by Naomi West
“But by the looks of you, little lady,” I say, dropping onto one knee, “I don’t need a fancy speech.” I take the ring out of my pocket and open it, showing her the glittering diamond. “Willa Holloway, will you marry me?”
She whispers, “Yes,” in my ear, and then moans, “Yes,” in the bedroom. When we’re lying next to each other, naked, with the pasta bubbling loudly from the kitchen, the room smelling of sex, she leaps into my lap and kisses me over and over again on the nose. “Yes, yes, yes!” she cries.
As I watch her walk naked into the living room to turn off the stove, I think to myself: This is easily the happiest moment of my life. I know it’s not going to be easy. I know there are going to be obstacles along the way. But for the first time in all my days, I feel like I have a chance at something better. And that’s worth fighting for, I reckon.
Epilogue
Willa
Driving from the station to the suburbs takes longer than driving from the station to an inner-city apartment, but since I never had a car anyway and had to ride the bus, I don’t really notice the difference. I was given the car I’m driving now a year ago, when I was made assistant to Sofia Silva, with the understanding that one of these days I might become head of the station. I look down at my wedding and engagement ring, smiling to myself even though I’m stuck in awful LA traffic.
The wedding was held at The Princess, something we brought up as a joke at first. Diesel—he’ll always be Diesel to me—said, “Imagine if we had it at that bar, the one where we first met.” He was trying to tease me but the idea grew and grew and grew, until I didn’t find it remotely funny anymore. The more I thought about it, the more perfect it became. So I stood in that dive bar in my dress, and Diesel stood there in his suit, and we kissed each other and promised never to let each other go. And we haven’t. For five years, we haven’t.
The traffic relents and I’m able to drive the rest of the way home. I’m nervous as I pull into the driveway. Diesel won’t be home for another hour yet, but when he gets here, I have something to tell him. Something which has made focusing today almost impossible.
I climb from the car, lift some groceries off the passenger seat, and walk toward our house. Mine and Diesel’s slice of suburbia, a four-bedroom with a well-kept green lawn and rows of houses stretching out in either direction. I pause for a moment on the doorstep, savoring this feeling, the feeling of having a home, a life. It’s one I haven’t really known since Mom and Dad.
The door opens before I can touch the handle, Frankie standing at the threshold in her little firefighter’s outfit. Diesel got it for her last week and she hasn’t been able to take it off. She grins up at me. “Mommy!” she calls, leaping up and down. “There was a fire in the kitchen and I saved the day!”
“A fire in the kitchen?” I ask Tammy, the babysitter.
She rolls her eyes, smiling kindly. “I lit a candle over the sink for her,” she says, “so she could put it out with a glass of water.”
I laugh. Tammy is easily the best babysitter we’ve had. “How much do I owe you?”
Once Tammy is paid and in her car, I carry Frankie through into the living room and sit her down in front of the bookshelf. She whines that she wants to watch TV, but I stand firm. I never got around to writing my novel. Maybe one day Frankie will write a novel of her own. Or do anything else she wants.
I put away the groceries and then join Frankie, picking up The Hobbit from the top of the shelf and continuing from where we left off. Diesel walks through the door in his firefighter’s uniform just as Bilbo is trying to rescue the dwarves from prison. Frankie leaps on him, and Diesel lifts her up and kisses her on the forehead. He smiles at me over the top of her head. Frankie has my hair and build, but Diesel’s dark green eyes. It always breaks my heart a little to see them together like this. Sometimes I can’t believe it’s real.
He puts her down and goes upstairs to take a shower. When he comes downstairs, I’m in the kitchen preparing dinner and Frankie is in the living room, finally allowed to watch TV. I need her attention elsewhere for what I’m about to reveal to Diesel. I catch him in the kitchen, wrapping my arms around him and looking up into his face. He’s grown his beard out several times since we first met, but he’s never had it this long before. He looks like a real man, a wild man.
“Is something wrong?” he asks.
“Not wrong, exactly,” I say. “Just … something.”
He kisses me on the nose. “Don’t keep me in suspense.”
I swallow, and then come out and say it. “I’m pregnant.”
He doesn’t hesitate for even a moment. His smile is instant. For a moment the world seems brighter. He hugs me tightly to him, kissing my cheek over and over. “Why do you look so worried?” he asks, laughing. “This is the best news I’ve heard all year. Come here, you silly woman.”
