by Aria Cole
“A backfire? There are no trucks that backfire like that in America.” Adelina cast me a serious glance.
“Well, it was far away. I don't think it was aimed at us. Someone hunting maybe.”
“How can you say that when we just clearly saw someone watching?”
“What did Prez say?” I redirected her, taking my phone out of her hand and shoving it back into my pocket.
“To lay low. Stay in the house. He’s calling his contact at ICE, and he’ll get back to us.”
“Fuck,” I gritted out. “I don’t know why they have such a hard-on for you.”
“Because I'm the only one that’s alive,” she whispered quietly.
“It’s not the first time I’ve heard of officers going to great lengths, but usually there’s more at stake, a drug ring or something. Hell, maybe the feds have had their eyes on the Sinister Knights for a while, and this is just the excuse they needed.” It didn’t make sense. I just couldn't shake the feeling that settled in my gut.
“Maybe I should just go back.”
“The fuck you are.” I yanked her still closer. “I'm gonna marry you first.”
“Stop being loco, Saint,” she chided.
“Loco for you, mi vida. That's what I’m guilty of.” I nipped at her ear. “Say yes.”
“What?” She laughed.
A grin rounded my cheeks as I gazed into her dark chocolate eyes. “Say you’ll put up with me every day for the next thousand forevers, and I swear I’ll make you the happiest wife on earth.”
“Saint—”
“Marry me, Adelina. You’re already mine. Let’s make it official so we can tell that immigration bastard to fuck off and start our life together.”
“Saint, Dios mio!” She rattled off a quick succession of words in her native tongue that I didn’t understand.
Without giving her a chance to second-guess me, I fished the phone back out of my pocket and punched the speed dial of the one man I’d planned on calling if this moment ever came.
He answered on the first ring.
“Can you come up to Snow Lake?”
“Everything okay up there?” he asked immediately.
“Yup.” Or at least it would be. “King?” I requested. “Make sure you bring that bible you use to perform weddings.”
I hung up before he could reply.
“Saint, what did you just do?”
“Started the process of tying you to me forever, baby.”
“Do you even know what you’re doing?” She shook her head, dark waves falling in a cloud around her pretty face. “My brothers are connected to the cartel. What if they come after me? Or the Sinister Knights? You don’t need my burden.”
“Burden? Don’t you ever say that about my wife again.” I crossed the distance between us, shoving a hand into her hair and hoisting her onto my hips. She locked her ankles, and I ground my cock into the seam of her leggings. One of her palms slammed against the frosted pane of glass behind her, tits thrusting out and the outline of her succulent little nipples driving me fucking nuts.
“I don’t want you to get hurt, Saint. It would kill me if anything happened to you.”
“Then you've got some idea about how I feel.” I shoved my head under the loose fabric of her sweater, plucking at the outline of her pebbled peaks with my teeth.
“God, Saint, do you ever listen?” Her hands pushed into my hair, hips rocking against my body as she arched and moaned in a perfect rhythm.
“Do you ever stop talking?” I growled lightheartedly, grinding against her. “I’d be happy to fill that mouth with something else.”
“Is this what I have to look forward to?” she asked breathily, teeth sinking into my shoulder and biting.
I winced, cock pounding as my lust surged. I loved this banter thing we did together. Made me even hotter. “This and so much more, baby.”
“I may have bitten off more than I can chew.”
I cupped her full tit in my palm, rolling my hips against her soaked core. “Oh, you definitely have.”
“Well, in that case…” She clutched at my shoulders, sighing when I pushed inside her again. “I can’t wait.”
I swallowed anything else she wanted to say with my mouth, fucking her deep and slow, showing her this was so much more. She was so much more. I was desperate for her, a starved man, one taste never enough.
I needed to be with her always.
And I was about to make that happen.
