by Diana Gardin
I roll my yes. “Damn straight, he won’t.”
It takes five days of hospital recovery time before my doctor will let me go home. The most boring five days of my entire life, and also the best.
Lying in bed without working is pure torture for me. But the other side to that coin? Indigo has been with me around the clock. Lilliana called our father, who is now staying at her house and visiting the hospital every day. The way my dad looked Indigo up and down, taking in her tattoos and overall look, made me want to put him right back on a plane.
But Lil and Indigo, on the other hand, have become friends. They have this banter going on that makes me so damn proud of my sister I’d hug her if I weren’t stuck in a hospital bed. Whether they know it yet or not, Indigo is going to become part of our family, so they all need to get used to her. The fact that my twin embraces her with open arms makes me rest a little bit easier.
My strict, conservative father will come around.
On the day that I’m finally allowed to return home, Indigo and I decide to head back to the apartment that we shared for the duration of the car theft case.
Exhausted from the trek from the car, up the steps, and into the apartment, I sink down onto the couch and put my booted feet up on the coffee table in front of me. Indigo stands beside me, hands perched on her sexy hips.
“Now, you’re at home, but don’t think that means I’m going to let you run amok.”
Her nose wrinkles when she scowls. It’s something I’ve always noticed but that I now have time to really scrutinize, just like the rest of her. If I have to take time off work, I plan on doing a lot of scrutinizing, up close and personal.
Leaning forward, I grab her wrist and pull her toward me. She yelps as she falls off balance and lands on my lap. Her legs drape across me as I deposit her hips directly over my cock. I glance down at the bare heat of her legs, ending in white flip-flops with navy blue toenails.
Jesus. I smooth a hand down the outside of her thigh. Every single inch of this woman calls out to me.
“‘Amok’?” I lift an eyebrow, my voice rough with the need growing way too quickly inside. “How are you going to keep me from running amok, exactly?”
She rolls her lips between her teeth and then scans my face. Her eyes jump over all my features before settling on the bandage covering the incision on the side of my head. Her eyes fill.
“Hey,” I whisper, pulling her closer. The scent of her wraps around me, and I breathe deep. “I’m okay. I’m right here with you.”
She sighs, bringing her hands up to frame my face. Her palms are warm and soft. “Yeah, you are. But you almost weren’t. I almost didn’t get the chance to tell you…”
“Tell me what?” I lean back and search her eyes, looking for any sign of what she’s about to say.
Instead of answering, she asks her own question. “Lawson, what do you want? I mean…now that this assignment is over? Do you want things to go back to how they were before, or do you want something more?”
I don’t need to think about my words. They just flow out of me. “I want you.” I pull one of her hands to my mouth and kiss the inside of her palm. “I want this. I want us.”
She nods, biting her lip. “I do too.”
I suck in a breath. “When you didn’t check in that night you were out with Frannie…I went crazy worrying about what might have happened. And then when I found out that the worst had happened, that you’d been taken? I lost my fucking mind, Indigo. Because it reminded me of when I went through it before…back in the desert.”
She exhales, her breath mixing with mine, and I push forward. “I fell in love with you, and when Hawke took you, I was terrified I’d lose you the same way I lost her.”
Her hands hold my head to her. “But you didn’t. We’re here. And I love you too. How could I not?”
I kiss her. My lips fuse with hers and as I drink her in, I groan with the perfection of the way her body feels against me. She shifts, straddling me and her full breasts press against my chest. Our mouths are a frenzy of movement as she reaches for the hem of my shirt. Her fingers roam over my skin, not gentle as her nails bite my back.
My shirt lands on the floor beside us, and hers follows. Her breasts pop free as her tank top disappears, and I immediately lower my head to take one peaked nipple into my mouth. Her answering moan as her hands grip my shoulders is all I need to spur me on. My head aches a little. I know it’s time for pain meds, but all the medicine I need right now is this.
