He held me tighter. “Dammit, Baby Doll, you could have been shot. That bitch could have had a gun on her.”

  I reached up and wrapped my hands around his wrists. “But she didn’t, and I wasn’t.”

  “I wanted us to stay here. I know you wanted it. But it’s not safe enough. I need you and Jagger safe.”

  “Where is safe?” I asked, already thinking that if this was what could happen, I didn’t want to bring danger this close to my parents’ door either.

  “For now, the main house. Where I live—or did before we started this,” he said.

  “Where we had breakfast?”

  He nodded.

  Right now, I didn’t want to argue or think about the details. I just wanted away from the dead man in the living room, and I wanted to hold Jagger. For several hours.

  Thirty-Two

  Genesis

  My mother smiled as she watched Kye push Jagger in the baby swing he’d hung from the tree that had broken my arm and ruined his eighth birthday party. Dad was sitting out in his hammock chair on the other side of the tree, looking content with life.

  “I can’t believe he’s already three months old,” she said wistfully, then turned her gaze to me. “He’s moved you into the Mafia house,” she said teasingly. “I guess that gamble paid off.”

  There was so much I could never tell her. She’d worry herself to death if she knew the things I’d seen. But what I could tell her was how the wild boy next door had become the man I used to dream he’d be.

  “Yes. The gamble was the best thing I ever did. I’ve never been this happy, Mom. He makes me feel cherished, loved, wanted.”

  She leaned forward and held my gaze. “Does he make your chest flutter when he walks in a room?”

  I laughed and nodded my head.

  “Good. That’s what you hold out for. Well, that, and does he satisfy you in the bedroom?”

  My eyes widened in shock. “MOM!” I gasped.

  She lifted a thin shoulder. “What? It’s a legitimate question. Although, with all the womanizing he did, I am assuming he knows all the tricks.”

  I covered my face with both hands. “Mom, stop talking right now,” I begged.

  She laughed as I dropped my hands back to my lap.

  “Sex isn’t the key that holds a relationship together. That is trust and respect. But it’s the glue that keeps things from going dark when times get hard. Not just because of the pleasure either, although that is a perk. It’s the connection deep in your soul.”

  I just smiled and shook my head. I could not believe Mom was talking to me about the importance of sex in a relationship.

  “Just please don’t give me any details,” I pleaded.

  Mom winked at me, and I burst out laughing.

  Kye looked our way, and when his eyes met mine, the flutters were in full force. He puckered his lips in a kiss, then smirked. Jagger slapped the tray on the front of his swing and giggled. I dropped my gaze to him to see he was looking at me too. His toothless grin melted my heart.

  “Nothing else like it in the world,” Mom said beside me.

  “What?” I asked, not looking away from my two boys.

  “Seeing the smiling faces of the man who owns your soul and the child who claimed your heart.”

  It was true. The joy that those two brought me was unlike anything I’d ever known.

  Quinn’s name lit up the screen on my phone. I had muted it for the movie I was watching with Trinity and Aspen. The guys had gone to handle something today and still weren’t home. I held it up so that they could see why I was leaving the room. Jagger was asleep in the bouncy seat, and I knew they’d both keep an eye on him.

  I headed for the patio door and answered the phone as I stepped outside.

  “Hey, you,” I said, happy that she was finally calling me.

  I’d been trying to get her on the phone for weeks. All she had been able to do was text me. Work and school had been keeping her busy.

  “Hey,” she replied. “How’s life?”

  “Wonderful,” I admitted, although today had been a little stressful. The image of a gun being pointed at Kye’s head was still too fresh.

  “Jagger looked so big in the picture you sent of Kye pushing him on the swing.”

  “I know. I feel like I’m going to blink, and it’ll be his first birthday,” I told her.

  She chuckled. “Ah, my bestie has gone and gotten all domestic. Mommy life, cooking, hot man in the bed at night. You know, I was wondering since Kye is now your man and not your best friend, does this mean I get to take over the best-friend role instead of backup?”

  “Yes,” I replied, laughing. “I guess you do.”

  She let out a dramatic sigh. “Good. Because I need to tell you something, and I want you to remember I am your best friend now.”

  The way her voice had changed from lighthearted to serious concerned me.

  “Okay,” I replied. I couldn’t come up with one thing that she could tell me that she needed to pull the best-friend card on.

  “Ugh, I am trying to figure out how to start. I’m tired of avoiding you. I miss you. I want to talk to you. I just know I have to tell you this before it eats me alive,” she said.

  She had been avoiding me? What in the world was this about?

  “Quinn, there is nothing you could tell me that would upset me.”

  A short, unamused laugh came over the line. “I am hoping that’s true.”

  “Spill it. Get it over with. Then, we can talk about life. I want to know all that’s going on with you,” I told her.

  “Well, that’s kinda what this is about. All that is going on with me. My life.”

  She was silent for a moment, and I let her think. Clearly, this was bothering her. Whatever it was, she had worked herself up over it.

  “Genesis,” she said firmly.

