“Oh.” Not the brightest response, but it was all he had. “Right.”
“Yeah. So… hang tight. We’ll be there to get you in an hour.”
“Bring shovels.”
“Yeah, yeah, I know. Body Disposal 101. I’ve graduated from the class, Cuddy. With honors.”
“I’m sorry,” Ace blurted out suddenly, surprising them both. “I didn’t – I didn’t plan this, King. It was Kirk or it was Warren, I swear to you. One of them was going to end up dead, and I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if it had been Warren. Shay, too, since Kirk had promised Crusher that he’d kill her. I’ve got enough sins to carry around, you know? Those two deaths – they just might have broken me, once and for all.”
King paused, really hearing Ace’s distress for the first time. “I know, man. It’s OK. It’s all over, and if you say that it had to be done, I believe you.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah. We got your back, alright? Yours and Liam’s.”
“Thank you,” Ace said, his voice cracking from emotion, and he didn’t even care that he sounded weak. “Thank you, King.”
“Oh, don’t thank me yet.” Ace heard the smile in King’s words. “If you think for one second that Liam’s going to be thrilled to be locked up in a safe house with you for an unspecified length of time, you’re crazy. You ready for that?”
“It’s a chance,” Ace said. “A chance to make things right between us, maybe even a chance to win him back. I know that it’s just about the last thing that I deserve, but a chance is the only thing that I’ve ever wanted.”
“Well, you’ve got it.” King actually found that he was happy for Ace, and he wondered if he was going soft in his old age. “You’d better just hope that he doesn’t kill you on sight.”
They hung up, and then Ace looked at the two Fallen Angels cuts on the bed next to him. He just sat for a few minutes, thinking about second chances, and redemption, and possibility. In those quiet, reflective moments, Ace felt his heart open, and for the first time in forever, he felt some hope take up residence in there. It may have been misplaced hope, hopeless hope, the kind of hope that just hurt you in the end… but it was the first hope that Ace had known in years.
For the first time in a long time, he had hope, and he had a chance.
Now, he had to make sure that he was worthy of both things.
For Liam and for himself.
Epilogue
One year later
Valerie Sutton glanced at the clock. Yeah, she’d only looked at it two minutes earlier, so it was a silly, futile thing to do, but she did it anyway. It was an oddly soothing gesture, despite its pointlessness.
She took a deep breath, reminded herself that Tony would be back from the bank soon, and no doubt about that. Over the past three months or so, she’d gotten much better about letting him out of her sight, but that didn’t mean that she liked it.
She washed the last dish, set it in the drying rack, then busied herself with wiping down the counters, folding all the dishtowels – even the ones that she hadn’t used – rearranging all the food in the fridge, making a cup of tea that she let go cold on the table in front of her clenched hands. Night fell, and time passed, and still, Tony wasn’t back.
Val was just seriously considering calling him, just to set her mind at ease, when she heard a vehicle approaching. She shot to her feet, dashed across the kitchen, stood in front of the large picture window above the sink. She squinted in the darkness, cursing the long, winding farmhouse driveway. She held her breath, gripping the counter with both hands.
When his battered pickup truck appeared, she heaved a shaky sigh. Yeah, she was stupid and paranoid – and she didn’t think she’d relax for a while yet. A year wasn’t long enough to settle fully in to a new life.
Not that she had any real reason to still be so jumpy. She and Tony were in almost-constant contact with Denver, and everyone who needed to thought that they were both buried in the mountains, lost forever to the earth and elements. And, for all intents and purposes, they were.
Warren Kane and Shay Alcott were dead and gone, never to return. Anthony and Valerie Sutton had risen from their graves, though, and now walked the planet as their incarnations. Tony and Val had taken the best of Warren and Shay, kept those things close and tight… and then they’d started again. They’d chosen what to bring in to their life together, chosen what to avoid and reject, chosen what to cherish and hold dear.
Yes. They’d chosen.
Tony parked the truck in the large storage area, then came to the farmhouse, whistling the whole way. He was happy here, she knew, and her breath came easier now. As long as she had him, she’d be OK. God knows that he was all that she needed, all that she wanted, and she hadn’t had one minute of regret about being with him, hadn’t had one second thought about leaving her old life to start a new one with him. He was her family now, and he was her life’s breath, her heart’s blood.
He was enough. He was everything.
Well. Almost everything.
The side door opened, shut, and she heard him dropping his heavy work boots on the floor. She grinned, knowing that they’d be covered in mud from his day out in the field fixing the fence.
“Kitten? You still up?”
She smiled at the question. It was barely eight o’clock at night, but when you were up at four a.m. to milk cows and tend horses, eight p.m. was decadently late. Normally, she’d be curled up in bed by now, and he knew that. But he also knew that she’d be waiting up for him, needing to get eyes on him before closing her own.
“Yeah,” she called back. “In the kitchen.”
He came to her now, strong and sexy and all man, and she fell in to his arms. No matter how many times he held her like this, it was never enough. The man was the sweetest addiction that she’d ever known, and he was one that she had no interest whatsoever in breaking.
