Mettle: (Spartan Riders #2)

by J.C. Valentine

  Staring into both her eyes, Gabby searched their depths before finally stepping back with a drawn out sigh. Sinking down onto the toilet lid, she dropped her head into her hands and groaned. “I don’t know what to do. I haven’t even told Blake yet.”

  “Well, I swear I won’t tell anyone. You can tell him, and no one will ever have to know that I knew first.”

  “It’s not that. I mean it is that, but it’s not that.” Gabby looked up at her, eyes rimmed red. “I don’t know why I’m freaking out like this. I was the one who wanted a baby. I practically begged him for it, but now that it’s really happening, I’m questioning everything. I mean, how am I going to take care of a baby? I’m a teacher. I love my job, and I don’t want to quit when I just started. God, I didn’t think this through at all.”

  “It’s a baby, not a death sentence,” Talia said. And wow, talk about uncomfortable. She hardly knew the woman, and somehow she’d become confidant and counselor in a matter of minutes. No pressure or anything. “This sounds like a classic case of cold feet,” she continued. “I’m sure everyone has doubts. It’s a life changing experience, so it makes total sense. I know I would be freaking out if I was in your position, but if you were trying for it, then it can’t be anything but good, right? This was something you wanted to happen, so don’t let the doubts overshadow your joy.”

  “That’s just it, I don’t feel any joy. What if this was all some huge mistake? Blake and I haven’t really known each other all that long. What if I pushed him too hard for this and when I tell him, he decides to leave? He didn’t even want this. He told me he wasn’t looking to have any more kids, but I kept pushing until he finally gave in. My selfishness could ruin everything.”

  This conversation was heavy. Beyond anything Talia had ever dealt with. And she’d sat across the table from Mafioso.

  Talia moved closer and picked out a spot on the floor in front of the sink cabinet, placing them at a more even level. “Look, I don’t know Blake that well, but I would imagine that a man who’s willing to change his plans to make you happy has to love you an awful lot. I doubt he made that decision lightly, either, so I’d bet he knows exactly what he’s doing and when you tell him about the baby, he’ll be over the moon about it. I mean, I’ve only been seeing Tucker for like, what, a week, two? Already I know that those men don’t do anything they don’t want to do. So if you think you somehow twisted his arm, think again.”

  A small smile crept across Gabby’s face. “Yeah, you’re right about that. Blake is a softie at heart, but no one pushes him around, that’s for sure.”

  “See what I mean. You’re worrying yourself sick over nothing. If anything, he’s going to be upset that you didn’t give him enough credit to trust him with this. He’s going to want to be here for you, to help you through all of this.”

  “So you’re saying I should stop hiding in the bathroom like a sissy and get out there and tell him about the baby.”

  “Ideally, after Tucker and I leave, but yeah.” Talia and Gabby shared a laugh, and then Talia stood up and held out her hand. “Come on, let’s go find the guys before they think we’ve run off to start a love affair.”

  “They totally would, you know.”

  “Oh, I know. It’s a man’s default switch.”

  Gabby grasped Talia’s wrist, pulling her to a halt before she left the room. “Thank you for talking me down. I’ve been holding onto this secret all week, and it’s been so exhausting. I really appreciate you helping me.”

  “No problem. That’s what friends are for.”

  “And I could certainly use one.” Looping her arm though Talia’s Gabby guided them out the door saying, “Come on, friend, let’s go share the good news.”

  TWENTY-TWO

  When Blake wasn’t high-fiving Ash or Tucker, he was kissing Gabby. That’s just how it went when a man found out one of his little swimmers made it to the finish line. Damn, but when life was good, it was so fucking good.

  Seated to his left, Gabby was chatting it up with her new friend Talia who, all in all, seemed like good people. Tucker certainly liked her, and just the fact that he’d listened and brought her along only confirmed to Blake that his friend was indeed falling in love.

  It was only a matter of time. A man could only hold out for so long before life threw him a curveball. Although sometimes it was a little Final Destination style, like the whole thing with his ex, Jodi. He liked to think of it as God’s little attempt at humor.

