by Nicole Fox
“I’ve tried very hard not to think about her for a long time.”
“I know.”
He pulls away to look at me. “I don’t like lying, Tanner. I’m nothing if not honest, probably to a fault. And I don’t like lying to your father about this marriage that didn’t happen.”
I open my mouth. Shut it again. I know he understands that I did it to keep my father from marrying me off to Kit. But he’s also really irritated that we’ve had to keep up this lie.
He bites his bottom lip. “This is so crazy,” he says.
“Do you still want me to stay with you?” I ask, not sure what he’s trying to tell me. “I mean, I know this is fast. I can tell my dad the truth, go back to the Grave Robbers while you and I figure things out.”
“No,” he says.
“No?” I ask.
“No, I mean … I want you to stay. I wouldn’t have said anything to Shannon if I didn’t. And yes, it’s fast, but I want it. All of it. And I don’t want to be a liar, so I think, maybe, we should make this official.” He gives me a shy grin, another expression I’ve never seen on him before. “If you want?”
I feel myself smirking, giving him a bemused look. “I guess I’m not getting it?”
He falls to one knee, pulling out a ring from his pocket. “Tanner, will you marry me for real?”
I nod, tears starting instantly. My “yes” comes out more of a croak than anything. Griz puts the simple engagement ring on my finger, stands, and pulls me to him, his mouth on mine instantly.
We kiss and kiss, until an impatient little noise interrupts. Shannon stands in the doorway with a flabbergasted look on her little face. “What are you two doing? Makin’ babies?”
I laugh out loud and Griz just rolls his eyes. “That is not how babies are made,” he scolds. “We’re just kissing.”
“Well, it looks gross. And messy.” She sticks her tongue out and says, “Let’s get pizza for dinner and eat it on the couch and watch a movie, ’kay?”
He agrees and when she wanders into the living room to pick a movie, he says, “Full-time parenting, here we come. I think it will be worse than the club.”
“You’re used to being the boss,” I say. “This will be an adjustment.”
“I am the boss,” he growls.
“If you say so.”
I leave him grumbling about definitely still being the boss as he dials for pizza.
This is going to be fun.
Epilogue
Griz
My wife sits down on the beach, her long legs stretched out in the sand, gorgeous face tilted up to the sun.
We did the paperwork at the courthouse back home just a few days ago, six months after I proposed. It was too damn long, in my opinion. Once I asked the question, once I put that ring on her finger, I was ready. It was real for me. But she wanted to give me time to settle in to this new life we’ve created together.
First, we had to merge the Chained Angels with the Grave Robbers. I lost a few more guys, which wasn’t unexpected. They simply did not agree with my leadership style and sure as hell didn’t want to see the club under new management. I told them not to let the door hit them on the way out; I’ve got no room in my club for guys who want violence for violence’s sake and neither does Draven.
Speaking of which, It took some major adjustment to fall in line under Draven Williams. It’s not that he’s not a good man; he is. But he’s bullheaded and, I’m told, I’m bullheaded, and that means we butted horns a few times before we came to agreement on how to proceed. Also, he’s Tanner’s father and I’m screwing his daughter, so that makes for some weird family dynamics at times.
I did retain the Chained Angels’ headquarters, which will serve as a secondary club station, under my control and continued ownership. Draven’s HQ remains his. We’ve created new colors to add to our kuttes, showing the merger but allowing us to keep our individual identities. It’s a good compromise, more than I deserve, really.
Spike’s death haunts me. I think about him more than I’d care to admit. When I named him my vice president, he was cocky for sure, but I liked his bravado. We were trying to build something new, and I needed someone more reckless than I was. I had calmed down a lot once Giselle and I got serious, even more so once I knew she was pregnant. Spike never minded leading deals and shakedowns. He was vicious and, frankly, a really good negotiator. I needed him in the first few years, because I was grieving Giselle and if I’d gone out in his place, I’d have killed a lot of people.
He was a friend, for a while. And then he wasn’t. It feels like my responsibility, not just his death, but the way he was living his life there at the end. I wasn’t paying attention. I wasn’t stopping him from going down the rabbit hole. Who the fuck knows if I could’ve changed anything for him, but I should’ve tried. Addiction is a nasty disease and while we certainly risk getting close to it, with some of the business we do, I never expected one of my top guys to succumb the way he did.
Putting him in his grave feels like a betrayal, but I’d do it again to save Tanner. And even though she, of all people, has the most right to hate him, she’s been the one telling me to forgive myself, to forgive him, to move on.