  “Yes?” I asked, unable not to smile at the seriousness in her tone.

  “I’m dating … Bowie,” she blurted out, then sucked in a breath.

  That, I had not been expecting. Not even a tiny little guess. Holy crap.

  A bubble of laughter burst out of me as a grin spread across my face.

  “You’re laughing. Is that an angry-psycho laugh or a this is great news laugh?”

  “It’s a I was so not expecting that, but I think it’s great laugh,” I replied.

  “You do?”

  “Yes! Bowie is a great guy. He was just never the right guy for me.”

  “Oh, thank you, baby Jesus. I have lost sleep over this. I was so afraid you were going to be hurt that I’d started dating him and not even asked for your permission.”

  “Permission? Why would you think you had to do that?”

  “Girl code. You were engaged to him, and three weeks after y’all broke it off, I went on a date with him. I broke all the girl codes ever written.”

  I walked over and sat down on a lounge chair, then leaned back. “Tell me all about it. I want to know how it happened,” I told her, unable to get the smile off my face.

  “Well, he came over one night, asking if he had left a book in your old room. He thought it was in the closet. I knew there was nothing of yours left here, but I let him in …”

  Thirty-Three

  Kye

  Where are you?

  I glanced down at the text from Genesis. While she’d been in the shower, I’d snuck out of the room to take Jagger to Trinity and get things set up for my surprise.

  Last room on the left.

  Down the hall?

  Yes. Come here.

  I sent the text, grinning, then watched the door, waiting on her.

  When the knob turned and the door opened, I was standing in the middle of the room. It had taken me two weeks to get it set up for her. She paused and took in the room. I could see confusion and excitement flicker in her eyes.

  “What do you think?” I asked her, hoping I’d gotten it all.

  Quinn had been a big help. I owed her one.

  Genesis walked over to the organized shelves, filled with everything I’d been told she’d want, need, and get giddy over.

  She swung her gaze back to me. “Kye, what is this?”

  I grinned. “Baby Doll, if you don’t know what this stuff is, then you might want to rethink your future.”

  She shook her head and laughed. “I know what this stuff is, but whose is it? It’s”—she waved her hands out wide—“like a designer’s wonderland. It has everything. That sewing machine is what dreams are made of. I’ve been saving for one for over two years. And the rolls of fabric—where did they even come from? That’s expensive stuff. You don’t go get fabric like that from just any store. It’s special-ordered.” Then, she pointed at the shelves. “And that. The buttons alone are insane. I’ve not even looked through all the other containers. I can’t imagine what is all in there.”

  Thank you, Quinn. She’d been right about the sewing machine and the fabric.

  I closed the distance between us. “This is your new sewing room, Baby Doll. You can sketch on those pads there or use that computer there to draw them digitally. The programs you need are already loaded. You can make those amazing designs you come up with right across the hall from Jagger’s nursery.”

  Her eyes went wide, and her pretty heart-shaped mouth fell open. “Mine? This? That sewing machine? The fabric? This?” She pointed at the floor, gaping at me. “This is all mine?”

  I nodded. “All yours.”

  She shook her head. “What nursery?” she asked me then.

  Jagger had been sleeping in a crib in our bedroom.

  I pointed across the hallway. “Levi and Aspen are moving to the top floor for now. Until he’s ready to build a house. Their room will be empty by the end of the week. You get to decorate Jagger’s nursery however you want.”

  She covered her mouth with both hands as she slowly took in the room. “I can’t believe you did this,” she whispered. “It had to have cost a fortune.”

  “My Baby Doll deserves the best,” I told her.

  She looked at me, then burst into tears, throwing her arms around my neck. “I love you, Kye Levine,” she gushed.

  I held her against me. “I love you more, Genesis Stoll.”

  She shook her head, laughing through her tears. “I swear you do not. I’ve loved you the longest.”

  “I don’t know that I can agree with that.”

  She pulled back just enough to look up at me. The joy on her face made my heart full. “I promise you that I have.”

  “We can dissect the different types of love and what they mean all damn day. But the fact is, I’ve loved you since we were kids. That love changed; it grew, and it became a fucking force so big that it owned me. But I’ve always loved you.”

  She blinked, and more tears rolled down her face. “That was so perfect that I’m not going to say anything to spoil it.”

  I bent down and pressed a kiss to her lips. “Good girl. Now, go sit in your new sewing chair and see how it feels.”

  She walked over and pulled out the plush, brightly colored quilted chair on wheels that would support her back a hell of a lot better than that kitchen chair she’d been using. I realized I was holding my breath as she sat down in it and turned to the sewing table in front of her. I knew the moment she saw it because her entire body stilled.

  I closed in behind her and waited in silence as she reached out and took the antique revival ring with a three-carat yellow diamond, surrounded by a halo of yellow diamonds and flanked by a half-moon of white diamonds, lying right in front of a vase I’d filled with various shades of pink Persian buttercups.

  “Kye?” Her voice was barely a whisper.