Her.
“Off,” she says, her voice a rough whisper as she flicks open the button of my jeans. “I need these off.”
Sliding down to her knees in front of me, she tugs my jeans and boxers down my thighs, my muscles straining as I lift to help her. When she takes my fully hard cock in her hands, her fist sliding up the shaft while her thumb caresses the tip, I hiss out a breath. She looks at me, almost in fascination while she jerks me off, her gaze alternating between my face and my dick. And it’s the sexiest fucking thing I’ve ever seen in my life.
Or it was. But then she dips her head and takes me into her mouth, so fully that I can feel her throat closing around my head as she gags.
“Fuck,” I breathe, my head dipping back on the couch.
But I watch her, through heavy-lidded eyes, because I can’t keep my gaze off of her.
My hands dive into her hair, getting lost in the thick, silky strands. I allow my hungry gaze to run all along the inked skin on display.
“Beautiful,” I murmur as her eyes lift to find mine.
She lets her hand stroke me at the same time her mouth sucks, and I let her go on until I’m close to filling her mouth.
“Come here, baby. I want to be inside of you…I want you with me when I come.”
Standing up in front of me, she wiggles her hips, sliding her shorts down her rounded hips and firm thighs, stepping out of them and dropping down on my lap once more. She tips her head to one side, evaluating me.
“Are you okay?” she asks.
I bark out a choked laugh. “Fuck yes, I’m more than okay.”
She nods and sinks down onto me, and we both cry out from the slick feel of our bodies meeting. And this time, it means so much more than it ever has before.
“I love you.” Her eyes flit closed as she sinks down on me again and again.
Finally, I think she gets the fact that she’s mine. And I know that I’m hers. It makes what’s happening between us right now, what’s going to happen between us for the rest of my life, that much better.
Perfection.
Epilogue
LAWSON
Two months later
“Never saw you as the white-picket-fence type, brother.” Lilliana smiles at me as she leans back in her lounge chair.
Glancing around the sandy yard at our house in Kure Beach, not too far from the NES building but not in the ritzy Wrightsville Beach area either, all I can do is grin. “Never knew I was that type of guy either. Not until I met her.”
The white picket fence was important to Indigo. It had a lot to do with the way she was brought up, and her wanting to battle her own demons by making our house as different from the way she grew up as she possibly could.
Like she’s heard me talking about her, Indigo glances in our direction, grins, and then flips me off. I chuckle.
“Can’t tame that one, can you?” There’s a grin in Lil’s voice.
“Never.”
Lil stares thoughtfully in the direction where Indigo, Sayward, and Frannie throw beanbags at cornhole boards beside the deck. “She’s really good for you, you know. You aren’t wound so tight anymore. And she’s a handful, so she keeps you on your toes.”
Nodding, I tip back my Coke. “Noted.”
When I notice my sister’s stare moving around the yard, stopping at another location, I follow it. Bain is standing at the grill with Ben, arguing about something. Probably about whether or not steak should be left rare or cooked all the way to me
dium–well, Cowboy’s preference.
Bain glances over and his eyes lock in on my sister. My stomach clenches.
“You don’t want any of that, Lilli,” I warn. “There’s a lot going on there that even I don’t know about. Look elsewhere, if you care about your brother’s sanity at all.”
She shrugs. “Don’t know what you’re talking about.” Flipping her long, straight hair back over one shoulder, she stands. “Let’s go play cornhole.”
I gesture with a hand. “You go. I’d better see what those two are arguing about.” She turns to go, but I halt her with a word.
“Hey.” She turns around again. “Is that woman okay? The one I sent your way from the bar that one night when I was on assignment with Indigo?”
“She is.” Lilliana smiles. “And I have her set up in a good place, with people who can help her get back on her feet. And now that your friend Sayward got her hands on our system, I don’t think we’ll be having any more security breaches.”
Feeling lit up from the inside out, I nod. “Good.”