Tanner. She turns and smiles at me where I sit under an umbrella, reading a textbook. Yes, a fucking textbook because my old ass is starting to take business classes. I can’t have my old lady being more educated than I am. Plus, I want to make good on getting that gym up and running. She’s studying for the personal training exam, and I’m eyeballing locations. It’s going to be a good distraction, a legit venture that will not have the feds eyeballing me.
She waves for me to join her, so I mark my place and shuffle through the sand, plopping down next to her, pulling her into my body. She’s warm from the sun.
“How’s the studying?” she asks.
“I feel old,” I admit.
“You are old,” she says.
“Call me old one more time, I dare you.”
“You’re old,” she says, grinning wickedly.
I pull her over my knee as she squeals. I move her bathing suit bottom to the side, exposing her round ass cheek, smacking it playfully as she squirms.
There’s no one out here. I made sure we had private beach for a mile when I booked this trip. It’s nothing for me to lie back and let her crawl up to sitting, her face mock offended at my display of dominance, her ass still hanging out the back of her bottoms.
“Spanking, Griz?” she scolds. “Really?”
“I like it as a behavioral tool, yes,” I answer, my arms behind my head.
“I’m not a child,” she says.
“You are most certainly not,” I say. “Thank God.”
“Why thank God?” she asks.
“Because I want to do very bad things to you and it would make me beyond perverted to want you the way I do if you were a child.”
Her whole body blushes at the comment. It still shocks me to see her blush like that, after all we’ve been through, all we’ve done. All the times I‘ve told her how much she affects me, how much I love her. I hope she blushes like that twenty years from now.
“What is it you want to do with me?” she asks, her voice husky.
“Feeling adventurous?” I ask with a wink.
“Maybe,” she says. “Maybe I need a glass of wine first, though, after looking at your expression.”
I laugh and help her to her feet, following.
“That can be arranged, Mrs. Grisham.”
# # #
Tanner
“I love you,” I say, moaning as the sweet wine coats my tongue. “This is so fucking good.”
“Easy to please,” he says, sipping his own wine. “And a cheap date.”
“Who you callin’ cheap, brother?” she asks, laughing.
We’re in the hot tub of the way-too-huge beach rental he procured for our honeymoon. I’m on his lap, straddling him as I sip the cold, sweet, bubbly, summery Moscato. We’ve already enjoyed an amaz
ing lobster dinner as, I’ve discovered, Griz is an amazing cook. Who knew?
“So, earlier, you asked if I was feeling adventurous,” I say, grinding on his lap, kissing his neck. “Whatcha got in mind?”
“Eager, are we?” he asks, smirking.
“Always eager to have you inside me,” I say in his ear, giving it a lick.
He groans and stands, holding me against him, the water sliding off of both of us as we drip our way in to the house. He deposits me, still wet, on the kitchen table.
My bikini is gone in an instant and I shiver, having gone from the hot water to the cool, evening air. My nipples are hard nubs, my breasts creamy and white where my tan doesn’t touch them. Griz takes one nipple between his fingers, the other into his mouth. I arch into him, loving everything he does to my body. Every touch, every kiss, every lick goes straight to my core.
He makes his way slowly down my body, his mouth stopping at my belly button, his teeth grazing my pelvic bones, driving me crazy. When he kisses my sex, he starts outside, licking at my folds, only parting them once he’s sure I’m crazy for him. His tongue works my clit, then down to my pussy, into the hole, his fingers following.
“Mmmm,” I groan. “I love your fingers in my cunt.”
“I love how dirty the word cunt sounds on those sweet lips,” he says, still between my legs. “I love how sweet you taste.”
He works me to a frenzy, turning me to a smorgasbord, a dessert course. His dirty talk intensifies along with the build up that has me ready to explode into space. When I’m so close, unable to formulate real words, he flips me over, pulling my ass into the air.
I cry out in protest and he smacks my ass, a sharper slap than the playful one outside. His hand caresses me right after, though. His mouth finds my pussy again, but ventures quickly up toward the smaller hole, lingering. He chuckles as I tense, his laughter vibrating against my backside.
His fingers find their way back to their earlier ministrations and I moan, pushing back toward him, oblivious until he slips another finger into my ass to work along with his tongue.
I yelp, “Backdoor!”
Griz cracks up at this but doesn’t stop. It makes me laugh, which makes my insides clench deliciously. This whole thing is out of my comfort zone, totally. I’m still pretty vanilla when it comes to sex, but I trust my husband.
His finger keeps moving inside my ass, two other fingers in my pussy as I move against him, feeling both embarrassed and wanting. It’s a weird feeling that I want to hate, but I just don’t. The juices flowing from inside of me tell him the same, and he picks up the pace working me back up, pushing me to the edge.
“One of these days,” he says.
