“Never leave me,” I said.
She paused. “What?”
“I said, never leave me.”
She smiled. “I hate to break it to you, hot stuff, but you are stuck with me for better or for worse.”
“Promise?”
Crossing the room, she stood directly in front of me. “Dillon, what is this about?”
“Promise me,” I repeated.
“I swear, I will never leave you,” she said.
Cupping the back of her neck, I pulled her to me. Before I could kiss her, she dropped to her knees and began sliding down my swim trunks. Christ, after wanting her all day, there’s no way I’ll last with her mouth on me. She lightly trailed her finger from the tip to the base of my screamingly hard cock and I shivered with anticipation. Gripping the base with her hand, she lowered her mouth and took me in. I fought the urge to come on the spot.
“Baby, I want inside you,” I rasped. She answered with a flick of her tongue and a twist of her wrist. Not able to stand on my feet any longer, I pulled out of her mouth and dropped to my knees. Before she could latch her wicked lips back on my cock, I pulled her to me and lowered us to carpeted floor. “Wrap your legs around my waist,” I told her. As she complied, I ran my tongue from her ear, down her neck and around one of her hard nipples. She arched her back and moaned, but I wasn’t ready to give it to her just yet. Using my hands and mouth, I worked her into a frenzy. When I had her begging for it, I entered her and together we both let out groans of pleasure. The only thing I could focus on was the way she felt around me. This woman was finally mine, and only mine.
“I love you,” she whispered.
Sapphire eyes stared up at me, filled with so much love and trust. Suddenly, I needed this moment to be about more than getting us both off. I needed her to understand her love had saved me. Lowering onto my elbows, I slowed my thrusts and stared into her eyes.
“You okay?” she asked.
“I love you, Isabella Whitaker.” Slowly I moved in and out of her.
She wound her fingers through my hair. “I love you too, Dillon Whitaker.”
“I’m going to love you until the day I die,” I whispered.
Her eyes welled with tears. “I’m going to hold you to that,” she whispered back.
As I lowered my head and took her mouth she made that sexy-as hell noise in the back of her throat. The slow burn I had been feeling all morning suddenly caught fire and blazed. Ibby wrapped her legs around my back and I planted myself deep inside her body. Slowly, I pulled out and thrust back in. I stared into her eyes, willing her to know the depths of my heart. A stray tear trickled down her cheek and I knew she understood. Not able to help myself, I kissed her again. As she moaned against my lips and tightened around me, I knew she was close. So was I.
“Dillon,” she gasped.
“Let go,” I whispered. Her body shook with her orgasm and I was right there with her.
When we returned to earth, we were both out of breath and sweaty. The sound of someone knocking on the door made us both jump.
“Hey!” Joss yelled through the door. “Quit scromping and get out here, so we can finally go to the beach.”
“Joss!” Ellie shouted. “Maybe they want to be alone right now?” Joss muttered something and they both laughed.
“Be there in five!” I yelled. I gave Ibby one last kiss before getting up and putting my suit back on.
We spent the rest of the afternoon on the beach. Most of the time I hung with Ibbs and the girls, but every now and then I would play a game of catch or Frisbee with the guys. We were all together and happy. There were no longer any signs of stress between Max and Ellie, and Joss no longer looked as if she could hurl at any second. Piper and Gage couldn’t keep their hands off of each other. Hell, even Cas and Sarah seemed to be getting along.
That night, we all dressed up and walked to a luxurious hotel on the beach called The Sanctuary for the rehearsal dinner. After, we came back to the house, threw on casual clothes and headed to the beach for a celebratory bonfire. In the middle of making S’mores and drinking champagne, Ibby’s pregnancy was outed.
“So, Isabella, are you going to tell us why you aren’t drinking alcohol tonight?” Piper drunkenly asked. Gage put his hand over her mouth and rolled his eyes.
Ibby was sitting in my lap and I felt her entire body tense up. “Uhhhhh,” she said.
“Please tell me you’re preggers,” Joss said.
Ibby’s head turned. As her eyes hit mine I shrugged. She let out a big sigh and said, “We just found out and didn’t want to say anything until after the wedding.” Everyone cheered and she relaxed back into me. “Glad that went better than the first time,” she quietly said. I had to agree.
The next morning we hit the ground running. Ibby and the girls went to the spa while the guys went skeet shooting.
“I, for one, am glad the bitch is dead,” Cas said. We were talking about what happened with Dana.
“I can’t say I’m sad to see her gone,” Max agreed. This led to us heckling Max about his psycho stalker, Priscilla.
While Max and Ellie were apart, he hooked up with a woman named Priscilla. Max made it very clear he didn’t want a relationship, but Priscilla wouldn’t listen. To get Max away from Ellie, Priscilla attempted to burn down the MMG in Kentucky. When that didn’t work, she showed up in Charlotte and tried to break Max and Ellie up. In the end, her dad had to come to Charlotte to retrieve her. The last we heard, she was in a facility in Kentucky seeking psychiatric help.
