Dragging my hands down his side I spread for him and moan as he enters me, sliding in easily with our juices combined, thickening as he starts to move. He hisses, “Fuck yes,” and presses a firm kiss into me. There’s a sensuality to our movements that I’ve never had in sex before. It’s languid yet charged. We’re getting to know each other.
There’s no need to hold back.
I’m not planning my escape later.
No need to keep him at an emotional distance, because I don’t want one.
This time I’m open, receptive, giving, and I’ve got nowhere to be but here with Luke. My pussy is filled, throbbing hard as he smiles down at me, his gaze tracing my face. I touch his, lightly running calloused fingers along his high cheekbones, down his dark red stubble, over his moist lips. He drops in to kiss me, stroking his cock inside me as our breaths grow ragged. “Fuck,” he moans in my lips, “You feel so good. I’m going to cum again.”
“Me too, Luke, I’m so happy.”
He laughs and kisses me. “Love hearing you say that. I can finally relax. It’s unreal…hope I’m not dreaming.”
Sliding my hand to his muscular ass I caress it a second and then pinch as hard as I can.
“Ouch!” he barks, laughing.
“You’re not dreaming.”
“You’re fuckin’ crazy.”
“Yes I am,” I grin.
Our lips collide and we move faster, his thrusts increasing, filling me all the way each time.
Moaning, “Luke, yes, I’m so close,” I close my eyes, focusing on how good this burning sensation feels. His cock. So perfect. So hard.
And all mine.
CHAPTER 33
L UKE
“Dad, you put away money for our family, right? How much?”
As a community we had a big Ciphers pot, but people had their own bank accounts for savings, cash went in and rarely went out since everything was paid for and we live humble lives. We came by the cash from grateful people, or from taking from sick fucks who no longer needed it, where they were going…
Some would call that stealing, but it was just another way of making the bastards pay. Our consciences were clear.
“I’ve saved enough,” Dad gruffly answers. “You get yourself in a scrape?”
At my nightstand I lift Sofia’s lacy bra by the strap and smile, “Kind of.”
“How much do you need?”
“Dunno. How much is a wedding ring?”
Dad goes silent before he grumbles, “You knock someone up out there?”
Laughing under my breath I sit on the unmade bed. “No, Dad, it’s Sofia Sol.”
“What the fuck!?” he explodes, but this time with happiness behind his shock. “You gonna go find her?”
“She’s with me. I mean, not right now. She just left, went back to her room to get fresh clothes, and probably poop in private.”
“Okay, whoa whoa whoa, back up. Tell me how this happened.”
I launch in, giving him the basics, then end it with, “We’re in love. Real love, Dad. I want to ask her, but you can’t let it get back to her that I’m going to.”
“Why the fuck would I do that?”
“You tell Mom, she tells the moms, Luna finds out, Jett finds out. You know the chain it’ll travel down and how fast, too.”
“Your mother will want to know!”
Standing as I hear her knock, I whisper, “Hang on. She’s here. I’m going to get rid of her.”
I sweep the door open and find Sofia Sol with both hands on the doorjamb. “Who’s on the phone?” She starts to come in.
“It’s my dad,” I whisper, covering it before she spoke. “Come back in ten.”
She nods, runs her hand down my abs and grips my jeans, giving ‘em a tug toward her, with sex in her eyes. “Tell him I said thank you.”
Cocking an eyebrow I ask, “For what?”
She pokes me in the chest. “You.”
As I lean out the door to watch her walk away, Soph glances over her shoulder, messes up her hair and shakes her ass for my benefit. Sucking on my cheek I disappear inside. “Dad? Still there?”
“I heard every bit of that, you dummy. Forget I’m trained in surveillance? Think muffling your voices confused these ears?”
Laughing I run a hand over my head as I walk to the window, perfect view of sandstone under a clear blue sky behind the glass. “Then you heard how she loves me, too.”
“Luke, fuckin’ hell,” he sighs. “I’ve gotta tell my Meg. Where’s Tyler?”
“Took off a week ago to be back home with his kids. Said his work was done.”
