by T. A. Grey
“I gotta lay down, my head is killing me.” With a groan, he slipped back between the sheets and she followed, kicking off her shoes.
It felt like the most natural thing in the world when she rested her cheek on his shoulder and tossed her arm across his waist. He sighed deeply and let his eyes close. Finally, he felt better.
Unbelievably amazing. Just the medicine he needed. His woman back in his arms.
“Now this feels good.”
She snorted. “Oui.”
He groaned. “I never want to hear French again for as long as I live.” He enjoyed hearing her laughter again.
“I agree. This feels nice.” She placed a kiss at his neck, breathing him in. “I missed you too.”
Feeling her in his arms, lying with her in his bed, this was the good stuff in life. Irreplaceable. Nothing that could be purchased. Heck he couldn’t remember the last time he’d had a woman in his bed. As he raked his mind, he came to the earth-shattering conclusion that she was the first. His princess.
“I don’t know what happens now,” Hanna whispered.
He brushed her hair with his fingers, playing with the soft blonde locks. He loved her hair, everything about it from its color to its texture to its length. ‘Course she could be bald and he’d still find her attractive. She might even be quite the babe rocking the Sinead O’Conner style. He smiled to the ceiling at his inner thoughts.
“I don’t know either, babe.”
She turned her head, cheek scraping by his gruff beard and reminding him to shave. They locked eyes and suddenly his heart started beating faster. Hanna had that effect on him. She turned to face him fully.
“Can you believe we’re back home? It feels...surreal. I thought we’d never make it.”
“Yeah, couldn’t agree more.”
She pressed a kiss to his jaw, eyes squeezed closed, then she nuzzled his ear, making all kinds of wicked sensations stir inside him. He rubbed her back, the curve at her hip which was one of his favorite parts. Like handles.
Love handles. Sexy, beautiful, wanna-have-a-bite kind of love handles.
Suddenly, she sat up and tossed her leg over his waist, sitting astride him. His eyes widened a fraction.
His body wasn’t nearly as dead as it had been previously. Funny how that worked. Hanna had the effect on him. Her palms landed on his chest as she stared down at him.
“Hun,” she began. He felt like she was about to start some kind of serious conversation, of which he was decidedly apprehensive. “We need to talk.”
Yup.
Talk about good instincts. He’d spotted that one a mile away.
“About what?” he asked hesitantly. He grabbed those luscious hips.
Rarely were these kinds of conversations ever good for a man. In fact, he wondered if any man in the history of men had ever started a conversation with ‘We need to talk’. Ha! He doubted it.
Coyly and sweetly, she blushed, biting her lip in the process and drawing his hooded gaze. “What are we, Alex? Are we anything? And should I even care?”
He released the rather considerable breath he’d been holding in.
He could answer this question in a nanosecond, thank god.
“Well... I don’t know if I’m prepared to answer those kinds of question right now. My head feels like I’ve been shot at. ‘Cause, I was shot,” he hedged.
But he knew, without a doubt, that he loved her. Tremendously.
She nodded, looking worried, her brow furrowing. Softly her fingers touched the gauze that mummified half of his head around his forehead and looped around the back of his skull and finished across his nose.
“What happened, hun?”
There it was again. That term of endearment. Dare he call it that? Of which he’d never heard her voice before. Did he like it?
Hell yeah.
Made his heart leap suddenly and his stomach feel all tight and warm.
“You mean you don’t know?” he asked.
She shook her head in denial.
“I was shot in the face with a shot gun blast. Silver pellets were embedded in my skin. Silver pellets. Hurts worse than you can imagine. Thank god Gavin and them showed. They spotted the fire in the distance and were wise to conclude that it had to do with us. Heck, without them...things would have turned out for differently than they did, princess.”
Her eyes flew open in alarm. She gently touched the gauze as if trying to assess the damage underneath.
He shrugged but couldn’t hide his pained expression. Still, he enjoyed having her astride him, since he got to run his hands up and down her jean-clad thighs. Very nice. His body felt even warmer now.
