by Nicole Fox
“Aren’t you a sneaky one, little man,” said Xander, mussing the boy’s hair.
“You ready to go?” asked Daphne, getting up.
“Yup,” said Jack. “And since you guys said we’re getting a house, does that mean we can get a dog, too?”
“You bet, buddy,” said Xander. “A big scary one.”
“Cool!” said Jack.
“We’ll see about that. Now, you wait here,” said Daphne to Xander. “Take a load off; you’ve earned it.”
Daphne and Jack stepped towards the door, but before they could leave, Jack stopped in his tracks. Turning around, he walked over to Xander.
“Dad?” he asked. “Are you gonna be here forever?”
Xander smiled. “You bet, dude. Whether you like it or not.”
“Good!” exclaimed Jack. “’Cause I want to ride on the bike again.”
“Maybe when you’re a little older, buddy,” said Xander. “Go have fun—I’ll be here when you get back.”
Daphne could see that Xander’s heart warmed at being able to say those words. The two of them headed downstairs, and moments later Jack and Jason were off to do their thing. Daphne and Amy spent a few minutes catching up, and soon Daphne was back in the apartment. But when she opened the door, something was very different. For one, the lighting was down very low. Romantic jazz music filled the air, and a pair of candles was lit on the dining room table, a bottle of red wine between them.
“Xander?” called out Daphne to the apartment. “Where are you?”
“Right here,” he said, stepping out of the bedroom, a small box in his hands.
Tears formed in Daphne’s eyes when she laid eyes on the box.
“Now, I don’t want to be premature, but I figured that if we’re gonna start living like a family, we ought be one. You know, all official-like. Wedding and everything.”
He popped the box open, revealing a beautiful diamond ring.
“So, Daphne Carver, will you—”
“Yes!” she shouted, tears in her eyes as she rushed over to throw her arms around Xander.
“Ow!” he shouted.
“Sorry, sorry,” said Daphne.
“You’re gonna have to leave me one working arm if I’m gonna put this on.”
With that, he slipped the ring on Daphne’s finger. Daphne couldn’t help but cry as she looked at it.
“I love you, Daphne,” said Xander, his voice warm.
“I love you, too, baby.”
“Now,” he said a sensual glint in his eyes. “I got one more surprise for you. But it’s in the bedroom.”
“A surprise, huh?” said Daphne.
“Yep, but, uh, you got go kinda easy on this one. Little bit of a war wound.”
Xander slipped his arm around Daphne and lead her into the bedroom.
“Go easy?” she asked. “No promises.”
Xander smirked.
“Just what I wanted to hear.”
THE END
***
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KNOCKED UP BY THE ENFORCER: Satan’s Legion MC
By Nicole Fox
SHE WAS A TEMPTATION I NEVER SHOULD HAVE TOUCHED.
…and now she’s pregnant with my child.
Mina Parker, the President’s daughter, is carrying the Vice President’s kid.
Now the Satan’s Legion MC is in an uproar.
And it’s my fault.
The rules have been broken.
The laws have been disgraced.
I screwed up, I know that.
But I could still make it all better.
All it would take to put an end to the chaos is for me to come clean.
All I would take is for me to look the President in the eye and tell him the truth:
“I’m the one who had your precious daughter writhing beneath me.
And I intend to have her again.”
Chapter One
Skid
Skid scratched the back of his neck and headed down the stairs of the clubhouse to the garage. It had been a long night, and the few hours of sleep he had gotten hadn’t been all that refreshing. He and the other higher-ranking members of the Satan’s Legion Motorcycle Club had been in a meeting with their president into the wee hours of the morning. Park had insisted that they weren’t doing enough to protect their territory, to make money, or to recruit new members. He wanted a game plan from each one of them, and there would be hell to pay if they didn’t produce it.
And Skid knew that he meant it. Park might not be the biggest man in the MC, and he didn’t exactly rule by fear. Most clubs operated by being terrified of their leader, but the members of Satan’s Legion had a healthy respect for their president. They wanted to please him, and they knew they would only benefit from doing so. Skid had tossed and turned as he thought about the dynamics of the club, what they could do to make it better, and how they could best protect their assets. As the vice president, Park was relying on him more than anyone else to pull through.
Now, though, Skid felt it was time for a nice long ride on his bike. He needed the wind to blow through his oil-black hair and blast the cobwebs out of his brain. He had been so busy lately, and there had been little time for the main reason he had joined the club in the first place. Sure, he and the other guys would ride out to a bar here and there, but it wasn’t the same as just riding for the sake of doing it. He craved the open road.
