Xavier

 

As Xavier carried Kenzie out of that hellhole, he knew he was home free. His men were at his back, and as he glanced around him they seemed to all be there. They hadn’t lost any lives, at least not at their location. He would find out how the other parties had done once they all reunited at The Scythe.

 

He looked down at the woman in his arms, touched by the way she pressed into him. He had been convincing himself that she didn’t really want to have anything to do with him, and that Kenzie would turn her back on him as soon as she was over the threshold of her father’s house. But he had been completely wrong, and his hopes had been more accurate than his fears. Feeling like a new man, he burst out of that place and watched gladly as it exploded.

 

But all of that changed when he saw the look on Kenzie’s face. He thought at first that he had completely messed up. Xavier had gotten her out, and he knew she wanted that much. But he’d never bothered to ask her where she wanted to live or if the home had meant anything to her. Damn it, he’d never even given her a chance to get her things out. Clothes and furniture could be replaced, but maybe there was something else in that conflagration that she needed.

 

“I need to go to the hospital.”

 

Her words were clear, but they rattled around in his brain for a moment. That was the last thing he had been expecting. As though he was suddenly jolted back to life, he began hollering at his men. “Get me a car. I can’t take her on the bike. Get me a car and get us out of here now!” They burst into motion around him, and only a few minutes later he was gently helping Kenzie into the back of a cushy sedan that he was fairly certain had been stolen from the Labriolas. It didn’t matter. Someone would take care of his bike, and right now he was going to take care of Kenzie.

 

The ride to the hospital seemed to take forever. “What’s wrong?” he asked, trying not to let his fear come through in his voice.

 

She gestured helplessly at her body and sniffled back her tears. “I don’t really know. I’ve felt awful the entire time, and a doctor came and told me everything was fine. But then there was blood, just before you came, and I don’t know if things really are okay.”

 

Despite their circumstances, a surge of hope shot through Xavier’s bloodstream. “Does that mean you want to keep the baby?” He resisted laying a protective hand over her stomach. He didn’t want her to do anything rash, but he knew what he wanted.

 

She nodded, smiling weakly. “I didn’t think I wanted to be a mother. It was just such a big change, and I didn’t want anyone to have to grow up the way I did. It wasn’t right.”

 

Now he did lay his hand on her. Her body had barely changed since the night he had met her, and there was only the slightest bulge under his palm. Still, he knew it was there, and he knew what it meant. “I’ll make sure that never happens.”

 

“I know you will.”

 

The hospital staff rushed her to the back as soon as they arrived and Xavier told them what was happening. Two nurses in scrubs put her in a wheelchair, and one of them looked at him harshly. “Are you the father?”

 

“Yes.” He waited to be challenged on that. Xavier knew what he looked like. He was a tattooed biker in leather, and this woman probably thought he wasn’t good enough for any young woman.

 

But she nodded and grabbed him by the arm. “Come on, then.”

 

He waited patiently while several tests were done, pressing his lips together and letting Kenzie do all the talking. She was the only one that really knew what was going on, after all, and he had hardly been involved up until this point.

 

Finally, an older man in a lab coat ducked into the room, his cloudy eyes lighting up when he saw Kenzie. “Ah, my dear! I didn’t expect to see you again!”

 

“Dr. Girtman!” Kenzie looked happy for the first time since they had left her house. “What are you doing here? I thought … I thought …”

 

“That I was just some black-market doctor at the beck and call of men like your father? No, it was simply an accident that I ended up coming to see you. In my spare time, I go out into the alleys and the bars, the bad parts of town, and I help those who can’t afford it. There are many people who fall through the cracks of the healthcare system, and I do my best to help them.”

 

She reached out and squeezed his hand. Xavier stood, confused. “You two know each other?”

 

Kenzie nodded. “He came to help me when I wasn’t feeling well.”

 

“And I can see that you’ve been … removed from your situation, shall we say?” He shot Xavier a hesitant glance.

 

“I have,” Kenzie affirmed. “But I’m so scared. Please tell me I’m all right.”