He lifts me off my feet and I squeal. Then Frankie comes running in, pretend hose in hand, screaming, “I’m here to the rescue! I’m here to the rescue!”
THE END
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Books by Naomi West
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BABY WITH THE BEAST: Seven Sinners MC
The beast wants my body…
So he can put his baby inside me.
My twin sister is the one with a taste for bad boys.
Not me.
But by the time Rocco Greene has had his way with me…
I’m never going to want to taste anything else.
He’s a caveman on a motorcycle.
A bona fide bad boy.
He wants my body – and he doesn’t give a damn about my heart.
I don’t plan on going any closer to him than I have to.
Unfortunately, that’s plenty close enough for him to do his worst.
Because he’s the best man at my sister’s wedding.
I’m the maid of honor.
We’re far, far too close.
And after a drunken bachelorette party brings me swooning into his arms in a filthy club bathroom, I don’t have much honor left.
I don’t know why I let him do what he did.
Why I let him tease. Taste. Dominate.
All I know is this dirty little secret:
I f**king loved it.
But that only lasts as long as our little bathroom romp.
When we emerge, sweaty and flushed, everything starts to fall apart.
My sister’s fiancé takes a bullet from his enemies.
A biker war erupts.
And Rocco’s baby starts growing in my belly.
WILD CHILD: The Wylde Ones MC
WHAT DO I WANT? A BABY.
WHEN DO I WANT IT? RIGHT F***ING NOW.
She’s the teacher, but I’m the one about to teach her a lesson:
Never deny me what I want.
So when I say I want her to bear my baby, there’s only one answer I want to hear:
“Yes, Mr. Wylde.”
I’m the president of the Wylde Ones MC, but it isn’t enough to have my name on the club.
I won’t be president forever.
And when I go, I want an heir to my throne.
I could wait and let fate dictate who that heir will be.
But I’ve never been one to leave things to chance.
I’ve made up my mind.
This is what’s going to happen:
I’m going to have Lena.
And Lena’s going to have my baby.
No matter what denials come from those pretty pink lips.
No matter how much she moans or protests.
I’m going to show her she needs my body just as much as I need
hers.
But I can’t forget that she’s just a tool. A means to an end.
I refuse to let myself get tangled up in the process.
This is strictly a business transaction.
And I intend to transact with Lena again, and again, and again…
DIESEL DADDY: Skull Riders MC
THIS DIESEL DADDY WANTS TO LIGHT MY WORLD ON FIRE.
He was gasoline; I was a lit match.
We never should have been within a country mile of each other.
But I just couldn’t turn down the scoop of a lifetime, and look what it got me:
The bad boy’s hand on my throat… and his baby in my womb.
When I saw Diesel walk into that bar, I thought he’d be my ticket to the top.
A bad boy biker with a rap sheet thicker than the dictionary?
Sounded like the perfect juicy news lead.
But what I found out was that Diesel had something else thick he wanted to share with me…
And he knew it’d make me juicy, too.
I should know better.
But I just can’t say no.
Not when he pulls me into his arms.
Not when he bends me over his bed.
And not when he whispers in my ear exactly what he wants to give me:
His baby in my belly.
THE DEVIL’S BABY: The Smoking Vipers MC
I SWORE I’D PUT MY BABY IN HIS DAUGHTER’S BELLY.
She thinks I’m the devil, but that won’t stop me.
When her father sees what I’ve done with his girl, he’ll beg for my mercy.
But I won’t rest until she’s wearing my ring…
And bearing my baby.
I’m gonna end this war once and for all…
By hurting Snake Lafayette in the most permanent way possible.
His daughter already thought her life was hell…
But then she met me.
And I’ve got big plans for this little princess.
She’s gonna bend where I tell her.
Beg when I command her.
And once I drag her to the altar, she’ll be mine forever.
Whether she likes it or not.
PAY FOR HER: The Warhawks MC
HE PAID WHATEVER IT TOOK TO MAKE ME HIS.
The thug who stole my home wants me as his slave.
The biker who bought my body wants me for something worse.
I had no choice but to become his possession.
I just never thought I’d like it so much.
I used to be a good girl, once upon a time.