His large, work-roughened hands moved to her face, pulled her mouth to his. His kiss was its usual miracle of heat and power, and Val gave her usual helpless moan. He smiled against her lips, kissed her again and again, pushed her back against the counter.
She felt his hardness pressing in to her belly, and her arousal flared. He felt it, and without a word, he lifted her. Her legs went around his waist, her hands rested on his broad chest, her hips gyrated slowly against him.
Tony growled, and everything that she had responded. God, how she adored that sound. Her husband was possessive and demanding – and she loved every single second of it. She always had.
“So,” he said, pulling back just a bit to see her clear green eyes behind her glasses. “Bed, baby?”
“Yes,” she said breathlessly, stroking his cheek, loving the rasp of stubble against her fingertips. “But I have something to tell you first.”
“You OK, Val?” he asked immediately, hearing something in her voice.
Despite her nervousness, she smiled at how easily the name ‘Val’ came out of his mouth. From the very beginning, they’d called each other by their new names, even when they were alone together. Warren – Tony – had insisted on it, since he said that there was a smaller chance of them slipping up in public if they never, ever uttered their previous names aloud. And he’d been right to push the point so hard: now the name ‘Tony’ rolled off her tongue so naturally, she never thought about it.
“I’m great, babe.” She watched his handsome face relax, felt the tension leave his body. “I just have some news.”
“Alright.” So gently, he set her on the counter, pushed her blonde hair back off her flushed face. “Tell me, kitten.”
She took a deep breath. “How do you feel about someone using that spare bedroom upstairs?”
Puzzled, he cocked his head at her. “You mean taking a renter? We don’t need the cash, honey, now that the farm’s up and running and you’re doing some private tutoring.
We can more than manage, with our leftover savings and our new income, even after helping Mom out.”
“No.” She shook her head, gave him a sassy little smile. “I mean – a small someone. Very, very small. Approximately crib-sized.”
Stunned, Tony gazed down at his wife, took in her happiness. Then his eyes dropped to her belly, her hips. He’d noticed that she’d been looking curvier and fuller lately, but he’d just assumed that it was because she’d recently discovered a love of baking. Val had taken to it like a duck to water, and she was buying so much flour lately, Tony had thought about buying shares in the sector.
“Oh, my God,” he said, his voice hushed. “Really?”
“Really. I’ve suspected for a couple of weeks, but I went to the doctor today, and she confirmed it. I’m just over eight weeks pregnant.”
He stared at her some more, and she stared right on back, loving the shock and delight that she saw in those incredible blue eyes. Then a smile cracked his face in half and he grabbed her, spun her in circles, whooping the whole time. She laughed, holding on to him for dear life, her legs still clutching him around his waist.
“A baby!” he exclaimed. “A baby!”
“Yeah,” she said, still laughing. “A baby.”
“Oh, man.” He stopped spinning her around, and thank Christ, because she was getting dizzy. “How you feeling?”
“OK, mostly. A bit tired sometimes.”
“From now on, you sleep in,” he announced. “No more hauling that luscious ass out of bed at ungodly hours to tend to the animals. I got this.”
“Babe,” she said. “You can’t do it all by yourself… the animals, and the field, and the repairs. And I can’t just sit and twiddle my thumbs, waiting for my students to show up in the afternoons. I’ll die of boredom, I swear to you.”
“Maybe you can start your book?” he said. “The one that you’ve been writing in your head for the past eleven years?”
She peered up at him, uncertain. “You think I should?”
“Hell, yes, I think you should.”
She thought about that, then shrugged.
“Well, maybe. But even if I did, I wouldn’t be able to just sit on my ass and write for eight hours a day, every day. I need more, babe.”
He paused. She was right, but there was still no way that she was going to strain herself. He wanted a son or daughter desperately, and he wanted Val to be relaxed and happy during this pregnancy. Hell, he was willing to give her whatever she wanted, and all she had to do was ask.
“Alright,” he said. “We’ll carry on as we have been, but you tell me if you need more sleep, yeah? You can stay snuggled up in bed, and I’ll handle whatever needs to be done. We’ll figure it out together, just as we always have. Yes?”
“Yes.”
“Promise me?”
“I promise.”
“Speaking of bed,” he said, his voice going all husky-soft, the way that she loved, loved loved. “I think it’s time for us to head on up.”
She tilted her head at him. “Oh, yeah?”
“Uh-huh.”
“To sleep?” she asked innocently, as he carried her oh-so-carefully up the stairs. “You tired, babe?”
“Nope. Not to sleep.” He set her on the mattress gently, not letting go of her for even a second. “We’re staying awake for a little while longer.”
“Really?” She blinked at him. “We gonna go over the accounts?”
“No.” He tugged her sweater up and off, started to undo her jeans. “No accounts tonight.”
“So… we’re gonna call your Mom and Mirrie?” She lifted her hips to help him yank off her jeans and panties. “Tell them the news?”
“Not now,” he said, flicking her bra snap open. “We’ll call them tomorrow.”
“Huh. So – what will we be doing?”
Without another word, he moved down her body, buried his tongue in her slick heat. She gave a low moan, twisted her fingers in his hair, arched her whole body up and in to him.
