out without her approval first, he asked, “Sucely Frankie-short-for-Frances Reyes-Hernandez will you marry me?”

  She tilted her head and pursed her lips. “Can I think about it?”

  “Do you need to?”

  “Well, how many times have you told me to think before I act?”

  Hunter dropped his head and grumbled, “Fuck me.”

  She hmm’d. “I’ve thought about it and I’ll say yes to both.”

  He lifted his head, his brows raised. “Both?”

  She waved the hand he wasn’t gripping around in the air. “Yes to the first thing you asked, whatever that was,” she teased, “and also the second thing. But my only request is, can we do the second one first? A wedding takes a lot of planning. And I think all those biker chicks will want to help with that. The fucking only takes me and you. Well, and Leo’s uncle babysitting.”

  Hunter shot to his feet. “I’ll go talk to Slade.”

  “Make it quick.”

  He barked out a laugh.

  “The talking, not the fucking,” she added.

  Before he released her hand and walked away, she gave it a sharp tug, pulling him into her. “Hunter,” she whispered.

  “Yeah?” he whispered back, her dark brown eyes could trap him forever. And he was fine with that.

  “As your future wife, is it okay to call you Danny now?”

  “Hell, I was hoping you’d start calling me Master.”

  Once again, she face-planted into his chest, her body shaking against his. And he loved it when she did it.

  “Remind me to hijack a beer truck and park it in Slade’s driveway as thanks.”

  “For babysitting Leo?”

  “No, for putting me in your path.”

  “It wasn’t for a great reason,” she reminded him.

  “The reason doesn’t matter, the result does.”

  She blinked quickly a few times before urging, “Hurry up and go talk to Slade. I need to tell you how much I love you while we’re naked.”

  He pulled the Range Rover keys out of his pocket and shoved them at her. “Go start the Rover, and start driving, I’ll jump in while it’s moving. We’re wasting time.” He took off at a run over the unfinished yard, hoping he didn’t do a face-plant of his own.

  “Tell him if he takes Leo for three hours, we’ll keep Hudson overnight,” he heard yelled from behind him.

  “Deal!” Slade shouted from his driveway.

  Hunter gave the man a thumbs up, changed directions and ran back to the Rover where Frankie was still climbing into the driver’s side. He smacked her ass hard, grabbed her waist and put her back on the ground. “Passenger side,” he ordered.

  “Yes, Master,” she teased.

  Fuck, he loved her. And he didn’t give a fuck what she called him. Danny, Hunter, Delgado, Master, or any other nickname she could come up with.

  No matter what, he would always answer whenever and whatever she called him.

  As long as in the end, she called him her husband, and Leo called him Daddy, he was good with it.

  His shallow roots were now growing deep.

  He was good with that, too.

  Turn the page to read a sneak peek of In the Shadows Security, book 4:

  Guts & Glory: Walker

  Guts & Glory: Walker

  Turn the page for a sneak peek of

  Guts & Glory: Walker

  (In the Shadows Security, Book 4)

  Sneak peak of Guts & Glory: Walker (Unedited)

  Chapter One

  Walker stood outside the door and heard it.

  He hated that apartment complex because the walls were so fucking thin. Anybody and everybody could hear what was going on behind them.

  Which made it clear.

  The woman he was banging was banging someone else.

  He dropped his fist, deciding there was no reason to knock and instead turned, leaned back against the wall next to the door, cocked his leg and planted his boot on that wall. Then he crossed his arms over his chest and settled in to wait.

  The Harley parked out front of Building C wasn’t his, but that was his normal parking spot. Whoever was riding that bike was also riding the woman inside the apartment.

  He wondered how long he’d have to wait.

  Not too long, luckily.

  Sami’s familiar cries began to crescendo, a good indication she was about to come.

  Or about to fake it.

  She’s been known to do that, too. In fact, the second was more likely.

  Sami was easy and convenient for when he needed to bust a nut. And it wasn’t like they were exclusive or serious. They weren’t. Or even that they cared about each other. They didn’t.

  Hell, they barely liked each other.

  He’d come over, she’d feed his ass, they’d bang one out and when he was in the shitter getting rid of the condom, she’d steal a twenty from his wallet. Sometimes more.

  Whatever.

