JESUS, MARY AND JOSEPH, MY heart fucking stopped.
That smile.
Practically dragging her up the dock, I only made it to the side of the house before I pushed her against the wall and caged her in. My hands on either side of her face, her gorgeous eyes looking amused as hell, I forced myself not to fucking take her then and there.
“Again,” I demanded.
“What?” Humor danced in her eyes as she looked questioningly at me.
“Smile.” I needed to fucking see it.
A shy, sexy-as-fuck smile tipped her full lips.
Fuck.
I was a goner. Head over ass, goner.
“Jesucristo. You trying to kill me?” I ground out.
The smile faded.
“No,” I barked. “Don’t fucking go there. You know what I mean.”
Her small hands went to my chest, and she tried to push me away.
I growled like a damn animal and rushed her. My mouth crashed over hers, and everything I’d held back on the Cobalt, I gave in to. My hands threaded into her hair, I shoved my tongue into her mouth and I took what I wanted. Her breath, her smile, her scent, I fucking took it all. I didn’t give her a chance to back off. I didn’t need to. She was on me faster than I could grind my throbbing cock against her sweet heat.
“Chica,” I groaned, tipping her head, biting her neck, dragging my teeth across her sensitive flesh. “Give me those sexy legs.”
Her arms already around my neck, she wrapped her legs around my waist.
Fuck me.
I caught her ass and thrust.
Her moan filled my head, and she shivered.
“Damn.” Talon chuckled. “This just keeps gettin’ better.”
Dragging my mouth off her neck, I kissed her once as I pressed my hips into her. “Get the fuck outta here, Talon.” I was gonna come in my damn jeans if I kept this up.
“Plenty a bedrooms upstairs. You askin’ my opinion, I think you should go make some little Patrol babies. Give Uncle Talon a—”
“Talerco,” I snapped.
“All right!” He laughed. “I’m goin’, I’m goin’.”
Losing myself in her heated gaze, slowly grinding into her, I waited until I heard the slider door upstairs open and close. Then I leveled her with a demanding look and asked what I shouldn’t. “You want kids?”
“I want your cock.” She latched on to my neck.
Mierda, that felt fucking good. Reluctantly, my hand went to her jaw and I gently pushed her back. “Answer the question.”
“Fuck me,” she breathed, squeezing her thighs around my waist.
I held her jaw firmer. “Answer.”
Her chest heaving, her lips still wet from my kiss, she searched my face like she was gearing up for something.
Thinking she was going to give me attitude, I leveled her with a look. “Yes or no. That’s all I wanna hear.”
She didn’t give me one word. She opened her mouth and she fucking slayed me. “I want your cock buried so deep inside me that I can’t breathe. I want you to drive into me. I want you to lose control. I want it to feel so good that you fill me with your seed. Then I want my stomach to grow fat with a dark-haired, dark-eyed baby with a smile exactly like her daddy’s. And I want that smile, just like her daddy’s, to crush my soul and rob me of every reason to die.” Her hands gripped the back of my neck. “So, no, I don’t want kids.” She stared at me. “I want your kid.”
My life fucking fell apart in an instant.
Never in my twenty-nine years could I have predicted her response.
Everything I’d planned. Every sacrifice I’d made. Every lie I’d told myself each time I pulled that trigger…
Gone.
Every dollar I’d ever earned. Every tour I’d survived. Every expectation of mi familia—it all fucking disintegrated in a nanosecond, and I was left holding a woman with a death sentence.
The murderer holding someone else’s prey.
Her ass in my hands, her legs around my waist, I could taste her lies. God help me, there wasn’t a single thing I wanted more than her carrying my kid, but I wasn’t a fucking idiot. This wasn’t a woman I could save. She had to make that decision.
“Chica,” I rasped, my lips against hers.
“Make love to me,” she whispered. “Right here, right now.”
I’d lost my fucking mind over this woman, but I still wasn’t gonna play her game. “No. You want this? Then you tell me you’re gonna let me fight for you.” I gripped her hair tighter. “You promise me you’re gonna fight to stay alive.”
“Please,” she pleaded, grinding her hips into me like an addict. “I want you inside me.”
“Say it,” I demanded.
She stilled, but then only my name came out. “André.”
“No, you fucking say it. Tell me you’re gonna fight.” I wasn’t gonna give her a piece of me without her word. I’d heard every damn thing she’d said, but I’d also heard why she needed a killer. I wasn’t gonna be her mercy shot, no fucking way.
Her chest rose with an inhale, then she dropped every ounce of pretense between us. “I promise not to give up.”
My breath held, my muscles tensed, and I stared at her.
Then I saw it.
The desperation in her eyes, the darkness I’d caught on to the second I’d first met her, but couldn’t identify until I saw her branding, it was gone. Instead of loss of hope and resignation, there was pure determination.
My mouth crushed over hers, and I kissed the fuck out of her. Frantic, my dick throbbing, I undid my jeans then hitched her dress up. Shoving her underwear aside, I was fisting myself and dragging the head of my cock through her heat when she opened her mouth.
“You have to make me a promise too.”
I stilled, not liking the tone of her voice. “What?”
She moved her hips a fraction, and the head of my cock ghosted against her entrance. “Promise me you won’t blame yourself when I die.”
Every muscle in my body locked.
“Don’t say it,” she begged, the resignation coming right back. “I know what you’re thinking.”