  Not that he was laughing, but all the same, the epic fail with Jodi made him appreciate with he had now with Gabby. She was easy to love, easy to please, and perfect for him and Ash. She loved his kid, and she wanted to have his kid, which was pretty damn awesome from where he was sitting.

  “So another kid,” Country said, pulling up a chair and handing him a fresh beer. “Nine months of freedom and then years of wiping someone’s ass and cleaning up puke and that little matter of never sleeping a full night again.” His gaze cut sideways as he lifted his beer to his lips. “I’m so jelly I can’t stand it.”

  “Shut it, asshole. One day, you’re going to be sitting right where I am, and you’re going to love every minute of it.” Just then, something Gabby said made Talia break out into laughter, and Country’s gaze snapped to her, soaking her in like a man seeing an oasis in the middle of the desert. Blake had a feeling that day was coming sooner than his friend expected.

  “Not in the cards, my friend,” Country denied. “I plan to be eighty in a nursing home chasing down the grannies and busting hips clear into my nineties. Figure I’ll settle down just in time for my ticker to give out, and even then, I plan to pinch a nurse’s ass on the way out.”

  “You’re a sick bastard,” Blake laughed.

  “Yeah, yeah, I am.” Lifting his beer in a toast, Country took a deep draw. “Oomph!”

  “Uncle Tuck, I wanna go for ice cream! Will you take me?”

  “Ice cream? Didn’t you have enough sugar with your pie?”

  “Never!”

  Picking Ash up, Blake watched his friend rearrange his son on his lap then ruffle his shaggy hair, and his smile grew wider. A contended sigh settled in his chest seeing everyone he loved and held closest to his heart all in one place. This was what life was all about, watching the people he cared about grow and evolve and taking a certain amount of joy in watching everything work out just the way it should.

  “Your teeth are going to rot right out of your head, you know that?” Country was telling Ash. “You need good food, little man, not just junk.”

  “But I only eat junk when I’m with you.”

  Tucker looked to Blake and Gabby for confirmation. “It’s true,” Gabby said. “He sticks to his fruits and veggies and saves up all his junk treats for when you come around.”

  “Well, hell, now I feel like a bad influence. You see what you’ve made me into, kid? A monster. Now if your teeth turn black and fall out, you know who they’re going to blame?”

  “You!” Ash threw his head back and cackled like it was the most hilarious thing in the world.

  “It’s not funny,” Tucker said, attempting and failing to keep a straight face. “Everyone is going to call me the irresponsible one, and don’t even get me started on you. You’re going to live the rest of your life looking like you sucked on a lemon.” To demonstrate, Tucker folded his lips over his teeth and smacked his mouth open and closed.

  Ash’s laughter filled the yard, and the lightheartedness of it had everyone at the table joining in. Blake’s chest filled with warmth as his gaze found Gabby’s. Soon, she’d be giving him another little one, and with any luck, he or she would fill their hearts and lives with as much life and love and laughter as Ash already did.

  Stretching his hand across the table, he held onto hers and gave it a squeeze. Gabby, smiling, mouthed “I love you,” and it was funny, because not so long ago, if someone would have told him he’d be sitting there now, happy and in love, he would have laughed in their face. Funn
y how life turned out sometimes.

  ***

  “Fine, you win, little man. You, me, and ice cream. It’s a date.” Tucker looked up, catching Talia’s smiling eyes across the table. “You mind if I bring a friend?”

  Ash peered up at him, then followed his gaze. “You mean her?”

  Tucker nodded.

  Ash’s mouth pinched as he sized her up. “Do you like ice cream?”

  Talia looked between Tucker and Ash. “Sure, doesn’t everyone?”

  “Not if they’re lactose intolerable. What’s your favorite flavor?”

  “It’s a tie between chocolate and vanilla.”

  Ash’s eyes brightened. “Me too! Uncle Tuck always gets me a twist. Do you like nuts?”

  Tucker couldn’t stop himself from chuckling, and Blake, bless him, shared the same twisted sense of humor. Gabby glared, telling him without words to knock it off. He shrugged. The kid had been subjected to a lot worse.