“Forever is a long time, little one. You’re going to get really fucking sick of me.” I dragged my cock against her quivering walls. “But I plan to keep you good and fucked.” I punctuated my words with my stabbing cock. “Barefoot and pregnant if I have anything to say about it.”
“Big plans, mi esposo?” Her big, round eyes swam with love.
Fuck, I loved her so much it hurt.
“Hell yes,” I breathed just as waves of pleasure tore through her system. The clenching of her succulent pussy sent me over the edge, come coating her inner walls and flowing down deep, where I hoped it would take root and grow into something sacred between her and me.
Tying myself to Adelina would be the pleasure of my life.
Which was why I had zero apprehension when I heard the slow rumble of a Harley not long after.
I grinned, rousing my beauty awake from where she’d dozed off after another stupefyingly good orgasm.
Her eyes widened, and she shrugged the sweatshirt over her shoulder, pushing her hair out of her face.
“You look fucking stunning. Stop fussing with yourself and kiss me.” I pulled her against my lips. “When I got up this morning, I had no idea today would be my wedding day.”
Adelina groaned, swatting my cheek before nipping at my lips playfully. “I love you, even when you drive me nuts.”
“Damn well better love me, you’re about to take my last name.”
Adelina was just about to open her mouth in what I was sure was another argument, when King’s heavy boots came up the front steps.
“Everyone dressed?” King burst through the door, Piper hot on his heels.
“Adelina!” Piper called, rushing to her side and swallowing her in her arms. “Are you okay?”
“Fine.” Adelina reassured her. “I'm fine.”
“King brought me to be a witness. I picked out the only white dress I had in my closet before King rushed me out the door. I know it isn’t much, but maybe we can have a reception party down at the ranch or—”
“Okay, let’s get on with this.” Saint pointed between us.
“I'm ready.” King pulled the small leather bible from his pocket, a folded-up marriage license tucked inside. “Had extra.” He put the paper on the table between us. “Full names, signatures, and date at the bottom. Piper and I will drop it off in town on the way back down the mountain. You’ll be official by sunset.”
“Sounds like the best night of my life.” I locked fingers with my girl, sweeping my tongue across her lips, ready to dive into her all over again.
“Let’s get this dress on you.” Piper pulled my girl away by the elbow, and a low growl emanated from my lips as we broke contact.
“Five minutes,” I warned.
“He’s bossy, huh?” Piper rolled her eyes. “You sure you want to be Mrs. Saint?”
“Three minutes,” I barked, turning back to King with a frustrated grimace.
“So, what happened, man?” His tone lowered with empathy.
I pushed a hand over my face. “Saw someone watching us from across the lake. I’m sure it was the guy from ICE, but he was too far away for confirmation. He disappeared, and then we heard a gunshot, probably unrelated. Didn’t want to scare Adelina any more than she was, so I told her it was a backfire. But she knew better.”
“Prez knows?”
I nodded. “Didn’t want to wait till I heard from him to act, though. It was either marry her or get her the hell off this mountain. But if the guy followed us up here, feels he’d follow us
anywhere. This seemed the easiest way.”
“Glad I can be of help. Normally, I think this is something I would try to talk you out of, but I’m not blind. I see the way you look at her, and she’s a good woman.” King nodded. “Make her proud.” He swatted my back, focusing my attention behind me when Piper came out of the bedroom, Adelina trailing behind her.
“Fuck me.”
Chapter 7
Adelina
“Not until the I do, asshole. You’re not cheating my girl out of a second of her wedding day.” Piper spoke over my shoulder.
I had to stifle my giggle.
Saint shook his head, mouth gaping wide.
He stretched out his arms, pulling me to him in front of the large windows that overlooked the lake. “You look beautiful,” he husked at my ear, and then an octave lower, asked, “Are you wearing a bra?”
Warmth climbed up my chest and heated my cheeks. “I couldn’t.”
I spun, highlighting the back of the dress. Backless.
