I came to, wondering what had awakened me. My heart had jumped into my throat, but all I heard was the enthusiastic snore of a dog at my feet. I gently tried to extract myself, but Monk was heavy, and eventually I had to give him a little nudge to get him to move.
Finally, he got off my feet and I was able to roll out of bed. I reached for my phone and checked the time.
A little past three.
My dreams had left me unsettled and I had no desire to go back to sleep. I went into the bathroom and turned on the light. I winced when I caught my reflection. My neck was painted with bruises.
I touched one of the dark spots and grimaced.
Monk stood at the doorway of the bathroom. It was like he knew I didn’t want to be alone.
My skin was pale, and my eyes were bloodshot.
“I’m not going to even try and go back to sleep,” I said to Monk. “Should we venture out of this room?”
I slowly opened the door and poked my head out into the hallway. I heard no sounds and saw no one. Monk and I went into the kitchen. I couldn’t stand to look at the mess, so I began to clean up. It didn’t take long until there was some semblance of order and I could see the counters again.
My head was stuck in the refrigerator when someone said, “Brooklyn?”
Duke startled me so effectively that I nearly smacked my head.
“Sorry,” he said.
“It’s fine. I just didn’t expect anyone else to be awake at this hour.”
Monk ran over to Duke for a scratch, which Duke obliged.
Duke wore a pair of basketball shorts and a white T-shirt, and his hair was mussed.
“Jesus.” He stomped toward me.
“What?” I demanded.
“Your neck.”
My hand instantly went to the column of my throat.
“I hope Slash gives that fucker what he deserves,” he said, his voice pitched low.
“So, you know then?”
He nodded. “Boxer called, explained some shit had gone down.” Duke ran a hand through his hair. “This is my fucking fault.”
I raised my brows. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“You came here to talk to me. I told you to go home. If I thought you were going to go to the bakery, I would’ve locked you in Slash’s room.”
“You can’t be held accountable for my actions,” I said quietly. “I went to the bakery because I was upset and not thinking clearly.”
“Don’t for a damn minute blame yourself,” he commanded.
“Then who should I blame? Slash?” I rubbed my forehead. “Look, I really don’t want to talk about this. Any of it. I just—I woke up and didn’t want to go back to sleep. So here I am, trying to figure out a way to keep my hands and mind occupied until Slash gets here.”
He nodded, but his expression was morose.
“Not your fault,” I told him again. “It’s not your job to protect me.”
“You’re family, Brooklyn. Of course, it’s my job.”
With a sigh, I went to him and gave him a hug. “I’ll be okay.”
He gave me a bear hug and then released me.
“What are you doing down here at this hour, anyway?” I demanded as I walked back to the refrigerator. I pulled out a carton of eggs and a few sticks of butter.
“There’s someone sleeping in my bed,” he admitted.
“Oh really,” I teased. I began opening cupboards at random, hoping to find flour or a muffin mix of some sort.
He rubbed the back of his neck. “Yeah.”
“Let me guess. You don’t want her to be in your bed, but you’re too nice of a guy to kick her out and make her do the drive of shame home.”
“Something like that,” he agreed. “If it’s cool, you mind if I chill with you and Monk?”
“I don’t mind. One condition.”
“Name it.”
“You stop looking at me like I’m going to fall apart. Old Ladies don’t fall apart.”
He grinned. “Old Ladies, huh?”
“Yeah. Now please tell me there’s a mixing bowl around here…”
Duke and Monk were my companions for the next few hours while I went through the club’s entire stash of flour and muffin mixes.
“You have to stop,” Duke said after I placed a hot biscuit fresh from the oven onto a plate, along with a dollop of apricot preserves I’d found languishing in the refrigerator.
“Why do I have to stop?” I asked as I set the plate in front of him.
“Because if you bake like this on the regular, I’m going to fall madly in love with you, and then I’m going to have to fight Slash.”
