by Warren, Rie
“They’re just bruises. I’ll heal.” You heal me.
Jessica leaned up, and I wiped her face dry. She gently kissed my forehead and the swelling cuts on my face, lastly my lips. “I should clean you up.”
“Later.” Pulling her down with me, I shifted under the covers and held her fast against my chest. “As long as you can stand my ugly mug for a little longer.”
“I can stand it forever, Hunter.”
“Good. Because I think that’s about how long I want to hold you.”
We didn’t fall asleep. We didn’t talk much either. Hands were too busy touching, reaffirming. Hearts were too busy filling with the rapid burst of unexpected love. Wounds of the past were mending, but there was a new one.
“I killed a man in front of you,” I whispered hoarsely sometime later as we lay, still clothed against each other.
“I know.”
“How can you look at me like that?”
“Like what?”
I cupped her face. “Like you love me, despite everything.”
She undressed me carefully and slid the robe from her shoulders. She led me. She didn’t shy away from my bruises but kissed each one with the gentlest care all the while stoking the intense, never satisfied heat between us until I sweated, swore, panted, and felt like I was coming apart in her hands and beneath her lips.
She guided me, she showed me.
“Because I need you. I want you, And most of all”—she gasped as I entered her with a strong stroke—“I love you.”
Seventeen
A FEW WEEKS LATER, close to Christmas, I set the ball in motion and wondered if I’d made the right decision or a gargantuan mistake.
Jack was excited—both for Santa and for me. The only Christmas I’d spent with him he’d been too young to remember. I also told him I had a secret to share with him soon, and he was a sucker for that shit.
I’d bought a new fucking SUV, identical to the old one, CIA-tinted windows and all. I’d been given full Vice Lieutenant status with the MPPD care of Chief Tilden after a final physical and mental workup. The mental workup included confessional time, Tilden as my stout priest. Inside a closed room, I laid it all on the line, no holds barred and very off-the-record, start to finish, the entirety of my life. He’d listened to me, nodding now and again, never commenting.
At the end, Tilden stood. “Do you know what you want, Hunter?”
“Yes, sir.”
He turned to his desk and sealed my record in a red envelope he buried into the bottom drawer of his desk. With a turn of the key, he closed one chapter of my life.
“Welcome to the force, Lieutenant Detective Hunter Angelo.”
I’d clasped his hand. “Thank you, sir.”
“Don’t thank me yet. Wait until you see who I partner you with.” He’d pulled on his rumpled jacket, dismissing me. “Angelo, huh? That’ll take some getting used to. An angel you are not.”
“So I’ve been told, sir.” I’d matched his grin with mine.
I was coming clean, being real. Hunter Angelo all the way.
Of course I’d left out that last little endgame about Vicente’s raid on Retribution MC when talking to Tilden. I didn’t really need a murder one charge. The goings on that night remained strictly off the official record, and all parties involved kept lips sealed shut. Word had been sent to Op T-Z that Vicente Valderas no longer posed a threat—his identifying dental records and fingerprints accompanying the photo of a corpse would have to make do in the stead of other verification or an autopsy.
Walker planned to make tracks soon. He had no intentions of leaving Operation T-Zone. He didn’t have kids or any ties or even a homeland. I’d felt the same recently enough to understand.
That had all changed the instant I’d laid eyes on JB, Miss Barnes, Jessica.
I barged into the MC and threw off my jacket. Cold air clung to me, but my face was flushed, and I knew my eyes were brighter than ever when Cole sent an intrigued look at me. It only took a few moments to gather the chosen few into a tight circle around a small table.
“Jesus fucking Christ,” Brodie groaned loudly. “I hope this shit ain’t more about rogue MC assholes wanting to take you out.”
Boomer cuffed him upside the head. “Give the man a chance to speak.”
“I need a favor from y’all,” I said.
“Goddamn knew it,” Brodie muttered over his beer.
That time when Boomer hit him, beer sloshed over his hands. In danger of a ruckus breaking out before I even made my case, I laid my hands on the table and spoke very clearly.
