“Dawn?”
Turning her head over the pillows to meet his smile, she stretched luxuriously in the large bed and patted the pages under her hands as she returned his grin.
“It’s done,” she told him. “Six months. Feels like some kind of a record or something.”
Extending her hand, the Alpha gripped her fingers, and he fell to the free side of the bed. Kissing the top of her head, he glanced at her finished product as he arched his eyebrow.
“The Alpha Female,” Cade mused. “You want to let me in on the joke?”
“You know I think you boys are something special,” she started, as she nuzzled his neck. “But think of Mona working behind the scenes. Gloria patching all of us up.”
“I like that,” he said. “Because you are one of us, you know. In every way.”
He started to kiss her mouth when she pushed back and steadied her face in his hands.
“And Nicole is doing well for us out here,” she said. “Can you fault me for putting this spin on it?”
“No,” he said. “Don’t think I’d doubt anything that you’ll ever do.”
Reclining into the bed, his hand moved to her middle, and he casually flipped through the pages when darkness fell over his face.
“Well, that was quick,” she teased. “Something wrong?”
“Where’s the brave brunette that came into the fray and lived to tell the tale?” he asked. Dawn drank in the admiration pouring from his eyes, and she gently pulled on his hair before kissing his cheek.
“A good reporter never makes the story about herself,” she informed him. “I’m just the eyewitness.”
“Dawn, you’re a hell of a lot more than that.”
He ran his finger across the mark emblazoned across her cheek. A faint zigzag that could still appear harsh in the right light was visible, but Dawn was used to the image looking back at her in the mirror, and there was something sweet when Cade tapped the mark and told her that he was proud that she had lived through it to come out the other side. With him.
“Maybe next time,” Dawn said, as she let her notebook fall to the floor and wrapped him in her arms. His kiss swirled around her lips, and Dawn laughed lightly as she rolled on top of him, her knees caressing his thighs as she lifted up his shirt and fondled his chest.
“Thinking of doing a follow-up piece?” he asked, as his lips surrounded her breasts. Moaning at the feel of his tongue, Dawn ran her hands close to his belt, and she was eager to unfurl his cock when he took hold of her wrists.
“Still okay?” he asked. “I mean…I mean after…”
“You don’t have to keep asking, Cade,” she assured him. “I only feel fine with you.”
Cade appeared to understand, but he still lowered to her side, stroking her hair as he kissed her brow.
“I just always want to be sure,” he said. “I only want you to be happy, Dawn.”
Perched on her elbow, Dawn gazed down at him and softly nodded her head as her fingers tapped against his chest. She wanted her thoughts to fly through her fingers and warm his heart with the truth. Because it didn’t hurt when he held her. When he loved her. And she would wear the scar with pride for the rest of her life.
“I am happy,” she told him. “I’m with you, right?”
His nod warmed her soul, and they started to fall back to the bed when a commotion from outside pulled them apart. They peered hard to one another’s eyes, and Cade hurried to the window with Dawn at his heels. They looked together through the glass. Dawn realized that she was holding her breath. Michael had to be mad when they took off with his scoop. But was he fool enough to come after them? Cast his lot with a rival club and try to—?
“That boy doesn’t need to work so hard.”
Dawn relaxed when she saw Atticus trying to best Reese in a makeshift drag race. At the end of the day, the green-eyed Panther had his uses, and he seemed to stop shaking when Gloria took him under her wing and said that she would keep an eye on him.
And everyone knew what that meant.
“Give him a break, Cade,” she said. “He’s trying to fit in. He almost does.”
Cade still regarded him with something like rage when he thought of how the kid might have intervened before the worse for Dawn came to pass. But at the end of the day, she granted his second chance.
And Cade listened to what she had to say.
“If it makes you happy,” he grudgingly said. “Just don’t go writing the next story about him.”
He started to bring her back to the bed when Dawn held her ground and bit down on her lip.
“What?” he asked. “Don’t go telling me that that’s the idea?”
“No, Cade,” she said. “But there is something that you need to know.”
Sitting softly at his side, she took his hand and sighed.
“Dawn?” he asked. “What is it?”
“How…how open are you to someone else coming into the picture?” she asked.
“Better run it by Nicole,” he teased. “And Lenny might have something to say about—”
“I know,” she laughed. “It’s kind of sweet how she asks him if she’s making all the right moves.”
“She doesn’t have to,” he said. “And neither do—”
“Cade.”
Pressing his hand to her belly, she closed her eyes and sighed heavily before she was able to meet his gaze again.
“But I do, Cade,” she said. “Do you…do you think that you even want to be a father?”
The words spilled out artlessly, and she wished for a chance to revise when she lifted her lids. The Alpha appeared stunned by the sound of her words, like her familiar tongue had been replaced by something foreign.
“Right,” she started. “More than you bargained for. I can…I can always take care of it.”
Just the thought nearly shredded her soul, but this was the new life that she had signed up for. Dawn was surprisingly good at the game, and she would keep playing and—
“Dawn.”
His hands were hard against her shoulders, and he drew her closer as he caressed her cheeks, his fingers full of pride against the surface of her scar as his lips parted to reveal his bright smile.
“Don’t talk like that,” he said. “Just let me take care of you. And…and this.”
He tenderly touched her belly, and Dawn felt as if she was spinning through the clouds when he pulled her back to the bed and held her closer.
“So you are happy about this?” she asked. “Truly?”
“More of you, Dawn? That sounds like the best story of all.”
THE END
Read on for your FREE bonus book – SAVAGE BRUTE
To receive a free copy of an exclusive short, join my mailing list by clicking on the banner above or on this link: