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I watched as Lily rushed out of my office. Fucking hell. After having her last night, I’d intended to move the fuck on and never go back for seconds. Not because I didn’t want her again, but because I did want her again. Lily stirred a hunger in me I hadn’t known for almost a decade. Not only did I want to fuck her, I wanted time with her. I liked talking to her. Hell, I liked fucking arguing with her. But I’d sworn years ago never to go down that path with a woman again, so I needed to keep my hands off her. That was turning into something I didn’t seem able to do.

“Who’s that?” Ivy asked, drawing my attention back to her.

“Skylar’s physiotherapist.”

She brushed past me into the office. “Yes, it looks like it,” she said as she looked down at Lily’s panties on the floor.

I ignored the chill in her tone. After our conversation the other day, I’d thought we were good, but I should have known Ivy and I would never be good. “You ready to go?” I was honouring my promise to let her leave, and had agreed to take her to the train station.

“Yes, but I can catch a cab if you’re busy.”

“I’m not busy.”

We watched each other in silence for a few moments. I was filled with misgivings about allowing her to leave, but I wouldn’t go back on the agreement. Romano was behind bars, and she’d assured me she had someone who would help her disappear. She was the happiest I’d seen her since she’d turned up over two weeks ago, and I wanted that happiness to continue. Being here with me only made her sad and angry. It was time to let her walk out of my life again.

My phone rang, breaking our silence.

Axe.

I put the phone to my ear. “What’s up, brother?”

“Ryland has been replaced as head of the case against you and the club. I’m still waiting on further info, but it looks like he’s been suspended.”

“Why?”

“It seems he’s on someone’s payroll. Not sure on that yet either, but I’m working on it.”

“Fuck,” I muttered.

“Yeah. My thoughts exactly. I’ll let you know as soon as I know something,” he said, ending the call.

“Is everything okay?” Ivy asked.

I shook my head. “No. I’m going to get one of the boys to run you to the train station. I have something I need to take care of.”

Her smile faded, but she said, “Okay, thanks.” She walked to the door, glancing back at me briefly to say, “Thank you for taking care of Tony for me.”

After I’d organised Kick to take Ivy where she needed to go, I rested my ass against the desk and took a moment to get my thoughts under control. Shit was changing and not in good ways. Ryland being replaced wasn’t great. It was better the devil we knew with him. Fuck knew who would take over. Also, we were still in the dark as to Romano’s location. The feds had him tucked away somewhere safe. And while I’d agreed for Ivy to leave, I would worry about her until we had her husband sorted. On top of all that, the club was struggling with everything going on. We were stretched thin trying to keep business running as usual while also working like fuck to fix the shit we were in. Add to that the fact I’d sent all family members away, and my men were starting to grow restless. I needed to pull us all back into line and get us ready for the next part of this battle.

I headed out to the clubhouse bar in search of Hyde. Finding him drinking with Nitro, I sat with them and detailed where we were at with Ryland as well as my thoughts on the unrest in the club. I then said, “We need a club get together tomorrow night. Something to bring us all back together and on the same page.”

Hyde nodded his agreement. “I’ll organise it.”

“We also need a new plan to allow for everyone to have a couple of days off to visit their families. We’ve got Cole and the Brisbane boys here. They’ll boost our numbers to make that possible.” I looked at Nitro. “Can you get a roster sorted for that?”

“Will do.”

I couldn’t put my finger on what it was, but something had my gut churning. Something didn’t fucking feel right, and I needed to figure that shit out fast.

I surveyed the clubhouse bar late the next afternoon, taking in my men. They’d started drinking just after three, and I’d let them all know our plan going forward. It was exactly what they needed to hear, and I watched as the tension eased with the knowledge they’d have time with their families soon.

“Everyone seems much happier,” Annika said, joining me at the table where I sat in the corner. “It’s amazing what some alcohol will do.”

I drank some of my beer. It wasn’t the alcohol that had caused this turn in mood. It was the brotherhood. It was always that. But I’d found unless someone was part of it, they struggled to wrap their head around just what the club meant. Every one of us would lay down our life for our brothers. Sometimes, though, the battles we waged took their toll. It was at those times we had to draw close and trust in our brothers to get us through. That was what today was about.

“How are the kids?”

“They’ve had enough, King. How much longer do you think this is going to go on?”

“They were okay at dinner last night.”

“That’s because you were there. They love you being around.”

“I don’t plan for this to take much longer, Nik.” Axe had a lead on Romano’s whereabouts, and we were following up on that. I was hopeful to have him dealt with in the next day, but I didn’t tell her that in case shit went south.

“Good.” She stood to leave. “One other thing—I really like Lily. She’s such a great influence on Skylar. You did good there, big brother.”

