She panted and licked my face.
Deacon started laughing.
I took that as a yes.
* * * * *
Deep in the night, I was tucked tight to Deacon’s back, arm around him, when I felt his body jerk before I felt the covers thrown off me.
“Baby, what on—?” I started.
He was off the bed and I could tell by the noises he was pulling on his jeans.
“Do not move,” he growled. “And do not fight me, Cassie. You stay up here with Bossy and don’t move.”
My heart clutched.
He bent, nabbed his tee, and stalked to the door through the dark.
“Stay with Cassie,” he ordered Bossy.
I watched through the shadows as Bossy did as she was told, sitting on her behind, but she barked at the door when Deacon closed us in.
I jumped from the bed and dashed around the room, tugging on the clothes Deacon had taken off when he’d made love to me hours before.
Then I approached the window at the side, carefully peeking through the edge of the sheers and down to the lane.
The motion sensor lights were on. By their light, I saw Raid’s jeep, a sleek, expensive looking car, a Mercedes, and an SUV that was not Deacon’s or mine.
He’d heard that cavalcade coming.
God, was his old life knocking at the door?
Bossy gave me a sharp but quiet bark and I looked down to see her at attention three feet from me.
She wanted me away from the window.
Daddy’s girl.
Still, I moved away. That settled her and she sat on her heiny until suddenly her head jerked toward the door.
She trotted to it just as it opened.
I wasn’t surprised. I, too, heard Deacon coming up the stairs.
“Cassidy, got a situation. Come down, yeah? Raid’s here. So are Knight, Marcus, Creed, and Sylvie.”
What was going on?
Before I could ask, he continued,” As well as Hanna, Knight’s woman, and Marcus’s.”
I stared.
“Woman, here,” he ordered.
His tone brooked no argument, so for once, I didn’t argue.
I went there.
He grabbed my hand and pulled me out of the room.
He kept hold of my hand as he pulled me down the stairs, Bossy following. And he kept hold of it as he pulled me to a stop in the foyer.
Bossy barked at the company we had crowding the space.
I looked down at her and said, soft but firm, “Quiet. Sit. Stay, baby.”
She looked up at me, quieted and sat.
“Oo, sugar! Isn’t that precious! Your dog is sooooo good.”
My head snapped up and I took in a woman who, at first glance, I thought was Dolly Parton.
I also saw Hanna and Raid, a handsome but scary man standing next to the Dolly lookalike, and another handsome (incredibly handsome) but scary and younger man standing next to a very beautiful woman. Last, I saw a petite blonde who still looked like she could take a stab at kicking Deacon’s ass and hold her own (before he bested her, of course), standing next to another handsome man who had a scar on his face.
She had a baby to her hip.
So did the beautiful woman, not to mention her hot guy held a toddler.
“I’ll do this so you boys, and girl,” the Dolly lady started, tipping her head to the petite blonde, “can get your shit sorted so you can get shit sorted.” She stepped forward. “I’m Daisy Sloan. That’s my honey bunches of oats, Marcus.” She pointed at the older, good-looking guy.
Even as scary as all this was, I was fighting back a giggle at her honey bunches of oats comment.
“This here is Tucker and Sylvie Creed and their baby, Jesse,” she went on, giving me the knowledge of who the petite woman and hot, scarred guy were. “That there is Knight Sebring, his woman Anya, their girls Kat and Kasha.” She indicated the beautiful woman and non-scarred, hot guy. “Think you know Raid and Hanna,” she finished.
“Uh, yeah,” I confirmed, sending a small grin Raid and Hanna’s way. I looked to the others. “Nice to finally meet you all. Deacon says good things.”
I got smiles, grins, and chin lifts.
“Right,” Daisy stated. “Now, Knight’s brother is a pain in the patoot. And ’cause he is, your man is gonna have to go off with all our men,” she circled the air with her upturned finger, “to sort his shit out. We’re stayin’ with you, with Sylvie standin’ guard. Not ’cause she doesn’t want in on the action, ’cause it’s doubtful you’d shoot a man in the face if he came to give us trouble, and she would.”
I blinked before my eyes cut to Sylvie and my mouth dropped open.
Her lips quirked, she lifted her hand and gave me a finger wave.
Deacon’s hand tightened in mine but I heard some chuckles and giggles hit the room, Deacon’s one of the former.
Daisy kept talking.
“I might, but it would depend on what I’m wearin’. Bloodstains are a bitch to get out and my Marcus works hard to keep me in my duds, most of ’em special made, so I don’t wanna ruin them with bloodstains.”
It was then I took in her attire: bolero vest heavily studded with square silver rivets, white tank stretched to the max over enormous bosoms, skintight jeans that were so faded, they almost looked white, these with rips at both knees and up the thighs, massive rhinestone encrusted belt buckle attached to an equally rhinestone encrusted belt, and patent-leather, pink high-heeled, platform sandals that, no other way to describe them, were stripper sandals.
It was the most horrendous outfit I’d ever seen.
And she looked fabulous in it.
“I, uh…” I mumbled.
Daisy cut me off. “So let’s get coffee. You got beds these little ones can be tucked into?”
I turned and motioned to the kitchen. “Coffee in there.”
Hanna headed that way.
“I’ll show you guys to my guestrooms,” I said to Anya and Sylvie.
They headed to me.
“Now, git,” Daisy said to the men, shooing them with neon pink taloned hands toward my living room. “Sort your shit so this shit can get sorted. I don’t do the outdoors, but if I did, I’d do it here, though not for long,” Her massive head of teased platinum-blonde hair swung my way as she said, “No offense. But I like my facials and I’m not thinkin’ there’s a spa close by that can give it to me like I like it.”
