She cried out loudly as she grew closer, her entire body feeling like it was made of flames, and Adam was holding onto her tightly as her pleasure began to consume her. With one last thrust, Dakota felt herself pushed over the edge. Her orgasm took control of her body and she heard Adam cry out and she shuddered and shook as her orgasm ripped through her. She felt herself finish until finally she lay on top of him, exhausted, but satisfied.
After a few moments, Dakota pulled herself off Adam and collapsed next to him, both out of breath from what had just happened. He felt his hand find hers and squeeze it and she turned her head to smile at him.
“Hey,” he said, her hand still in his. “Last night, I realized something.”
“What was that?” Dakota asked.
“I love you,” he answered. “Somewhere in that fight last night, I realized it. I love you. I want to be with you.”
Dakota sat up and looked at him, a smile stretching across her face. “I love you, too.”
CHAPTER FORTY TWO
“Coffee?” Adam whispered to Dakota. He could feel himself drifting off again and he needed to be awake.
“Yes, please,” she whispered. Her eyes were closed, too, and he knew she was just as tired as he was.
“Don’t move,” Adam whispered. He pulled on sweatpants and a shirt and went downstairs to brew a pot of coffee, returning a few minutes later with two steaming cups. Dakota was sitting up, resting against the headboard. She was still undressed, with a blanket covering her chest. Adam smiled as he handed her the cup and sat down in bed next to her, her head falling on his shoulder.
“You know, you’ve never actually asked me out.” Dakota said. “And, yet, here I am lying in your bed.”
“I supposed I did forget what with all the chaos and murder attempts,” Adam said. “So, hey...you doing anything later this week? Maybe we could meet up at his club I own.”
“Ugh,” Dakota said with a laugh. “I would never have agreed to that.”
“Good to know,” Adam said.
A silence fell between them, a silence Adam knew he had to fill. There was a weight on his shoulders and his heart, the weight of everything not said to Dakota. She had some idea of what he was and what he had done, but she deserved the truth. After everything that had happened, she was owed that. But the thought of saying it, of speaking it out loud, was too much.
“I want to tell you something, something very few people know,” Adam said, unable to look at her. “It’s not something I like to talk about, but there’s a lot I want to tell you, and this is the first thing.” But then he stopped. The words wouldn’t come.
“You can tell me anything,” Dakota said, taking his hand and looking into his eyes.
“When I was seven, my parents were arrested for making and selling meth,” Adam started, letting the words tumble from his mouth. “I was taken from them and placed in the Kane Home for Young Boys.” Adam heard Dakota gasped and her hand squeezed his. “I lived there for a year and a half. Uncle Bill was still in jail, but he promised when he got out he would get a job and would take custody of me. I lived at the house until his parole was approved.”
“Oh, Adam, I’m so sorry.”
“It’s okay. It really wasn’t that bad of a place. The people were nice, the food was good, and you never had to worry about the heat being turned off in the winter. It’s a good thing you do there. It probably saved my life. I didn’t have to be put into foster care, I didn’t get moved around, and I got to wait in one place for my uncle to get out. I’ll always be grateful for that.”
Dakota looked at him and smiled, nodding, but saying nothing else. Just letting him speak.
“We used to talk about you, about the Kanes. We used to joke about mansions and ponies. How one day we were gonna go and take it over. We were gonna knock out all the windows and turn your mansion into one giant fort. It was strange how mad we were at your family. It was just...we couldn’t blame our own parents. We were too young, you know? We still thought they were the sun and the moon, so we hated the people who saved us instead. No one knows about the Kane Home for Young Boys. No one in the club, not even Joey. Only Uncle Bill knows.”
“You know you don’t have anything to be embarrassed about, right? It wasn’t your fault.”
“I know, but I can’t be viewed as weak.”
“You’re not weak. You’re the strongest person I’ve ever met. You were a child when it happened. You were allowed to be weak then, and you're allowed to show weakness now.”
Adam nodded, and kept talking. His words were unstoppable. He told her everything. His work moving drugs, his work finding people and turning them over to the men they had angered or betrayed. He told her about watching men being beaten nearly to death, to helping bad people do bad things.
It had hurt him, having to do those things. But for the longest time he thought it was the only way. Scarred Angels was a biker gang; that was what biker gangs did. For years he had nightmares about the cost of what he did, the collateral damages of his actions. It was killing him, destroying his soul. It was Adam who had pushed for Scarred Angels to go legit, who had spent years searching for the avenue that would pull them out of the world of guns and drugs and violence.
