He laughed. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, Rosie. First, I need an office and a desk.”
“Right.”
We beamed at each other.
“I never really thought we’d get it,” I whispered, almost too afraid to say the word out loud.
“What, rebel?”
I looked into his jungle green eyes and let myself be vulnerable the way he’d taught me to do. “That we’d ever get our happy.”
His hand convulsed on my hips and his face softened. “Rosie.”
I shrugged as if it wasn’t a big deal, but we both knew I was a liar.
“We’re gonna have our happy, I promise,” he swore. “Do you believe me?”
I closed my eyes and pressed my lips to his, my hand to his heart so my fingers rested lightly over the scar I’d given him in order to get us to this moment.
“Yeah, Lion, I believe you,” I whispered into his mouth.
And I did.
We were eating cereal in the kitchen when Dad came barreling in, his eyes huge, his hair a mess around his smiling face.
“My babies are fuckin’ comin’!” he roared triumphantly. “Fuckin’ fuck yeah!”
Danner and I laughed at him, his joy infectious.
“Congratulations, Garro,” my man called to my father.
Dad’s face warmed slightly as he stared at me standing between my man’s legs at the bar where we were eating.
“Call me Zeus,” he said.
My heart warmed with the beauty of that gift and I felt Danner stiffen then soften around him as he realized it.
“Now get your asses in gear, we gotta get to the fuckin’ hospital,” he yelled before disappearing down the hall again.
Danner gave me a bemused look. “Guess we better get dressed.”
I laughed, feeling more carefree than it felt I ever had before.
Dad took his bike to the hospital and we followed in Danner’s Mustang. We didn’t talk as he drove. Instead, I made a playlist of songs for our love story and played it for him all the way to Entrance. When we parked, Danner turned to me to take my head in his hands and kissed me, long, slow and savory.
“Wouldn’t change a fucking moment with you, it brought us here,” he told me as his thumbs rubbed over my cheeks.
“Even the part where I stabbed you?” I asked without even trying to hold back my smile.
“Nothing,” he said so fiercely that my humor fell away. “Not one fucking second.”
I kissed him this time, quick, hard and sweet.
A knock at the window had us jerking apart, but I scowled at the sight of Dad leaning down to scowl at us.
“Make out on your own fuckin’ time, my babies are ’ere,” he ordered before turning and prowling through the front doors of the hospital.
We followed him in and up the elevators to the maternity ward. I’d never seen Dad so hyped up, his eyes electric and his body restless, rolling and moving like a fighter going into the ring.
“You okay, Dad?” I asked, reaching out to take his massive, beautifully scarred hand in mine.
He gave it a squeeze and admitted, “Never been more fuckin’ nervous in my life.”
“You’re kidding,” Danner chuckled.
Dad leveled him with a glare, but my man didn’t even blink.
God, he was sexy.
“My girl’s ’bout’a give birth to two babies. Got Curtains to do the research an’ that shit gets dangerous for the mother real quick.”
“Dad, nothing’s going to happen to Loulou,” I told him gently.
But I knew it was a nightmare he’d lived before and his edgy energy wouldn’t dissipate until he saw her for himself.
The elevator doors opened, and we all stepped out, my men connected by me in the middle. My heart lurched then settled more comfortably in my chest than it ever had before.
“Gonna go on ahead,” Dad muttered, already letting go of my hand so his long, powerful thighs could take him down the hall quicker than eyes.
“Garro nervous, never thought I’d see the day,” Danner muttered.
“You and my dad in the same room not fighting, can’t say I ever thought I’d see that day either,” I pointed out.
He laughed, and he stayed laughing as we rounded a corner and saw the entire Fallen crew sprawled across a waiting room.
I froze.
Dozens of eyes came to me, the weight of their collective gaze like sinking sand sucking me down.
I didn’t know what to do.
I wanted to say sorry, but I was shit at apologies.
I wanted to hug them, but I didn’t know if they’d let me.
So, I stood there like an idiot and gawked.
King was the first one to move.
He unraveled from his seat and started walking toward me, his gait quickening, lengthening until it was a run and then I was wrenched from Danner’s hold and swung up in his arms.
The smell of him, fresh air and warm laundry, hit my nose and it immediately started to sting with tears. I burrowed my face in his lush, gold hair and held on as my heart exploded inside my chest, a tidal flood of elated relief sweeping through my ravaged system like rain through the desert.
“H.R.,” he croaked as he swayed me gently back and forth in his arms, my feet dangling and swaying like a pendulum. “Fuckin’ welcome home.”
I burst into loud, uncontrollable sobs that shook my whole body.
A soothing hand ran down my hair and a sweet voice spoke close to my ear. “My sweet Harleigh Rose.”
I cried louder, my hand blindly reaching out to grab Cress and bring her into our hug. She folded into us and held on as tightly as we were.
“Babe,” Lila said as she pressed against my other side and wrapped her arm around my waist. “Fucking missed you.”
“Can I get in on this action?” Nova’s voice called from beside us. “You know I love a good group hug.”
“God, don’t be gross,” Lila griped and I felt her jolt as he joined the huddle, his weight against her and long arms wrapped around me.
“Ah fuck, if there’s one reason I became a fuckin’ biker it was to avoid this shit,” Buck groused from somewhere nearby, but then I tasted his cigarette scent in the air and felt burly arms crush us all together from the left. “But fuck it, not every day we get our princess back.”
I kept crying, softer now as the entire MC, as my entire family, crowded around me and accepted me back into the fold.
When we broke apart, I kept hold of my brother, Lila, and Cress and turned us all to look at Danner who leaned against the wall, Timberland booted feet crossed, dark denim shirt unbuttoned just enough to see the sexy hollow at the base of his throat and a dusting of chest hair, his aviator sunglasses pushed back in his hair.
He was back to his cowboy look, still rockin’ it, but doing it now with a tat peeking out of his shirt, a scar through his eyebrow and a biker chick’s heart in his hands.
I liked the look on him.
“Danny.” King grinned, stepping forward to take his hand in a firm shake that ended with a back slap. “Fuck man, it’s good to have you back.”
Danner raised an eyebrow. “Yeah, I recall you not likin’ me much when Cress and Lou went through your shit.”
King grinned at him, unrepentant. “Water under the bridge, you were conflicted back then. You’re on the right side’a things now.”