“Oh, God,” she gasped, teetering on the edge already. “More… more…”
So he gave her more; he gave until she came on his mouth, shaking and crying out his name. And when he gently rolled her over and on top of him, and he slid inside her, watching her eyes to make sure that she was OK and there with him, he gave her everything that he had.
Val rode her husband, her hips moving in slow, deep circles, her hands braced on his muscular chest. She stared down at him, loving him so much, she thought she might die from it. Her heart swelled with emotion, and all that feeling had to go somewhere. She had to verbalize it – no way that it could stay inside and silent.
“I love you,” she whispered. “God, I love you.”
He reached up to cup her sweet face, feeling her inner muscles starting to tighten on him. “I love you too, kitten. So fucking much… more than I ever thought it was possible. You saved my life, baby. You made life worth living.”
At his words, her pussy clenched around his hardness, and she cried out, starting to ride the intense, dizzying wave of pleasure. He sped up his thrusts now, angling his cock to stroke that hidden spot inside that drove her crazy, and he knew he found it when she froze on top of him, trembling and barely breathing.
“Come,” he growled, feeling his own orgasm starting, holding himself on her sweet spot, rubbing the tip of his length on it. “Come now, baby.”
She did, her head thrown back, her breath coming out in pants and moans, and he came with her, loving how it felt to claim her so completely. She was his, she was all his, and when he exploded deep inside her amazing body, he found himself pressing his large palm to the curve of her belly.
Mine.
She collapsed forward on to him, and he kissed her forehead, cradled her in his arms. He murmured sweet nothings as she caught her breath, clutched his large upper arms. Finally, she raised her head, met his intense gaze.
“You good?” he said softly. “The baby’s OK? We’re not going to hurt him or her when we do this, right?”
“Oh, Tony.” She chuckled, kissed him. “The baby’s in the most shock-proof place on earth.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah. I asked the doctor.”
He sighed. “I should know this, actually. God, I spent years taking care of pregnant cows, so I get how the body protects and houses babies.”
Indignant, she pushed herself up. “Did you just compare me to a cow?”
“Ummm.” He hesitated, wondering how much of the outrage that he saw on her face was genuine. “Maybe? By accident?”
“Bastard.” She swatted at his ass, playful and cute, and he relaxed. “But you do know that soon enough, your kitten will be about the size of a cow, right?”
“Aw.” Gently, he rolled them over on to their sides, still nestled deep inside her body. “You know that you’re the most beautiful woman that I’ve ever laid eyes on, Val. I don’t care if you’re the size of that barn outside… you’ll be my barn.”
She laughed again. “I don’t know how you get away with saying things like that, but you do. In fact, it’s completely charming.”
“Yeah?”
“Mmm-hmmm.”
Slowly, hating to do it, he pulled out of her now, then went and got a cloth to clean her up. By the time he’d returned from the bathroom a second time, she was dropping off, looking for all the world like a sleepy, sated kitten. He pulled the covers over their naked bodies, tucked her head under his chin. He wrapped his arms around her again, and she gave a deep sigh, and was out.
He lay still, holding her and listening to her breathe, just thinking about where his life had ended up. It was nothing short of a miracle, all of it, and he knew that he’d never stop being astounded by any of it. Some days, he just stood stock-still in the middle of whatever he was doing, and was overwhelmed by wonder
and disbelief and gratitude.
One year and eight months earlier, a man named Warren Kane had set foot on a dark, twisted road, one that he was convinced was a dead end. He’d had no idea then that the road led him here, to life as Anthony Sutton. To this place and this time, to this moment with this woman.
Back then, he’d had no way of knowing that that road was all about getting to Shay Alcott, and then to Valerie Sutton. That everything that he’d ever done had been about getting to her, no matter who she was, or where she was. It had always been about becoming the best man possible for her, and it always would be.
He glanced down at her sleeping face, and suddenly, he found his hand on her stomach again. Cradling their child, protecting them with his own body, holding them in the palm of his hand. He hadn’t even met this tiny person yet, and he already loved them, loved them with everything that he had.
And that was when he knew that his thinking was way wrong, and required an adjustment: that lonely, painful road of shadows hadn’t been about getting to just her.
It had been about getting to Val, and to this baby so safe and warm inside her, and to any future babies waiting to be born.
It had all been about them. Everything was about them.
And as he lay there in his farmhouse in the heart of Oregon, the snow falling outside the bedroom window, the moon rising above the fields, he promised himself that everything would always, always be about them. About his family.
Nothing in his life was about ‘now’, not anymore.
Now, everything was about ‘always’.
Always and forever.
**
Dear Reader,
I very much hope that you enjoyed Warren and Shay’s story, and catching up with all the ‘Dangerous Curves’ characters. ‘Extreme Curves’ (Dangerous Curves #7), Ace and Liam’s story, will be published in spring 2016.
And remember to sign up for my newsletter, to get all my news, sneak peeks of upcoming books, early cover reveals, and chances to win free copies of my books! You can subscribe here: http://marysoljames.com/romances.html#follow
Dark Curves (Dangerous Curves Book 6) Page 25
