by Franca Storm
No. No matter how hard it was, I wouldn’t tell him. I wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize the mission. We were so close to having what’d we’d both wanted for so long. And I was going to make damned sure it happened.
Needing to shift the focus, I changed the subject, moving on to something lighthearted. “Do you feel better after the doctor assured us everything is fine with the baby?”
Mason and Lucy had told him about me nearly fainting on the street and he’d bulldozed his way into getting me seen that very same day at the clinic in town. I’d had an ultrasound done, blood tests, a full physical checkup, reassurance from the midwife there too, and I’d been given some iron supplements. Apparently, I’d just had a slight iron deficiency.
“Yeah, I do,” he admitted. “But we’re gonna be going regularly now just to be safe.”
“Yeah,” I agreed. “I like that midwife.”
He cocked an eyebrow. “You’re still leaning toward the home birth thing? She really made an impression on you, huh?”
“I don’t like hospitals.”
“You don’t like anything you can’t control one-hundred-percent. You know, even with a homebirth, there’ll be things you can’t control, baby.”
“Yeah, I get that, but it’s different. It’ll be in a place I know. A hospital is so impersonal and… scary.”
“What about the pain? If we’re not in a hospital, there won’t be access to an epidural or any kind of relief.”
“I want to have the baby at home,” I snapped, getting agitated that I was having to defend myself over and over.
He held up his hands. “All right. If that’s what you want, we’ll make it happen.”
I drew in a breath. “Thank you.”
He reached out and stroked my cheek. Just that brief touch had my desire flaming, my anger flare evaporating into the ozone.
“Do you realize what a tease you’re being right now?”
“Yeah?” he asked, playfully, rising to my flirtation.
My gaze raked over him and I took my time to savor the sight of him.
God, he had an amazing body and I’d always shown him my utmost appreciation. He was in magnificent shape.
Broad shoulders giving way to a ripped chest, sculpted abs.
I followed the thin trail of chest hair that disappeared beneath the towel hanging low on his hips, a tease of what was hidden beneath. Mmm.
His thick, toned legs took a strong, wide stance as he cleared his throat and rested his hands on his hips, enjoying my eyes on him
I finally dragged my gaze back up to his face to see those sexy, slate-gray eyes of his gazing at me with a mixture of reverence and barely-contained hunger like they always did.
I reached out, grabbed the sides of his face and pulled him closer, crushing my lips to his, taking him in a hard, desperate kiss.
With everything that had been going on it’d been way too long since we’d had our hands on one another.
I was done holding off any longer.
I couldn’t.
I needed him.
Pulling back, panting with my need to have him, I choked out, “No more shop talk, okay? I want us to lose ourselves in each other, to forget everything bearing down on us. Just for a little while.”
That determined, hard edge he always had about him when he was in protective, enforcer mode, softened at my plea. The gentle, attentive man I’d known and loved for so long dropped his guard for a moment to revel in his need for me too.
The next thing I knew, he was climbing onto the bed and ripping the covers off me with one rough tug of strength.
“It’s on,” he growled.
I sank back into the bed as he straddled me.
Reaching out, I ran my fingers over his sexy chest, loving the feel of his muscles inadvertently flexing at my teasing touch.
He leaned into me and grasped the zipper down the side of my pink slip. “Mmm. So fucking sexy.”
I glanced down at his towel, the tent there showing me just how sexy he really found it.
My breath hitched in my throat as he slid the zipper down excruciatingly slowly, his fingers caressing my skin as more and more was exposed the further down he drew it. His touch was reverent and so loving. Since we’d come together with no more hiding, we’d both dropped the closed off way we'd used to fuck, we’d both let emotion into it. It’d made it so much better than just wildly fucking, way more intense and amazingly overwhelming.
A smile ghosted his lips as his hand brushed over my baby bump. Pushing eleven weeks now, it had become near-impossible to hide it. We were going to have to tell everyone, to announce it really soon. His hands gently brushed my breasts, knowing they were really sensitive at the moment. Again, that smile was back. I’d been feeling insecure about the changes to my body, but with the way Cole was with me, he’d made me embrace it, to feel just as sexy and as beautiful as before.
“I love you,” I whispered as he tossed the slip away and rose up over me, his large body covering mine.
“I love you.” His lips brushed lightly over mine, lulling me into a false sense of relaxation because, in the next second, his eyes flashed with that predatory look that sent a thrill through me.
And then he was licking, kissing and biting down the length of my neck, to my shoulders and down to my breasts.
I grabbed the back of his head, my nails digging into his scalp and making him grunt as his mouth continued to tease my body. I was already so turned on, I couldn’t take it.
I grabbed at his towel, gasping desperately, “Now, Cole. I can’t wait. I need you now.”
He chuckled against my breast.
Then he shifted his weight on me and thrust inside me. “Fuck, yeah. You’re dripping, baby. Coating my cock. Goddamn, you feel so fucking good.”
His dirty words spurred me on and I pressed my hands to his chest, easing him back to give me space to rise up on him until we were sitting up together. He grasped my thighs, wrapping them around him.
