THE DADDY NEXT DOOR: A Dark Bad Boy Baby Romance (Heaven’s Horns MC)

by Nicole Fox

  “There was no bail,” I said wearily. “I was only in jail because I was in the wrong place at the wrong time when the feds showed up. But Gabi got everything straightened out for me and let me go.”

  Suddenly, there was a noise from the doorway of the bathroom. The next thing I knew, Jess was flinging herself into my arms. “I thought for sure that you were going to jail,” she sobbed into my shoulder. “Or if not, I thought that Katia was going to find some way to kill you after all. What happened? I left right as the FBI were swarming, but they were so focused on all of you that I had time to get out.”

  I sighed, just reveling in the feeling of having her close to me again for a moment. I could see Dorian raising his eyebrows at me from over her shoulder, but I chose not to respond to that.

  “I need a shower and a nap,” I told both of them. “Everything's going to be fine, and I'll tell you all about it when I've revived myself a little. But I need a shower and a nap before I'll say anything else.”

  “Of course,” Jess said immediately, pulling back away from me. She leaned up shyly to kiss me, though, glancing over at Dorian and blushing a little when she was done. “Sorry,” she said. “I've just missed you.”

  I pulled her back into my arms and kissed her resoundingly, sucking at her lips and forcing my tongue into her mouth, claiming her as mine. Even though I had no intention of starting anything right now — not when I was so tired, and not in front of Dorian — I cupped her firm asscheeks with my hands and pulled her in close so she was pressed against me.

  Finally, we broke apart, both of us panting for air. I couldn't stop myself from leaning down and gently kissing her forehead, a tender gesture that I would never normally have allowed myself. Knowing that she was safe and that she was here ... it was all a bit surreal.

  I broke away from her and went to shower.

  Later that afternoon, we all sat down together for lunch. “Gabi was a federal agent the whole time,” I told the other two. “And I suspect that Rian was as well ... I don't think they were really sisters, I think that Gabi was trying to get her free because they needed her information in the case they were building against Silas. And that explains why Katia was so dead-set on not letting her go.”

  “Hmm,” Dorian said. “But how did Katia find out that she was a double agent?”

  “I don't know,” I admitted. “There's a lot that still doesn't make sense to me about this. All I know is that...” I glanced over at Jess. “Well, we're free. As far as I'm concerned, the packages were all delivered, I upheld my end of the bargain I made with Gabi, and Jess is safe. I'll have nothing more to do with the Sigma Saints.”

  Dorian frowned at me. “What about when the organization is under new leadership?” he asked. “I have a meeting already set up with—”

  “No,” I said, holding up my hands. “I don't want to hear anything more about it. My days of belonging to a biker gang are over.” I grimaced a little. “I guess you could say that I've lost any feelings of immortality that I ever entertained.”

  Dorian smiled a little at that. “Well, that at least is a benefit from all of this.”

  “What are you going to do instead?” Jess asked. I couldn't read her expression, but there was something in her voice that I responded to.

  I shrugged at her. “I haven't decided yet,” I told her evenly. “I'm keeping my options open.”

  The thing was, I didn't really want to be separated from her. After everything that had happened, I realized I had developed some very real feelings for her, and having nearly lost her to Silas and everything else had really cemented those feelings for me. I had no idea what she was thinking, though. She had her nice, ordinary life to go back to. I doubted she wanted me to have any part in her future, not with all the mayhem I had caused in her life over the past couple weeks.

  “Well, if you need buddies to ride with sometimes, you know where to find me,” Dorian said, smiling a little. I had a feeling he knew exactly where my thoughts were turned, what I'd like to do with my future. But he was nice enough not to blurt it out. Jess and I would need to have a serious talk at some point, but the lunch table wasn't the place to do it.

  “So what did Gabi say about the box of explosives anyway?”

  I shrugged. “She called it vigilante justice and didn't say anything more about it. The more I think about it, the more all of it seems strange to me. Katia clearly didn't use the guns in her escape from prison, and—”

  “Well, she couldn't have used the guns,” Gabi said, slipping into a seat at the table with us. She shrugged at my surprise. “I knew I needed to talk to you a little more before you left town, but not in the interrogation room, where anyone could hear. So I had you tailed back to the hotel.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Okay. But what do you mean Katia couldn't have used the guns? You delivered the packages, didn't you? All the pieces were there.”

  “When I took the packages from you, yes, all the pieces were there. But mysteriously enough, when they ended up in Katia's possession, the parts necessary to actually fire the guns were missing. Basically, all she got were some little toy guns. I doubt you would even have been able to use them as water guns.”

  I stared at her. “How did you…”

  “But how did Katia escape, then?” Dorian asked, a look of consternation on her face. “And why didn't she come after you? She must have known you had something to do with it.”

  “I think she suspected Thorn had done it, given his earlier moral qualms about the mission,” Gabi said, shrugging. “That's why she was so keen to make a deal with you in exchange for Jess's life.”

