“No. Not that. Eli is one of the most honest men I know.”
“He loves you, Ivy.”
“Well, I guess I love him too, but that doesn’t mean we’d do something like that or cover up each other's stuff. He’d turn me in himself if it meant justice.”
“He loves you, Ivy. He told me he did. The way I loved you. He’d do anything he had to in order to cover your ass. The man would die for you, almost did.”
“Dace.” Ivy was stunned silent.
He’d caught her completely off guard where Eli was concerned. Perhaps it meant their relationship was purely platonic, and Eli’s affections weren’t reciprocated, at least in a way he would like. Dace took pleasure in that knowledge.
“Ivy? You see how bad this looks, right?” Dace felt a sense of relief when she nodded, and the tears began to flow again. He didn’t want to frighten her and add to the stress she was already under, but she needed a wake-up call if she was going to come out of this on the right side. “I need to know why the two numbers you’re associated with are also associated with those men.”
Looking anywhere but at Dace, Ivy struggled with what she’d been told to do and what she felt she needed to do. Her struggle was obvious, and it left Dace hopeful.
Ivy closed her eyes, and her jaw quivered. “I only called my father. That’s it. It’s the only number I had, besides yours.”
“It was you who called,” he said, dropping his head when she nodded. “If I knew, I would’ve been wherever you needed me to be.”
“I know,” she said. “I came to you instead.”
As much as Dace wanted to explore the confirmation that she had been the one calling from the unknown number, it was a moot point and the rest of her admission that had his attention more. It could be what cleared her.
“You know how to reach your father?”
“I thought I did. I’ve been calling all the numbers I can remember. I check in on them daily, but he hasn’t answered a single one. That’s why I know he’s hurt or dead. He always answered before.”
“How many numbers did he have?”
“At any given time, only one usually. But he would rotate phones to make it hard for anyone to find him that he didn’t want to find him.”
“That doesn’t make any sense. That’s not how that works,” Dace said, thinking back to how her number came up on his phone. “Ivy, you came up as unknown, and your phone was so heavily encrypted, Liam had a hard time breaking into it. Your dad and his people are pretty sophisticated – they don’t need to rotate phones.”
“I-I don’t understand anything you just said. My phone was encrypted?” She blushed in embarrassment. “Is that something I should’ve known? Technology hasn’t really been my thing, and other than a cell phone, I haven’t had much need for it. I just did what I was told where the phones were concerned and the way he explained it…well, it made sense.”
“Thank you for telling me this.” Dace grabbed her hand. “I appreciate you being honest. I know you want your dad to come out of this like the hero you’ve always believed him to be, but I’m not so sure he is. Do you trust me?”
Ivy nodded.
“I mean really trust me. I need you to be one hundred percent honest with me from this point on. You’re being set up by someone. It could be your dad or your dad's enemies – who knows. I don’t want that to happen. For all you know, you’ve been implicated somehow in crimes none of us know about yet.”
“Dace. I swear…I’m telling you everything. I can’t imagine my dad as the man you’re painting him to be, but I also don’t want to go down for something I didn’t do and lose our son forever. I can’t. I’ll do whatever you need.”
Finally, Dace thought. Ivy wasn’t entirely on board with the theories the team was running, but at least she was frightened enough to be honest to protect herself and their son. If she was blowing smoke up his ass, she deserved an Oscar, and her deception would be revealed sooner than later. He was certain it was her innocence they were about to unearth, and for that, he was glad. She was finally letting him protect her.
He pulled her into his side with his arm around her shoulders and kissed the top of her head. “I’m going to fix this and take care of you, okay? And I’m bringing our boy home. I’m bringing him home.”
23
“You deserve to know about him,” Ivy said, breaking the long silence between them. “I wish…”
Dace rubbed the back of her hand with the pad of his calloused thumb. “Shh. Let’s not go there with what we wish we could’ve done. It’s behind us now, and we need to figure out how to move forward, okay?”
“I don’t know how you don’t hate me for keeping him from you.”
“I don’t love it, Ivy. But I also know there’s a lot more to this thing, and you didn’t think you had a choice.”
“I always had a choice, in hindsight. I just made the wrong one and possibly trusted the wrong person just a little too much. I don’t think I’ll ever get over that.”
“What’s done is done,” Dace said. He agreed with her and resented every lost day with her and their child, but he didn’t want to look backward anymore, only forward.
“He’s so much like you.” She giggled. “It always amazed me. I didn’t think certain things could be genetic, but they must be.”
“Like what?”
Ivy sat up a little straighter to look at him. “The tattoos. He’s such a good boy, respectful. But the one thing he defies me on is tattoos. He is constantly drawing on his arms and says it’s because they’re cool. More than once, he’s done it with a permanent marker.”
Dace smiled. “He’s got good taste in art, then. Did you tell him about mine or something?”
Her mouth quirked in the corner, and she looked up as if looking for the answer. “I suppose it’s possible, but I don’t recall anything specific, you know? It definitely wasn’t something he heard often, that’s for sure.”
“He likes motorcycles. Eli told me that. I brought the toy he left behind with me.”
