“I’m glad it all worked out for you,” I tell her.
“Speaking of my sweet little girl, we better get going. My friend Taylor is babysitting, so I don’t want to stay out too late.”
“Well, it was nice meeting you,” I tell her.
“You too. I hope you stick around,” she replies with a smile before Hugo comes and scoops her up, literally.
“What about you two?” I ask Avery and Josie. “How did you two ladies end up with bikers?”
“That is a long story, definitely not love at first sight.” Avery laughs and adds, “I’m just glad I ended up here in Rockland with Remy and was able to get to know the real him. Sometimes he can be the biggest pain in my ass, but I know he loves me so much he would do anything for me.”
“Same for me and Colt,” Josie says. “My son actually stole his cut, and we met when he came to Myrtle Beach to get it back and offered to let Jordan be his prospect once he graduated high school.”
“Oh. I thought Jordan was RJ’s prospect.”
“He is now. There was a falling-out,” Josie explains. “Colt thought it would be best if RJ sponsored Jordan from then on.”
“And you up and moved here to be with him?” I ask.
“It was scary at first, but it was the best decision of my life,” Josie says with a bright smile directed at Colt. “He may be several years younger than me, but he’s been like the father I always wished Jordan could have.”
“That’s sweet. I’m glad you both got your happy endings.”
“You’ll get yours too,” Josie assures me. I open my mouth to voice my uncertainty when she says, “Things may be rocky for now, but it’ll all work out how it’s meant to in the end.”
And while I hope she’s right, I can’t help but wonder if being with Bear is too good to be true. Everything is going so great between us. Well, other than the man who is after me for some reason my father is keeping from me.
Before I have time to dwell on that, though, Bear comes over to our table. Lifting my hair away from my neck to kiss my sensitive skin there, he then whispers, “Ready to go home? I need you.”
That’s all it takes for me to cave.
Maybe tomorrow, I’ll worry about how he can say a few words, and that’s all it takes to make me melt into a lovesick puddle.
Barrett
I’m awake before Lyla, so I slip out of bed as quietly and gently as possible so as not to disturb her. After the three rounds of crazy-good sex last night, she probably needs more time to recover.
After I get my shower, I decide to cook her some breakfast and serve it to her in bed.
It seems like a little thing, but it makes me happy to be able to spoil her any way I can.
Waking up, falling asleep together, sharing meals, it’s what I was looking forward to most when I married Laurel, but I never got the chance to do any of those things with her.
She didn’t give me the chance.
In fact, I don’t even know why she married me if she wasn’t going to move to base with me to have a real marriage.
I still wish I could ask her, but it’s no longer something that keeps me up at night. Not when I would much rather spend my time thinking about Lyla.
Before I take the blueberry pancakes I made to her, I send her father a quick text, asking if he’s had any luck finding the asshole who is after her.
Her father.
I hate keeping the truth from her, but it’s for the best.
Soon, he’ll hopefully be dead, and she can go on living her life without knowing the ugly truth.
But instead of good news, her father sends back, We’ve looked everywhere, in every abandoned property in a hundred-mile radius but can’t find the son of a bitch.
My good mood is dinged but not ruined, especially when I walk into the bedroom with the tray of pancakes and orange juice and find Lyla sitting up in bed with her back against the headboard.
Her phone is held up to her ear, and her smile widens when she sees me.
“I’m glad you called and so relieved you’re getting released,” she says into the device, telling me exactly who she’s talking to. And how can I be jealous of a man who took a bullet for her?
“Okay, see you soon,” Lyla says before she ends the call. To me, she says, “Wow, is that for me?”
“Of course,” I tell her as I place the tray on her lap that’s still underneath the covers.
“Thank you, it looks delicious!”
“You’re welcome,” I reply as I take a seat on the edge of the bed. “Thane doing better?”
She lifts the glass of juice to her lips and takes a sip while nodding. “Yes, he is. They’re releasing him from the hospital today.”
“That’s great.”
She bites her lip like she wants to say more when she picks up her fork.
“What?”
“I want to ask you for a huge favor, but it’s hard when you made me breakfast.”
“Just ask me, baby.” Doesn’t she know I would do anything for her?
“Let me have a bite of these pancakes first, in case you take them from me,” Lyla says as she cuts a triangle out of the fluffy cakes and puts it in her mouth. Her eyes close, and she moans like she does when my tongue is between her legs. “Oh my god, these are delicious. One more bite.”
“I’m not gonna take the pancakes from you no matter what you ask,” I promise her.
“That’s what you say now.”
“Try me.”
“Would you consider maybe letting Thane come stay here?”
“What?”
“Just until he’s back on his feet,” she adds.
She wants me to let him move in? Here?
“I don’t know, Ly. My brother will be pissed after what he did to Jordan.” I don’t add that I believe RJ and the kid were lurking around the hospital, hoping to end the man for good.
Would my brother kill someone in cold blood? If it was a person who hurt someone he cared about, it’s possible. He’s been taking his responsibility as the prospect’s sponsor seriously, which is surprising.
“I know it’s a lot to ask,” Lyla starts between bites of pancake. “But it’s my fault he was shot. He nearly died, and still he was able to save me from being kidnapped by that creep.”
She’s right. I want to hate the guy, but he did take a bullet for her and apparently put one in the kidnapper. Her father told me the other day that there was a blood trail found on the scene that led into the woods behind the shopping center. The police are going to test it, but I can already guess who the blood came from.
And it’s stupid that I’m envious that Thane was there to protect her and I wasn’t.
When I don’t give her the answer she wants, Lyla says, “I want to be wherever Thane is, so if you don’t want him here, then I can go back home…”
“No, it’s fine,” I blurt out because I don’t want her to leave yet. Her father is still searching for the fucker. “I have to clear it with my dad and RJ, but if they don’t mind and RJ swears not to mess with him, then Thane can stay here too, until he recovers.”
“Thank you,” Lyla says when she sets the tray aside to throw her arms around my neck and kiss my cheek.