God, he missed her, couldn’t stop touching her. He loved the way she smelled. He loved the way she touched him and the way she looked at him.
“The healer said it might heal fully.” He shrugged. “Might not either. Could leave some bad scarring on my face and in my hairline, she said. She pulled out the pellets but the silver caused serious damage. Maybe Gavin and I will look like brothers when this is all through.” He laughed bitterly.
Her hand flew over her mouth. “What does that mean?”
Another shrug. Like this was all no big deal. Fact is he didn’t care to think about it, he wasn’t shallow enough to let it bother him, though it would be a helluva change to have to live with.
“I might have permanent scarring to my face.”
Shit.
It’s like she shut down. All at once. Turning cold and numb. She moved off him to the side and stood up too quickly for him to stop her.
“Hey, where you goin’? I thought we’d get some shut-eye together.” Like hell he’d let her leave him now.
She didn’t speak for a minute and he waited patiently. Or tried his best to. He tugged on her hair gently, wishing to comfort her but not knowing how.
When she spoke, her voice sounded defeated. “It’s my fault. I hate to sound like a pity party. But this, everything, that happened was because of me. Because I thought I needed to change. Look at everything that happened because of one stupid decision.”
“Babe, before you go throwing all the blame on yourself, remember Remi attacked you first. He’s the real perpetrator in all this.”
“Yeah,” she said. Though he didn’t feel she meant it. “I need to say a few things and then I’ll go.” Her response had him sitting up.
“You don’t have to go.” Please don’t leave me.
“You might reconsider that after I say what I have to say, Alex.”
No more ‘hun’, he noticed. Now he was relegated back to being ‘Alex’. It didn’t have quite the same ring to it.
O-kay. “I’m all ears, babe.”
Hell, they’d had sex, they’d been quite intimate actually and they’d been through hell and back together. What could be the problem? That on top of the fact that he fuckin’ loved her, hands down, without a doubt, meant her uneasiness made him decidedly queasy.
She could make or break things and he might not be able to fix it--a man’s worst fear.
Then she dropped a bombshell on him. That left him reeling, stunned, and humbled.
“I think I love you. No. I know I do. I fell in love along the way.”
Behind her one corner of his mouth pulled into a smile. She never saw it, because she never turned to face him.
“And I know this is my fault and I’m sorry. I’m so fucking sorry for all of it. Your face...Remi...Xavier...all of it.”
He stopped her. Couldn’t listen to her go on any longer with this nonsense. He snaked his arm around her waist and pulled her back under the sheets, taking her by surprise.
Finally having her beneath him, he did what he’d been dying to do since she showed up like a damn miracle angel at his front door.
He kissed the living daylights out of her.
As a man should do to the woman he loves.
She was surprised at first. But soon enough her hands found their way to his hair and held tight. Once again his wo
rld was perfect.
He kissed her good and long. Hard and wet and did he mention really good? This woman could kiss, could make him dizzy, and harder than stone. Tongue twining, soul searing, heart pounding goodness.
When he finally felt like he’d been dazzled enough, he pulled back.
His voice was gruff. “Okay, it’s time for me to lay down some ground rules for the good of us both.”
“What do you mean?” Her legs parted for him. So naturally, he pressed his groin to her heated center and her eyelids fluttered like a butterflies wings.
She felt like heaven.
Like heaven.
“Ground rules, babe. Here they are. And take this with a grain of salt seeing as I’m partially dizzy and making this up as I go. Fact is I fucking love you.” She gasped, a pretty sound to his ears, like music. “Yeah, I know it sucks. But I do.” She glared at that part. “Hey, I didn’t mean for this to happen. It just did. Seeing as we love each other there’s some new accommodations to be made. You say you hate your house? Fine. Move in here. Just don’t paint my walls pink and I don’t care. But know that if you move in with me I’m going to want to mate with you eventually. It don’t have to be rushed. We’ll take our time. Do it next year, hell, two years from now. Whatever. I don’t want to rush you ‘cause you just left one bastard for another. This one don’t cheat, though, baby. Not ever. And hell, if you truly don’t want to ever be mated again I’ll deal, but dammit Hanna I want you here in my life with me. You’re my princess.”