Razzing me, Dad demands, “You’ve been in the sack the whole time, couldn’t take a breath to call your old man?”
“Not gonna deny it.”
He laughs, and it grows until he’s catching his breath, and I’m grinning. “Luke, I gotta admit, this makes me more happy than I woulda thought.” His tone sobers. “I miss ya, kid. We all do. I uh…hate to say it, but I think we made a mistake.”
A lump edges in my throat, and I try clearing it, but that just makes it worse. Never heard my father apologize to me before. Not that he needed to for anything before this, but to hear him own up, have the guts to say he’s sorry, brings up emotions I rarely use.
“Thanks, Dad. I missed you, too. It was tough, I won’t lie.” Coughing again I straighten my hunched shoulders. “But it brought Soph to me for good, so let’s just drop it.”
“Done.” A pause, then, “I’ve gotta tell Meg, Luke. I’ve gotta.”
Sighing, “Get her on the phone. I’ll tell her.”
“MEG! Oh, fuck, you eavesdropping, baby? Looks like I taught you right,” Dad laughs to her. To me he says, “Whatever you need, I’ll wire it. Here’s your mother.”
“Luke?” Mom snatched the phone so fast I didn’t have time to thank him. “Luke? I just overheard that last part about the mistake, that mean you’re coming home? You need money to come back?”
“That all you heard, Ma?”
“Yes, but tell me everything. I haven’t seen Antonio this happy since…oh, who knows! What’s going on?”
Resting my forehead against the glass, I close my eyes to picture my mother’s face as I say, “I’m going to ask Sofia Sol to marry me, Mom. I love her, and she loves me back.”
“Oh my goodness!” she cries out with joy. “That’s amazing!”
“Thanks, Mom, but don’t tell—”
She shouts to the whole house, “Luke’s asking Sofia to marry him, everyone!”
“Fuck,” I rasp, rushing out the door.
Dad’s voice in the background saying, “Meg! Come on!”
“What?”
Then the voices.
An overlapping explosion.
Questions.
Confusion.
Surprise.
“I’ll call you later,” I mutter before killing the call and racing down the stairs to Sofia’s room, banging on her door. “Soph! Soph! Open up!”
The door swings open, confusion in her eyes, phone ringing in her hand with the name, DAD, on the screen. “What’s wrong? You okay?”
Snatching the cell from her hand I send Jett Cocker to voicemail. Eyeing me, his daughter says, “Okay…What. The. Fuck.”
I grab her hand, pull her through the lobby, moving so fast she’s jogging to keep up.
“Luke, what’s wrong?”
“Everything’s perfect, but only if you trust me.”
“I trust you!”
“Good.”
In the first New Age shop we come to, just around the corner from our hotel, I open the door for her and then speed past inside, for the rings. Our phones are in both of my pockets and they won’t shut up. The Ciphers, and our President, are not taking voicemail for an answer.
Soph watches me, totally in the dark, waiting for me to shine light on her. And boy am I about to.
Snatching up a silver ring with a smoky-blue stone in it, the closest I can find to her eye color this qu
ickly, I bend my knee and hold it up.
Her hands fly to cover her mouth as it makes an O.
To the clerk I mutter a hasty, “I’ll pay for this in a second,” then take Sofia Sol’s left hand. “Your dad was about to ruin the surprise, and I couldn’t let that happen. I want to be the one who surprises you from now on. I love you, you know that, but you don’t know that I want to love you for the rest of my life. Just us. You and me. A team within the team. Our own club within the club. I want to escape into your arms every night and use these arms, my arms, to hold you up whenever you need them. Or if you break another leg,” I grin.
She laughs, tears brimming in her eyes. “I’m never dropping my bike again.”
“If you do,” I shrug with a crooked smile. “I’ll carry you into forever.”
Soph melts to her knees, cups my face and kisses me, murmurs, “Will you marry me, Luke?”
I laugh against her soft lips, “You can’t beat me to the proposal!”
With a smirk, grey eyes shimmering, she kisses me again. “Is that a yes or a no?”