“No offense taken,” I replied.
She looked back at the men and did more shooing.
I led the women up the stairs with their kids, helping Anya out by taking the sleeping little one Knight had added to her other arm, and carrying her up.
We got that sorted and by the time we got back downstairs, the doors to my living room were closed, and female chatter was coming from the kitchen.
Sylvie went to the living room.
Anya guided me to the kitchen.
“Crazeee,” Daisy stated when I walked in. “Thought I was havin’ me a vision,” she said, circling her taloned hand in front of her face. “Got me some Rock Chicks, all in Denver, and not one a’ those bitches are hard to look at. But, girl, you might be the most beautiful thing I ever laid my eyes on.”
“Well, uh…thanks.”
“Don’t thank me,” she muttered, dropping hand. “God gave you them looks.”
I gave big eyes to Hanna, walked her way, and gave her a belated welcome hug.
“Good to see you, darlin’,” I said in her ear.
“Same here,” she said back, pulled away, but didn’t let me go. “Told you when we left, wanted another stay at Glacier Lily. But Knight’s crazy brother wasn’t the reason I wanted to be here.”
She knew about Knight’s crazy brother. I also knew because Deacon had told me Knight’s crazy brother, Nick, was a “wildcard” in some crazy shit that involved Knight that had not yet been resolved.
I was guessing it still wasn’t.
“Was a phone call too much to do pri
or to you all hauling yourselves up here?” I queried.
“Phones are being listened to,” Hanna replied.
Oh my God!
“Are we in danger?” I asked.
Her head tipped sharply to the side, her brows snapping together, her expression profoundly stunned.
I’d know why when she answered, “Raid wouldn’t let anything harm me.”
No, he wouldn’t.
Same with Deacon.
I relaxed.
She grinned.
Bossy barked.
And then I heard Deacon order, “Cassie, here.”
I let Hanna go and looked to the kitchen door. Deacon was just inside and the others were streaming in behind him.
I didn’t care we had company and thus snapped, “Seriously?”
He came to me, took my hand, and dragged me out of the kitchen.
Bossy followed, dancing around us, and stopping with us in the foyer.
He got me in front of him, kept hold of my hand, but lifted his other to my jaw.
“I’m gonna have to go,” he told me.
“I got that,” I told him.
“You’ll be safe.”
“Of course I will.”
His head jerked.
“Would you leave me if I wasn’t?” I asked.
He stared at me.
“Go,” I bossed. “Do whatever it is you do. Try not to make too much of a mess. Uncle Sam knows you exist now. You don’t need him getting better acquainted with you by introducing you to his penal system. You hear me?”
He kept staring at me.
“Hello, Deacon Deacon Louis Gates?” I called. “Go so you can come back to me. We’re getting married in T minus six months and I kinda need you there when that happens.”
“Cassie Boss,” he murmured.
“That’s me,” I said proudly.
“Fuck, I love you,” he growled.
“Know that too.”
His hand at my jaw jerked me forward; his other hand came to the other side just as his mouth crushed down on mine.
When he lifted his head, my breathing was unsteady, but I’d have to be dead not to be able to be ornery and bossy.
So I commenced doing that.
“You’re far away, you eat and sleep on your way back to me. And before that, you eat and sleep good while you’re away from me. Last, you call me when you’re on your way home so I have plenty of time to make you cookies.”
The grooves dug deep, the crinkles fanned out, his beautiful lips tipped up, and his magnificent tawny eyes started dancing, making me feel precisely what he wanted me to feel.
Warm.
Safe.
Loved.
And happy.
For eternity.
####
About the Author
Kristen Ashley grew up in Brownsburg, Indiana but has lived in Denver, Colorado and the West Country of England. Thus she has been blessed to have friends and family around the globe. Her posse is loopy (to say the least) but loopy is good when you want to write.
Kristen was raised in a house with a large and multi-generational family. They lived on a very small farm in a small town in the heartland and existed amongst the strains of Glenn Miller, The Everly Brothers, REO Speedwagon and Whitesnake (and the wardrobes that matched).
Needless to say, growing up in a house full of music, clothes and love was a good way to grow up.
And as she keeps growing up, it keeps getting better.
*****
Discover other titles by Kristen Ashley:
Rock Chick Series:
Rock Chick
Rock Chick Rescue
Rock Chick Redemption
Rock Chick Renegade
Rock Chick Revenge
Rock Chick Reckoning
Rock Chick Regret
Rock Chick Revolution
The ‘Burg Series:
For You
At Peace
Golden Trail
Games of the Heart
The Promise
The Chaos Series:
Own the Wind
Fire Inside
The Colorado Mountain Series:
The Gamble
Sweet Dreams
Lady Luck
Breathe
Jagged
Kaleidoscope
Dream Man Series:
Mystery Man
Wild Man
Law Man
Motorcycle Man
The Fantasyland Series:
Wildest Dreams
The Golden Dynasty
Fantastical
Broken Dove
The Magdalene Series:
The Will
The Three Series:
Until the Sun Falls from the Sky
With Everything I Am
The Unfinished Hero Series:
Knight
Creed
Raid
Deacon
Other Titles by Kristen Ashley:
Fairytale Come Alive
Heaven and Hell
Lacybourne Manor
Lucky Stars
Mathilda, SuperWitch
Penmort Castle
Play It Safe
Sommersgate House
Three Wishes
Connect with Kristen Online:
Official Website: www.kristenashley.net
Kristen’s Facebook Page: www.facebook.com/kristenashleybooks
Follow Kristen on Twitter: KristenAshley68
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Deacon (Unfinished Heroes #4) Page 34