Teary-eyed she smiled up at him. “But I’m not a princess.”
He tsked her. “Babe, you’re my princess. My silent princess. Quiet and in disguise. A princess in hiding.”
Her smile came full force, lighting up his whole darkened world and turning it upside down. Stunning the breath right out of him. “Then you’re my prince.”
He scoffed at that.
What nonsense.
“Let’s take it easy with the lingo, babe. I ain’t no prince.”
“But you’re my prince,” she insisted, squeezing his shoulders, hugging him close until she could kiss him. And what a kiss it was. His brain was still reeling and his dick was starting to wake up and pay attention. “And yes, I’d love to move in with you.”
He smiled ‘till his cheeks hurt, chest puffing up with male pride. “Oh yeah?”
“Yeah,” she said, giving him a big smile in return.
He tickled her, and they laughed rolling around the bed. She landed on top once more, breathless and beautiful; she took his breath away and breathed new meaning into his drab existence.
“You truly mean everything you say?” A look of uncertainty crossed her face.
He grew serious, cupping her cheeks. “Babe, I promise not to cheat. I simply don’t play that way. I promise I might not be a perfect son of a bitch, and I am a son of a bitch, but I’ll fucking worship you every day of my life. So, what do you say, Hanna MacKellen? Do you want to be mine?”
She moved in the following day.
He had his answer.
And he had no complaints.
Chapter THIRTY-EIGHT
Burly Bear Bar
One week later
It was going to be the party of the century.
The whole town was invited to the Burly Bear Bar at Hanna’s behest to celebrate the safe return of Alex and Hanna. Word was abound that they were a new “couple” something that never failed to put a smile on her face.
Hanna’s world had relatively calmed back to some semblance of normal. Though everywhere she went in the pack people stopped to hug her and welcome her back. It made her feel humble and loved to know people cared about her well-being.
In the meantime, she’d hired a pack realtor to help sell her house. She was cutting the price rather drastically, because she didn’t care about the money. She had Alex and she had herself, first and foremost. And she just wanted to get rid of that brown two-story stucco-filled house and all the memories of Tom she had buried there.
Alex had encouraged her and left all the decisions up to her, control which she greatly appreciated and perhaps even needed to have. She’d packed her belongings, those she wanted to take, and left the torn-up couch and broken dishes to be given away or sold.
She even liked Alex’s bed better. She slept like a babe in it. Though that might partly have to do with the fact that Alex often wore her out with orgasms. They made love in the shower, in the kitchen, on his back patio, and of course in his bed. Sex had never been so exciting, so open and free to her. With Tom...well, she didn’t think about that anymore. It was no use comparing apples to oranges when oranges were far, far better and the apples had bits of worms wiggling inside them.
Did she mention she effing loved oranges?
Tonight would be a great big party at the Burly Bear Bar. A grand homecoming event. Hanna invited everyone and as a part-time employee for Trish, the storeowner, she’d offered to open her doors in a free-for-all bar night. Tables and chairs were set up out front and out back. They estimated at least a hundred people might show. Hanna couldn’t wait.
That morning she went to Alicia’s place and was given an outfit--if one could call it that.
“Consider it a gift for the trauma you’ve been through,” Alicia had said.
Hanna hadn’t been able to close her jaw at the...lingerie Alicia had given her. Alicia was an entrepreneur, a business owner and a do-it-yourself kind of gal. She designed outstanding lingerie for women that had been selling like hotcakes in the pack and around the world via the Internet.
Go Alicia, Hanna thought.