“I saw it in the bag. That thing goes with him everywhere. He’s obsessed with motorcycles. Excuse me, Harleys.”
“Ahh, he is my son then.” Dace laughed.
“We talk about the Harley. He’s always loved bikes in general, and I would tell him about the one we had when we were together.”
“I still have it.”
“No.”
“Sure do. I’d never let it go. Even when it’s time to finally retire that one, I’ll keep it around.”
“He liked being in Moss Bridge – there’s a biker bar on the edge of town, and he’d have Eli take him for a drive through the parking lot all the time to see the bikes lined up.” She laughed.
“That’s a little dangerous,” Dace admitted.
“He’s fearless, are you kidding me? He gives me a heart attack every other day or so. “He gets that from you too. He’s always doing something and saying he’s fighting off bad guys or protecting us from one disaster or another.”
“He gets that from moving around, I’m sure, and seeing all the men your dad travels with.”
“No. He gets it from you. He’s a great protector and seeker of justice, that one. He didn’t much like the men who traveled with my dad. Grandpa was always fun, but he was glad when they left.”
“Intuition. Kids know things we don’t.”
“Hmph. Maybe. I hadn’t thought of it that way. I just thought he didn’t like the interruption in our routine or worried it meant it was time to move again.”
“He’s been through a lot.”
“He really has. I’ve tried to keep things as normal as possible – I tell him we’re on a great adventure, though I think he’s starting to sense it isn’t normal to be on a constant adventure.”
“What about me? Does he think I…left?”
“I could never do that to either one of you. He thinks you have a really important job protecting the world and that when you’re done, we’ll get to come be w
ith you. You’re basically a superhero to him.”
Dace laced his fingers through hers. “I hope I don’t let him down when I’m not in a lycra suit and shooting weird shit out of my wrists.”
“Nah. I don’t think you could let him down if you tried.” Ivy’s eyelids grew heavy, and her breathing quickened. “I think he’ll like the leather jacket and boots thing.”
There was that feeling again, the one that surged through them each time they touched. The one that was electric and couldn’t be ignored. It was becoming more and more difficult to avoid that sense of need that brewed and the desire that flooded deep within each of them.
“What does he get from you?”
Ivy pulled herself together and shook off the sensual feelings that had been working their way in. “Nothing. Absolutely nothing. I carried him nine months and spent thirty-six hours in labor with a nine-pound giant, and the kid looks and acts nothing like me.” She laughed. “He’s all O’Reilly. He looks it, walks it, talks it, even has these expressions and posture that’s so you. I even see your brothers in him. He has Wylie’s big heart, Luke’s brooding, Dec’s old soul, and Liam’s brain. The kids so smart, like crazy smart. It’s…the weirdest thing.”
Ivy was caught in Dace's stare once more as he listened so intently to what she was saying. The grin he wore was. They were walking an extremely dangerous blurred line, and one of them was bound to step over.
He reached up and tucked the wild strands of hair behind her ear. “I’m sure he got something from you. I can’t wait to figure out what.”
“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I’m so sorry.”
“Shh. None of that.” With his hand behind her neck, he pulled her close and kissed her forehead. “This wasn’t entirely your fault. Not really.”
She raised her head to meet his stare. “I don’t deserve this. I made awful choices. You had a right to know – to try to protect us – to come with us. I just wish I realized that then, Dace. I really wish you could have been with us.”
Dace leaned in and took her mouth slowly at first, mindful of the injuries her body had sustained weeks before. He took the time to relearn her body, test her boundaries, and feel every emotion that washed over him. He was careful to guide them and control the intensity of the passion between them. With each stroke of her tongue, that intensity grew like she’d been starved of affection – of intimacy – and he was her sustenance.
Sliding his hands down her back, he let them roam until they were under her ass, and he was able to gently lift her and place her in his lap, so she was straddling him. Ivy broke their kiss, breathing heavily she stroked his mouth with her thumbs while holding his face – studying him – noticing everything that was both different about him and the same.
“Are you okay? Is this okay?” he asked.
Ivy bit her bottom lip, the glint in her eye both innocent and seductive. She was the devil and an angel, and he couldn’t resist either. She was taunting him with every lazy, heavy sweep of her lash and breathy moan while she began to move against him. Ivy was flirting with his wants and her needs.
“Yes, Dace. It’s more than okay.” And she took his mouth once more.
It was like the fog lifted between them, and old memories became new beginnings as his hands explored her body. Under her shirt, up her sides, he caressed every inch as he met her breasts and toyed with hardened peaks that lay just beneath. This was what she liked. He remembered how much she loved his touch – the feel of his large hands on her heated skin. He wanted more.
Ivy pulled her shirt over her head and arched her back, giving him better access – her way of telling him what she wanted. Some things were just meant to be, and right now, it was tasting her breasts and imagining what the rest of her would taste like. She was both familiar and new – still soft and sweet, but her curves were more defined, and breasts fuller. She still felt like home, and he wanted to show her she was safe with him there.
