Taming Bull: A Friends to Lovers Military MC Romance (Dead Presidents MC Book 9)
Page 18
“Thank you, dear,” Mom replied, smiling as she patted Lily on the hand. “It’s a bit much, but I do love to decorate for the holidays.”
We slipped through the living room, following boughs of holly into the family room where Grandpa and Grandma were deep in a competitive game of gin rummy against my sister and her husband. Everyone but my sister stood when we entered.
“Mom, Dad, Marilynn, Fred,” Dad said, scooting by us. “This is Lily, Deryk’s girlfriend.”
The welcoming smiles and greetings of my grandparents, sister, and brother-in-law helped ease more of the tension from Lily.
“You can call us Grandma and Grandpa,” Grandma said, gesturing Lily forward. “Everyone does.”
“Thank you.” Lily stepped into Grandma’s embrace before accepting a hug from Grandpa, too.
“And this little ball of fuss is Madison,” Marilynn said, raising her cards so we could see the baby sleeping on her lap. “I’m not gonna get up because I just got her to sleep, but it’s so nice to finally meet you, Lily.”
“Thank you. You, as well. And Madison is adorable,” Lily gushed.
My sister smiled and brushed back her baby’s thick hair. “Yes, she is. I think we’ll keep her.”
“Hey Fred,” I said with a nod.
“Deryk.” He nodded back. My brother-in-law was an all right guy, but we’d never had much in common to talk about.
Everyone sat. I positioned Lily beside me on the chaise lounge as Mom and Dad took up their position on the love seat across the coffee table from Grandma and Grandpa. Marilynn and Fred were opposite me and Lily, on the other side of the sectional.
Mom picked up her cards. “I trust nobody cheated while we were gone,” she said, eyeing the room. It was the same look she used to give me and Marilynn when she knew we’d filched treats but couldn’t prove our guilt.
“Mom, please,” Marilynn said, looking up from her cards. “Give us some credit.” She winked at Grandma, and Grandma winked back.
Mom rolled her eyes at them. “Jesus doesn’t like cheats and liars.”
“Then I think you have some repenting to do after that last game,” Grandpa said.
Mom harrumphed and everyone else laughed.
Lily sat quietly and took it all in. As Grandpa’s turn came and went, she leaned closer to me and whispered, “Do they really cheat?”
I chuckled. “Every one of them… every chance they get.”
“Boy, don’t you be tellin’ stories about us,” Grandma said. “Don’t you go poisoning that girl before she gets a chance to know us.” To Lily, Grandma added, “Don’t let him fool you. You’re sittin’ with the biggest cheat of all.”
Lily gasped. “You cheat?” she asked me. “Against your grandma?”
Grandma laughed. “He sure does.” To Mom, she added, “I like her, Liz. She’s adequately appalled by your son’s behavior.”
Lily was still staring at me in opened-mouth horror.
I held up my hands, trying to ward off her judgement. “Hey, Grandma’s ruthless. I gotta win sometimes.”
I was afraid there’d be tension and awkwardness, but my family’s competitive shenanigans had Lily fully relaxed and laughing in no time. She helped Mom and Grandma bring out the food and held Madison while Marilynn ate. She even got into a heated debate with my dad about why the Seahawks were better than the Cowboys, and held her own against Grandpa’s signature teasing.
Watching her interact with them all, I realized Lily had never had this. Sure, she’d grown up with her grandmother, and now she had the club, but she’d never had a family Christmas dinner that ended in a high stakes Scrabble match that required a dictionary, a rosary, and a swear jar. My mom had put up a stocking for Lily, and when Lily saw it, she started bawling.
As Mom draped her arm over Lily’s shoulder and took her for a walk to talk, I knew everything was going to be okay. Lily needed this. I hadn’t trusted my family to welcome her, but man had they ever proven me wrong.
Since we weren’t married, Mom put us up in separate rooms. I sneaked into Lily’s room in the middle of the night, and she reluctantly gave me a chaste kiss before chasing my ass out.
“I’m not spitting in the face of your parents’ hospitality,” she told me.
I couldn’t have loved her more if I tried.