  “Nuts are good,” Talia said cautiously, “but I like colored sprinkles best. What about you?”

  “Sprinkles are great. Sometimes I get the chocolate shell too.”

  “And then he goes on sugar overload, starts climbing the walls, and I drop him off at home for his parents to deal with,” Tucker chimed in.

  “As always, thanks so much,” Blake deadpanned.

  “Last time you took him out, we almost called the zoo to come tranq him just to get him to go to bed,” Gabby added. “This time, go easy on the sugar, yeah?”

  Tucker held up his hands. “Hey, no promises. The kid saves up his junk days for me, I have a responsibility to deliver the best experience possible.”

  Talia, who’d remained pretty quiet, wore a soft smile that, for some reason or another, gave Tucker’s heart a little jumpstart. He liked when she looked at him like that, as if he were the center of her world. As if he had done something magical. He just wished he knew what it was so he could do it again.

  “So what do you say, can she tag along?” Tucker asked Ash.

  “I guess so.” Ash’s head jerked around, a worried expression on his round face. “Does that mean we can’t drive your motorcycle?”

  He hadn’t even thought of that. The only source of transportation he owned was the bike, so that put a bit of a crimp in his plan. He looked to Blake. Blake read the question in his eyes and huffed. “I guess you can borrow my truck.”

  “Yay! Thanks, daddy!”

  “Yeah, thanks, daddy!” Tucker echoed. “You’re the best.”

  “Oh, look at the time. Don’t you have somewhere you have to be?” Blake asked with a teasing glint in his eyes.

  Tucker looked back at Talia, finding her still watching him with a look that got all his cylinders pumping. The night was still young, and he knew exactly how he planned to spend the rest of it. His voice gruff, he said, “Yeah, as a matter of fact, I do.”

  TWENTY-THREE

  Deeper. Harder. Faster. Tucker was wilder than Talia had ever experienced. He was unhinged, his thrusts bordering on violent. Just the way she liked it.

  Bent over the foot of his bed, he had her hands pinned behind her back, clamped together by one of his own. In his other hand, he held a hank of her hair, pulling hard enough to keep her head elevated. And that was a good thing, because Talia was chugging air like it was going out of style.

  “You like that, sugar?” he grunted.

  She couldn’t form a response if she wanted to. Her throat was raw from hours of yelling and moaning, her voice long gone. They’d been going at it for hours, covering every inch of his room and bathroom with their combined sweat and juices. She’d lost track of time, of how many rounds they’d gone. At this point, it was all a blur. They were just two animals, rutting on each other because they could, because they couldn’t bring themselves to stop. It was an addiction as much as an affliction, their need to touch and grab and squeeze and fuck overriding everything else, even the need for sleep.

  “Not gonna answer me?” Tucker asked. When she still didn’t respond, he released her hair then used that same hand to slap her bare ass. Hard.

  “Ah!”

  “There’s my girl’s pretty voice,” he purred. Slap! Talia grit her teeth against the sharp sting. “You’re going to deny me? Think again, sugar.” Slap!

  “Ahh! You bastard!”

  He had the nerve to chuckle, and damn her twisted hormones, but the smooth, husky sound of it made her even wetter. “Mmm, I feel your pussy flooding even now. You like to pretend you don’t like it rough, but your body betrays you every time.” His hand caressed her burning flesh. “You color up real nice, sugar. I like the way my hand looks on you.”

  “Why don’t you stop talking and get back to fucking,” Talia grunted, pushing her hips back against him. “Every time I get close, you ruin it with that mouth.”

  She was only half lying, and they both knew it. Tucker timed his conversations with her orgasms. Every time she got close, he slowed down and got chatty. But his voice alone was an aphrodisiac. If only it provided the friction she needed, she’d have finished a dozen times already.

  “Is that any way to talk to the man in charge of giving you pleasure?” Snatching her hair up again, Tucker pushed instead of pulled, mashing her face into the tangle of blankets. “You take what I give, sugar, and you like it.” Then he thrust hard and deep, his solid length hitting her cervix and ripping a muffled shout from her at the same time her orgasm reignited, barreling through her like a freight train on a collision course.