  “But how did she escape, then?”

  “Easy,” Gabi said with a little shrug. “She picked ten of the most brutish guys that she could find, armed them all with what everyone thought were real guns, and overpowered the guards at the gate. Unfortunately, most of the others died in the escape attempt.” Her face twisted into a sneer. “Katia didn't care, though. All she cared about was getting herself out of there and back to safety.”

  “So what was the whole point of your ... mission?” Jess asked suddenly.

  “Silas Eaves,” Gabi said grimly. “He got away with murder and whatever else when we managed to put Katia behind bars. I'm still not sure how he walked away from that one. But this time, he won't be so lucky. Not after everything with Rian.” She cocked her head to the side, staring at Jess. “You could testify as well. Get him locked up for even longer.”

  Jess laughed a little, shaking her head. “And then I'd have a whole host of Sigma Saints loyalists coming after me,” she said.

  “We might be able to arrange something for you,” Gabi said. “You've heard of the witness protection program, I'm sure...”

  “Sure,” Jess said, sounding a little surprised. “But would you really extend that to me, after everything that...”

  “If you testified against Silas, yes,” Gabi said firmly. “You'd have to leave behind your family and everything that you've ever known, though.”

  Jess winced and shook her head. “I couldn't do that,” she said. “My brother Brent...”

  I reached over and put a hand over hers, sensing her distress. “That's not an option,” I said, as though I had any right to have a say in this.

  Gabi shrugged a little. “It was worth a try,” she said. She narrowed her eyes at me. “I'm holding you at your word, though, Thorn Riley. You aren't a member of the Sigma Saints anymore. Don't get caught up in another scheme with them or we'll have no choice but to prosecute you.”

  I nodded at her, and she turned to Dorian. “And Dorian Barrows, you'd better make sure that this new organization of the Sigma Saints quits causing us so many problems, do you hear?”

  I stared at Dorian. “You guys know one another?” I asked. “Have you been working together on this all along?”

  Dorian shrugged. “That's part of being in a leadership position in one of the most well-known gangs in the country,” he said. “You have to know who to p
ay off.”

  I shook my head, wondering just how long he'd been planning this overthrow. But I didn't really want to know that.

  In fact, I didn't really want anything to do with any of this anymore. I stood up and held out my hand to Jess. “Let's go upstairs,” I said to her, even though I had only picked at my lunch. I had other things on my mind.

  She grinned up at me and stood as well. “You'll have to excuse us,” she said to Dorian and Gabi. “Have a nice afternoon.” Then, she followed me giggling upstairs.

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Thorn

  Once back in the room, I wasted no time in pulling Jess into my arms. For a moment, I just held her, still amazed that I somehow managed to have her back in my life. “I really missed you,” I told her honestly. “I couldn't stop thinking about you. I was kicking myself for letting you go through with such a risky plan to start with. Silas—”

  “I don't want to talk about that right now,” Jess interrupted. She leaned up on her tiptoes in an attempt to kiss me, but I pulled back away.

  “Jess, I'm serious,” I said.

  “Me too,” she said. “Look, I love you Thorn, now would you please fuck me?”

  I blinked at her, wondering if I had just heard her right. But from the challenge in her eyes, I knew that I had. “All right,” I said simply, pulling her up into my arms and carrying her over to the bed.

  I slowly started undressing her, unable to tear my eyes away from hers even as I stroked reverently over each plane of her smooth skin. When I reached the cleft in between her legs and trailed my fingers over her panties — which were already pleasantly damp with her desire — she gave a shaky sigh, eyes slipping shut.

  “Thorn, it's been so long,” she reminded me. “I need you.”

  “Easy there,” I murmured, kissing into her skin. “I know.” I quickly stripped myself down as well and then crawled on top of her, lavishing her skin with soft little licks and bites and kisses, doing my best to explore every inch of her body as she mewled and moved restlessly beneath me.

  Eventually, I dipped my fingers into the honeypot between her legs, applying pressure to those needy little spots, reveling in every muted whimper that I wrung from her. I sped up the movements I was making with my hand, causing her to shudder and her eyelids to flutter closed.

  “Mmm, just like that,” she said, already sounding totally fucked-out and open for me. She bit her lower lip and turned her face against the pillow, sliding her palms down my arms and chest. “Just like that, Thorn. Oh!”

  I leaned down to kiss her, manipulating her lips in the same way as I was manipulating her lady-parts. Then, without warning, I withdrew my fingers, leaving her walls clenching around air for a moment before I replaced my fingers with something even more filling.

  Jess just sighed into my skin, clinging to me. “So perfect,” she murmured, lightly kissing my collarbone.

  I grinned down at her, making slow circles with my hips in an attempt to drive her utterly wild. She looked so serene against the pillows, though, letting soft little noises fall from her mouth as though she no longer cared who might overhear us. She gave herself fully over into her passion, letting herself fall utterly slack against the bed, letting me use her form however I wanted to.

