But after seeing the ring that he’d placed into my hand—that had also cost me a whack seeing as I hadn’t skimped on the diamond size or the metal in the band—I’d realized it was perfect.
Setting her down on her feet, I made sure she was steady before I reached into my pocket and pulled out the ring.
Her breath stalled in her chest, and her hand came up to cover her mouth.
“Will you…”
“Fuck me!” one of the birds said from behind me.
I paused, grinning wickedly. “That, too. But I was going to say ‘will you marry me’ first. The ‘will you fuck me’ was going to come second.”
She held her hand out to me and replied, “I agree to both.”
I grinned like a goddamn lunatic.
Then I slipped the ring that cost me nearly twenty grand onto her finger and…it didn’t fit.
I stared at it, dumbfounded.
She started to laugh, taking the ring from me and working it on her finger until it was finally in place.
“So I might or might not have put on twenty-six pounds since you last saw me,” she mentioned.
I let my eyes slowly trail down her body, starting at her mouth.
Her breasts were bigger—that was a given. Oh, and her belly—which was cute as fuck.
That was the only thing that I could really see that was different about her.
But I’d have to do a more thorough inspection.
Naked.
And she must’ve seen that written in my eyes because she grinned and started walking toward me.
It was only four steps, but each step she took seemed to feel like it took her an entire year.
The moment she was close—her belly the only thing touching me—she leaned up and kissed me on the corner of my lips.
“Take me to bed, Hoax.”
I grinned. “No bed just yet,” I denied her request. “I need a shower something fierce. I haven’t had a good one since I left, and I’m fairly sure I have sand and dirt in the creases of my balls. But once I’m clean, then I’ll take you there.”
She snickered. “I guess I could help you get clean.”
Then she turned and stepped over first the pig, then the dog, neither of which had bothered to get up when we’d walked into her house.
I followed shortly behind her, making it into her room just as she was stripping her scrub top off and tossing it to the floor.
The things in her pocket—alcohol wipes, saline flushes, and Band-Aids—fluttered to the floor as she did, but she didn’t stop to pick them up.
She looked over her shoulder instead to make sure I was there, then wiggled her ass at me. “Will you start the shower?”
I shook my head.
“Why not?” she asked.
“Because I want to watch you finish undressing,” I admitted.
And I did.
As she slowly lost the bra, pants, and panties—all with her back to me—I watched with avid fascination.
Then she turned, giving me my first unencumbered view of her belly in all its glory.
It was absolutely, positively, the cutest thing I’d ever seen.
It was a rounded little ball—the perfect pregnant bump—where a previously flat tummy used to reside. Our children were resting there, perfectly content.
And God, her breasts were bigger—and so were her nipples.
I wanted to knead those fleshy globes and suck those darker nipples into my mouth and feast on her body until she begged me to stop.
My dick tented up the front of my cargo pants.
I swallowed and started to unload my pockets.
I couldn’t just let mine fall to the floor like she’d done hers.
No, I had to empty them, or they might dent her hardwood floor.
Multiple magazines for the gun I was carrying at my kidney. My wallet. Coins. Flashlight. Knife. A pen. Then my gun.
More and more filled up the table beside me.
She watched me empty every single pocket, her mouth going wider and wider with a smile with each thing I pulled out of my cargo pockets.
“One of these times you’re going to pull out a small one-bedroom apartment,” she teased.
I huffed out a laugh. “Trust me, if I could fit that into these pockets, I’d have done it by now.”
Finally, they all were empty and I was left feeling a hundred pounds lighter.
I hadn’t felt empty pockets like that in quite a long time.
The next thing to go was my belt, then my boots. Followed shortly by my t-shirt that hadn’t been washed in two weeks, finally followed up by my pants.
“Your tighty whities aren’t really all that white anymore,” she observed.
I snorted. “You can say that again.”
“Your tighty whities…”
I picked her up into my arms, ignoring her squeal to put her down, and walked us into the bathroom where I closed the door.
I’d closed the bedroom door, too, but if there was an animal on this earth that could get through a closed door, it would be her pig.
And I had too many things that I wanted to do to Pru to worry about her pig getting into the shower with us and getting in my way.
I set her down on her feet beside the shower and reached in, flipping the shower controls up to hot.
The water started to pour out of the showerhead, and I turned to look at Pru expectantly.
“What?” she asked.
“I want to hear you say it again,” I said.
She looked confused. “Say what?”
“That you’ll be mine,” I repeated.
Her eyes softened, and the confused look slid off of her face. “Yes, I’ll marry you.”
The confirmation for a second time was enough to make me breathe a little easier.
“I was worried you’d say no,” I admitted. “I was worried that you’d think it was too fast.”
She held her hand out to test the water temperature.
“Everything we did was fast,” she said, gesturing to my underwear with a flick of her hand. “Take those off and get in.”