Her head had fallen back, and her moans grew louder. Dace wrapped his arms around her waist and took to his feet, moving them to the bedroom. Ivy pulled his shirt over his head then her mouth captured his once again, and he could feel the heat rolling off her causing his pants to tighten to a near discomfort. Her nails scratched at his back and neck as desire flooded her. He wanted Ivy like he needed air, but he needed her to trust him completely. They were good together once upon a time, and he was determined to find out if they could be in their second act.
Placing her in the center of the bed, he took the time to kneel between her parted knees and studied her as he slid the remaining remnants of clothing from her body. It pained him to see the shades of yellow and faint lavender that still remained in place of what was jarring purple and near-black weeks before. Dace glided his hand over every scar, every bruise, noting to memory how many marks he owed to whoever did this to her.
Ivy was suddenly timid – shy – insecure from the tarnished pieces of her body he was examining, he imagined. He understood why but was intent on showing her otherwise – to be confident in her beauty because no mark could muddle that. Not where he was concerned.
When his touch reached her ankles, he paused and waited for her to acknowledge his unspoken question. Was she ready? Did she want it? Did she want him? He gripped her ankles and raised his brow, to which she slowly exhaled and nodded as the corners of her mouth quirked up in a sirens grin. Some things never changed.
Dace pulled her ankles farther apart until her knees fell open, and he began to kiss her inner thigh leaving a trail of goose bumps in its wake, marking his journey from who they once were to who they were meant to be…together.
With an arched back sensual moan, he quickened the pace his tongue set when he finally got his taste of her. He felt that moan, knew the pleasure it was derived from because this was his pleasure too, and he was taking every bit of it. Her taste enticed him and her cries so stimulating they drove him to her tantalizing bliss as he slipped a finger, then two inside matching the strokes of his tongue on her tight bundle of nerves that were causing her to tighten.
She was nearly undone, and he’d only begun. The things he wanted to do to her were too much for him to think about, or he’d be done before he even started. Tonight wasn’t about that. Tonight was about reconnecting with the who his soul desired — the only woman who ever held his heart. Tonight was about reminding her of that — soft, slow, meaningful, and full of purpose.
They hadn’t spoken a word, but heard each other's story and understood every word. It was apologetic. It was sympathetic. It was promising. It was nothing and still everything.
When Ivy came down in a violent quake, he took pleasure in watching her mouth form a perfect O after she called his name, and panted through the waves of ecstasy that followed. He took to his knees once more so he could undo his pants and kick them off at his feet.
Dace centered himself above her, careful not to put weight on her or cause issues to her healing body. “Is this okay?” he asked in a low sultry timbre.
“More than okay.” Ivy’s heavily headed eyes were unfocused, and she gasped at the weight of his hardened length against her.
That made him smile with mischief. “Oh, the things I want to do to you. Soon,” he said.
Ivy lifted her hips to find his beginning and pulled him into her with her hands on his ass. Dace was quickly reminded of his recent piercing. Though it had been several weeks, it was the first time he’d sunk into a woman and felt the new sensations it generated. It was pain and pleasure in a perfect mix…it was pure bliss, and he never wanted to feel that with anyone else but Ivy.
He made slow sweet love to her, rewriting their story, but not forgetting how they got there. There was love lost, and love renewed, and so much damn uncertainty. When he finally held her in his arms, each completely satiated, he wondered: had he just found his way back to the woman who completed his entire being or did he just get in bed with the devil. Either way, he had zero regrets. This was either their new begi
nning or sad goodbye.
24
Dace sat in the lair at the table with his brothers so he could share the few details he’d pulled out of Ivy the night before. C.T. had just arrived after texting that he needed to see them, and it was urgent.
Dace had gone out first thing that morning for a ride on his Harley and to clear his head so he could figure out his next move. How pondered how they were going to clear Ivy’s name or, God forbid, close a case against her and bring her to justice? More and more information seemed to come their way, but they were no closer to real answers than they were the day she showed up in the alley.
He’d pulled over to take in the skyline at sunrise from the highest point in the city and work out the case that was starting to haunt him. He did some of his best thinking up there – there was something about the solitude and deafening quiet that brought him peace and clarity.
Despite the time with his thoughts early in the day and now the round table meeting with his brothers, they were no closer to answers or solutions. He’d hoped C.T. was bringing good news and was grateful for his request to see them…until he saw the look on his face when he got there. Fuck.
“We have another murder,” C.T. said. “I don’t have DNA back yet, too early, but it’s another staged crime scene with Ivy’s picture. Just like the two previous.”
“Shit,” Dace said. “You have anything we can dig into?”
C.T. held up a clear evidence bag that held a cell phone. “I got this. I was hoping I didn’t put my job on the line for nothing, and Liam could get into it and pull something – anything.”
Liam reached for the bag. “You already lift prints and stuff, or do I need to glove up?”
“Do whatever you need to do. My buddy in tech forensics let me take it under the radar when I said I was bringing it to you. Said I owe him a meetup sesh? I guess he’s a fan of your work.”
Liam smiled. “Aren’t they all? Bring him to the lair with you next time, and I’ll show him shit. Keep him on your good side.”
Brother's Keeper V: Wylie (the complete series BOX SET): NEW RELEASE + Series Box SET included! Page 108