By the time I finished, Brodie looked at me with his mouth hanging open. “Wait. You mean you haven’t even asked her yet?”
“No. That’s bad, huh?” Shit.
“I will say this.” The blond man leaned back with a wink. “You’ve got some brass motherfucking balls.”
Boomer huddled in next to me. “I think we’ve got just the right person for the job.” He glanced at Tuck who gave two thumbs up. “What else do you need us to do?
* * *
The following Saturday afternoon, everyone showed up at Retribution MC. The First Ladies of Redemption wore dresses that were more black and lace than pastel and polka dots. The men spiffed up in their Sunday best, or at least clean leathers and decent shirts. They milled around, talking quietly, waiting for the big arrival. Fuck, so did I, the nerves about eating me alive. I waited at the open door, scanning the road every five seconds, listening for the rumble of motorcycle pipes.
I wore a new suit. It was black, the dress shirt white, the tie slim and charcoal gray. Frankie had whipped it up at a moment’s notice. My shoes were stiff, and the soles squeaked on the floor as I paced back and forth.
Cole appeared. “Whiskey.”
I drank it with a thankful grunt.
“Where the hell is she already?” Jesus. I felt like a heart attack was coming on. “Am I sweating?”
“Nah. You’re fucking solid. Big cojones. She’ll be here.”
“This tie’s choking me,” I complained.
The loud thunder of bikes roared along the road toward the Retribution MC clubhouse. I shoved my head out the door. They gunned into the parking lot by twos and threes, escorting my woman on her Ducati.
Holy Christ.
I wished I’d seen them collect her. Fuck. I wished I’d been there when Rayce ambushed her with the dress. I could just imagine Jessica’s inventive swear words, wondering just what the hell was going on.
Her hair rippled in the wind. Her short motorcycle jacket molded to her breasts. The high black leather boots ended below her knees. I dragged my gaze away and slid into the shadows, waiting for Boomer, Brodie, and Rayce to escort her in.
Jessica entered, raking her hands through her long loose curls that captured the candlelight just as her heart had captured mine.
Rayce came at me first. “You fuck this up, your ass is grass.”
Boomer and Brodie made a hasty departure as soon as they delivered Jessica to me. They knew when the getting gone was good.
Rayce helped Jessica off with the jacket as my woman glared at me. “What’s going on? I’m ambushed. Dressed. Poked. Prodded. Made up. And dragged here for what?”
I had no words except, “My God, woman.”
She blazed before me, gowned in a ruffled moonlight blue satin dress. The train in the back was offset by the thigh-high hemline in the front. Her freckled tits mounded above an unbelievably hot corset construction with laces I’d never figure out.
“Will you marry me?” I asked as soon as my voice worked again.
“What?” She balked. “Here?”
“Untraditional. I know.” I gathered her hands in mine as the entire room of people audibly held their breaths. “It’s the same place where bad shit went down. But it’s home to so many.”
I’d though we could reclaim the clubhouse, and I could claim Jessica once and for all. Now I wasn’t so sure. She looked skittish.
“If you want we can do
this again in a real church instead of the MC church. For you, and your parents, Jack . . .” I ducked my head, making such a fucking mess of things. Jack wasn’t here. Neither were her folks. I didn’t want her to be new stepmommy or daughter or sister or anything other than greedily, completely mine for one day. “We’ve got to do it legal anyway, go for a marriage license and all that, but I just wanted this—today—to be about us. I’m selfish when it comes to you.”
“You’d marry me twice?” Her eyes rounded, and she stepped closer.
“I’d marry you a million times, sweetheart.” I touched her tenderly where the dress met her shoulders. “So consider this a spiritual wedding.”
“Got the spirits right here!” Some wiseass shouted from near the bar, holding up a bottle of Jack.
Jessica glared at him with a shout of her own, “Hush up now. My man is proposing to me and I intend to fully enjoy it.”
The loud laughter around the room faded, and she smiled at me, bright and open but with something sinful lurking inside. “Did you choose the dress?”