Clutching his shoulders, I started to ride him, slow and deep.
One of his hands ran up and down my back as the other fisted in my hair forcing my mouth to his.
As soon as our lips touched, that wild passion sparked to life between us. He thrust up to meet my rougher, intense movements until we were both panting and desperate to taste release with one another.
Our bodies took over, as if on instinct, knowing precisely how to feed our irrepressible desire for one another. Even though we’d been together on-and-off for a long while, the heat between us was still searing.
“Come, Tasha,” he whispered huskily in my ear.
His fingers glided through my wet folds, playing me perfectly, knowing me so well.
Mere seconds later, I was clenching around him and shrieking as my orgasm slammed into me. His thrusts became fiercer and strained as he lost his rhythm as he chased his own orgasm.
A grunt in my ear and a couple of rough jerks let me know he’d found it.
As I melted into him, he tutted at me. “We’re not close to being done yet,” he told me, pushing us back down into the bed, surrounding me.
I shrieked with excitement as he pulled me underneath him, tugging the covers up over us and shielding us in our perfect little cocoon of sheets and covers.
***
Cole perched on the edge of the bed.
He was already dressed and ready to go.
I was almost there, too, with just one more thing to figure out.
I held one up in each hand.
An off-the-shoulder black sweater and a silver, silk shirt with flared sleeves. “So, which one?”
“Either one is gonna look amazing on you.”
I rolled my eyes. “How do you know that?”
“Because that body of yours will see to it.”
Damn him and his compliments. I shook it off, knowing that he was just deflecting my question. “Just pick one, smooth talker.”
He chuckled and slid off the bed, approaching me. He
made a show of thinking it over as he looked between each top I was holding up, scrubbing his hand over his chin.
And then he poked the top with the flared sleeves. “This one. I like the sleeve things. Plus, the shape of it will help hide your bump like you want.”
I frowned. “Like we want.”
He shrugged.
“Cole?” I pressed. “I thought we determined it was better to keep it a secret for as long as we could, so it didn’t rock the boat with the club and everything?”
“I don’t give a fuck anymore. They can suck it up. The more you’re showing, the more real it feels. I’m happy about this, Tasha. I want to shout it from the rooftops. I want everyone to know. I don’t want to hide the best thing that’s ever happened to us anymore.”
Well, that was unbelievably sweet. “You’re sure?”
He eyed me. “Unless you want to keep it under wraps?”
“I don’t want to make things more difficult for you.”
“You won’t. You’re not. Besides, Mason and Luce already know and they reacted just fine.”
And Slade. But I wasn’t about to tell him that. He’d want to know why I’d neglected to tell him and it would quickly unravel the real plan for the mission that Slade and I had agreed upon.
“True. Go for it then. We’ll tell them all.”
He smiled and stroked my hair. “Good. You never know, finding out you’re pregnant might have them calling off the whole Nik mission and finding another way to take a shot at him.”
Oh no.
So, that was part of his reasoning for wanting to get it out in the open now? He thought he could make the club call off everything? Slade had warned me about this, about Cole getting to a point where he’d turn against the plan, the idea of putting me anywhere close to within Nik’s reach. And he’d clearly been right.
“We need to end him and the Strikers to ensure our family’s safety, the club’s, the town’s,” I reminded him.
“We can find another way.”
There wasn’t another way.
I knew the rational part of him had to recognize that.
But he wasn’t thinking with that right now.
It was all about his heart. And his fear of losing what he loved, of losing the chance of having a family of his own at long last.
“We’ll see how things play out. Okay?” I said, trying to appease him before he flipped his lid and his temper exploded everywhere. The last thing we needed was him losing his shit and storming downstairs to confront Slade about it.
“All right,” he gritted out, his reluctance to drop it clear.
I moved his hand to my belly and his gaze softened, the tension starting to leave his body, bit by bit.
“Let’s get through tonight first,” I urged him. “I need you with me, cool and collected.”
He turned me, holding me against him, my back to his front. His hands rested on my belly again. “It’s all gonna be okay. You’ve already made peace with them. This is just gonna solidify that. And I’m gonna stay calm, no rage. I swear it.”
“Good,” I said, reaching up and stroking his cheek.
“We’ll handle it like we handle everything else. Together.”
“Together,” I affirmed.
17
~Cole~
“YOU’RE SERIOUSLY CLAIMING you cooked this?” I asked my little sis, as I took in the real impressive steak dinner in front of me.
“Yes,” she said, rolling her eyes at my disbelief.
I eyed Mason across from me who was already tucking into his dinner just like Natasha was. For the last week, her morning sickness had subsided and she’d become ravenous. “Mason?”
He looked between me and Lucy, then confirmed, “She cooked it.”
“See?” she said.
“You know what she’s like when she sets her mind to something. A real stubborn ass,” Mason said.
“Just like her brother,” Tasha piped up.
I grinned and rubbed her back. “Thanks so much, baby,” I joked.
“Any time,” she responded with a giggle.
Fuck, she was cute.
She’d been all lighthearted and giggly for the last hour once we’d settled into the night with Mason and Luce. She was… happy. I hadn’t seen her this way for a long time. So content and carefree. Although she’d been nervous about coming here and spending the evening with them, I think the atmosphere of a warm homelife had helped her a lot.
Despite the weirdness and some uncomfortableness for me with my little sister and my best friend now being together, there was a hell of a lot of love between them that couldn’t be denied. They had a very supportive, caring dynamic that filtered into everything and everyone around them. They just… worked.
It was a good insight for Tasha to see how it could be once all of this bullshit with the Strikers was over. I could tell by how she’d been tonight that it had given her hope.
“When you guys are done at the clubhouse, there’s a couple of rentals up for grabs right now,” Mason told us, between mouthfuls of his steak. “Houses. Two-bedroom. Well kept. Furnished. Basically, move-in ready. I’ve been seeing them on my patrol route this week.”
An awkward look passed between me and Tasha.
We’d been avoiding talking about all of that.
For a reason.
The stakes of what was to come were so high, it seemed like a jinx to make concrete future decisions.
We’d both basically been walking on eggshells around each other. Whenever one of us had fallen into the trap and started going there, the other would blow it off quickly and change the subject.
Mason gave me a chin lift, getting that I needed him to back off.
But the message didn’t register with Luce and she pressed Tasha, “You guys are moving out of the clubhouse, right? I mean, how are you going to raise a baby in that crazy, noisy, booze-filled place?” She misread our hesitation, looking crestfallen. “Oh, you’re going to go back to the city, is that it?”
“Pixie,” Mason said, laying his hand on her hers and shaking his head at her, willing her to drop it.
Startling me, Tasha pushed her plate aside and turned to me sharply. Folding her arms across her chest, she told me forcefully, “We’ll buy a house here. It’ll be close enough to downtown, but not right in the thick of it. Three bedrooms. I need an office. I’ll run my business out of there, work from home so I can be with my baby. For the first year, you’ll cut down on your shifts with the club, so we share baby duty evenly. This is a nice, safe, peaceful town. I like it and we’re staying here. I’m getting the impression that Lucy wants to be around her niece or nephew as much as possible too, and you’ll also be needing your best friend’s support.”
Flabbergasted, I struggled to take in everything she’d thrown at me. “Okay… is that everything?” I choked out.
She held up her left hand. “I want a ring. And a wedding.”
Jesus Christ.
“I thought we weren’t gonna do this, talk about the future and—”
“Yeah, well, I’m done with that. I’m sick of being at everyone else’s mercy, of being restricted in so many ways. I don’t like being trapped and I won’t stand for another second of it. We need to focus on what’s best for this baby, to prepare everything before he or she comes along.”
I wrapped my arm around her and pulled her in close. “Okay. It’s all right. I know. We’ll do it, all of it.”
Instead of accepting my comfort, she jerked away and shot out of her seat.
In the next moment, she was running out of the room.
I heard a door down the hall slam a second later.
“Fuck,” I muttered. “Sorry,” I told Mason and Luce.
“She’s going through a lot,” Luce said. “All of this—the Nik thing, being stuck in the clubhouse and confined to this town—is too much stress. Especially for a pregnant woman.”
“What else can I fucking well do?” I bit back at her.
“Tell Slad
e to go to hell.”
I shook my head with disbelief at her naivety. “You’ve got no clue.”
“Maybe not,” she shot back. “But either way, it seems obvious you need to make a choice. Natasha and your baby, or the Steel Titans?”
“No,” Mason rumbled.
“What?” Luce exclaimed.
His gaze dark and determined, he rose to his feet and told her, “I need a second. Go check on Natasha, little darlin’.”
It looked like she was about to argue with his order. But he flashed his eyes at her and she merely huffed, then took off out of the room without a single protest. Wow. That wasn’t the sister I knew. He’d really changed her, calmed her, somehow.
It seemed she’d changed him too, because he was actually backing me on this, he’d come around on Natasha, on the idea of us together too. I’d honestly never thought I’d see the day.
“She doesn’t get it, because we never let her in on club life. There’s no way she can understand it on the level that we can. But she just wants you to be happy.” He pulled up Natasha’s chair and settled himself on the edge. A small smile played on his lips. “Plus, you know, her and Natasha did make a deal and she wants to see it through.”
I cocked an eyebrow. “Yeah? What deal is that?”
His smile grew. “Natasha said she’d get you off Luce’s back. In exchange, she’d have hers.” He rolled his eyes. “Luce would back her no matter what. It’s all just jokes.”
“I don’t need to be on her back anymore.”
“You don’t?”
“Nah, she’s got you now. What does she need me for?”
“You’re her brother. Forget the whole suffocating protection thing and just be that. Be her brother.”
“Yeah. Okay. I can do that.” I leaned back in my chair. “You realize we can never talk about any dirty shit like we used to now it’s my sister you’re… with. We’re clear on that, right?”
“Believe me, after the way you first reacted to us, we’re clear. Besides, I respect Luce. I’m not gonna talk about that shit with anybody. It’s well and truly private.”