And what clothing had Alicia designed for Hanna? Well, for one, it flattered her curvaceous figure perfectly. That’s what happened when one had a clothes designed for them. The seams were perfect; the material completely flattering unlike shopping at a department store where women often ran the problem of finding properly fitted clothes.
The outfit was perfect. Alex wouldn’t be able to keep his hands off her when he saw it. A fact which she planned to exploit at some point this evening.
The lingerie in question made an entire outfit, though it’d be necessary to wear a real clothing over top, lest she wanted to look like a Victoria’s Secret runway model for all to see. And no thanks to that, was her answer. She only needed Alex to see her goodies, thank you very much.
Nothing said sexy like black satin and lace. Of itty-bitty bowties in baby blue and black thigh-high stockings, the tops of which were adorned in a lovely flowery lace held up by a garter belt, also black. A thong covered her and melded with the garters and the black stockings made her feel naughty--she couldn’t stop rubbing her smooth legs together to feel the fabric rub.
Her stomach was bared and her top, the brassiere, as Alicia called it, was made of lace cups so you could see her shape clearly, even the color of her nipples were visible. More baby blue bowties adorned the middle clasp, where the bra could be easily opened. Her thong was comprised of ties which could be tugged on and her panties would be no more.
She was flustered and bothered thinking about it, and couldn’t quite contain her excitement to show Alex and see what his response would be. She’d certainly never had the chance to wear anything sexy for him. Tonight would be different.
Over top this sexy contraption she wore a white dress, with ruffled feather-like material. It also came mid-thigh so her black stockings contrasted nicely. She topped her outfit with a sexy hairstyle of curls pile atop her head, which Kaity helped her to pin up. She topped the outfit with black high heels, a pearl necklace, drop-pendant earrings, with a touch of makeup. When she looked at herself in the mirror at last, she knew she looked good.
Well done indeed.
For a moment, Hanna felt nervous to go out in public like this. She never dressed quite so...flatteringly. But tonight was different. Tonight the entire pack would be celebrating the return of her and Alex, and she wanted to look nice.
“Is Alex taking you tonight?” Alicia asked.
Nighttime arrived. Butterflies jostled in her stomach. All the nerves made her bite her lipstick off. Kaity scolded her and she had to wipe a tissue across her front teeth to clean off the smeared red.
Red lipstick. A white dress. Black stockings. God. This was too much. She was getting really nervous.
As they approached the already packed parking lot, Hanna felt the desire to shout at Alicia to turn back around. But she squeezed her hands together, nearly trembling, and said not a word.
Slow, deep breaths helped to calm her nerves.
“Don’t worry. You look elegant and classy, not whoreish. Plus, wait till he sees you. It’ll all be worth it,” Alicia winked. She too looked like an out-right bombshell in a mini-skirt, thigh-high black leather boots, a sassy ponytail, and a tight top. “Wait till Gavin gets a load of this. He likes when I dressy sexy in public. Makes him go all cave man. Can’t wait.”
Hanna held up her hand. “Please don’t tell me sex stories involving my brother.”
Alicia guffawed and clapped her on the back goodheartedly.
“Whatever you say, girlfriend. In we go, Ms. VIP.”
Deep breaths, in and out, slow and steady, that was her mantra for this evening.
The bar bustled with excitement.
It was soon apparent amidst the wave of boisterous greetings that Alex, Gavin, and Hart had yet to make an appearance.
Trish swept Hanna into a hug right off the bat. “I’m so happy you’re okay,” she whispered. It felt like eons ago that Hanna had worked Trish's accounting books for her.
“Thank you. Me too.”
“You’ll always have a job here if you want. Now, what can I get you to drink?”
“Margaritas for all!” Alicia chimed.
“Hell yeah!” Kaity shouted, pumping her fist in the air.
Hanna passed through the bustling, smiling crowd giving hugs and taking the well wishes sent her way. A table space had been set up at the main corner of the room for the “special guests” tonight. Hanna sat and that’s when she heard her phone buzz from her purse.