I took the underwear off and got in, grinning at the look on her face when she got a look at my angry, hard cock.
“Your balls don’t look dirty,” she licked her lips.
I snorted and held out my hand, asking her silently to come inside.
She took it and stepped over the lip of the shower, walking straight into my arms.
“Trust me when I say I need to wash,” I told her.
She sighed and moved so that the spray was covering both of us instead of mainly her.
I closed my eyes and sighed at the blissful heat.
“I think the worst part of being over there is the shower situation,” I murmured, loving the way it felt with her surrounding me, and the heat of the water pouring over my back and shoulders. “Cold showers fucking suck.”
“You’re trying to tell me not taking a hot shower was worse than not seeing me?” she teased.
She knew exactly what I’d meant, and I liked that she teased me about it.
But I gave her a serious answer nonetheless.
“Not taking a hot shower is sucky,” I expounded. “Not having you there to talk to, to hold, or to feel? That was debilitating. I felt like I lost a piece of my soul when I got onto that plane, and I’d only known you for a few weeks. What do you think it’ll be like after we have our babies and we’re married? It’s going to ruin me.”
I’d thought long and hard about what I was going to do with the rest of my life, and I still hadn’t quite figured out the best answer.
I could quit and transition back into civilian life. I could get a job with the police department. It wouldn’t be too hard. But, I had a feeling that I would hate it. I’d despise not being able to do something that I loved to do—something that challenged me.
Or, I could stay in. I could continue with the Delta team and I
could continue being gone for months on end, never knowing when I would have to leave and when I’d be coming back.
She looked at me, her eyes soft and knowing. “You’re not getting out of Delta because of me or the babies,” she told me bluntly. “You need to get out because you want to. Because it’s your time to get out. Because that’s where you see our life moving toward. If you’re thinking on getting out because of me or the babies, don’t. I survived the last few months without you, and I think I can do it again. Will it be tough? Sure. Will I like it? No. Will I live? Yes.”
I pulled her to me and sank my face into the soft curve of her neck.
The position was awkward, being hunched over her, but the way she threw her arms around my neck made me want to stay there forever.
After a few long moments of standing there, I pulled my head back up and dropped a kiss onto her mouth. A kiss that quickly went from chaste to erotic in about two seconds flat.
It turns out that both of us were quite overexcited, and let’s just say that she was lucky that she came in about two seconds flat because I went in four.
Chapter 20
There are times I contemplate the cost/benefit ratio of shooting a man in cold blood.
-Text from Hoax to Pru
Hoax
Dropping her off the next morning was the last thing in the world that I wanted to do.
I wanted her to remain in my arms, snuggled under the most comfortable comforter ever, and stay there until our stomachs drove us from bed. And only then, I wanted to order a pizza and only put pants on long enough for me to pay and grab the pizza before I returned to the bed.
Being clean, and in my woman’s arms, was literally the only thing that I’d thought about when I wasn’t focusing on the mission.
Now that I had it back, I didn’t want to let it go.
Unfortunately, she had to go to work.
I also had a date. With her dad.
After our family dinner last night with her parents, uncles, multiple cousins, and grandfather, I’d gotten a summons from her father to meet him at his office once I’d dropped Pru off.
“It’ll be all right,” she pressed into me, her belly and her mouth the only thing touching me.
I pulled her in closer, loving the baby bump that pressed between us.
I’d never really given much thought to being a father.
I’d always assumed I would be, at some point in time, but I hadn’t really given much thought as to when I’d like this to happen. Seeing my teammates getting married slowly over the last few years, and then starting to have children, had really started to ease me into the idea of having that life for myself.
So when I’d found out from Pru that I was going to be a father, I hadn’t been nearly as freaked out as I would have been only a few years ago.
Her smile was big as she pulled away from my embrace.
“I really have to go,” she sighed. “I don’t want him to have a reason.”
We both knew who the ‘him’ was, and I didn’t like it one bit.
I hated that she had to work with that man, and that would be the first thing I brought up with her father—because I knew damn well and good that he didn’t like his wife nor his daughter working with the piece of shit.
“It’ll be okay,” she whispered, her nose coming back to touch mine. “Be good today. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”
I rolled my eyes and pulled her back in for one more devastating kiss, and then relinquished her to Conleigh, who was waiting by the front entrance for her.
I waved at Conleigh, who waved back, and turned back to my truck.
Instead of driving back home to get my bike, I chose to drive my truck straight to her dad’s place.
Taking the turn out of the parking lot and onto the main road that would lead me all the way out of town and to the compound-like place that Free called home, I’d just started to accelerate when a familiar car took the corner to the hospital’s road on two wheels.
I braked hard due to the fact that he’d creeped into my lane as he’d lost control of his turn, and got a close up of Kelley flipping me off as he rushed by.
I gritted my teeth and clenched the muscles in my jaw, counting to ten before I started forward once again.
I would not kill him.
I would not kill him.
I would not kill him.
I kept repeating that mantra to myself as I drove, and was still saying it ten minutes later when I pulled into Free.
The gate was unlocked, and Jack waved me in and pointed to a building.
I drove to the building and parked, feeling out of place amongst all the motorcycles.
Wishing I had my bike, but glad that I didn’t since Kelley would’ve probably clobbered me to death this morning if I’d had it, I walked inside and stopped short when I saw all the people inside the building.
If I’d taken more time to pay attention to the bikes, I would’ve realized that the motorcycles were familiar ones.
Unfortunately, I hadn’t paid any attention, meaning I was blindsided when not just the men of Free were of attendance, but so were the men of the Bear Bottom Guardians.
Oh, and Carl.
I frowned. “What the fuck, Carl? Isn’t your wife looking forward to having you home?”
Carl grinned. “Actually, yes. I brought her with me. She’s currently scoping out the mall, buying shit we don’t need, and charging it on my credit card.”
I snorted and offered him my hand, following it up with Pru’s father and grandfather.
I received back slaps from a few of the others, but the rest of the MC hadn’t bothered to stand up when I’d arrived, choosing instead to eat the donuts and pastries that were in the middle of the large table that they were surrounding.
“Don’t say hi or anything,” I told them all.
Bayou shrugged, taking another bite of the pastry in his hand. “They’re good.”
Grinning, I looked over to Sam.
“I take it we’re not letting this go any longer?” I asked hopefully.
Sam grunted. “We’re not letting this go any longer.”
Chapter 21
Can February March? No, but April May.
-Text from Carl to Pru
Pru
“This was a good idea,” Conleigh said as we walked with each other to our cars. “Now we just need to finagle it so that we’re on the same shift.”
I grinned. “I know the girl that makes the schedules.”
She snorted and stopped at her truck door. “How long do you think he’ll let you drive that thing? Does it even have seatbelts?”
I looked at my car.
She was right.
It was old, and the seatbelts were all lap belts. There was nowhere to put a car seat in here unless I moved them to the front seat. Something I wouldn’t be doing.
“I have a feeling I’ll be making use of his truck soon,” I admitted. “He made the comment today as he dropped me off.”
She dropped her backpack into the back seat and slammed the door shut, then opened her door and climbed halfway in. “I’ll see you at the party tomorrow?”
The party was a club party that was being thrown in honor of Hoax making it back all in one piece. Honestly, I thought that the club wanted a reason to drink and be merry, and Hoax was as good excuse as any.
“Yes,” I agreed. “I’ll be there with bells on.”
She snickered. “Be safe.”
I dropped down into my own car and started it up, getting my seatbelt situated and putting it in reverse.
She backed out of her parking spot, and I followed her shortly after, taking a left when she took a right.
Normally I would’ve followed her all the way home, but today I was stopping by McDonald’s to get a ten-piece nugget meal. I’d been dreaming about it since lunchtime, and I had to have it.
And, since Hoax had informed me that he’d already
had something to eat at the house, I felt no such compunction in eating what the hell I wanted.
Even if it was horrible for me.
Then again, if you couldn’t eat what the hell you wanted when you were pregnant, when could you?
I’d just taken the turn onto the side street that was nearly always deserted when I came to a halt.
There was a man in the middle of the street, lying there, face down.
He was in a business suit.
I frowned, my hand automatically reaching for the door handle when common sense started to rear its head.
Getting out in the middle of a dark, deserted street was not the best idea in the world. Especially for a hundred and twenty-pound pregnant woman.
I reached for my phone and called 911.
The operator answered, and I gave her a description of where I was and what was going on as I slowly crept down the street and past the man lying in the road.
I didn’t stop until I was two blocks down and could see him in my rearview mirror.
“Did you see any injuries?” the operator asked.
I shook my head, even though she couldn’t see me. “No, he had clothes covering his body. Face looked okay. No blood apparent. I didn’t even see any…”
A bat—or something long and heavy—came down on my window that my face was only inches away from.
I screamed.
My eyes went to the man in the road, but he was no longer there.
And, without giving it much thought, I turned and surveyed the man that had now moved to the front of my car—this time taking out the windshield.
I felt my stomach drop as I recognized who it was.
Kelley.
“Fuck me. Jesus Christ, he’s beating my car with a bat!” I cried out.
I couldn’t move forward, or I’d run him over.
I couldn’t back up because my brain wasn’t functioning on all cylinders any longer.
Instead, I just sat there while he beat the shit out of my car and screamed obscenities at me. Not to mention he also told me, in exact detail, exactly what he was going to do to me.
My Bad- Lani Lynn Vale Page 20