As I walk across the yard toward the grill, I watch as my girl tilts her head back and laughs. She’s night and day different from the tough, nonsmiling woman I met back at the bar that first night. She’s still tough as nails, but she’s lighter, happier. She offers her smiles more freely, and she doesn’t have her walls built quite so high.
Instead of returning to the police force after our assignment, she took a leave of absence. It was partially forced, since she continued to go in headfirst into situations she wasn’t instructed to. But since then, she’s been working as a consultant at NES. She’s not there every day, but we use her knowledge as an undercover detective and someone with a criminal past pretty often. She’s become a valuable part of the team.
And to me, she’s invaluable.
“I want my steak rare,” I announce as I reach the grill.
Thorn, who’s just entered the backyard through the side gate, doubles over in laughter. Ben glares at me, and Bain’s triumph is evident in his eyes.
I don’t miss the fact that Thorn’s eyes stray to Frannie while he’s still laughing at me.
I turn to face the rest of the yard. “Can I have everyone’s attention, please?”
Everyone goes quiet, turning expectant faces in my direction. My heart should be thundering, but it isn’t. The demons are quiet, the way they’ve been for the past two months. And I’m in a hurry to make the reason for that a permanent fixture in my life.
“Thank you all for coming to our housewarming barbecue. I know we’re missing a few familiar faces, but the rest of the NES family will be here later on, I’m sure. Anyway, you’re the people I really wanted to share this with.”
My eyes flick to Russ, who’s just entered behind Thorn. He gives me a silent nod.
Slowly walking, keeping my focus on Indigo, I continue talking. “The reason I’m alive today has a lot to do with everyone standing in this yard. But the reason for my happiness today has everything to do with this woman.”
I reach Indigo’s side, holding her hand in mine, and note the shining exultation in her eyes that matches mine. “And so I’m not going to wait anymore. We’ve just moved into our house; we’ve already started our lives together. It’s time for me to—”
Dropping to one knee, I pull a black box out of my pocket. Opening it, I present Indigo with a diamond ring I hope is perfect for her. If it isn’t, she’ll let me know and we’ll exchange it.
Because that’s how we roll.
“Indigo Stone, will you marry me?”
She covers her mouth with one shaking hand before dropping down beside me in our sandy, grassy yard. “Hell yes, I will.”
The backyard erupts in cheers and whistles, and every wish I never even knew I had just came true.
Don’t miss RYDER, the next book in the
Delta Squad series, coming in early 2019.
Keep reading for a preview!
Prologue
Thorn
Nine years ago
My car eats up the road in front of me, dust billowing up in the headlights as the engine revs. My jaw aches, the length of time my teeth have been clenched together causing me actual pain. There’s nothing but blackness racing by outside my windows, the part of town I usually frequent disappearing miles ago.
The only thing taking up space in my head right now? The 9-1-1 text from Echo an hour ago had me flying out of bed and dialing her phone about a hundred times. When I realized she wasn’t going to answer, I hopped in my car and started driving.
Echo’s what people call a “free spirit,” true to her name, and I started at the last address I had for her. When I pounded on the door, her roommate answered, red-rimmed, bleary eyes blinking at me before they finally registered who I was.
“Thorn, right? Echo’s brother? She’s not here, if you’re looking for her.” Her voice was rough with sleep, or more likely, with the drugs she used earlier in the night.
“Where is she?” I growl, trying and failing to control the panic bubbling up inside me.
She blinks again, confusion crawling its way across her features. “Dunno. Left with Mad Dog two hours ago maybe?” She squints, like she’s thinking. “Wait, what time is it?”
I swallow. “Three a.m. You let her leave with some dude named Mad Dog?”
Glancing past the girl into the apartment, I can see the evidence of a party left behind. Red cups litter the floor, the coffee table is covered with glass bowls and pipes.