  He knew exactly what he was doing, how to play her body just right to do what he bid. Picking up the pace, Tucker unleashed every ounce of brute strength and lethal control in a series of short bursts. With every thrust, his hips smacked against her ass, his balls tapped against her clit, and she moved up an inch on the bed. As the cosmos came together behind Talia’s closed lids in a fantastic rainbow-colored light show, she felt as well as heard Tucker follow her down.

  Coming down was a torturous process, revealing every spot on her body that had been used and abused. With some effort, Talia turned her face so she could breathe in the humid air, while Tucker continued to slowly slide in and out of her, milking his pleasure for as long as he was able. Shudders racked him, and eventually he slowed to a stop, then collapsed over her, his sweat slicked body a suffocating blanket of heat that was oddly welcoming.

  “You’ve sucked the life out of me, she demon,” Tucker muttered against the back of her neck. Then he kissed her there, followed by a long, slow lick from the base of her neck to her earlobe where he clamped down with his teeth gently.

  Talia’s pussy clenched in response. “Me? You’re the one that kept saying one more time,” she said, lowering her voice to mimic his. “You’ll be lucky if you don’t have to carry me out of here.”

  “Oh, sugar, it would be my pleasure.” He rocked his hips against her, forcing the hand he still held captive between them to fondle his flaccid cock.

  Talia groaned. “Please tell me you’re not gearing up again. I don’t think I can take another round.”

  Tucker released her and rolled away. “Lightweight,” he scoffed.

  “You call”—she looked up at the alarm clock and gasped at the time—“five hours lightweight? I call that a damn marathon.”

  “Then you haven’t run one with me.” Winking, Tucker strode toward the bathroom.

  Talia, apparently unable to get enough, watched him every step of the way, admiring his sculpted ass as it shifted atop those thick, muscular thighs. Mmm, he was a fine specimen. When he was out of view, she rolled onto her back, cataloguing every ache and pain from her head to her toes. Stretching her arms over her head, she arched her back and extended her legs over the edge of the bed and breathed deep. Yes, she would definitely need some assistance later when all her muscles atrophied. But she couldn’t complain. There was nothing better than feeling well-used by a sexy man who couldn’t get enough.

  “You should stay exactly like that all the time.”


  Relaxing back into the mattress, Talia looked to find Tucker standing in the doorway, watching her with a lazy smile.

  “It would be really hard to get any work done.”

  “Eh, shouldn’t be too hard. You could work from bed instead of behind a desk. And imagine how much easier it would be to finger yourself when you get to those steamy parts that get your panties wet and your clit aching to be touched.”

  “I didn’t realize you knew anything about my writing,” Talia said, her voice dipping low and seductive as he prowled toward her.

  “I don’t, but my imagination is on point.” When he reached her, he was once again standing at attention, his cock begging to be used. Slowly, he knelt down on the bed and prowled over her on his hands and knees. “You want to know what else I’m imagining?”

  Talia’s fingers skimmed his sides, trailing a path to his lean waist. She flipped her hands over, flattening her palms against his rigid abdomen and went lower until she cupped him in her hands. Long, hard, and thick, he filled them both and then some.

  “Mmm, it’s not hard to imagine what’s going on inside that head of yours.”

  “Still, I think it’s better to demonstrate, don’t you?”

  Biting her lip, Talia looked up at him and nodded. “Do your worst.”

  His smile was positively wicked. “Brace yourself, sugar. This time, I plan on leaving marks.”

  ***

  “Sugar for my sugar.”

  Talia accepted the large twist in a cone covered with a layer of colored sprinkles and a pair of googly eyes pressed together on one side with a smile. “You’re such a cheeseball. Thank you.”

  “What’s a cheeseball?” Ash asked. Sitting between them on the bed of Blake’s pickup truck, the boy had already shoveled half his cone down his throat, and he showed no signs of slowing.

  “That’s woman speak for she’s in love with me,” Tucker said, then licked the side of his ice cream, coating his tongue with a layer of sprinkles. He caught her staring and waggled his brows suggestively.