“Too late to do anything about that now. You’re stuck with me. So give. When’s the last time you slept?”
“It’s been a couple of days.” Kyle answered for him.
Ripper shot him a dirty look.
“Rescuing Sahdev and Bear is our number one priority.” I stroked his cheek to get his attention. “You’re in charge of the rescue. The planning. The execution. If we’re going to succeed, we need you in peak form. We can’t have you with a fuzzy brain or dragging ass because you’re sleep deprived.”
“I’m holding up fine,” he protested.
“Fine isn’t good enough.” Kyle leaned forward. “Like Kenzie said, we need you at your very best.” He glanced at his watch. “It’s early in the day, a little after six. How about you go to bed and catch five or six hours of sleep? You’ll be up before noon. Gives us plenty of time to start working on our plan.”
“Please, Ripper,” I said quietly. “You can’t take care of us if you don’t take care of yourself, too.”
Staring into his face, I saw the moment his reluctance gave way to grudging acquiescence. He sighed, and the harsh lines of his face relaxed. “All right, but you’re coming to bed with me, Mac. I missed you, and I wanna fall asleep holding you.”
Warmth blossomed in my chest. This tough guy—this badass biker, this man who embodied all my alpha-hero fantasies—missed me. And he wasn’t ashamed to come right out and admit it. Tears welled in my eyes. His eyes widened with concern at the sight.
I shook my head. “Nothing’s wrong. I’m just happy to be back home.” He nodded, then wrapped his hands around my hips and lifted me to my feet. I held out my hand toward him. “Take me to bed.”
“Never gonna say no to that.” He took my hand and led me to the back bedroom, where we’d spread our sleeping bags on the bare mattress. We stripped and lay down. Ripper hauled me close, an arm tucked around my waist as we spooned. I snuggled into him, resting my head on his bent arm.
How long had we been separated this time? Not even a day and a half, but it felt like an eternity.
“Mimi planned to keep Hannah and me,” I whispered. “She didn’t know that I’d do whatever it takes to get back to you and to bring Hannah back to Levi.”
Ripper’s arm tightened around my waist. “That’s how it was with me when the deputy took me prisoner in Medford. I’d pull the sun down from the sky and set the earth on fire if that’s what it took to make it back home to you.”
I shuddered, remembering our close call, then rolled over so Ripper and I were nose to nose. “Jason. The deputy. The fire. Pastor Bill. And now Mimi. We’ve come within a hair’s breadth of losing each other too many times. I’m done with it.”
Ripper brushed my hair back from my forehead, then dragged his knuckles over my cheek and across my jaw. “Can’t say I’m particularly fond of it myself.” His voice was a deep rumble that I could feel through our joined chests.
“Good, because it’s not happening again.”
He cocked a brow. “No? What you got in mind?”
“I’m not going to give fate a chance to mess with us. Not when we’ve had such a run of bad luck. So, when you make your move to take Valhalla, I’m going to be right there next to you. I’m not going to stay at the house, hoping for the best, while you put yourself in harm’s way.”
When Ripper opened his mouth to reply, I laid a hand over his lips.
“I mean it. I’ll follow orders and stick with whatever plan you come up with. But I have to help. And I have to be at your side.”
Ripper’s dark brows slanted, and his eyes bored into mine while he weighed my words. After a moment, he lifted my fingers away from his mouth and pressed a kiss against my palm. “Used to think I could keep you safe by keeping you out of the fight.”
“That theory’s been shot to shit,” I said.
“Yeah.” He sighed. “I got an idea about how to take Valhalla. We could catch them unawares, use a sniper rifle to pick off one or two of the men, but the others might kill Bear and Sahdev before we storm the ranch house. Instead of an outright assault, I wanna gain access to the place, get the lay of the land before we move. Tuck knows me. He knows what I did for the club. The Wilcox Brigade might just see me as a valuable recruit. If we act like we go along with their bullshit, they just might welcome us into their fold.”
“Us?”
“Yeah. Us. Me and my old lady. You willing to go undercover and infiltrate a bunch of Nazis?”
THIRTY-TWO
Kenzie
Ripper pulled the Road King onto the side of the road and drained the fuel tank, stashing the gas can out of sight behind a boulder and under some sagebrush.
The two-way radio crackled to life. “Tuck just pulled onto the main road, heading west,” Levi announced from his perch overlooking Valhalla.
“Copy that,” Ripper replied. He swung his eyes to me. “You ready?”
If I chickened out, if despite all my brave protestations, I really wasn’t up to a covert mission among Nazis, we still had time to back out. Ripper could push the bike into a nearby grove of trees, and we could hide until Tuck passed us by. Ripper wouldn’t reproach me if I changed my mind, but he’d hesitate before involving me in another plan.
Nope. Time to pull up my big-girl panties and carry my weight.
“I’m ready,” I said firmly.
Ripper pulled me close, his fingers digging into my ass. He kissed me fast and hard. Clinging to each other, we turned our heads at the sound of an approaching motorcycle.
“Game on.” He drew his gun from his shoulder harness and pushed me behind him, as if preparing for trouble.
Tuck’s red Harley rolled to a stop. He cut the engine and climbed off the bike, laughing and shaking his head. “Ripper! What the fuck are you doing out here in the middle of nowhere?”
Ripper smiled like they were long-lost friends and clapped Tuck on the back. “Good to see you, Tuck.” He drew me to his side. “My old lady and I been looking for a quiet place to hole up until things calm down.”
Tuck’s gaze roamed up and down my body, assessing me in a way that made me want to squirm. Hannah and I had sexed up my appearance, hoping to make me pass as a credible biker chick. I wore a skintight, black tank top over a red lace bra. The bra had been left behind by the mother whose house we’d taken over. The cups were one size too small for me, so my breasts spilled out of the top, creating eye-popping cleavage that the skimpy tank top did nothing to disguise.
My fingers flew to my throat, and I stroked my newest accessory, a sterling silver necklace that grazed my collarbone. Large block letter beads, strung along a silver chain, spelled out the words PROPERTY OF RIPPER.
I’d gasped when Ripper casually handed me the necklace after we woke up from our morning nap.
“Been waiting to give this to you. I put it together the same time I made your birthday necklace.” As I gaped at it, he took the necklace from my hands and fastened it around my neck. I jumped up from the bed and studied my reflection in the dresser mirror. Ripper stepped up behind me. Resting his hands on my shoulders, he met my gaze in the glass. “You know what this means, don’t you?”