I had a grandmother who loved me.
A home to shelter me.
But then these men came into my life and took it all away.
Before I know it, I’m stripped bare under the spotlights while faceless men bid for my body.
The night grows longer.
The price goes higher.
But one man won’t be outdone.
I’ve never met him before.
But by the time the nightmare is over, I have a feeling I’m going to know him very, very well.
My new owner, Tank, is a monster.
A killer.
A thief.
He terrifies me.
And from now on, I belong to him.
AXEL’S LITTLE ANGEL: The Rippers MC
I WANT HER TO BEAR MY LITTLE ANGEL.
I knew it from the moment she hit me with her car:
This girl would be the one to bear my child.
The problem is, she doesn’t know that yet herself.
Time to take her in my arms and show her how things are gonna be.
Millie is a good girl.
An innocent girl.
But not for long.
She hit me with her car and now she’s going to pay the price.
I don’t want money – not that she has the necessary funds, anyways.
No, Little Miss Millie has something I want far, far more.
A body to bear my baby.
She can try to resist me all she wants.
But when I come to collect what I’m owed, there will be nothing in the world that can stop me.
I won’t rest until I have my little angel.
PISTOL’S BABY: The Brethren MC
I SWORE I’D PUT MY BABY IN HER WOMB.
I promised I’d put a baby in her belly.
And Pistol Adams doesn’t break his promises.
Lisa doesn’t recognize my face, but when I tie her to my bed, she’ll remember…
I’ve owned her since the day we met.
It was a silly promise struck between silly kids.
If she wasn’t a mother by the time I came back,
I’d make damn sure that I did the job.
Years went by.
A lot of stuff happened – to both of us.
But I’m back home now, and I’ve got business to settle.
Lisa doesn’t even remember me.
In her defense, I’ve got scars I didn’t have back then.
Tattoos.
Blood on my hands.
But I’m a man now, not a little boy anymore.
And I’ve got a promise to fulfill.
I don’t give a damn if she has a man, or a career, or anything else like that.
Only one thing matters now:
Holding her down until I fill her with my child.
I won’t take no for an answer.
KNOCKED UP BY THE BIKER: The Ancestors MC
I NEVER MEANT TO GET KNOCKED UP BY THE BIKER.
The biker had me once. I guess that wasn’t enough.
Because he comes crashing back into my life…
And this time, he won’t be satisfied with one kiss, one touch, one night.
He won’t rest until I’m pregnant with his baby.
I let him own me like no man had before him.
I should’ve known he’d leave me in the dirt.
Afterwards, I tried to forget about Bryce...
Until he showed up in my emergency room.
With his gun aimed at my head, he told me exactly what he wanted me to do.
I didn’t have a choice but to comply.
So I knelt.
I bent.
I submitted.
But one taste of me wasn’t enough.
He wanted more, and more, and more.
There’s only so much a girl can give.
Or so I thought.
But when he told me what he really wanted, my heart stopped.
That’s how I ended up a thousand miles from home…
Kidnapped.
Claimed.
And knocked up by the biker.
CRAVE: Santora Mafia
One night with her was not enough. I crave more.
If I like what I see, I take it.
Being a mob boss has its privileges.
I had no right to her, but I took her anyways.
And it’s about to cost me everything.
She didn’t deserve what I did to her.
But when did that ever stop me?
She was too tempting, too innocent for me to ignore.
I needed a taste.
So I took one.
A whole night of tasting.
Of touching.
Of satisfying every. Single. Craving.
If I could do it over again, maybe I would have left her alone.
She was delicious, yes…
But it was wrong to leave her to her abusive husband, her depressing life.
I had it all – money, power, adventure.
She had black eyes and sleepless nights.
But as everything crumbles around me, I find myself thinking of her again.
There’s war.
Blood.
Death and betrayal.
But all I want is another taste of Sofia.
And when I find out her son is my heir, the deal is sealed:
I’m coming back to get what’s mine.
TRADED: A Dark Mafia Romance
I traded my freedom for a chance at survival. Now, I belong to a monster.
You can’t outrun your fate.
I would know – I tried.
I fled death and destruction…
…only to end up in the bed of a killer.
Michal
Alina was like all the other girls.
Hopeful. Expectant. Naive.
I've seen this picture a hundred times before.
