She flung her arms around his neck without even thinking what she was doing and felt him hesitate before wrapping his arms around her. "Thank you," she whispered. "Thank you so much, Bobby." Her eyes filled with tears and she tried to pull away from him before he could see, but he held her fast.
"Why the tears?"
She shook her head, but Bobby took her hand in his and led her out of the ballroom to the garden. He sat on one of the benches and she sat next to him, wiping her tears with the back of her hand.
"Hey." His blue eyes met hers then, and he pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and gently wiped her face.
"I'm really sorry, Bobby," she wept. "I'm sorry I hurt you. I’m just so confused. I thought I knew exactly what I wanted, and now I don't. I don’t know how to live this life when it makes me so miserable. And I can’t help how I feel about--" She stopped herself then, not daring to start a conversation she didn’t have the energy to finish.
Bobby sat in complete silence, holding her hand until she sagged against him. Then he spoke quietly. "This is where you belong, Sugar, right here with me. Maybe I've been less than understanding. Hell, I know I've been less than attentive. But I want you by my side. I'll stand by and wait if that's what it takes, but I'm not going to just let you go and give up everything that should be yours."
"You promised we wouldn't talk about this," she sniffled.
"No ma'am," he disagreed with a crooked grin. "I promised I wouldn't pry into your personal affairs. I didn't make any promises about telling you how I feel or what I want."
Her shoulders sagged. "Bobby..."
"Shhh..." His fingers covered her lips and he pulled her close against his chest. "Don't say anything. I don't want to hear you say you don't love me or that you'll never be mine again. I've loved you too long for that. Just let me hold you a bit. Just for a minute."
Ali sighed and relaxed against him. She wanted the comfort, but she didn't want the responsibility of how seriously he might take the embrace. Bobby's arms felt like a stranger's. She was so used to Alejandro's powerful embrace that Bobby's arms felt insubstantial wrapped around her.
Not so long ago, his embrace was the only one to comfort her. So easily they drifted apart. The months of campaigning taking a toll on their relationship. She thought about how fragile their love must have been to die such a quick death. Especially when things with Alejandro had rekindled again so easily after so long apart.
When she pulled out of his embrace he smiled ruefully but didn't try to stop her. Instead, he sat with her in comfortable silence a few moments before she asked him to drive her back to get her car. She was relieved when he readily agreed. After a hasty good-bye to his parents, they escaped and headed back for his place.
Ali was impressed that Bobby still hadn't had anything to drink all night, and she couldn't help bringing it up on the drive home.
"You didn't drink anything tonight, did you?"
He shook his head. He was silent for a moment before clearing his throat. "You know, that night..."
She nodded to let him know she knew exactly what night he was referring to. The night at Bistro Mia, when he'd drunk to oblivion and practically forced himself on her, was still fresh in her mind. She hadn't forgotten how out of line he'd been or her panic when she thought she might not be able to stop him from forcing himself on her.
"When I realized what I'd done to you I knew how out of control I was getting. That was a big wake-up call for me, Sugar. I don't want to be some guy who drinks to cope with what he did the night before when he was drunk. I don't want to lose pieces of my life bit by bit while I drink myself into an early grave. So I just stopped."
"You stopped drinking? Altogether?" Ali was shocked. She thought Bobby was just making a special effort since she'd begged him not to drink too much that night while they were together. She never imagined he was actually embarking on a lifetime of sobriety.
He nodded. "Yes. I even started going to see someone. You know, a therapist..." His cheeks reddened a bit, and he cleared his throat and straightened in the driver's seat. "My Daddy doesn't know. Mama either. Imagine what they'd think of me going to a head-shrinker."
Ali smiled in spite of herself. Carmac and Cecile, like her own parents, thought every problem was solved behind the closed doors of your own home. And look how fucked-up we all are because of it. She knew what a big step it was for Bobby to have done this. It was maybe even a bigger step that he admitted his weakness to her.
"You're a good man, Bobby. I never doubted that," she said honestly.
"I'm so sorry I hurt you." His voice was choked with emotion. "I'm sorry I treated you like that... I'm ashamed of how I acted, Ali."
"No, Bobby, hey..." She turned to him and laid her hand on his arm. "It's okay. It's done. The important thing is that you're getting the help you need. And I'm here for you, as a friend, no matter what happens between us."
"Do you mean that? About us being friends?"
"Of course I do. You mean a lot to me. You always will."
He smiled and patted her hand. "Then that's good enough for now."
CHAPTER THIRTY ONE
Ali was all the way up her driveway, almost to her house, when the bike gleamed in the glare of her headlights. Alejandro was nowhere to be seen. The bike was tucked into its usual spot, the house still dark except for the soft glow of the porch light.
"Alejandro?" she called, taking a few tentative steps toward the house.