I finished my beer before heading out, too. I wasn’t hanging around tonight. My head was all fucked up, so I needed some space to figure some of that out. I grabbed my shit from the office and dropped in on Skylar to check on her.

She glanced up at me from the bed where she was doing some study. “Ooh King, I’m glad you came by. Lily left her phone here.” She held it out to me. “Can you please take it to her. She’s probably stressing, wondering where it is.”

I took the phone, but I wouldn’t take it to Lily. I’d get Kick to run it over to her. “I’ll get it to her,” I promised.

Skye smiled, and I admitted to myself how right Nik had been about Lily’s influence on our sister. Her anxiety had levelled out and she hadn’t argued with me in days. “Thankyou,” she said.

I pulled up a chair and spent some time chatting with her. Half an hour passed as she told me about her progress with Lily and the study she had to catch up on. We laughed and joked around with each other, and it felt like the easiest half hour I’d had in too fucking long.

“Something’s going on with you,” she said as we laughed over something silly she’d done that morning.

“What?”

“I don’t know, but last night you wanted dinner with us all and now you’re just sitting with me cracking jokes like I’m not sure I’ve ever seen you crack them.” Her face softened. “It’s nice, King. I like seeing you smile.”

I stretched my neck. “I’d say it’s because I haven’t had a headache for a couple of days.”

She narrowed her eyes at me. “Maybe. Whatever it is, I hope it continues. You need some happiness in your life.”

“Okay,” I said, standing, “I’ve got stuff to do, so I’m gonna head out. You need anything?”

“No, I’m good. Just please don’t forget to get Lily’s phone to her.”

As I walked out to the bar to find Kick, Lily’s phone rang. Her sister’s face popped up on the screen.

I answered the call. “Yeah.”

“King?” My gut tightened at Lily’s voice. Jesus, she had this fucking effect every time I spoke with her.

“You left your phone with Skylar.”

“Oh thank God. I thought I’d lost it. I’ll come back and get it. Thank you.”

“I’m on my way there with it now.” Fuck.

Silence.

And then, softly and so fucking sweet it hit my gut again—“I really appreciate that.”

Christ, I’d never done sweet. But hell if it didn’t get me hard.

“I’ll see you soon.” I stabbed at the phone to end the call and shoved it in my pocket.

Fuck, I got myself into some shit sometimes.

Lily’s sister answered the door when I arrived. “King,” she greeted, a huge smile on her face, “Come in.” She practically pulled me into the house and to the kitchen where their mother was pulling a roast out of the oven.

“You’re just in time for dinner,” Hannah said. I knew her name was Hannah because she’d spent a good twenty minutes telling me about her family the day I’d changed Lily’s locks. In that time, I’d learnt everything from what an asshole Lily’s father was to how they’d decided on Lily’s name to their favourite holiday spot to the fact Hannah was desperate to marry her two daughters off because she didn’t want them to end up alone like she was. Where Lily was straight to the point, her mother was wordy, and where Lily was practical, her mother seemed frivolous.

I placed Lily’s phone on the kitchen counter. “I’m just dropping this off.”

Hannah pulled a face and waved me off with one hand. “Don’t be silly. We have plenty of food. And besides, you will kick yourself if you don’t try Lily’s famous roast beef.” Her face pulled into a smile as she lowered her voice and shared what seemed to be a secret, “She’s also made a caramel slice that the kids love. And I have to say it really is her best dessert. My girl is an excellent cook, but sometimes her desserts are kinda so-so. Not this one, though. This one you will want to stay for.”

“You mean you don’t love my baked cheesecake, Mum?”

I turned to find Lily standing behind me, a playful smile on her face.

“Oh Lily, I was just trying to let King know that tonight he really should stay for dinner.”

Lily’s gaze met mine, her smile still in place. As her eyes dipped down to take in my body, she said, “Stay.” And fuck if that didn’t make me wanna stay.

Ten minutes later, we were seated around her dining table. It was a rowdy dining table and it threw me back years to when I sat around Margreet’s dining table with our large family. Lily’s kids were hesitant with me at first, but when her middle daughter asked me what it was like to ride a bike, they warmed to me fast. By the time we’d finished dessert, they’d asked if I would stay and watch Thor with them after dinner.

“Kids, King probably has to get back to the club. He doesn’t have time to watch a movie,” Lily said, looking at me with an expression I couldn’t quite read. She seemed a little unsure of shit, and I didn’t blame her. I had no fucking clue what we were doing here either.

“I’m good,” I said as I jerked my chin at Robbie. “Go get the movie set up. I’ll be there in a minute.”

“Awesome,” he said as he ran out of the room. The girls hit me with smiles, too, and then followed him. Hannah and Brynn were busy in the kitchen, leaving Lily and me alone.