He let out a soft whistle, his hands connecting with the small of my back and pulling me back to him. “Sooner we get this started, quicker we can get you outta this.”
King cleared his throat, opening the holy book and flipping to a passage in the Old Testament.
I sucked in a gulp, Saint’s hand hovering at my back as Piper stood at my side.
I was so lucky to have these three people in my life. It was an odd feeling, the sense of being protected. Trust built among a family was foreign to me.
I tried not to let the emotion developing in my throat take over. I missed my grandmother dearly, but I knew my aunts were there every day to help her. I just hoped my little brothers left her alone.
They’d already hurt us more than enough.
King read a few passages that I could hardly focus on, and then Saint and I were exchanging “I do’s.”
In a matter of ten minutes, we were married.
Saint’s hands cupped my jaw, lips hovering across mine as he mumbled his undying love for me.
“I’ll sign this, and we’ll head out. Want to make it to the county clerk before closing time.”
Saint waved them off, calling a thanks before kicking the door closed with his boot.
Finally, we were alone.
“I’m going to take you somewhere warm for our honeymoon. Been to Hawaii?”
My eyes grew huge. “Never.”
“Then that’s where we’ll go. Soon as we get back to my place, I’ll get a travel agent working on it.”
“I don’t need a honeymoon, Saint. Being here with you is so much more than I could have dreamed for my life.”
“Well, start dreaming bigger, baby. I’m going to take you around the world. Buy a yacht and a private island.”
“You’ve got big plans, don’t you?”
“I believe in dreaming big.” His lips connected with mine as his hands began easing the fabric of the dress off my shoulders. “I'm going to spend the next week drowning in you, mi vida.”
Heavy hands circled my breasts, pressing the silky globes together and dragging his tongue from nipple to nipple, sucking and nipping then moving on again.
He pulled me to the floor, the dress falling in a puddle around my waist before he spread my legs and nestled his face between them.
“Smells like heaven.” His hands pressed at my knees, lips brushing my clit. His tongue licked through my soaked folds, driving me to the edge. He spread his hands across my thighs, holding me in place, keeping me where he wanted me.
Soon he'd moved me to the sofa, sliding inside my body slowly and reverently. Later he carried me to the bedroom, where we lost ourselves to time, finding each other in the slide of sex-slicked skin, lush lips, needy hands.
Saint carried me around his waist a while later, setting me ass-first on the kitchen counter while he dug through the refrigerator.
“Need some protein if I'm going to keep up with you.” He winked devilishly before his phone vibrated so hard it fell off the table.
He groaned before sliding the phone to his ear. “Yeah?”
He waited long moments, eyes darkening with each passing second.
He didn’t say a word when he hung up, eyes flashing closed as he rubbed a hand over his face. “That was Prez.”
“And?” I pulled a blanket around my body.
“And…it’s not ICE. Informant got back to Prez. There’s no case on you or any of the other women Ryker brought back. It wasn’t even ICE that did that shakedown at the ranch.”
“Saint…” I murmured, fear clutching at my throat.
“Had a feeling it was this.”
“What? What is it?” I swallowed razor blades of terror.
“Retaliation for King.”
“King?” I repeated.
“The Outlaws. They’re looking to snatch you, sell you back into the underground, I’d bet.”
“Saint, no.” I collapsed onto my knees, feeling hopeless.
“But you don’t have a thing to worry about.”
“What? Why not?”
“Because I’m gonna kill the fucker before he can lay a hand on you.” Saint shoved his leather cut on over his shoulders, followed by a heavier winter jacket.
“Stay here. Don’t open the door for anyone unless they’re wearing a Sinister Knights cut.” He pulled a hunk of metal from his pocket. “And keep this.”
His gun slid across the table toward me.
“No, no way. You’re not leaving me here. I can’t do this, Saint.”
“You’re gonna have to, little one. Just this one time. I have to take care of business. It’s better if you don’t see it.”
“Saint. No, please, we can call the police.”