As he slipped in the side door of the garage, he remembered the other reason he enjoyed being in the club so much. A slim young woman was bent over a dark purple bike in the corner. The radio was blaring, and she bobbed her fringe of short hair to the beat as she picked up a different wrench. Her ass, in short denim shorts that showcased her mile-long legs, was moving to the music, too.
Skid leaned against the doorway to appreciate the scene. In his mind, he could easily strip the shorts and halter top off the girl and see what she looked like in nothing but her naked glory. In his mind’s eye, he could easily trace the outline of each one of her tattoos, done in white so that they looked like lace against her golden skin. Some of that, he knew was pure imagination. It had been dark, and he knew he more by feel than by sight. He easily remembered that night two months ago when he had finally realized Mina was a woman and not just a young girl. The fact that she was Park’s daughter had always been forefront in his mind, but something had changed that night. The schoolgirl crush she’d always had on him was no longer annoying and silly; it was sexy. He’d allowed her to lead him off to the woods behind the bar the club had been hanging at. She might have been the instigator, but it hadn’t been long before he took charge. He had run his hands over those slim curves, kissed the insides of those lengthy thighs, and buried himself as deep as he could go in her sweet body.
Since then, Mina had tried to talk to him several times. While Skid couldn’t deny how sexy she was, he had remembered who she was. Any member who had been caught touching Park’s daughter was likely to get his hand chopped off, at the very least. The president was protective of his little girl, and the rationality that had come with daylight had reminded Skid that he wanted to keep his place in the club. It hadn’t been easy to climb the ranks to vice president, and he couldn’t go back to being just a regular member. More so, he couldn’t go back to being just a regular guy who wasn’t part of Satan’s Legion at all. The club was his life, and he needed it.
At the moment, though, his body needed Mina more. It had been too long since their tryst, and it seemed that Park hadn’t discovered what they’d done. Maybe they could risk it just one more time. Nobody would have to know. They were both adults, after all. He crossed the concrete floor until he was right behind her. Skid balled his fists as he watched her rear end move right in front of him, knowing he c
ould grab her and have her in a moment before she had a chance to stop him.
“Need any help with that?”
“Oh!” Mina jumped to a standing position, the wrench flying out of her hand and clanging against the floor. “Why did you do that? You scared the shit out of me!” She narrowed her wide brown eyes and slugged him in the arm.
It didn’t hurt, and Skid laughed. “Sorry, but it was worth it. What are you trying to do?”
Mina puffed air through her lips and marched across the garage to retrieve her tool. She reached over to the radio and turned it down to a dull, thumping roar. “I’m not trying to do anything. What I am doing is replacing the fuel filter on this beast.” She held up the part to prove it to him.
He scratched the back of his neck. “I thought Park told you to stay off your bike for a while.”
She scowled at him before she bent back over the bike, and Skid had a feeling she knew just what she was doing to him. The lean muscles of her legs would look really good wrapped around his neck. “He might have. But he can’t really expect me to just stay here all the time when everyone else comes and goes as they please. The bike just needs a little work, and it’ll be good to go.”
“He’s just trying to protect you. That could have been a really bad accident, you know.” He hadn’t been with her, but he had heard about her dumping the bike over on the highway. She had been extremely lucky, and she never should have been on the machine in the first place. It was just too big for her, and she was safer riding on the back of someone else’s bike. Mina, however, was content to blame the machine instead of the operator.
“But it wasn’t a bad accident, was it? I barely even got a scratch, and I don’t really care what my father thinks or what he tries to do. I’m an adult, and I can do what I want.” Her hair flew out behind her in a fringe of blonde and black. She dyed it on the top, but let her true color show underneath.
Her statement wasn’t really true. All the members were adults, but they did what Park told them to do. They were like a huge family, and the president was the father figure. His commands seemed unreasonable at times, but there was always logic behind them. Skid knew this, and it was part of the reason Park had trusted him enough to make him vice president. He enjoyed having a strong authority figure in his life as well as being one himself. “If you say so.” He took another step forward.
“I do, and …” She straightened and turned around, only to find herself standing an inch away from Skid. Instead of backing away, she looked up at him and smiled. “And just what is it you want to do?”
“I came down here thinking I would jump on my bike and take a quick ride out near the lake. I’m starting to think there might be better options for me, though.” He reached out and gently glided his fingertips over her hip, his breath coming faster as he once again envisioned her without her clothes. He could bend her right over that damn bike of hers and—
The garage door opened, and Skid immediately pulled his hand back. Grill appeared, looking worried. “It’s all hands on deck, Skid. Park wants a meeting, and he doesn’t look happy.” His eyes took in the two of them standing so close to each other, but he said nothing.
“What happened?” Skid glanced at Mina and began moving toward Grill. “We just met with him last night, and everything seemed fine.” Well, as fine as it could be. Park always wanted more from his men, but there hadn’t been any dire situations.