He doesn’t need to finish. I know just what he was going to say. I push back against him, inviting him in. He says, “Come for me, baby,” and I don’t need any more of an invitation. I explode, the orgasm so intense I think I might die of a heart attack.
I cry and writhe and come and he works me through it all, coaxing and teasing until all that’s left is a boneless woman and some aftershocks.
He pulls me back against him, picking me up from the table and carrying me to the bed. When he lays me down on the soft, down-filled comforter, he studies me as I watch him sleepily.
“Tanner, I need you to know what I feel for you,” he says. “I know I can be a stubborn bastard. I know I have a hard time saying how I feel. I know I retreat into my old habits sometimes. But I love you. I hate the way you came to me, but I’m glad you did.”
I reach out, my hand not quite reaching him. He leans in for a long, lingering kiss.
“Was that a thank you for letting you play with my asshole?” I ask.
Griz barks a loud, unexpected laugh. “God, baby, you are … the best,” he says, kissing me again, smiling against my mouth. It makes my heart do funny things to see him smile to much these days. I think he spent a lot of time unhappy. I feel like I won a gold medal in the Olympics to have gotten him to the point where he can be happy.
When he enters me, it’s slowly. We make love, our bodies joined wherever they can be. Every neuron and atom is connected between us. I’ve never felt so close to another person.
When he comes, I come with him, our joint ecstasy only the tip of the iceberg of what we feel for each other, what we can do together. Having his body would be enough. I know his heart and he doesn’t have to say pretty words for me to know he cares.
Later, while he sleeps, I trace the lines of his body, memorizing every inch the way I always do when he’s unaware that I’m looking. I’ve never seen a more beautiful man, a specimen so suited to my tastes. Sometimes I thank the stars that I was kidnapped. It sounds crazy, right? To be glad that Spike took me, forced me to Griz’ bed. But I was trapped with my father. I was dying to explore, to live a life.
I wouldn’t have chosen to go through what I did, to be hurt the way I was. I wouldn’t have hoped for Kit’s death. I wouldn’t have ever guessed that my father and Griz would have formed this unlikely partnership. Or that Griz would ever see me as more than some dumb girl that got left on his bed to claim. But here we are, married, lovers, and ready to move on to a life as a family with Shannon.
It’s impossible to predict what will happen tomorrow, let alone next month, next year, or twenty years from now. Club business can be dangerous; that’s a fact that will never change. I worry for my father, now that I know more about what the club life really means. I worry for Griz.
One thing I know is that I love this man. I love our life together. And I feel completely free for the first time in my whole life.
THE END
***
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Books by Nicole Fox
Click any of the covers below to go straight to the book page!
GRIZ: A Dark Bad Boy Romance (Chained Angels MC)
She’s a liability I can’t afford… and a temptation I can’t ignore.
I didn’t ask for another thing to worry about.
Especially not the hot, distracting mess that is Tanner Williams.
But when she challenges my authority, I don’t have a choice.
I need to bring out the chains and truly make her mine.
I could kill my VP for putting me in this mess.
There’s a way things should be done.
And this sure as hell wasn’t it.
Throwing a kidnapped beauty across my bed?
Calling her “the spoils of war”?
It’s more than I asked for.
Sure, she might be the sexiest thing I’ve ever laid eyes on.
But I’ve got a daughter at home and a club to run.
Not to mention a war looming on the horizon.
I can’t afford distractions like Tanner Williams.
But she’s mine now, whether I like it or not.
And when she starts giving me lip, the last of my patience disappears.
I’m gonna tighten her leash…
And show her who she belongs to now.
THE DADDY NEXT DOOR: A Dark Bad Boy Baby Romance (Heaven’s Horns MC)
I’M DOWN ON MY KNEES FOR THE DADDY NEXT DOOR.
I just wanted to get out of this town and start a new life.
But then something unexpected happened…
I got hooked on a bad boy.
He’s filthy. He’s wrong. And he’s staying in the room next door.
Colton Sears is bad news.
He’s a criminal, a rebel, an outlaw with nothing but sex on his mind.
So why can’t I stop thinking about him?
It’s not like I don’t have better things to be daydreaming about.
My life isn’t exactly cupcakes and sunshine, after all.
I’m barely scraping by, working
double shifts at a ratty diner,
Flirting with gross men because I’m so desperate for tips.
And living in this disgusting motel ain’t so peachy either…
Especially not with a sexy, reckless neighbor who is nothing but trouble.
But when Colton’s kid needs my help one day and Daddy is nowhere to be found,
I do what any human would do and get the kid a snack.
What a mistake that turns out to be.
Before I know it, I’m up close and personal with the tattooed devil himself.
I should hate him – he’s everything I’m trying to run away from.