Dad asked when I was planning to marry her. I told him we were in no hurry and wanted to travel and see some of the world before we blew money on a wedding. He offered to pick up the tab for our ceremony, but I declined. I appreciated his generosity, but some things we needed to do for ourselves. When we were ready to get married, we’d pay for it on our own. But for now, our plates were full, and our love was enough. We didn’t need a piece of paper to make it official.
We returned to Seattle to spend New Year’s Eve with the club. While we were away, a new recruit had joined. Link introduced him to me as Kaos, which was apparently his nickname when he played hockey.
“Hockey?” I asked, certain I must have misheard him. “Professionally?”
Kaos nodded. He was a big man. Standing at least six-three, two hundred and fifty pounds of muscle with broad shoulders and a shit-eating grin, he just looked like trouble. “NHL. Played center for the Sharks before I enlisted.”
I knew very little about hockey and made a mental note to look up the position and find out what the hell he did. “Holy shit. You were pro and you enlisted?”
He shrugged. “I was getting old. Didn’t know what else to do.”
He was maybe forty, but I supposed that was old for a hockey player. “And now you’re prospecting?”
“Yep. The prez said you can show me around and take me out on the tow truck. He said if I like it and I’m interested, there’s openings for drivers. I’ll just need to get certified.” I briefly wondered why Link kept pushing the new guys off onto me. Tavonte had turned out to be pretty fucking cool, so hopefully this crazy hockey player would, too.
“And you’re thinking about it?”
“Sure. Why not?”
This was the most bizarre conversation I’d had in a while. I wanted to point out that he was an NHL player and should be set for life. He’d ben a professional athlete, for crying out loud. Curious about his motivation for wanting to slum with us lowly working-class citizens, I asked, “Did you gamble away all your money or something?”
He glared at me. “What the fuck’s that supposed to mean? You think just because I want to work, I must be broke? You think hockey players are too stupid to keep from blowing their money?” He stood, flexing as his hands formed fists.
Wow. He’d read way into my harmless question, and judging by the steam coming out of his ears, he was pissed. “No, man, I didn’t mean any of that. I just… I’ve never met a professional athlete before and—”
He pressed his lips together. I was afraid for my life, so it took me a minute to realize he was trying not to laugh. The corded muscle along his arms relaxed, and he belted out a deep, loud chuckle. “I’m just fuckin’ with you, brother.” He took a swig from his beer and added, “You gotta learn to relax.”
I was pretty sure my life flashed before my eyes, but okay. Yeah. I could relax. Kaos. Now I understood where he got his nickname. I bet he was anarchy and pandemonium on the ice and the battlefield. Ah well. If the bastard fucked with me again, I’d drop his ass off at Ms. Moore’s house. At about half her age with muscles to spare, she’d love him. That’d teach the motherfucker.
“I’m lookin’ forward to working with you, Kaos,” I told him.
He chuckled again. “Sure you are.”
Across the room, Lily yawned. She saw me watching and gave me a reassuring smile. She was tired, and although I appreciated my brothers, I had no desire to be in the club when the ball dropped. I collected my woman and we said our goodbyes before heading home.
Parking in the garage beside the used Honda Civic Rabbit had fixed up for Lily, I sent Lily inside before retrieving the gift I’d been working on from its hiding
spot under my workbench. I’d wrapped it last night, so I stuck a bow to the top and carried it into the house.
We’d done a lot of work over the past few months, painting, installing new floors, redoing the trim, and updating the light fixtures. There was still more to do, but we enjoyed working together and were in no hurry to finish it. The place was a work in progress… kind of like us.
I removed my boots and went to find Lily. Brahma was sprawled out across his bed in the living room. He opened an eye, saw it was me, and went back to sleep. I still hadn’t seen one ounce of the protective guard dog Lily claimed he was, but we did have a copy of a police report that said he’d bit some guy named Matt Warner. Matt was still in jail, doing time for breaking a restraining order and attempted kidnapping. According to Lily, Matt’s ex-wife, Tina, and their badass little son were working with Ladies First and doing great.
I found Lily in the bathroom. She’d stripped down to a sheer red nightgown that barely covered her ass, and was brushing her teeth. I took one look at her and my cock turned to granite.