Don’t say what? That I wanted to come inside her? That I was throwing away every one of my goddamn rules? That I was gonna fuck her against the side of a house while her life hung in the balance and not question a single second of her bullshit?
Fuck that.
I gripped a handful of her hair and remembered who I was. “You don’t get to fucking play me, chica,” I warned. “I’m not an adrenaline rush for your fears. You don’t get to have a piece of me and still hold on to your revenge death wish.”
Her throat moved with a swallow as the green in her eyes turned storm dark. “I don’t have a death wish.”
“You’re right. Giving Stephens what he wants without a fight isn’t a death wish. It’s a death sentence.” Jesucristo, I’d been fucking stupid to trust her switch.
Her tone went all fucking matter of fact. “I’m being practical. I can’t fight this. I never could.”
“I can.” Shit was different now. She wasn’t alone, and if she couldn’t see that, then nothing I said was gonna change her mind.
“What are you going to do? Storm in, guns blazing, and kill him?” She shook her head. “He’ll see you coming a mile away. The compound is protected.”
She’d said she needed a killer. What the hell did she expect I’d do? “I have a plan.”
Her eyes narrowed. “What kind of a plan?”
My jaw locked because I’d talked myself into a fucking corner. I wasn’t ready to tell her my goddamn plan. I didn’t have the details figured out, and I didn’t have enough backup. I knew I couldn’t walk up to River Ranch with two men. I needed a fucking army, but I wasn’t gonna risk my men. That was the fucking crux of it. I had the bait but no goddamn approach yet.
She dropped her legs and smirked before I could come up with a bullshit response. “Right. Sounds like a great plan.”
Motherfucker. I threw down a bone. “It’s a trade.”
Her face twisted, and she looked at me like I was fucking stupid. “I don’t have two million dollars, and even if I did, or for some insane reason, you do? Not only would I not let you give it to River, but he wouldn’t take it. This isn’t about money. This isn’t about a trade. He wants me dead.” She enunciated every word of the last sentence.
“He’ll take the trade,” I ground out, dropping my hold on her and zipping my jeans back up.
“What part don’t you understand? That he’s crazy or that he’s vengeful?” She pushed me away. “He’s not going to trade anything for me. It’s my head or nothing.” She took a step toward the front of the house.
Fuck. Fuck. “I have something he wants.”
She paused. “What? Five hundred new Kool-Aid-drinking members?” She snorted and kept going.
“Weapons.”
She froze. Then she spun, fury robbing her pretty features. “You are not giving that son of a bitch weapons.” She stalked up to me and jammed a finger into my chest. “No fucking way. I will die before I let that happen. You hear me? Die.”
I grabbed her hand. “No one’s going to die.”
She jerked out of my grasp. “You will if you step foot on his compound. You think he won’t shoot you on sight?”
I asked the one question that’d been churning all morning. “Does he know Candle’s alive?”
Surprise widened her eyes then anger narrowed them. “No.” She stepped back, her head shaking. “You are not using him. Candle’s done nothing but protect me for three years.”
“Like he’s protecting you now?” My own anger flared. “I just had my sights on four LCs salivating to get your head.” And she was fucking protecting the asshole that let it happen? Candle should’ve silenced Rip the second he realized Rip figured out who she was, but he didn’t. Candle let him walk out of his house and wreak fucking havoc. “Candle let that happen,” I fumed.
“Don’t you dare make this about him. You’re not using Candle. This was set in motion long before some asshole biker saw my branding.”
And there it was. The series of events I had no control over but was fuming I didn’t know about six months ago. I played out every scenario in my head, wondering where we’d be if we weren’t up against a loaded gun to her head. The end game still would’ve been the same, and the only surefire way to fix this still would’ve been Stephens dead, but goddamn it, I still wanted the advantage of time.
Taking the crates and showing up at his compound with my head on a fucking platter wasn’t gonna cut it. I needed a plan, and I needed leverage to get through the compound gates. Once I had an audience with the prick, the guns would speak for themselves. I knew how those religious fucks operated. He wouldn’t be able to resist the hardware. But I needed a goddamn in.
“If you don’t want to use Candle, then give me something I can leverage to get on the compound.” She had to know something I could use. One weakness was all I needed. I didn’t want to raze the compound and kill innocents, but God help me, I was fucking close to considering that option.
“You already have it.”
I eyed her, not liking the quickness of her response. “If you’re gonna say—”
“Use me.”
“No.” No fucking way.
“What other option do you have?” She kept talking like I was gonna consider this bullshit. “If you walk up with me, no one’s going to shoot right away because I’m a woman and those assholes are always looking to recruit fuck toys. And once I’m recognized, they’ll back off and take me to River anyway.” Her hands went to her hips. “There you go, problem solved.”
My blood fucking boiled. “You are not stepping foot on that compound.”
Her eyes narrowed. “You said to fight. You said to let you do your thing. Well fine, you want to give guns to River? Then I’ll walk up and hand them to him.” Her arms crossed like she knew she had me. “This is me fighting.”
“Call it whatever bullshit you want, it’s not happening. I’m not using you as bait.” Out of the fucking question.
“What the hell do you think I already am?” She held a hand up. “You know what, don’t bother answering that. I have a better idea.” She turned and was walking toward the garage before I’d pulled my head out of my ass. “Talon!”