 

The doctor consulted his chart for a long moment. “You are. You’ve had a lot of stress already for this first trimester, and it’s taken its toll on you. But you don’t have anything to worry about, Miss Labriola. You and the baby are going to be just fine.”

 

* * *

 

Dr. Girtman ordered rest and relaxation for Kenzie, and Xavier did his absolute best to give it to her. He moved into the guest room of his own home in order to give her his bed, which had the most comfortable mattress on it. He insisted that she stay in bed while he brought her meals to her, and during the times that she insisted on getting up he was always close by, in case she needed him.

 

Asphalt and the other Reapers understood his absence, and they only called to report that everything had gone down the way it was supposed to. “We didn’t lose anybody that night,” the president confirmed a week after the incident, once he had given Xavier some time to deal with his own problems. “I can’t even imagine what the death toll was for the Labriolas, but I don’t think we need to worry about it. With Matteo gone, they won’t be resurfacing anytime soon. Not only did we get rid of a major threat to our club, but we’ve opened up dozens of new markets. There are business deals coming in left and right, now that our competition is almost zero.”

 

He was glad to hear it, but he had something else he needed to take care of. Kenzie had just emerged from the master bedroom. She was dressed and had her shoes on, and she carried a shopping bag in her hands. “That’s great. I’m going to have to call you back on that, though.” Xavier hung up and strode straight to Kenzie. “What’s going on?”

 

She looked down at the floor for a moment before bringing her eyes back up to his. “I’ve intruded on you for far too long.”

 

“It’s only been a week, and it’s not like you can go back to your place.” Desperation took over his chest. He couldn’t be losing her, not after all this.

 

“No, but I was thinking it’s time I found a new place. Neither one of us planned to be parents, and I don’t want to force any more of this on you than I already have. We know the baby is fine now, so there’s no reason for me to stay here any longer.”

 

Her words pierced his heart, and Xavier realized what an idiot he had been. He had taken her presence for granted, and he hadn’t wanted to press her into a difficult conversation. She was in a delicate state, and he had used her physical trouble as an excuse not to talk to her about the hard stuff. “Maybe there is.”

 

She looked up at him, and he thought he saw his own thoughts reflected in her eyes. “Yeah?”

 

Xavier pulled her into his arms. “Kenzie, I know this has all been so hard on you. But you aren’t in it alone.”

 

“That’s nice to know.” She smiled and put her hands on his chest, splaying out her fingers.

 

He took one of her hands and held it in his, feeling the vibrations of electricity that crackled between them. “No, it’s more than that. I love you, Kenzie. I’ve been lying to myself about it, thinking that I didn’t really mean it and maybe wondering if I was even capable of it. Our lives are changing, but we don’t have to do anything too quickly. Why don’t you stay here for a while and see how it goes? We don’t have to make any definite plans or make any major commitments. We have plenty of time for that in the future.” Xavier was a biker. He was supposed to be a hard man who cared about nothing but riding hellbent for leather and satisfying his primal needs at the end of the day. But the fact of the matter remained that Kenzie was absolutely everything to him. She was the one thing he couldn’t live without, the one person who could reach inside him and show him what his heart truly looked like.

 

She didn’t say anything for a long moment, and Xavier’s blood thundered in his ears as he waited. “I’ve been a very independent person for a long time,” she finally said, her voice hushed. “I knew that I didn’t have anybody to count on, and so I stopped looking. I’ve been concentrating so much on my future—my future as just me—that I never stopped to think what it might be like if there was somebody else in the picture.”

 

Xavier’s breath left his lungs, leaving him feeling like a deflated party balloon. “So, you won’t stay? Look, Kenzie, I know it might not be very easy. But I don’t want you to go through any trouble with the baby and—”

 

She pressed a finger to his lips to silence him. “I wasn’t done yet. I’ve been very independent, and I’ve never thought about anyone else, but that doesn’t mean it was the wrong thing. I didn’t bother imagining what life would be like with another person, because I never thought there could be one. And then you came along and completely changed me. For the first time, I don’t want to do it all on my own. I’m finding that I like the idea of having someone at my side to help me when life gets challenging.” She paused and smiled, her eyelashes damp. “I love you, too, Xavier, and there’s nothing I want more than to stay here.”