“You don’t have to stay and watch the movie,” she said, fidgeting with the tablecloth.

“Do I strike you as a man who does shit he doesn’t want to do?”

The uncertainty disappeared from her face and she smiled. “No, you do not.”

I stood. “You watching it with us?”

“Ah that would be a no. I’ve already seen it like four times. I’m going to go take a bath while you babysit.”

“Fuck,” I muttered. “I did not fucking need that mental image when I’m about to hang out with your kids.”

She grinned. “Enjoy the movie, King.”

I left her and made my way out to the living room where the kids had the movie ready to go. This night had turned into the strangest fucking night, but I couldn’t deny it felt good to be with Lily and her family. Even when Hannah joined us and didn’t shut up during most of the movie, I felt more relaxed than I’d felt in years.

Lily was still in the bath two hours later when the movie finished. The kids scattered to their rooms, and Brynn and Hannah had gone home a little while before the movie finished. I turned off the television and went looking for Lily.

Leaning against the doorjamb of her bathroom, I crossed my arms over my chest. “Have you been in there all this time?”

She cracked an eye open and shook her head. “No, I did some laundry first and got some stuff ready for tomorrow.”

“What’s happening tomorrow?”

“The girls are both hanging out with their friends while I take Robbie to karate and then to the science centre. It’s gonna be another long-ass day.”

“Today was long?”

She sighed. “Every day is long, King.”

Fuck, guilt hit me over pushing her into adding to her long days by working with Skylar. “Maybe you should cut your sessions back with Skye.”

She sat up, and my eyes were drawn to her tits that were now on display above the bubbles. “What is this?”

I frowned. “What is what?”

She pointed her finger between the two of us. “This. You having dinner with my family and then watching a freaking movie with my kids. You being nice to my mother. God, you being nice to me. Where’s the moody man I know so well? And why are you saying I should cut back my sessions when you told me just yesterday not to?” She stood and got out of the bath, coming to me, water and bubbles dripping everywhere. A fierce expression had settled on her face. Jabbing me in the chest, she added forcefully, “You are so freaking confusing!” Then grabbing her towel, she wrapped it around herself and walked into her bedroom.

I reached for her arm and yanked her back to me. “I don’t know what the fuck this is, but I can’t stay away. That smart mouth of yours, and sweet fucking ways turn me the hell on. And your family? I like them. They’re honest and real, and you don’t fucking find that often anymore.”

Her eyes searched mine for a long few moments before we got to what was really doing her head in. She pushed out of my hold like she was trying to keep some distance between us. “You made it clear you don’t want anything but sex, and I figure you’re not just getting that from me. Which is fine. I’m not saying it’s not. But I’m not into that, King. I thought we were just going to sleep together once, and I was good with that. Kind of. But then I met Ivy and I realised I am so far from good with it, it’s not funny. So you should go back to doing what you were doing before you met me, and we should call it quits.”

Fuck I liked a woman who got to the fucking point and didn’t play games with me.

I pulled her close again. “We need to get a few things straight. One, I’m not fucking Ivy. That’s an old relationship that will never be revisited. Two, I’m not fucking anyone else. And three, there is no fucking way you and I are calling it quits.” I gripped her waist and backed her up against the wall. “I wasn’t looking for a relationship, and I can’t say it’s high on my priority list, but I also can’t say I don’t want to keep seeing you. What I can say is that I don’t want to see anyone else.” My mouth brushed her ear as I added, “You are the only woman I want to fuck.”

Her hands came to my chest and she tried to push me away. “King—”

I refused to budge. Taking hold of her face, I angled it up to mine. “I’m not letting you walk away from this, so don’t even think about that.”

Her eyes widened. “So what, you’ll just force your way into my life?”

“I won’t need to. You want this as much as I do. And fuck, the way you opened up to me when I fucked you, you can’t deny how good that sex was.”

She contemplated that before scrunching my shirt into her hands. “Has anyone ever told you how infuriating you are? Because you are. And yet, all I wanna do is kiss you. It’s freaking maddening to me how you manage to get away with shit.” And then, before I had a chance to kiss her, she pushed me away and escaped my hold. Walking to her wardrobe, she threw over her shoulder, “FYI, my body is still sore after you fucked the hell out of it, so there won’t be any sex for you tonight. Plus, my kids are here tonight, so there’s that, too.”

Fucking hell, this woman.

“I didn’t come here for sex, Lily.”

She dropped her towel, giving me half a minute with her body before she covered it back up with a T-shirt. Nowhere near fucking long enough. “So are you staying or are you going? I’m good with staying, because I like having you to cuddle up to.”

I jerked my chin at her bed before pulling my shirt over my head. “Get your ass in there.”

She grinned. “Now there’s the King I know.” And then she made my fucking day by doing what I said.