“You look nice,” I said, closing in to kiss her cheek.
She spit and rinsed her brush, eyeing the large, heavy package in my hands. “Thanks. What do you have there?”
“It’s a surprise.”
She worried her bottom lip. “Were we supposed to get New Year’s gifts for each other?”
“Nope. This isn’t for New Year’s.”
Putting her toothbrush away, she followed me into the bedroom. “What’s it for then?”
“It’s because I love you and I wanted to make you something special.”
She eyed me. “You said you don’t make things.”
“Okay. I wanted to buy you something special and refinish it.”
She grinned.
I put the package on the bed and watched her expectantly. When she didn’t move, I asked, “You gonna open it?”
Lily fell on it and shredded the paper. I laughed, watching her face light up as she realized what it was. “A hope chest?” she asked, lifting the lid.
Made of old cedar, it had been in horrible shape when I’d purchased it, but I’d sanded it down and added protective metal strips to give it that steampunk look she was so fond of.
“Yep. I figured you’d need something to pack all your memories into since we’re about to start traveling.”
“We are?” she asked, her hands clapping together in excitement.
“Yep. Tay invited us to Nashville. You interested?”
“Ohmigod, yes!” Lily squealed. “You are so getting the best blow job of your life tonight.”
I laughed. “Deal. Goddamn, I’ll take that deal any day of the week.”
“Thank you for this. It’s gorgeous, and I can’t wait to fill it.” She started to move the hope chest, but it was heavy, so I lifted it for her, settling it at the end of our bed.
As soon as my hands were empty, Lily slid between them, tugging off my cut and shirt and removing my jeans and boxers. Her hands roamed over the ridges of my muscles, admiringly, and I made a mental note to keep hitting the gym. I needed to stay in shape for my woman, after all.
“Tell me about this blow job you intend to give me,” I said. “I need to be prepared.”
She led me to the side of the bed, and then dropped to her knees on the throw rug. “Well.” She licked precum from the head of my cock and I groaned. “Considering you’re such a giving, caring boyfriend, I think I should try to suck your soul out through your cock.”
Could be painful, could be bliss, but I was down. “Show me.”
Smiling up at me, she slid my cock between her lips and started sucking. As the clock struck midnight, bringing in a new year, I watched in awe as Lily tried her damnedest to swallow me whole. Lily often joked about her struggle from the friend zone I’d tried to keep her locked away in. I was beyond grateful my angel had found a way to break out of it and wake my ass up.
I didn’t know if she could suck my soul out, but she sure as hell had captured my fucking heart.
Also by Harley Stone
Thank you so much for reading Taming Bull. I hope you’ve enjoyed the journey. Please take a moment to write a review. They only require twenty words and help me tremendously. I appreciate your support!
Also, be sure to check out my other books:
Link’d Up: Dead Presidents MC #1
Wreaking Havoc: Dead Presidents MC #2
Trapping Wasp: Dead Presidents MC #3
Landing Eagle: Dead Presidents MC #4
Tap’d Out: Dead Presidents MC #5
Breaking Spade: Dead Presidents MC #6
Betting on Stocks: Dead Presidents MC #7
Unleashing Hound: Dead Presidents MC #8
Rescuing Mercy: Dead Presidents MC Spin-off
Dom’s Ascension: Mariani Crime Family #1
Making Angel: Mariani Crime Family #2
Breaking Bones: Mariani Crime Family #3
About the Author
International bestselling author Harley Stone is a lover of animals, books, dark chocolate, and red wine. She's always up for a good adventure (real or fictional), and when she's not building imaginary worlds, she's dipping her toes into reality in southwest Washington with her husband and their boys.
Acknowledgments
This book would have never become a reality without the help and support of so many people. Special thanks to my husband, Meltarrus, our boys, and all my friends and family for letting me off the hook when I daydreamed storyline and dialog during our conversations.
Huge thanks to the incredible Gail Goldie, who saw this first and saved the rest of the world from having to read most of my mistakes. Also, thanks to my fabulous friend Nicole Phoenix for her content edits, suggestions, and encouragement. Thank you, beta and ARC readers for your edits, support, and love.
And, thank you, reader, for embarking on this journey with me!