  I thrust with increased fervor, feeling absolutely desperate to achieve my own climax. I had never felt this level of desire before — desire that had my cock thick and swollen, throbbing in the space inside of her. I could already feel my balls drawing up tight, ready to shoot my thick seed deep inside of her core.

  Sure enough, one more stroke, two more strokes, and I was spilling into her, coming with a soft cry of her name.

  In the aftermath, we lay there sticky and panting on the sheets, and I reached over to pull her into my arms. “Look at you,” I murmured, kissing her forehead. “You're so wonderful.”

  “I love you,” Jess said again, quietly.

  It was almost as though she was holding her breath, waiting to hear if I said it back to her. I laughed a little and held her even closer, tightening the grip of my arms around her. “I love you too,” I told her, my voice raw with honesty. I wasn't entirely sure what that would mean for us, but I knew I had to say it.

  We lay there in contented silence for a long time, until I shifted against her and realized that I was hard again, ready to plunge back into her. I rolled her onto her back, staring down at her and pinning her there with my arms. “I love you,” I told her seriously, then positioned myself and delved into her one more time.

  This time, I didn't spare anything, and I didn't take my time. Instead, the heat of our passion consumed me, made me frantic with desire. I slammed into her, with a force that suggested I was trying to skewer her, to press all the way up through her navel.

  And she loved it.

  She couldn't seem to form words anymore, didn't seem to realize that every time I thrust into her, she cried out. It wasn't long before she was absolutely gasping. I slowed down a little, only to let her recover herself some, but she seemed hardly able to focus. Her fingers twisted restlessly in the sheets, and she kept uttering this soft pleas for me to keep going, to tear her apart.

  I ramped up the speed again, watching as her body practically convulsed against mine. She screamed out my name before her entire body stilled, falling lax against the bed. But I didn't stop there.

  Instead, I kept going, until she was practically sobbing. Her hands came up to grab my hips, and I wasn't sure if she was trying to slow down my movements or speed them up. She didn't seem to know either, caught in that state of over-pleasure where everything was almost too much but also just perfectly enough.

  I watched her come again and then again, leaning down to nip at her earlobe and toy with her full and perky breasts.

  But suddenly, it was my own orgasm overtaking me, sending me spiraling off into a white abyss. I groaned my way through it, collapsing down against her when my arms would suddenly no longer hold my weight. She cradled me there against her chest, though. And even when I tried to pull away, she held me still for just another moment, relaxing with my weight surrounding her.

  Finally, we pulled apart, and this time when I pulled her into my arms, I could feel that we were both about to doze off, well spent after our exertions. I tugged the blanket up around us and pulled her close, and for a long time, I knew no more.

  Epilogue

  I drummed my fingers against the countertop as I looked over at Jess, who was still looking around the place with wide eyes. “Are you sure that this is what you want?” I asked her one more time.

  She turned towards me, rolling her eyes a little. “Are you sure that this is what you want?” she asked me, raising an eyebrow at me. “I can only assume that you keep asking me over and over again because you're secretly hoping that I'll back out and you can—”

  I broke her off, kissing her lips and cutting off whatever else she might have said. “I want this,” I assured her as I broke away, staring seriously down into her eyes. “You know that I want this.”

  “Good,” she said, giving me a little secret smile of pleasure.

  I went back over to the counter and signed the paperwork to make this places ours — Jess's and mine. Afterwards, I took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

  “Already having regrets?” Jess asked teasingly. But I could see something there in her eyes, a wariness. I knew she was still expecting me to split out on my own at some point, to just take my bike and leave again. But I was perfectly content in the life that we were building for ourselves.

  “Nope, no regrets,” I told her, smiling at her. “You picked a good place.”

  Jess looked around again, grinning. “Yeah,” she agreed. “I'm still not sure how I feel about living in the city, but I suppose it can't be too bad with you by my side.”

  “I'm all for settling down with you, but there was no way I could settle out in suburbia,” I told her, shaking my head. It was a conversation we'd had from nearly the time that
she'd asked me to move in with her.

  “I really want you to move in with me,” Jess had said, trailing her hand down my chest as we'd lay there together in bed. We were supposed to be going our separate ways that day. I wasn't sure where exactly I'd go, but everything was done with that mission, Dorian had taken over the Sigma Saints, and it was time for us to leave town.

  “Don't say that if you're not serious about it,” I told her, still feeling lethargic and half-asleep.

  Jess snorted. “Like you'd ever agree to move in with me anyway.”

  I shook my head. “Like you'd ever ask me for real,” I said. “I'm sure you have ten thousand reasons up in your head about why we shouldn't move in together, starting with the fact that over the time that you've known me, I've been involved in criminal activities and ending with the fact that those criminal activities ended up with you the prisoner of a dirty sex fiend for a week.”