“Something tells me your heart is safe,” I quipped. “Even though my biscuits are to die for.”
I glanced at the door, hoping Slash would surprise me and walk through it. But he didn’t. I sighed and went back to baking.
It was around five in the morning when women who’d partied with the Blue Angels began trickling into the living room and kitchen area. They were in all different states of the morning after. The hair spray hadn’t held up and their makeup was smeared. One woman had major raccoon eyes from mascara and eyeliner.
“Who’s this for?” a young brunette in a denim skirt asked.
“Anyone. Everyone,” I said.
“Thanks.” She filched a muffin and looked at me. “Holy shit, what happened to your neck?”
I sighed, wondering how the hell I was supposed to address it.
“Sorry. Not my business,” she said hastily. She took a bite of the muffin. “Damn, this is almost better than sex with Acid.”
“Thanks, darlin’,” Acid said as he trekked into the room.
She shot him a smile and blew him a kiss. “Figure of speech. Don’t get cocky. Walk me out?”
I grabbed a plate and filled it with baked goods.
“What are you going to do?” Duke asked. “Eat that in your room?”
“I’m taking it to South Paw and Crow. They shouldn’t miss out just because they’re on guard duty.” I headed back to Slash’s bedroom, slipped into my shoes, and then headed toward the porch. Monk wanted to come with me, but I made him stay with Duke.
The sun had begun to rise, and the promise of heat was in the air. A strand of hair blew into my face, shielding my eyes. I hastily pushed it behind my ear and ground to a halt.
Slash was walking through the open gates to the clubhouse. The plate slipped through my fingers and hit the ground. And then I was running. Running to Slash. I was suddenly in his arms, and he was hoisting me off my feet and holding me so tight it was like he never wanted to let me go.
I buried my face in the crook of his neck and breathed him in. He smelled like sweat and grime, reminding me of the truth about where he’d been.
“It’s done,” he whispered against my ear. “You’re safe.”
A tremble started in my belly and caught in my throat for a moment before it came out of my mouth. While my tears soaked his skin, he carried me into the clubhouse. The living room was full of people by the time we got back inside, but their conversations went silent when we came through the door.
Slash didn’t stop. He took me to his room and shut the door behind us. He tried to set me down on the bed, but I clung tighter to him.
“Hey,” he said, his voice gravely.
I lifted my face from the crook of his neck and stared at him. Eventually, I let go of him and collapsed onto the edge of the bed. Slash kneeled in front of me and brushed a knuckle along my cheek.
“Have you slept at all?” he demanded.
“A little bit. Not a lot. I’ve been up for a few hours.”
“The bags under your eyes are purple.”
“Great, they’ll match the bruises on my neck.”
He clenched his jaw and then stood up. “I need to shower.”
I nodded.
“And then we’ll talk, yeah?”
“Can’t we talk now?” I asked.
“No.”
“No? Why not?” I insisted.
“Because when we go to bed, I want it all settled between us.”
“Oh.”
He looked at me for a moment and then he said, “I’ll be fast.”
Slash disappeared into the bathroom, and I didn’t move. I was too tired to move. Too grateful that he was back with me to move.
He showered quickly and came out of the bathroom with a towel around his waist. His inked skin was damp, and his salt-and-pepper hair was slicked back from his face.
“You’re beautiful,” I murmured.
Slash came over to me and crouched down in front of me again. The towel almost came off him. “I need you to know—”
I quickly covered his lips with my fingers to silence him.
“Me first,” I said. “I love you, Slash. I do. You didn’t tell me about the worst thing that’s ever happened to you, and I…I made that about me. I didn’t think about what it would be like for you to share that. I understand, okay? I’m so sorry for your loss. I’m so sorry you ever had to hurt. But I love you and—”
He kissed my fingers and then pulled them away from his face. “My turn.”
I nodded.