Pulling her to me, I sit on the floor with her straddling me, my arms around her, her fingers stroking my head with sensual caresses.
“Yes, Soph, I’ll marry you.”
She laughs and the tears spill out. Wiping her eyes, she mumbles, “You’re the only man who ever made me cry.”
We’ve forgotten we’re in a public place. Didn’t notice we accumulated a small audience, until they start clapping.
We deepen the kiss and give them a show.
CHAPTER 34
Sofia SOL
T he ring fit my middle finger only, but he bought it anyway, saying I could give people the bird with style. I laughed and as we head out of the store now, he stashes the receipt in his pocket and says with pride, “This is a stand-in for the real deal. Didn’t plan to be rushed like that, but my Mom spilled the beans.”
“Give me the phone now, Luke.”
We pause on the sidewalk, his lips going grim. “Here we go.”
There are so many missed calls and texts, if I wanted to see them all I’d have to scroll the lock screen. Instead I just call back the first one who called. “Hi Dad.”
Ciphers are shouting in the background, throwing every question they can at my silent father. “You been with Luke this whole time?”
I take a deep breath. “Pretty much, yeah.”
“When you wouldn’t take my calls, Honey Badger told me what went down. About Tyler, and Melodi plotting.”
“Luke wanted to be the one to propose first, before you guys told me he was going to.”
Under his breath, Dad says, “Word travels fast here. But not fast enough when it should, huh, Mel?”
In the background Melodi firmly tells him with all the attitude she’s known for, “Someone had to be sensible and give the kids their shot!”
“Dad,” I interrupt, bringing his focus back.
“No, Sofia, let me talk,” he mutters before calling out, “Alright, all of you shut up a second. Sunshine, come listen in.”
Mom’s voice comes through, “We’re holding up the phone between us, honey.”
Honey?
Encouraged, I rest my hand on Luke’s chest, pull him by his t-shirt closer to me, and tuck my head in his neck so he can listen, too. If we’re a team, then I want him in on this.
“Luke’s listening, too.”
Dad clears his throat, “Good. Luke, I hope this isn’t a knee-jerk reaction to prove something.”
“No, sir. I’m in love with Soph, have been for years. Just didn’t think…well, you know.”
“Sofia, you love him?”
“You think I’d latch a ball and chain to my ankle if I wasn’t crazy about him?”
Dad laughs.
Mom’s quiet, but I know she’s smiling. I can feel it.
“He asked me to marry him, and I said yes. We can live somewhere else if you want, or…”
“That’s ridiculous,” Mom mutters, “You’ll stay here. We’ll find some way to have a new bedroom even if we have to build onto the house. We’ll move Sage into Celia’s room. Denita’s girls are growing fast and three in a room is too much now.
I hear Sage balk, “Now? How about five years ago?!”
They ignore her.
“When are you coming home, Sofia?”
Gazing at my fiancé as the sun dances on his copper skin and shiny black mane, I whisper, “I think we need another week.”
Dad barks, “Don’t you dare elope!”
With patience Mom reminds him, “We did, Jett.”
“And now I know how my family must have felt. No fuckin’ way.” His voice changes to tell us with authority, “You better not rob me of walking my only child down the aisle, Luke Martinez, or I will kick your ass until you beg for mercy.”
Laughing, Luke reassures him, “No need for threats. I wouldn’t do that to you. And sir?”
“What the fuck is this calling me sir,” Dad grumbles, but I can tell he likes it. “Go on, what?”
“I’d like your blessing to marry your daughter.”
Dad sniffs loudly, covering his emotion. “You have it, Luke.” After a beat of silence, “Good luck reining her in, because it’s never gonna happen.”
Luke grins, “I love her just as crazy as she is, sir.”
“Okay, that’s enough,” I laugh, pushing him away and having the phone all to myself. “Can you put Celia on?”
“She’s not here. We sent her, Atlas and Sean two towns over to check on a spousal abuse tip we got. The rookie is going to watch them, learn.”
“Have her give me a call?”
“You got it, baby. Talk to you soon.”
Mom quickly asks, “Sofia?”
“Yeah?”