“I don’t know, but this isn’t just senior members. He wants everyone.” Grill moved back through the doorway into the hall.
“Including me?” Mina asked. She had taken a few steps from her bike but still held the wrench in her hand.
Grill shook his head. “Just the guys, Mina.”
She glared at the two men as though they were the ones who had excluded her. “Same old shit.”
“I’m sure he’ll let you know if there’s anything important.” Grill hurried away from the garage, not wanting to get involved in anymore conversation with the president’s daughter.
Skid smiled to himself as he followed Grill to the meeting room. Most of the men were smart enough to stay away from Mina. It was too bad he wasn’t one of them.
Chapter Two
Mina
Mina might not have been invited to the meeting, but she was used to being excluded. She waited a minute for Grill and Skid to get away from the garage before she shot out another door into a side hallway and trotted down a short flight of stairs. She had grown up in the clubhouse. It had been her jungle gym, and she had spent hours finding every hiding spot and secret passageway it held. Her father didn’t know about it, but she had found a passage that led to the rooftop when she was only seven, and she’d spent hours up there looking over the city. For the longest time, it had seemed that there was always something new to find. The fact that it was such an old building and that it had been remodeled several times only helped. There were closets that had secret tiny doorways between them. Large rooms had been divided into smaller ones with only thin walls that made eavesdropping easy. Yes, the old warehouse was a place of secrets, and Mina’s slim body made it easy to utilize them.
Sliding into an old storage closet, Mina climbed up on a stack of boxes and sat on a shelf. A ventilation grill kept the closet from being too stuffy, and it allowed her a perfect view of the conference room in the basement. Paneled in hardwood, decorated with motorcycle memorabilia as well as pictures of the club throughout the years, it was a familiar place. Occasionally, there were meetings Mina was allowed to attend. She had been in that room to meet new members, to say goodbye to those who had decided to retire, and to enjoy the festivities of holiday parties. But when club business was happening, she was always been sent off to her room. She wondered, as she watched the men take their seats, if her father had any idea just how many meetings she had secretly attended.
Skid sat on her father’s right-hand side, where the vice president belonged. She wondered if he had any idea just how much she had always cared for him. From the time he had joined Satan’s Legion, her heart had soared for him. With his dark, slicked-back hair, and those obsidian eyes, he had been the obsession of her teen years. His monochromatic tattoos, each of them done with solid black ink and not a drop of color, only made him seem more badass. It had been immediately clear to her that he wasn’t like the other members. Not that they were bad guys, necessarily, but they were all just stereotypical bikers. Skid was something different, someone that she wanted to get to know better.
It had been an achievement to get him to sleep with her a few months ago, or at least she had thought so at the time. Every dream she’d ever had seemed to be coming true, with his big thick hands possessing her body. All her fantasies had come to life before her eyes, and it had been just as good as she had imagined. Skid had been a generous lover, ensuring that she got what she needed before he did. Mina had been his that night, and in turn that had made him hers.
He had always ignored her before, and she suspected that it was because of her father. Park had done a very efficient job of keeping men away from her, including his most trusted associate. But she and Skid had shared a night of passion, and he was still acting as though she didn’t exist. She had tried to talk to him numerous times around the clubhouse, but he always turned away and pretended he didn’t hear her. It drove her crazy. If Skid was playing hard to get, then he was doing too good of a job at it.
That incident in the garage had been different. Not only was he not ignoring her, he had gone out of his way to talk to her. It had surprised and pleased her. Maybe there could be something between them after all. Maybe it was just taking him a little time to come around.
“Just find a place somewhere.” Park’s voice broke through her fantasy.
Mina’s eyes focused on the room below her once again. The senior members of the club were seated around the big table with Park, but there wasn’t room for everybody. Men in denim and leather lined the walls of the room, crowding in. Never had Mina seen so many member
s in one spot. Mina knew something big must be going on. Her stomach pulled in a little on herself as she imagined what it might be. Was a rival gang trying to wage war with them? Had someone been injured or killed on his bike?
“All right, men. It looks like it’s time we had a little talk.” Park got out of his seat and strode around the room, looking everyone in the eye in turn. His dark blond hair was slicked back, revealing the tattoos that covered his body and rose up around his neck. Most of them were old-school style, with skulls, swallows, and playing cards. There was even a pinup girl which had been stylized after Mina’s mother. “I’ve found out some bad news. It seems that someone has betrayed me.”
A murmur of discontent waved throughout the room as the men whispered to each other. This was something unheard of. Mina couldn’t remember anyone wanting to leave the club for anything other than retirement, and she would have heard if someone had gone directly against her father’s wishes.