“Police won’t fuck with the Outlaws, just like they don’t fuck with us. We’ve got our own rules up in these mountains. Best you learn that now.”
He pulled me against him, lips touching mine as salty tears flavored our kiss.
My heart fell, his footsteps heavy on the porch when my legs finally crumpled under me.
The Harley fired to life and backed out of the driveway. “Saint.”
It was too late.
The damn bike carried away the man I loved, the man I’d just pledged my life to.
I sat on the floor, wrapped in the blanket, crying into the wooden planks of the floor, waiting for him to return.
If he wasn’t back by nightfall, I didn’t know what I’d do.
Stand up, something deep inside me groaned.
You’ll stand up.
You’ll carry on just as you’ve always done.
Besides, Saint would return. I was sure of it.
He’d pledged to love and protect me forever. That meant for more than just one night, right?
I finally crawled across the worn wooden floor, fumbling in the pocket of my bag until my fingers traced the worn, hand-carved wooden beads of my rosary.
Soft tears tracked down my cheeks as I prayed with all that was in me that my husband would come home safe.
Dios mio, mi esposo. Dios mio…
Chapter 8
Saint
Several hours after Adelina and I said I do, I cut the engine on my bike when I neared the end of the main road. I hadn't seen anything out of the ordinary yet, but I knew this was the only way in or out of this country. There had to be a sign of that fucker around here somewhere.
I walked my bike slowly, eyes trained for lights or tracks, when I heard the engine of a bike roar to life and shoot out of a pull-off just a hundred yards ahead of me.
I started the engine on mine, adrenaline pumping through my veins as I gained on the distance between us. I got close enough to see an Outlaws emblem on his license plate cover.
The bastard wore an ICE jacket. He sure as shit was planning to shake down Adelina again, maybe right under my nose.
Hell, he was probably planning on snatching her tonight.
My blood ran cold as I twisted the throttle, edging my front tire closer to h
is back one. That one very quick, very precise move was designed to run him into the loose gravel at the side of the old highway.
The fucker freaked, riding down the hill on his bike, then abandoning it and scrambling over a ditch before turning back, Glock aimed at my forehead.
I threw my own bike to the ground, ducking under it just as a bullet skidded off the tailpipe.
I growled, angrier than ever that this motherfucker thought he was going to take everything that mattered away from me.
I wanted to kill him for fucking with Prez.
For aiming guns at innocent women at the ranch.
For even thinking to kidnap someone so innocent and to sell them into the sex trade.
I grabbed my second, smaller revolver, aiming to nick his throat when I pulled the trigger, and he lunged at the same time.
The bullet splintered his shoulder, and the fucker howled as he rolled over and squirmed.
“Shut the fuck up,” I growled, pressing the tip of my steel-toed boot onto the wound that was flowing with blood.
“Gonna call Prez and see what he wants done with you. But if it were up to me, you'd be bleeding out in that stream.” I nodded to the ditch we’d crossed. “I’ve got a wife to take care of—no time to rot in a jail cell over your useless ass.”
I pressed the toe of my boot in deeper, and his eyes widened as his eyelids began to flutter closed softly.
“Chickenshit,” I muttered when he finally passed out.
His chest moved up and down steadily, my toe blocking the loss of too much blood.
He only had a flesh wound anyway, so I took my time as I dialed Prez, assessing the damage to my own bike from this distance.
Just as the sun was streaking shades of orange across the horizon, a figure appeared from down the road, moving slowly toward me. I could make out fluffy boots and earmuffs and a curtain of dark hair in a windstorm around her face.
“Adelina,” I grunted.
She picked up speed and ran full tilt to me, launching herself into my arms when she was close enough.
“Only thing keeping me warm out here was the thought of you snuggled up and happy as a baby in front of the fire.”
“Happy? Without you?” She shook her head, tear-stained cheeks stealing my heart once and for all.