At the end of everything, when Adam had said all that he could at that moment, he looked at Dakota, afraid of what her response would be. When he turned to look at her, all he saw were her large brown eyes looking up at him.
She put her hand on his shoulder and said, “It’s okay,” and then she kissed him lightly. “I still love you, and I always will.”
And now here he was, in the house he owned, with a beautiful woman in his bed. Everything that had ever happened to him was all meant for this, all led to this. Everything he had seen and done had brought him inch-by-inch closer to Dakota Kane. She was a woman who was kind and gentle and generous, a woman who could see past what he had done to the man he had become. She had seen all of his flaws and told him she loved him just the same. Everything he had ever done had turned him into a man she could love. And now that he had said it all out loud, he knew he wouldn’t go back and change it for anything. It was his life. It had started out badly, but he had turned it into something good. He had taken every bad thing he had ever done and used it to himself into someone who did good. He was finally who he always wanted to be.
EPILOGUE
The Echo Lane Revitalization Project funded by the Kane Charitable Trust, the banner announced outside of the Kane Mansion. There were no more security guards, no more guns, but there were a lot of people at the house. The doors and windows were thrown open as people mingled on the lawn, sipping champagne under the stars. John Kane, almost fully recovered, accepted the kindness of strangers as partygoers wished him a speedy recovery. In truth, this party made him feel better than anything else. It felt good to have people in his home, to watch his daughter take up her mother’s banner and start a charity to benefit the city.
The party had started at four and as twilight approached, people began to filter and go home, but not everyone. Like any good party, there were people who weren’t quite willing to leave yet. Marley and Joey had taken up spots at the bar, inventing new drinks for the partygoers to enjoy.
Starting with Dakota’s three million dollars in seed money, they had raised an additional ten million that night. All of it was to go to Echo Lane to rebuild parks and playgrounds, to fix the broken lights and the potholes, to revitalize the schools. It would be a long and difficult road, but Dakota Kane was young and eager for a challenge. She had seen Echo Lane and she wasn’t scared of it anymore. It was like any abandoned thing. It would only need to tiniest bit of love to become something beautiful.
Adam Mendel let out a sigh as he loosened his tie and took a sip from his drink looking up at the stars above them. “Why do I have to wear a tuxedo to these things? I think your attendance would go up if you let people come in jeans and sneakers.”
“Yes, but then it wouldn’t be a black tie affair,
” she said, taking his hand and leaning on him as they walked towards the gazebo in the back of the lawn. Flowers, lilies, and irises, her late mother’s favorites and Dakota’s favorites surrounded the gazebo.
Adam looked at Dakota and was, as always, mesmerized by her. Her pale skin and dark hair shone in the moonlight. He had seen her dressed up, dressed down, and dressed in nothing at all, but none of them compared to Dakota in the moonlight.
“Dakota,” he said, turning to her. “I can’t wait any longer.”
Dakota turned to him, confused. What was he waiting for? What did he need to do? She worried it was something for the club, something that would take him far away from her.
And then, on the grass with her dress brushing against the freshly bloomed irises, Dakota Kane watched as Adam Mendel dropped to one knee and pulled a small box from his breast pocket. Dakota gasped, and felt herself go lightheaded.
“Dakota Kane,” Adam said. “I love you and I will always love you. Will you marry me?”
“Yes,” Dakota said, breathlessly. Unsure that she had said it out loud, she repeated herself, “Yes, yes, oh my God, yes!”
Adam laughed and stood, scooping Dakota up in his arms and swinging her in a circle, before he put her feet back on earth.
“Can people come to the wedding in jeans and sneakers?” he asked her as he slipped the ring onto her finger.
“I’ll think about it,” Dakota said as she turned her face up, her lips found his and they kissed as fireworks celebrating the end of the benefit exploded all around them.
THE END
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Books by Claire St. Rose
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HANDS OFF MY WIFE: Black Cossacks MC
I’LL ONLY SAY IT ONCE: KEEP YOUR FILTHY HANDS OFF MY WIFE.
She had no business getting involved with me.
But now that she’s mine, she’s no one else’s.
And if anyone – her boss, my enemies – think they can take her from me…
They are dead. F**king. Wrong.
She’s the upstairs neighbor, sticking her nose where it didn’t belong.
I’m a biker king doing whatever I damn well please.
She thinks she hates me, but she’s wrong.
She wants me.
She needs me.
I just have to make her see it.
But she’s got no place in this biker life.