“You can thank the moms, including me, for Tyler bringing you there.”
“What?!” I cry out, locking onto Luke. “The moms set this up!”
Dad growls, “Sunshine!”
“Jett, you don’t know everything I do. Some secrets are healthy. Sofia Sol, we’ll talk to you soon. Your father is about to lose his shit.”
“Mom, I want to hear more about this later!” The phone dies as I’m talking. “She hung up.”
“They did this?” He pulls me close, hands giving my ass a slow squeeze.
“I guess they were watching out for you even when you thought they weren’t.”
He laughs, “Just watching over me, huh? Seems they had a plan for you, too.”
Brushing my lips against his I murmur, “It’s done. We did it. They’ve accepted us and we get our own room.”
In the warmth of this beautiful sunny day, Luke rains kisses all over my face, then takes my hand and says, “It’s gonna be really fuckin’ weird.”
CHAPTER 35
L UKE
We make the turn onto our plantation’s driveway, and exchange a look that I was right—this feels weird. Twenty-eight years for me in this home with Sofia off-limits. And here we are riding together with plans ahead of us that I never thought possible.
Screen door flies open and the Ciphers pour onto the porch, some walking down the steps to wait. Sage breaks into a run, red hair swinging as she waves, “Luke! Sofia!”
Celia stands on the porch, grinning at us. She’s got Sean on one side and my brother on the other. I take note of it, because something feels interesting about the trio. “See that?” I ask Soph as we kill the engines.
“Yep,” she quietly says, before shouting, “Guess who’s engaged? Pigs fly after all!”
Applause as they all rush down the steps. Sage wraps her arms around me and keeps holding on as we walk up. “I missed you so much, Luke! So happy for you guys!”
“Thanks sis,” I grin, planting a kiss on her head before releasing her to hug Mom. “Hey Ma.”
“Luke,” she says, breathless with happiness. “Look at your eyes! So bright!” We embrace and I see Dad over her shoulder, give him a nod. He dips his chin.
Atlas
eyes me, wary of how I’ll treat him after what he did. From now on I’ll be cautious with him. Our trust is lost. He thumps down the steps and we stiffly hug each other as interested eyes watch.
Sofia calls over from where she’s hearing the story from the moms about their plan. “Luke, they have another surprise for us.”
“In addition to setting us up, you mean?” I smirk, teasing them.
Scythe laughs his deep rumble, “Women always butting in when it comes to love.”
Denita objects, with her ten-year-old twin daughters Shay and Mylar, on either side of her. “I wasn’t a part of this one, so don’t look at me like that!” She joined us later, after Scythe’s first wife passed away. His children from that marriage are grown and gone. Rocking on her heels she mutters, “But I wouldn’t have sent him off in the first place.”
Jett laughs, grey eyes fired up with relief that his daughter is back, “Alright, stop breakin’ my balls! I did what I thought was right.” He strolls over to shake my hand. “Looks like things worked out how they’re meant to anyway.”
Melodi balks, “With a little help from us!”
Jett’s grip is painfully strong with don’t-ever-hurt-her. He surprises me by pulling me in for a hug. “I’m gonna have a son-in-law!” Pushing off he faces Dad and bellows, “Looks like you and me are finally family, Honey Badger, you crazy fuck!”
Dad grins, “You’re just as crazy as I am, you blonde bastard!” and they slap palms in a hand shake that seals our futures.
Soph is chewing on her lip through a wickedly happy grin. Glancing to me she says, “Wanna see the surprise?”
“Hold on now!” Fuse shouts, “You two ain’t getting away without hugging us all!”
Tonk agrees, “Ya think you weren’t missed?”
No arguments from us as we hug one family member after the other. Shay looks at Soph’s ring and frowns, “It’s on the wrong finger!”
“This is to flip off all the men who hit on me from here on out,” she smiles, coming clean a second later, “It’s temporary, just to hold me hostage while he searches for…” Glancing to me, she asks like it’s an after-thought, “What do you want to get?”
“Up to you.”
Sofia Sol Cocker (Cocker Brothers Book 13) Page 17