  Having his wallet lightened by a twenty was still fucking cheaper than having a wife or a girlfriend. They could financially break a man.

  He’d witnessed it and it was something he wanted to avoid.

  What he couldn’t avoid was hearing Sami’s last high-pitched scream, which meant she was definitely faking it.

  Walker twisted his wrist enough to see his watch and time the inevitable. He watched each minute tick by. He’d give it ten since that’s how long it took him to bust and roll.

  Ten...

  Low voices were heard, though he couldn’t make out words.

  Nine...

  The pipes in the walls squealed with the flush of the toilet.

  Eight...

  More low voices. One female. One male.

  Seven...

  A fake giggle. Typical Sami.

  Six...

  Walker rolled his eyes when he heard nothing, which meant Sami’s guest was probably giving her a parting kiss and ready to split.

  Five...

  Footsteps heading his direction. Yep.

  Four...

  The pace getting quicker. Whoever it was wanted out of there.

  Three...

  More voices. The man throwing a last quick thanks over his shoulder and Sami inviting him to a “next time.”

  Two...

  The deadbolt being thrown. The door flying open.

  One...

  Game time.

  “First time?”

  The blond-haired man froze in the doorway, his eyes widening as he spotted Walker perched against the wall. The way the man was dressed and because his bike was still stock meant he wasn’t a true biker, just a wannabe. Some weekend rider who wore a helmet, worked a nine-to-five. Got a bike to snag pussy. But he was a sucker and an easy mark for Sami.

  “Check your wallet,” he advised the wannabe, jerking up his chin.

  As the man stared at him, his mouth opened and closed a couple times, then he dug for his wallet in his... yeah... khakis.

  “Fuck,” Wannabe grumbled as he peered into his empty wallet. Walker doubted it was empty before the man walked through Sami’s door. “She lifted a fifty.”

  Walker’s lips lifted at the corners. “Yep. Was she worth it?”

  Wannabe’s brow dropped low. “No. Maybe ten.”

  “Then I’d go back in there and get your change.”

  Wannabe glanced back over his shoulder. “Really?”

  “Yeah,” Walker said with a single nod. “Or go back in and get your money’s worth.”

 
Wannabe’s eyebrows knitted together. “Are you her pimp?”

  “Nope. Just passing through.”

  Sami appeared behind Wannabe in the open doorway. She finished tying the belt around her robe, then smoothed her hair down with her hand. She had sex hair and unless the sex sucked, it normally wasn’t tamable with just combing her fingers through it. No, he liked to leave a woman’s hair in knots.

  Sami was able to straighten her hair with a few passes of her fingers so the sex must have sucked.

  Like he suspected, all that caterwauling had been fake. A way to get it over and done with quickly so she could slide into his wallet and out before the bathroom door was even shut.

  “What are you doing here, Walker? I wasn’t expecting you.”

  “Apparently,” he murmured, letting his gaze roam over her from top to toe. He pushed off the wall. “You owe him some change. Or a real orgasm.”

  “What are you talking about?” Sami didn’t bother to hide her outrage. And she pulled her robe belt tighter around her too narrow of a waist.

  Walker wondered why his attention ever landed on her. She wasn’t even his type. But then, he wasn’t looking to put a ring on it.

  Ah, that’s right. She had walked up to him at the local VFW, grabbed his dick, squeezed and whispered in his ear, “Want to fuck me?”

  He’d turned on his stool at the bar, since his attention had been pulled from the Steelers game he’d been watching, took one look at her, and with a shrug, said, “Why the fuck not.”

  They went back to her apartment that night and fucked like rabbits.

  Then she became a habit.

  Now he was kicking that habit cold turkey.

  He stepped closer to Wannabe, slapped him hard on the chest, almost knocking the guy back a step, and murmured a “good luck” before giving Sami a look over Wannabe’s shoulder. “It’s been real, honey.”

  He turned on his boot heel and strode down the hall to Sami screaming, “Walker! Walker! This didn’t mean anything!”

  No shit.

  He ignored her and at the end of the hall, loped down the steps to the front door of the building, slammed the exit push bar and headed out into the late summer night.

  ****

  Walker leaned his weight onto one palm which was planted against the shower wall. His head tipped forward, the water from the shower soaking his hair, and sliding down his back and chest.