"Right here, Baby." His deep voice came from behind her, and she spun around, almost losing her footing on the gravel in her impossibly high heels. "I went to the barn to see Tip."
"You scared me."
"I didn't mean to," he murmured, walking closer until he was standing right in front of her. "I figured you could see me in the porch light."
"I meant when you left the other night. When you didn't text me back." Her eyes blurred with tears.
"You haven't checked your phone, then."
"No."
He closed the gap between them, tipping her chin up so he could brush his lips across hers. "I couldn't stay away."
"I'm sorry I kept it from you," she whispered into his kiss.
"Later you can explain why you did," he murmured, nibbling along the edge of her jawline until she shivered.
"Later?"
He nodded as his hands cupped her ass and he pulled her flat against him. "Later. After we take care of some other business." He stared down into her face, his lips hovering just a breath away from hers.
"Nothing happened," she blurted, even though he hadn't asked. "With Bobby, I mean."
"I know that, Baby." His lips hitched up in a whisper of a smile, but his eyes were serious. "I don't think I'd be seeing all that heat in those pretty gray eyes of yours if another man had satisfied you even a little bit."
Ali shook her head and whispered, "I only want you."
"You don't know how happy I am to hear you say that."
"Take me inside," she begged.
***
Alejandro lifted Ali onto the kitchen island and pressed his lips to hers just once before twining his fingers in her hair. One by one he removed the pins until her curls draped around her shoulders like a veil. All the while she could feel him, smell him, practically taste him as his fingers worked their magic.
When she made a move to touch him, he tucked her hands under her thighs and commanded her to keep them there, his dark eyes fixing on hers so that she couldn't refuse even if she wanted to. She shivered with the need to be touched, and she wasn't the only one affected. When she peeked up at Alejandro through lowered lashes, she heard his breathing hitch a bit. The pounding in her chest grew more insistent as the erotic energy built between them.
His hands stole around her back, feeling for the zipper. When he found it under her arm he tugged it down in one smooth stroke. A bra hadn't been possible with the dress, so when he drew the thin straps away from her shoulders her breasts were on full display for him. Reverentl
y he skimmed his hands down the front of her body, making her sigh as his calloused palms scraped her stiffening nipples. He rubbed his knuckles over one erect bud, pinching it between two fingers and smiling at her little cry of pleasure.
"If I slide my hand up inside this dress, will I find that you're just as naked on the bottom?" he asked, his voice husky. "What will I touch, Ali? Lace? Silk? Cotton? Or just you, bare and wet?"
The hunger in his voice took her breath away. All she could do was stare at him as he spread her thighs as far apart as the tight gown would allow. His mouth closed over hers and she moaned against his kiss as he slid his hand up the rounded muscle of her calf, over her knee, and between her thighs.
"Please," she whispered, when his fingers finally brushed over the soaked panel of her satin panties.
"Please what, Ali?" He hooked his finger behind the sodden undergarment and tugged until it slid down her thighs.
"I need you inside me," she begged, groaning softly as he yanked it the rest of the way off. He said nothing, just drew her hands out from under her thighs and quickly bound her wrists behind her back with her own panties.
"Oh, Alejandro, please..." Her entire skin felt feverish, every touch heightening her arousal. She writhed on the counter in front of him, begging to be put out of her misery.
"Not yet," he said conversationally. "I need to be sure you really want it."
***
She still wants me. No matter that she spent the night on that rich bastard's arm. She's still mine. Alejandro didn't know how to contain the relief that surged through him. He had been so sure a different Ali was going to greet him tonight and had braced himself for the guilty look in her eyes. He'd been prepared to hear her words of apology, or even worse, see that look of fear he'd caught a glimpse of the last time they'd been together. Instead he found that she was still his. Completely.
His fingers slipped into her impossible heat and she undulated her hips to meet his touch. With her hands bound behind her she was somehow even more responsive, as if she was trying to make up for not being able to touch him. Watching her teeth sink into her lush lower lip he recalled the last time they'd been together, how he'd pleasured her until she couldn't see straight.
Before she'd told him she was going with rich boy to the gala. Just the thought of that metaphorical face slap nearly wilted his erection. But whatever had happened that night between Ali and Bobby, it hadn’t been sex. Her body told him he was the only one.
Alejandro realized they hardly ever talked about anything important: Bobby, the fucking engagement ring that had magically reappeared on her dresser, his return next month to San Antonio. Instead, they devoured each other like it was the last day of their lives. Which, as amazing as it was, didn't bring them any closer to figuring out what the hell would happen when he had to leave town again.
He already knew he wasn't letting her go. No fucking way was he going back home without something. He didn't want his next stint in Arroyo Flats to put him face to face with Ali and some other guy's kids. His fingers bit into the skin of her thigh as he imagined running into a lushly pregnant Ali in the grocery store with a little blonde toddler already in the cart.
