Laughing, Lena wrapped her arms around his shoulders and kissed him again. “When you feel better, the first thing I want to do is make love to you.”
“I feel fuckin’ fantastic. I’ve been craving you too long, woman to wait one second more.”
Lena jumped up from her chair and handed him the cane. “Well, if you’re sure.”
“I’ve never been surer of anything in my life.”
And that was the truth. Lena was his, and he loved her with every corner of his heart. She was the one who brought light to the darkness inside of him.
She was his life, his world, and there was nothing he would ever let come between them again.
Epilogue
Four months later
Lena held the cake box as she followed Tank up the sidewalk to his mother’s house. The first time she’d come to meet his mother, she was as nervous as a cat on hot asphalt, but the minute his mother smiled and told Lena to call her Mary instead of Mrs. Hopkins, she knew they’d become friends.
Tank was happier than hell that she and Mary got along so well. Some afternoons, Lena would stop by with a basket of food and set up a table out in the garden, and she and Mary would have fun talking about everyone and everything.
The major topic of conversation for the past month had been the indictment of Philip Fitzgerald, Roger Ellison—the DA—Sheriff Windsor, and several law enforcement deputies. The slew of charges lodged against each of the defendants were more than a half page long. It was the scandal of the year, maybe even the decade, and it rocked the town to its core.
Quinn Fitzgerald and her mother, Estelle, sold their mansion and flew the coop. When Mason Bourne, Quinn’s fiancé, learned of the scandal involving Quinn’s father, he did what any shallow and mercenary person would do: He dropped her fast and cold.
The State Attorney General commended Lena and all the witnesses who’d come forward, on their cooperation and bravery in putting a corrupt system out of business. If things went the way Assistant State’s Attorney Rhonda Dempsey told Lena they would, many real estate deals that Fitzgerald made fraudulently would be put right. If that happened, he stood to lose millions of dollars, something Lena wasn’t losing any sleep over.
The biggest surprise for her and all the other tenants who were harassed by Cougar and Rubble, was receiving all the money back from the Jagged Outlaws MC. It appeared that the club had a changing of the guard, which Lena only found out about through her landlord, John Bourne. Of course, Tank never breathed a word about what happened behind the hallowed walls of the clubhouse, and Lena was just fine with that. And because of the club’s generosity to the tenants and the expulsion of the men directly responsible for their weeks of terror, none of the witnesses said one thing about the Jagged Outlaws being involved. Even after Fitzgerald and Sheriff Windsor tried to put the blame on the club, everyone stayed silent.
When Lena had turned in the recordings, she’d initially told the DA that the two men were bikers, but since he was part of the fraud and extortion scheme and a multitude of other crimes, no one believed him.
“Thank you, Lena,” Tank’s mother said when she handed her the small box of tea cookies and put the cake on the table.
“You’re welcome,” she said, bending down to kiss her cheeks.
“Hey, Mom.” Tank hugged his mother then sat down. “The doctor said you’re doing great.”
She smiled. “I feel good. I’m happy you found such a beautiful and wonderful woman.”
“Mom …” he groaned.
Lena laughed at the same routine mother and son engaged in each time they’d go over to visit with Mary.
“I’m just saying. Knowing that you’re settled, I can stop worrying and relax. When are you going to get married?”
“Mom!”
A huge grin cracked Lena’s face. Whenever she saw Tank and his mother interacting, she could see the boy he was when he was young, and she loved that.
“I’m just asking.” Mary turned to Lena. “Do you mind me asking?”
“Not at all,” she replied.
Tank rolled his eyes. “What do you think she’s going to say, Mom?”
For the next couple of hours they ate and talked about the scandal, the weather, and a host of other things. By the time they were ready to leave, Lena could see the fatigue on Mary’s face.
“Do you wanted to lie down?” she asked.
“I do feel tired. Maybe just a little nap. Myra can help me.”
Myra came into the room, after saying their goodbyes to Mary, and she helped her into the bedroom.
Tank grabbed Lena’s hand as they walked down the sidewalk and headed to her SUV. He’d wanted to take the Harley, but Lena was scared the cake and cookies would be reduced to crumbs in the saddle bags, so she’d insisted they drive.
“Why didn’t you tell your mom we’re living together?” she asked, sliding into the passenger seat.
Tank placed his hand behind her neck and kissed her hard, then he shut the door and walked around to the driver’s side.
“Is it supposed to be a secret?”
“No. I’ll tell her. I just want to enjoy some time together without her asking me every second why we’re living together instead of being hitched.”
“And what’re you going to say when she asks you that?”
“That you don’t want to.”
She lightly punched his arm. “The tough biker’s going to blame it on me?”
Tank glanced sideways at her. “Yeah. You’re the one that has all these fuckin’ levels we need to go through. Now we’re at the” —he turned to her— “what the hell did you call it?”
“I don’t have any names. I swear you invent this shit.”
Tank laughed. “You’re telling me you haven’t been orchestrating all this since we left the safe haven months ago?”
“I just said we should go slow, and we are.” A small frown creased her forehead. “Don’t you like how it’s going between us?”
Tank pulled over to the curb and pivoted in his seat. He reached over and tugged her closer to him. “I love being with you. If it were up to me, we’d have been living together months ago. I mean we practically were. I was at your place more than my own.”
“Okay, then what’s the problem?”
He cupped her face with his hands, lifting her chin to meet his eyes, and smiled at her. “We don’t have a problem, darlin’.”
“Then why—”
Pressing his mouth against hers, he smothered her words with a kiss. He held her close, rubbing his hands up and down her back. When he let go, minutes later, he looked into her eyes.
“I love you, baby, and I’m good with whatever level you put us on next.”
“You make me sound so cold and calculating.”
“There’s no fuckin’ way you’re cold, baby.” He ran his hands over her breasts, squeezing them before pinching her nipples through the soft fabric of her top.
She sucked in a breath.
Tank lowered his head and captured her mouth again, this time plunging inside it. She unbuckled her seatbelt and hooked her arms around his neck, as their kiss deepened. One of his hands kept fondling her breast while the other slid down her body until it landed between her legs, pushing against her. Shooting sparks of desire licked through her. Groaning low, she slipped her hands under his shirt and glided her fingers over his hard, firm chest before trailing them down lower to his stomach, lightly brushing back and forth.