 

He bent his head to kiss her. Xavier had been controlling himself as much as he could, even knowing that Kenzie had been sleeping in his bed for the past week. It hadn’t been the right time when she had just been released from the hospital, even though he had wanted her so badly. His body reacted to the kiss, reawakening and remembering all that he had been missing. Xavier pressed her body gently against his, feeling the small bump that now fought to keep them from being completely together.

 

“Does this mean,” Kenzie asked between kisses, “that we’ll finally get to sleep in the same bed again?”

 

“I thought you’d never ask.” Xavier picked her up in his arms and carried her back into the bedroom. He laid her on the mattress, taking a moment to just stand there and admire her. She was so gorgeous, with her dark hair tumbled all around her on the pillow. She carried the glow of maternity with her, and it turned him on. “You have no idea how hard it was to stay away from you for the past week,” he said as he bent down and kissed her once again, reaching for the buttons on her shirt.

 

“Oh, I think I have an idea.” Her breath was hot against his neck as she trailed her lips down his skin. “I knew, at first, that you were just thinking of me. But after a few days I was starting to wonder if I had said or done something wrong.”

 

Xavier had her blouse halfway undone. Her full breasts were peeking out at him, inviting him to taste. But he snapped his eyes up to Kenzie’s and looked at her fiercely. “Don’t ever think that, Kenzie. Not for a second. I’m sure we won’t always get along, but I know I will always want you in my bed.”

 

“You damn well better.” Kenzie pulled him back down to her, their lips melding and their tongues dancing, each of them showing their need and their desperation with just that. But it wasn’t enough for either of them.

 

Xavier finished his work with her shirt and was pleased to see that her bra snapped in the front. He let it go with the flick of a finger, revealing the round globes. He buried his face in the generous flesh, kissing her nipples and enticing them to hard peaks. She moaned her pleasure underneath him, which only drove him further. He easily pulled down the smooth cotton leggings she had slipped on that morning and cast aside her lacy panties, moving up onto the bed so he could truly enjoy her. Even pregnant, Kenzie had the sexiest figure. Her full chest trimmed down to a tiny waist before expanding out into ample hips that begged him to grab onto them. She had long, lean legs with fine muscles. Even her feet were sexy.

 

“Are you just going to stand there all day and look at me?” Kenzie asked, one slim eyebrow raised.

 

“I could.” He put his hands on her knees and ran them slowly up her thighs, relishing every square inch of her olive skin. “I definitely could, but then I wouldn’t get to do this.” He lunged forward and brushed his tongue through the folds between her legs. She squealed and jumped away, but he took those hips in his hands and held her still. “Don’t you want this?”

 

She giggled. “It just tickles.”

 

“I’ll make sure it does more than that.” He flicked his tongue out once again, moving more slowly and intentionally this time as he tasted her. She was already wet for him, and he felt a fire in his groin that was going to be hard to contain. Xavier gently pushed her legs apart to give himself better access, and he took her sex into his mouth and buried his tongue inside it.

 

Kenzie’s fingers gripped his hair and her hips bucked against him, but she wasn’t fighting him now. Her soft moans told him she was enjoying this, and he didn’t want to stop until he knew she got everything she deserved. Longing to be deeper inside her, he concentrated his tongue on the hard bud of her clit and slipped a finger inside the velvet casing of her, grunting his own pleasure at knowing her so intimately. Her walls convulsed around him as she pressed herself into his face, and she gasped as she came for him. Her nectar was sweet and salty, a combination that drove him wild. Xavier didn’t stop, wanting to make her come again.

 

But Kenzie pulled away from him and shoved him off the bed. Her eyes were black pools as she put her fingers on his waist and ran them up his abs, taking his shirt with them and yanking it over his head. She pulled her fingertips slowly back down his front, biting her lower lip as she studied his body, until she had reached his belt buckle.