“What’s up with you and Sarah?” Kurt asked Cas.
Cas’ eyes shot to Max.
“Can’t wait to hear this one,” Max said with a wry smile.
Cas shrugged and said, “Nothing. We just see things differently.”
“What things?” Max asked.
Cas shrugged again. Luckily, Max decided to let it drop.
We made it back to the house for lunch and then had to start getting ready. Piper and Gage didn’t know Ibby and I were going to sing two of their favorite songs during the reception, and we needed to get ready early so we could check out the stage.
The groomsmen were all to wear khaki dress pants, blue and white striped dress shirts, a light yellow tie and a navy blazer. I was already in the main house when Ibby appeared and I almost swallowed my tongue when I saw her. She had on a yellow strapless dress with sexy-as-hell yellow and white heels. Her hair was down and her skin was glowing from the sun. The caveman in me growled. Mine.
Resisting the urge to rush her back to the room and have my wicked way with her, I held out my hand. “Shall we?”
Her face lit with a beautiful smile. “We shall.”
At five p.m. Miss Piper O’ Connell became Mrs. Piper Blackwell. She was the happiest I had ever seen her. Gage was proud to be the cause of it.
An hour into the reception, Ellie gave me the head nod. I grabbed Ibbs from some lecherous geezer friend of Piper’s parents and headed to the hallway where we were supposed to hide.
“I’m going to strip that dress from your body and nail you in those heels later tonight,” I told her as we waited to be introduced.
“Promise?” she asked.
The door opened and Ellie said, “Showtime.”
Smiling, I grabbed Ibby’s hand and led her onto the make-shift stage where I sang Just Breathe and she sang The Story. As she finished, everyone cheered and screamed for more.
“Our eyes met and held. Every ounce of my heart is devoted to this woman. “One more time?” I asked. She smiled, and we launched into an encore.
About The Author
R.B. Hilliard grew up in both Texas and North Carolina. Before writing books, she was a language therapist and preschool teacher. She is currently living in Charlotte, North Carolina with her family. Her MMG Series consist of: His End Game, Not Letting Go and One More Time.
Here’s how you can connect with R.B.
www.rbhilliard.com
www.goodreads.com/author
/show/7857834.R_B_Hilliard
www.amazon.com/R.B.-Hilliard/e/B00M1WO85S/
www.facebook.com/pages/RB-Hilliard/202972463220249
twitter.com/Rbhilliardb
Please enjoy an excerpt from L. Wilder’s Consumed, A Devil Chaser’s MC Romance.
Prologue
Revenge is the act of passion;
Vengeance is an act of justice.
Samuel Johnson
Bobby
It’d been ten days… ten long, agonizing days of watching Courtney continue to fade away. Even after tons of tests and constant monitoring, the doctors couldn’t tell me why she wasn’t waking up. They kept telling me to give it time. Fuck, I’d given it time, but nothing had changed. The room was still so quiet. Courtney always lit up every room she entered, smiling and talking a mile a minute. There was never a dull moment when she was around. Since she’d been in the hospital, though, everything had gone silent. The only sound I could hear were the annoying beeps of all the machines they had her hooked up to.
Our VP, Goliath, had come by earlier and finally broken the news to me about her wreck. His words kept replaying over and over in my head. “It wasn’t an accident.” Someone had actually done this on purpose. We were certain that the Black Diamonds had something to do with it, but it just didn’t make any sense to me. Why would they go after her? She’d never done anything to deserve this. It had to be a direct hit against the club. If she hadn’t been with me, they wouldn’t have ever gone after her. I’d failed her. I hadn’t kept her safe, and that thought haunted me every time I looked at her lying in that hospital bed.
I needed to get to the clubhouse to see what I could find out about the Black Diamonds. Courtney’s parents usually spent their days with her, so I knew she wouldn’t be alone. It cut me up inside to leave her, even if it was only for a few hours, but I needed to find out who had hurt her. I had to find something useful… anything we could use against them.
No one was at the clubhouse when I got there, so I could focus on what I needed to do. I hacked into every site in my database, and I didn’t like what I found. The Black Diamonds were a small 1 Percenter’s club based out of Detroit, and they were building their charter rapidly, by any means necessary. They moved into small towns across the country and used intimidation and money to gain control of the area. They were all about numbers, recruiting anyone to get their drugs on the streets and cash into the club’s pockets.
When I finished my research, I went over to the meeting room for church. The Devil Chasers’ president, Bishop, had called us in to discuss everything that had gone down over the past few days. Once everyone was there, I shared what I had learned about the Black Diamonds. Bishop and Goliath told us that it would take time to forge an effective plan, and we needed to be on high alert. The longer I listened, the more impatient I became. I could feel my blood boiling through my veins as I thought about Courtney lying in that hospital. I wanted to go down to their warehouse and rip their fucking throats out for what they had done to her. I took a deep breath and tried to concentrate on what Bishop was saying.