Her lusty gasp brought him back to the here and now as he thrust his fingers inside her. She was open to him, dripping, waiting for him to make love to her. He couldn't wait. He tugged open his fly and grasped his straining cock. Ali's eyes widened as she glanced at it, licked her lips, and then looked back at him, blazing with need.
Alejandro was inside her before he realized how roughly he had grabbed her, but the satisfied look on her face was echoed by her eager moans, and he knew it was exactly how she'd wanted it. He twined one hand into her tangled mane and tilted her head back until her body was a smooth marble line in front of him. With his other hand he clasped her buttocks and shoved as deep in her as he could go.
Her entire being seemed to shudder with pleasure.
"That's it," he growled. "This is what you wanted, isn't it? This is what you thought about when you were eating dinner with all those rich fuckers at the gala."
"Yes," she whimpered, arching to meet his touch.
"You sat next to him and you thought about me fucking you. You thought about me making you scream my name."
“Yes, Aleajandro…”
“You’re mine.”
She shivered and gasped something he couldn't understand. He could feel her tensing, tightening as her climax built in her and he stopped trying to hold back his own.
"That’s it." He pounded into her, his hand cupping her ass. “Come for me, Baby.”
Ali nodded and whispered yes, yes, yes over and over. When he saw her chest start to flush, he had just enough time to pull out and jet his seed onto her heaving belly as she shuddered and sobbed his name.
The shrill chime of his phone broke the spell. It signaled from his hip pocket, vibrating relentlessly from where his jeans had slipped down his thighs.
"Fuck." Alejandro untied Ali's hands and then pulled a bandanna from his pocket, cleaning his spent desire from Ali's stomach before hitching up his pants and reaching for the phone. It had stopped ringing. He hesitated, glanced at it, and placed it on the counter, within easy reach. Cupping her face in his hands, he captured her mouth in a slow, tender kiss.
"Do you have to go?"
"I hope not." He grimaced. "If I do, I'll try to come back."
She nodded and wrapped her arms around his neck, drawing him in for another kiss. His fingers traced over her shoulder blades and skimmed down her back. They were traveling under the hem of her bunched-up dress once again when the phone interrupted.
CHAPTER THIRTY TWO
"Fu-uck." Alejandro picked up the phone. "Yeah?" he barked.
Ali could hear an animated voice on the other end.
"Wait, what?" Alejandro rubbed his head and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Shit. No. Yes. No, just hang on. I'll be there in ten."
He hung up and groaned, leaning until his forehead rested against Ali's. "I gotta go."
"There's a spare key hidden in the fern on the table out back. If you come back, just let yourself in if I'm asleep, okay?" She looked tired but her eyes still sparkled with promise.
"Yeah, Baby." He cupped his hand around her mound and kissed her tenderly. "Go to bed and I'll see you in the morning."
***
"We got a problem," Pitbull announced grimly when Alejandro charged into the clubhouse. "You know I'd never bother you this late unless it was an emergency."
"Get to it," Alejandro stripped off his gloves.
"Remember when Dobie said that Crockett was about to split off from the Bezerkerz."
"Shit. Did that happen?"
"Well, yeah, but it's worse than just that. Crockett and Spidey had a huge falling out. Crockett brought some new guys on board, and the word I just got from Dobie is that Crockett's new club is going under the protection of the Diablos. Getting patched in and everything."
"Fuck!" Alejandro's voice echoed off the warehouse walls. "That means the Diablos would have protection from the DEA. But they're already under investigation!"
"Unofficially. And maybe that's why they agreed to take Crockett's club under their own," Pitbull suggested. "His cousin must be part of the deal."
"That crafty little fucker," Alejandro growled. "What's Spidey gonna do about this?" He walked to the fridge, pulled out a beer, and popped the top.
"That's the thing. I think he's gonna ask us to go in on a hit to get rid of Crockett."
Alejandro paused mid-swallow and set the beer down on the table next to him. "Whoa--what?"
"A hit. To get rid of Crockett. I can't be positive, but I think that's where Spidey's going next."
"Says who? Dobie?"
Pitbull nodded.
"Fuck." And if we have to go in on a hit, we set a precedent, Alejandro thought. We do it once, every motherfucker from here to the coast will tap us as hired hit men. We're supposed to be moving hot product and bringing a
few people over the border. Not killing people for the highest bidder. "Anything else?" he asked.
Pitbull nodded. "Actually, there is." He pulled out his phone and showed Alejandro several pictures of a black car. "This car's been following me all day, man. I saw it like five times today. Just before I called you, it was parked outside for the longest time. You see what's on the hood?" He tapped the screen with his fingertip.
Alejandro frowned and squinted. The picture was blurry but after a while, he made out the distinctive green devil. Cold sweat broke out down his back. "They don't waste time, do they?"
HANDS OFF MY WOMAN: Padre Knights MC Page 12