My gaze slides back to the roommate—Michelle?—and I snap my fingers in front of her face. “Was my sister doing those drugs?”
Michelle shakes her head, eyes wide. “Nah. Echo…she sticks to pills and booze. I think Mad Dog was gonna take her to get some.”
I slammed my palm against the side of the doorjamb. “She isn’t answering her phone, Michelle. Where can I find Mad Dog?”
She gave me the name of an apartment complex. “Can’t remember which apartment he lives in, though. Second floor.”
Which is why I’m now hauling ass to the exact wrong side of town to get to my little sister. Make sure she doesn’t make yet another misguided decision.
Fuck me. Why can’t she stay clean? I’m here for her, any time she needs me. Why does she constantly surround herself with these assholes who don’t care about her?
If I’m honest with myself, I know the answer. Echo’s been messed up ever since our mom died of cancer two years ago. At seventeen, she couldn’t deal with the mother she adored leaving this Earth, and helping her with her grief meant I never really had time to deal with mine.
Doesn’t matter. Echo’s in trouble, has been for a while, and she’s my main priority. My dad’s checked out. He collected the life insurance, quit his job, and started traveling. Said he wanted to visit all the places my mom never got so see, and if I could say two words to him right now they’d be “fuck” and “you.” Because Echo needs him, and he’s nowhere to be found.
I pull into the parking space in front of the apartment complex and glance up. Only two doors on the second floor, and Echo’s behind one of them. I’m halfway up the concrete stairs when one of the doors bursts open with a blast like a shot and I tense, midway up the steps.
A man runs down, pausing for just a second to glance at me, and then keeps moving. I’ll never forget his face; it’s like the fear of the devil has slithered inside him. Time slows as he passes me, his brown eyes connecting with mine.
And I know.
I fucking know.
“Echo.” Her name is like a breath from my lips, a plea to the heavens that what I suspect has just happened hasn’t actually happened.
I sprint up the rest of the steps, barging into the apartment. The door stands wide open, and my eyes bounce around the place. It’s surprisingly neat, and nothing like my sister’s own apartment just a few miles away.
My eyes pinball from a black leather couch to a set of glass tables, well-kept carpet, and a large-screen televis
ion. And then they land on my sister, my beautiful, broken, seventeen-year-old sister lying on the floor.
My voice breaks as I shout. “Echo. Fuck!”
I skid to my knees beside her, my fingers checking her pulse. There’s a flutter there, the thinnest thread of life imaginable, and my heart stutters. Pulling out my phone, I dial 9-1-1. When the operator answers, I’m practically screaming into the speaker, the phone lying by my unmoving sister’s side.
“Possible overdose victim. She’s not breathing and her pulse is weak. Unresponsive. Send an ambulance.” My skin is cold, clammy, my voice robotic.
I know what’s happening to me. Everything inside me is shutting down, because taking care of Echo has been my whole world, my main priority. I work as a bartender most days of the week, but anytime that I’m not at work, I’m checking to see if she’s eating, sleeping, and trying to get her to enroll in college.
She’s everything to me.
And as she’s slipping away, a piece of myself is sliding into oblivion right along with her.
“No, Echo. Sweetheart. Don’t do this to me.” I turn her head to the side in case she vomits, trying to remember any of the CPR training from high school. And then I lay my head on her chest and wait.
It takes about seven minutes for the wailing sirens to reach my ears, and when the sound of pounding feet on the wooden stairs outside jar me out of my stupor, I raise my head in time to see two paramedics running into the apartment, a gurney stretching out behind them.
“Move, sir.” The woman paramedic’s tone is warm but firm. “What’s her name?”
“Echo Ryder. She’s my…she’s my sister.”
Echo. Please don’t do this to me. I need you.
“Do you know what she took?”
The man paramedic jostles me, moving himself into position on Echo’s other side.
“She takes pills sometimes. She drinks. I wasn’t with her tonight, so I don’t know…” My voice breaks.