  I went down on one knee just as she turned in her chair to look at me. The diamond in that ring didn’t hold a candle to the way her aquamarine eyes sparkled as she stared at me. Every emotion she was feeling was laid bare within their depths.

  “I love you, Genesis Stoll. You’ve been my other half since we were kids. I’ve loved you in every capacity one person can love another. I can’t imagine my life without you in it, and, fuck, I don’t want to. We can wait as long as you want. I just need to know that you are and will always be mine. Baby Doll, marry me. Please take my name like you took my soul.”

  A small cry escaped her, and then she laughed. “Yes! Yes! Yes!”

  I slipped the ring onto her finger, and then she threw herself into my arms.

  “Thank you,” I said, burying my face into her neck.

  I could say I’d never imagined I’d want one woman for the rest of my life. Hell, I’d said that more times than I could count. But the truth was, I thought I’d only wanted one girl since I had been eight years old. I’d been Baby Doll’s long before I understood what being in love even meant.

  Scorched Teaser...

  Garrett

  Deciding to meet with The Judgment MC’s president was more of a family matter than business. Since the president, Liam Walsh, was my daughter-in-law’s father and there had been bad blood between us in the past, I felt it was time to remedy that. This would be my belated wedding gift to Blaise, my oldest son, and his wife, Madeline. It also didn’t hurt to have The Judgment as backup when needed. The more men I had in my pocket, the more power I held.

  The family had never associated with MCs before, but then times were changing, and I had to learn to accept that. Our world couldn’t just exist among the elite. We had to broaden our attachments. This was a good start. I imagined my father was rolling over in his grave. But then perhaps not. Madeline’s grandfather had been his best friend. If there was an afterlife, then I would hope he’d see this as the right thing to do. For Madeline and the family.

  Liam Walsh fit the biker persona with his combat boots, leather vest, tattooed arms, and ripped jeans. It had taken a lot for me to come here. To face the man who had been the cause of Madeline’s mother, Etta’s, disappearance that led to her death. His side of the story was still one I questioned, but for Madeline, I was willing to fucking try. She’d given me my first grandson. The heir to the Hughes place as boss among the Southern Mafia. For Cree, I could accept this.

  “I’m sorry, Garrett,” Liam said as he handed me a glass of whiskey.

  It wasn’t what I typically drank, but I doubted Liam could afford my preference in scotch.

  “Micah was called to meet with us before we went to church. The others will have all gathered. I’ll get Micah on our way down.”

  Not smirking at the way he called a meeting among his men “church” was difficult. I had always found biker clubs to be cliché. It was a dirtier, uncivilized gang of criminals. The family at least had a standard, unlike the men here. Again, I was judging them. I had to control that if this was going to work.

  “This way,” Liam said to me as he headed for the door of his office.

  I downed the amber liquid in the glass, then set it on the bar as I followed him into the hallway. There were doors that I knew were rooms for the higher-up members in the club. Liam walked down the hall and stopped at the third door on his right.

  “FUCK, that’s it! Suck it like a good little slut,” a voice shouted inside the room.

  Liam sighed and shook his head, then banged loudly on the door.

  “MICAH! CHURCH NOW!” Liam yelled.

  “Fuuuck!” Micah called out from inside the room. “Yeah, okay.”

  Liam scowled. “Get your dick out of her goddamn mouth! We have business.”

  “Fuck, baby, suck that dick … take it deep … TAKE IT! I’M COMING!”

  Liam looked disgusted as he glanced back at me. “I sometimes wonder why I put up with his shit.”

  “Why do you?” I asked.

  If one of my men disobeyed me this way, I’d have them killed.

  “I raised him,” Liam replied. “He’s like a son.”

  Now, that, I could somewhat understand. He wasn’t his flesh and blood, but that wasn’t what made family. Loyalty made family.

  The door swung open, and Micah was grinning while zipping up his jeans.

  “Sorry, Liam. It’s hard to walk away from a blow like that.”

  His gaze swung to me then, and I saw him stiffen. We’d never met officially, but like I knew who he was, I knew that he was well aware of who I was.

  “Mr. Hughes,” he said, closing the door behind him. “I didn’t realize you were here.”

  “If you could keep your dick out of her mouth, then you’d have seen my text. And stay out of Tex’s goddamn room,” Liam said, sounding disgusted. “Now, let’s get to church.”

  I followed Liam as he led me down the stairs I’d come up when I arrived. The black walls seemed all very forced. As if they were trying to be dangerous by color choices alone. The paint on a wall did not make you threatening. The willingness to end a life did. I doubted these men had much of that in them. Especially the pretty boy who would rather get his cock sucked than listen to the chain of command. But then my youngest son wasn’t much different. He, too, struggled to obey when it came to his pleasures.

  “This way,” Liam said as he opened a large wooden door and stepped inside.

  Leather jackets, which they all called cuts, with their emblem on the back and their title patched on the front; tattoos; scarred faces; beards; cigarettes hanging out of most mouths—it all fit the description of a biker club. It also stank of stale beer and nicotine. A good cigar I could respect. A Marlboro I could not. It was just a waste of a good set of lungs.