 

“You’ve done so much for me,” she whispered as she undid the buckle with deft fingers and pulled it through the loops of his jeans. “You’ve done more for me than any man ever did, or even tried to. I know I can never pay you back for that.”

 

His heart pulled out of his chest and toward her at those words. He had found himself a woman who wanted him and who appreciated him, but maybe she was too generous. “Kenzie, you don’t owe me anything. I love you. I want you. That’s all there is to it.”

 

But she shook her head, her dark tresses brushing down over her naked breasts and giving her the look of some exotic goddess. “Maybe I don’t, but I want to give it all to you anyway.” She had his button and his fly undone, and she gave a pleased sigh as she released him from the confines of his clothing. Before he knew it, Kenzie was on her knees in front of him, looking up. She looked so innocent, so subservient. It was ironic, because he knew she wasn’t that way. She was strong and fierce to the rest of the world, but she gave the softest side of herself to him.

 

Kenzie took his member in one hand, circling it in her fingers and sliding them up and down his shaft. Even though he knew it was only the beginning, Xavier felt his entire body tense at the pleasure. It doubled when she wrapped her hot, wet lips around him and sucked him inside, slowly pulling until his head hit the back of her throat. Even then she continued to work at him, the tip of her tongue flicking at his base while her other hand came up to gently caress his balls.

 

“Oh, God. You don’t know what you do to me.”

 

But she did, and she wasn’t done yet. Kenzie slowly pulled back, sucking hard as she went. He had already been so desperately horny for her, and it had been hard enough to take his time, but this was almost too much. She slid her lips up and down his cock as she sucked, pulling every ounce of his strength into her. Xavier ran his fingers through her hair, feeling the softness of her locks and gripping them as he fought the instincts to jam his dick into her mouth over and over. She felt so amazing, and yet his body only commanded more. Kenzie took every inch of him and did as she pleased with it. If ever he’d thought he wasn’t going to be tamed by a woman, she was absolutely proving him wrong.

 

When he thought he might come right down her throat, he gritted his teeth and forced his pelvis to stay put. “If you keep doing that to me, there’s not going to be anything left for you.”

 

Kenzie pulled back and looked up at him. She was so seductive, and that look in her eyes told him that she was the one in control here. “But I did already get mine.” She kept her gaze locked on his as she put her mouth around him once again. She gave him a full revolution of burying his cock inside her mouth, running her tongue up and down him as she went, and then slowly pulling it out again with a pop. “And I really like doing this to you.” Kenzie leaned forward, lifted his dick gently, and ran her tongue down the front of his balls.

 

“That’s it.” Xavier couldn’t take it any longer. He pulled her gently to her feet and onto the bed on top of him. In all the numerous times he had fantasized about her since he had known she was pregnant, he had been worried about crushing her with his weight. But there was a solution for everything, and he certainly didn’t mind the view as she straddled her legs across his hips and slowly descended on him.

 

As hot and wet as her mouth had been, her pussy was even better. She was so tight, and yet so welcoming as she sank down and took him fully into her, pulsing up and down. He watched with pleasure as her breasts bounced in his face. Yes, she had him. He would do anything she asked, just as long as this never stopped. He gripped her ass, one cheek in each hand, feeling the lovely way she jiggled as her tempo increased. Kenzie ground herself into him every time she came down, and her breathing became shallow as her body tightened. Her soft walls convulsed around him, pulling him deeper inside and commanding that he find the same sort of satisfaction that she was navigating towards. As a wail escaped her lips, Xavier felt himself grow harder and thicker. He slammed his hips into her as he came, filling her.

 

Her soft body lay on top of his, breathing hard. As if waking from a glorious dream, Xavier suddenly realized what they had just done. He lay a hand on her shoulder. “Are you all right?”

 

Kenzie picked up her head so she could look at him. Her irises were back to that lovely shade of cinnamon brown, and the intensity with which she looked at him was a different one, but there was a certain amount of desire that still flickered behind them. “That depends on you.”

 

“On me?”

 

“And if you’re going to be up for this again in a little bit. You and I have a lot of catching up to do.”

 

Xavier laughed and pulled her close. “I think we can arrange that.”