She’s too pure, too innocent.
So it’s a shame when she throws herself in the middle of the crossfire without even realizing it.
I used her, I’ll admit it.
But I did what I had to do.
And if I had to go back, I’d do it over again.
Because now that she’s had a taste of the wild side, she’s gonna be hungry for more.
And I’m just the man to give it to her.
Over, and over, and over again.
She’s mine now.
So everyone else better stay the f**k away.
HANDS OFF MY BRIDE: Scarred Angels MC
LET ME MAKE ONE THING CLEAR: KEEP YOUR F**KING HANDS OFF MY BRIDE.
She wants to get away from me, but I know one thing for sure:
I’m never gonna let that happen.
She belongs to me now.
I had to claim everything I’ve ever owned in this life.
Surely, my bride will be no different.
Whether Dakota wants it or not, soon she’ll come to realize the truth:
I’ve put my claim on her, and there’s not a damn thing she can do about it.
It’s my job to keep her safe, not take her to bed.
But I’ve never been good at following rules.
In fact, crossing lines is what I do best.
So I crossed the line between me and her and made the little princess my toy.
She never expected to love it so much.
But now that she’s mine, there’s people out to hurt her.
They think it’s the best way to get to me.
Little do they know, they’ve woken a sleeping beast.
Because anyone who touches my bride is getting buried six feet deep.
SECRET BABY AT THE ALTAR: Blood Brothers MC
WE GOT AWAY FROM HIM ONCE. THIS TIME, WE WON’T BE SO LUCKY.
Because my baby’s father is back to claim what’s his:
Us.
Five years in prison is enough to change anybody.
And Kane has certainly changed.
He’s darker than he was before.
Bigger.
Scarier.
But the hunger that drove him to take me in the first place… that hasn’t changed one bit.
He took the fall for me when I needed it.
But now that he’s returned, he wants to take back everything he once owned.
That includes me.
And once he finds out about our baby…
He’s going to drag me to the altar so I can never escape again.
The sickest part of it all is…
That I’m helpless to say no.
DADDY AT THE ALTAR: Iron Claws MC
I SWORE OFF WOMEN LONG AGO. BUT IT MIGHT BE TIME TO BREAK MY PROMISE.
Because I haven’t felt hunger like this since my first love died.
Ariana might look untouched and innocent…
But by the time I’ll done, she’ll be utterly wrecked. Thoroughly ruined.
And pregnant with my baby.
Years ago, as I put the dirt on the coffin of my dead old lady, I made myself a promise:
Never again.
I’d kept that oath in the years since.
No emotions.
Nothing permanent.
One. Night. Only.
But that was before Ariana waltzed into my life.
She might hate me – but I just don’t give a damn.
Because she’s everything I’ve always wanted.
And I’m not gonna rest until I have her.
Not just for a taste.
Not just for a night.
No, this one needs to be long, slow, and special.
I want to savor breaking her down.
Because once she’s putty in my hands, I’m going to drag her to the altar.
I don’t just want a woman.
I want a wife.
A baby.
A future.
And she’s going to give me all of that…
Or else.
PREGNANT AT THE ALTAR: Immortal Souls MC
HE WANTS MY BODY, MY WOMB, AND HIS RING ON MY FINGER.
Hammer is just looking for someone to nail.
That much is obvious.
But what I didn’t know is everything else he wants:
Like a wife and a baby.
I’m the newest cop on the force.
Being a female in uniform means everyone is trying to get a piece of me.
I fend them all of, no sweat...
Until Hammer.
He’s an ex-soldier, a fighter, a biker...
Bad news all around.
I know i should stay away.
But when he offers to show me how to handle my body, I can’t say no.
Needless to say, our lessons didn’t stop on wrestling mat.
He took me to his bed and taught me a few more things.
And God, I loved it.
But this is all happening too fast.
I’m a cop – the last place I belong is in a biker’s bed.
Especially one in the middle of a complex web of crime and lies.
Falling for Hammer might cost me everything.
I just hope I can pay the price.
BENT AT THE ALTAR: Broken Lions MC
I’LL DRAG HER TO THE ALTAR AND BEND HER OVER RIGHT THERE.
The pretty doctor never asked for me to enter her life.
But fate brought me here.
And I’ve laid down my claim.
This one is mine now.
She can blame my brother for all this, if she wants to.
He’s the one who got poisoned and ended up half-dead on her operating table.
HANDS OFF MY WOMAN: Padre Knights MC Page 69