Hell yeah I did. It was sexy as fuck, possibly not one bit bridal, but totally JB.
“I picked it out. Rayce approved.” If I was going down, I was bringing Jessica’s BFF with me. “I have nothing to give you, you know.”
“Just your heart.” Jessica smoothed the hair from my brow. “Do you love me, Hunter?”
“To the end.”
“You trust me? With all of you?”
I bent on one knee, producing the ring I’d been saving for her. The big diamond glinted but not as much as her eyes. “Always. And here and now, if you’ll have me.”
“Absolutely. Yes, Hunter. Yes!” Her finger trembled and her tears stood out on inky black lashes when I slid the first ring home.
Roars of congratulations filled the room and we hadn’t even married yet.
“Oh, shit. There’s no one to walk you down the aisle.”
More than a dozen eager MC dudes shot their hands in the air. That wasn’t going to happen. They’d probably have her out the door in five seconds flat and across one of their motorcycles.
“Sure you do.” Rayce tucked her arm through Jessica’s. “Maid of dishonor and all.”
“You mean honor.”
She flicked her fingers at me. “Whatever. Let’s get this wedding on!”
I stood at the altar aka the band stage while Tuck took the pulpit, a handsomely carved tall stand. I recognized Brodie’s hand in the work.
Not much surprised me anymore but when Boomer had said he had the right man for the job of marrying Jessica and me, he’d meant Tuck, the grandfather of the club. That had blown me away. Diehard hippie, MC rough rider, and a preacher? What next? I clearly hadn’t investigated him deeply enough.
He’d patted his belly and said, “The Lord moves in mysterious ways.”
Cole was at my side as best man, but Walker took a place to the side, tall and somber for a change although a smile quirked his mouth.
Then I stopped thinking. I stopped breathing.
Strong and sure, soft and beautiful, Jessica walked down the aisle toward me. Her gown rustled, the deep blue color accenting her pearly skin. The cut of the dress did a thousand things to my body, but it was her smile—sweet and proud—that made me catch my breath.
I held my hand out to her, and when Rayce transferred it into mine, I brought her palm to my lips.
Tucker pulled out a well-worn, leather-bound Bible, and this shit is real. So real it stole every last thought but that of Jessica away.
I listened to Tucker’s formal words and his small personal comments. The dearly beloved, the worship each other, the to have and to hold.
I repeated each vow, my voice strong although my heart knocked against my chest and I was afraid Jessica could feel my hammering heartbeat in my hands clasped around hers.
Before it was her turn to say her vows, I brushed her hair aside and whispered, “I’ve never given myself to anyone like I do you. I should’ve said that earlier. Or proposed first.”
“That makes two of us.” She slid her cheek against mine. “Now, will you let me finish marrying you, Hunter?”
I would’ve laughed except for the swelling tumble of emotion that guided my gaze to hers.
“Hunter Angelo. You didn’t give me any damn time to write my own vows, but I reckon Tucker will give me some leeway.”
The big iron-haired man bowed his head.
“You have the heart of a lion.” She smiled, stroking my fingers. “Body of a warrior. The mind of a military man, and poetry in the way you love me. I, Jessica Barnes do thee wed, knowing you as no other woman has, and damn glad about that too.”
Laughter shot out around us, but Jessica jerked me to her. Her lips so close to mine, she stopped short. “Rings? Because I don’t have one.”
Cole crept up, laying two twinkling platinum circles in my hand.
“You can change mine later. Whatever you want.” I slipped the band down her finger.
“I only want you.” She did the honors with me, vibrating in my hands.
Tucker didn’t get the you may now kiss the bride words out before she was in my arms.
I kissed Jessica slowly, deeply. Our moist lips moved and our tongues tasted. I held her against me, my suit and her dress hampering the hot hard need of my body.
Broken apart by revelers who congratulated us, our eyes locked in secret agreement.
An hour later, she beckoned me into the back hallway. She walked with her hair down to her ass, an ass that swayed in invitation. With each step, the butterfly tats peeked out, each one larger until the laces of her corset hid the rest of her creamy skin from view.