“I should’ve told you. I wasn’t sure how, yeah? We happened so fast, and the baby…” His other hand came up to rest on my belly. “I never wanted you to think that because I’d already been a husband and a father, that somehow you meant less. I didn’t keep it from you to hurt you, Brooklyn. I kept it from you because I wanted you to know that even though I’m so damn grateful I get a second chance at love and having a family, you aren’t a replacement. You aren’t a stand-in.”
I curled my hand around the back of his neck, urging him closer to me.
“If I don’t get inside you, I’m going to die,” he growled.
His words sent tremors straight to my core.
We looked at each other and then we clamored together. Our lips meshed, our fingers plowed through hair, our moans littered the bedroom. He tore his mouth from mine, but only so he could stand and lose the towel.
He stood back and pumped his erection. My mouth watered.
“I can’t be gentle, Brooklyn.”
“I don’t want gentle,” I said as I quickly slipped out of Slash’s clothes.
I lay back on the bed and spread my legs and he was on me. A moment later, he was inside me. I winced from the pain of his thrust, but my body quickly and easily adjusted to his invasion.
He’d come back to me, and I hadn’t left him.
I would never doubt him ever again.
He reached underneath me to grab the back of my thigh and hauled me toward him. Our skin slickened with sweat and desire, and it wasn’t long before I felt the aching pull of pleasure. He dragged an orgasm from my body, and I submitted to it entirely. My eyes rolled into the back of my head as I rode each wave.
Slash groaned into my neck, and I was sure he was about to have his own release, but then he pulled out of me.
“All fours,” he rasped.
I hastened to do his bidding. He bent over and licked me from behind. His tongue tasted me, and I pushed back against him.
“God, you’re fucking drenched,” he gritted.
He sank into me, stretching me in the best possible way.
My fingers curled into the sheets as his hands gripped my hips. He drilled into my body, taking everything he needed. He was primal and completely selfish. He was using me the way he needed, and I loved every minute of it.
“Fuck,” he roared as he slammed into me.
His orgasm fueled another one of my own and I clenched around him with all my strength.
We collapsed onto the bed with Slash still inside me. His essence coated the inside of my thighs, and the smell of our passion was in the air.
He brushed the hair away from my neck and dropped a kiss against my throat. “I hate that I can still see that bastard’s bruises on you.”
I gently traced his knuckles, mindful that they were probably still sore. “They’ll fade in time. And he’ll never bruise me again.”
“You’re not going to ask what I did to him?”
“Would you tell me the truth if I did?”
“No.”
“Then it’s a good thing I don’t need to know. I just know you’ll do anything to protect me. To protect our baby.”
“God, woman. I fucking love the shit out of you.”
I wriggled against him, causing him to hiss. I wasn’t ready for him to leave yet. I wanted him inside my body for as long as possible.
His hands slid down to caress the gentle swell of my lower belly. I closed my eyes happy, sated, protected.
Slash’s wandering hands woke me from my doze. He traced patterns on my skin, eliciting goose bumps. Our sheets were rumpled and hot.
“You hungry?” I asked.
His thumb grazed my nipple, which pebbled immediately. “Starving.”
Laughing, I felt him harden against my leg. He prodded at me from behind and then he sank into me. We moved as one, slow, gentle this time. My release built gradually, and I came.
He grasped my hip and continued to rock into me until he finished.
“I’ll never get tired of this,” he murmured against my hair.
“I hope not,” I said quietly.
“I want to do this every day for the rest of my life. I want every laugh, every tear you have to give and every moment in between. I want you to have my babies, Brooklyn.”
I reached up and grasped the back of his head and turned my lips to his for a kiss. His tongue swept into my mouth, and he kissed me so deep I felt it in my bones.
With a sigh, I pulled away. I smiled up at him. “Ask me.”
“Now?”
I nodded.
“Be my Old Lady, Brooklyn. Become my wife. Take my name, take my ring. You’ve already taken my heart.”
Tears gathered in my eyes. “Yes, Slash. My answer is yes.”