“Crack Nut,” he said as he looked over to me, “we need eyes on their warehouse. I want to know where they are making their deliveries, and when the next shipment is coming in. I want to make sure we get them where it hurts.”
“I’m on it,” I told him.
“Take Goliath and Renegade with you. No mistakes here. I don’t want them to have any idea that we’re watching them.”
I nodded, knowing what he was implying. We had left too many clues behind when we’d set up our surveillance at the Red Dragon’s compound, and it could have cost us.
As soon as we were dismissed from church, I went straight to the hospital. As I walked into Courtney’s room, I noticed a small Christmas tree on the bedside table. Her parents had been there, but thankfully they’d already left for the day. I really wasn’t in the mood to see them. Being there was hard enough without seeing her mother crying nonstop. I knew she blamed me for the accident, but she tried to keep her focus on Courtney. Her father, on the other hand, made his feelings a bit more obvious. He constantly glared at me and never tried to conceal the disgust and anger in his eyes. I didn’t blame him. I deserved it. She wouldn’t have been in that hospital bed if it weren’t for me.
I walked over to her bed and pulled a chair close to the side of the bed to be next to her. God, I missed her. It was the little things that got to me most. I’d always loved holding her hand, feeling the soft touch of her hand in mine. I needed to feel her… to touch her… so I took her hand and slowly rubbed my thumb across her fingers. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath to calm my nerves. Trying to break the unbearable silence, I began talking to her, praying that she might actually hear me.
“We had church today to talk about what we’re going to do to the guys that hurt you. I won’t let them get away with it, Court. I love you so much. I don’t know if I can stand this much longer. I need you to come back to me. I need you to keep me from falling over the edge. Please, baby… come back to me.” I looked up and searched her face for any signs of consciousness. Nothing.
Her beautiful voice constantly soothed and entertained me. The silence was like a knife in my heart. I needed her to say something, to keep me from losing my mind. I didn’t know what else to do. We’d tried everything to wake her up. Her mother had brought in her iPod so that she could listen to her favorite music. We’d filled the room with her favorite flowers, and we were constantly talking to her and touching her like the doctors had told us to. She never even budged. Sometimes, I thought maybe she was just being stubborn.
“Court, you have to wake up. You’ve kept me waiting long enough. I need you, baby,” I pleaded with her. I’d said it all before, but still I got no response. She just lay there with her eyes closed like she was sleeping. Her face was pale, and she’d lost weight. I hated it. I couldn’t stand watching her fade away right in front of my eyes. Every time I looked at her, it fueled my need for revenge. I was consumed by my hatred.
I was so tired that I could barely keep my eyes open, so I finally gave in to my exhaustion. I closed my eyes and rested my forehead on her leg. I had almost fallen asleep when I felt her fingertips brush through my hair. I thought it was just my imagination until I felt it again. I lifted my head and saw Courtney opening her eyes.
“Court?” I whispered. “Can you say something? Let me know I’m not dreaming here, baby. Say something.”
Her eyes flickered open and shut several times before she fell back to sleep. She’d never opened her eyes, so for the first time in days, I felt hope. Hope that she might find her way back to me. I sat there for hours, watching for any sign of life from her. I talked to her and rubbed her hand, praying that she would find the strength to wake up.
I don’t know when exactly I fell asleep. I woke up as one of the nurses came in to check Courtney’s vitals.
“She tried to open her eyes last night,” I told her as I leaned forward in my chair.
“That could be a good sign, Bobby. It could mean that she’s about to wake up. It’s important to keep talking to her. She needs all the stimulation she can get. Familiar sounds and touch tend to make a really big difference in helping patients find their way back.”
“I was talking to her last night when it happened.”
“That’s good. Keep it up. Have some of her friends come by and visit with her. Every little bit helps,” she explained.
“Do you think she’s going to pull through this?” I asked.
“If I knew a guy like you was waiting for me, I would do everything I could to get back to you. I’m sure she feels the same way.” God, I hoped she was right. It seemed like I’d been waiting for a lifetime.
Just as the nurse was leaving, Courtney’s doctor came in to review her chart. He turned to me and said, “We need to do another MRI to evaluate the residual function of the brain.” I hated the idea of them doing more tests on her, but I couldn’t tell him no.
“Do whatever you need to do to bring her back to me,” I told him feeling totally defeated.
“We’ll do what we can. You keep talking to her and let me know if there is any change.”
I spent the next few hours watching her and praying for some kind of sign that she would wake up. She’d move her hand, or blink her eyes, but nothing more. The doctors said something about her being in a minimally conscious state and that I needed to be patient. The wait was excruciating, but I had to hope that she would eventually find her way back.
You can find L. Wilder’s books on Amazon.
One More Time (MMG Series Book 3) Page 26