She dangled a key in front of me. The office key. With a perfectly serviceable desk inside.
I’d been hard, wanting her, since the moment she’d said yes, but I hesitated. “I want you so much I can taste it. But this wasn’t how I planned it.”
Turning the key in the lock, she swished inside. “Don’t tell me you’re not hot for teacher.”
“Hot for my wife.”
“You like saying that, don’t you?”
I gripped the doorframe, reluctant to enter.
“Close the door and fuck me, Hunter.”
Heat raced down my body and tightened my balls when she bent over from her waist on top of the desk. Shifting the dark blue ruffles up over her thighs and the round globes of her ass, she displayed a lacy thigh garter, the hip chain, and a very wet pussy.
“Where the hell are your panties?” I growled.
“You didn’t buy me any so I thought this was how you wanted me.”
“Jesus Christ, Jessica.” I groaned.
And groaned louder when she slid one finger insider herself, moaning.
“I planned a honeymoon and—” Any other excuse I’d intended to make disappeared from my head when she add another finger into her slick, pink cunt.
I walked up behind her, freeing my cock.
“Remember I went on the pill?” She glanced over her shoulder at me, wetting her lips.
I gulped.
“We’re safe now.” Pulling her fingers free, she leaned further over.
I ran a through my hair as my cock jerked. “Oh hell.”
“Fuck me, Hunter. I’m so ready for you.” She rolled her ass back and forth.
I slapped the thick hard length of my shaft against my hand then across her cunt. “Fast and hard?”
“All the way.” She reached below, pulling my cock into her.
I rutted like a wild animal, savage in my taking. I bit her neck and sucked her skin and marked her. I held onto her hips and dug my fingers in. Velvety stretch. Skin on skin. Hot burning bare flesh. The enormity of having her like this, having her as my wife made the sex impossibly more intense.
She came quickly, howling and clawing at the desk.
I withdrew from her wet cunt, and my cock glistened from her.
“Turn around,” I demanded. “Knees up. And show me y
our tits before I shred this dress apart.”
She tugged in ragged breaths, released the first few stays, and sat back on the desk. The hip chain dipped between the shining lips of her pussy. I pulled the glimmering chain slowly up her slit and around her clit then placed it across her thigh.
I buried my cock inside her slick tunnel, and her head knocked back as her bared breasts bounced.
“Just. Like. This.” I fucked her hard and furious, cupping her ass, nipping her tits. “You are mine.”
It happened so fast I was blinded, helpless, bucking, flexing. I pulled out of her and jetted across her thighs in hot wet splashes before pushing back in and pumping the rest of my come into her pussy. Jessica squeezed around me, shouting my name, gripping my shoulders.
Her fingers dragged through my hair moments later.
I kissed her neck, content to stay right where I was. “That was not my plan.”
“I know.” Her fingers skimmed down her body and I watched as she scooped up some of my come. She dipped her fingertips into her mouth, moaning at the taste. “But wasn’t it worth it?”
“So worth it, wife.” My tongue traveled up the length of her neck, and I sealed my lips over hers.
And a damn good idea, because we were still at the club a couple hours later. This goddamn night would never end. I’d brought it upon myself, doing the deed here. There was food and cake and more and more drinks flowed. At one point Rayce insisted I do the garter toss.
Jessica sat in the middle of the floor on a chair, and I kneeled in front of her. My palms skimmed up her slim ankles and calves encased in the polished sexy black leather boots.
She smiled and whispered, “This is why I knew you wouldn’t be able to wait until we got home.”
I hungrily watched my palms disappear beneath her layered skirts, silently agreeing with her. My fingers were inches from the lacy dark blue garter and then inches more from her naked, freshly fucked pussy. I trailed higher, tickling my fingers around the edges of her swollen lips, listening to her hiss lightly.
Edging a finger inside her, I kissed the corner of her mouth. “Maybe it’s you who couldn’t wait.”
Her throaty laugh gurgled, and I pulled the garter down and off. It landed with a smack against Cole’s chest.
