I know.

  Oh. I know.

  I suck harder on the sugar, hoping the mysterious powers work on me the same as they do him. I signed legal documents today to make things official. Less than a month ago, I was living a lonely existence in the house with him. Now look where we are.

  In need of a hug, I wrap my arms around Gunz, underneath his vest, and rest my cheek on his pec. A sigh escapes me as his big, strong arms tighten around my shoulders. He kisses the top of my head. “Take all the time ya need, love. I’m not goin’ anywhere. But I do got another thing I wanna show ya.”

  For however long we stand in front of the courthouse, wrapped in each other’s embrace, people pass by, but nobody says a thing. For a suspended moment, the world stops as his heart beats steadily against my ear. The spice of his cologne mixed with cinnamon, leather, and soap curl into my nose, making me feel the safest I’ve felt in ages. The defined muscles in his back are firm to the touch as I trace them with my fingertips. What’s better, is Gunz’s true to his word. He lets me take all the time I need. So, I do. I hug him and savor him until my worry is replaced with contentment. Until the Dum Dums enact their superpowers. Then and only then do I pry myself away from his touch. Far enough to look up and meet his eye. Gunz hooks two fingers into my belt loops to keep my front plastered to his—tits to abs.

  “I love you, so fuckin’ much,” he growls, igniting those weird tumultuous butterflies in my middle again. They pair nicely with the ridiculous smile that lights my face.

  He smiles, too, watching my over-the-top girly reaction.

  “I love you, too,” I admit aloud for the first time. Even to my ears, it sounds foreign, but good. Damn good.

  “I know.” Gunz pecks my forehead. “Now, love, let’s get on to the second part of my plan.”

  I nod in agreement.

  The second part. If this is the first, I can’t imagine what comes next.

  Instead of asking, I follow his lead, excited to see what else he has in store. No man has done anything like this for me before.

  Thoughtful, thoughtful man…

  My future husband.

  Pinch me.

  I can’t believe this is real.

  CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

  GUNZ

  Where do you take your woman to romance her? If you asked the brothers, they’d say the bedroom. Those fuckers are no help. Not even Big. And there’s no way I’d ask the Sacred Sisters for help in these matters. They’re as goo-goo for romance as the next female, and I’m not here to fulfill their fantasies. I’m here to create memories for one woman and one woman alone.

  Kit.

  The one who has my balls aching nonstop.

  The one who smiles, and nothing else matters in the world but her lookin’ at me like I’m the center of her universe. Alert the press, I’m turning into a fuckin’ sap.

  To put the nail in the sappy coffin, I brought her to a park on the outskirts of town. A place few frequent. A place we’ll be safe.

  Hand in hers, a drawstring pack strung over my shoulder, I escort a quiet Kit through the wooded area. We step over fallen limbs and through overgrown brush until the tree cover breaks into a place I’ve visited once before. The clearing. Only it isn’t clear. Surrounded by a centuries-old forest is a meadow of wildflowers in full bloom. Bees buzz, birds swoop overhead, as butterflies dance flower to flower, living their best, temporary lives. It’s a place most women would love. Especially the one who’s spent so much time tending our club garden and planting flowers around our house in her free time.

  Her stunned gasp says it all.

  Her squeeze of my hand fills my heart with so much fuckin’ pride.

  I did good.

  My woman loves flowers. Her arms are tatted in them. This place is flowers on steroids.

  Leaving my hold, Kit wanders into the awaiting meadow. Colorful blooms brush against her calves as she bends and sweeps the tops of her hands over their vibrant caps. Wading further into the growth, she dances around like a child. Equally excited sounds fill the air with joy as a smile the size of the earth fills her face, crinkling the edges of her honeyed eyes. Her short hair shines in the sun, highlighting the beautiful grays and whites she’s yet to dye another wild color.

  To capture the moment, I snap pictures of her with my phone to look back on later. As she explores, I set up shop. Opening the bag, I pull out a thin picnic blanket large enough for two to lie on. Not wanting to ruin the oasis, I find the least flower-populated area I can find and spread it out. A frozen water bottle, sunscreen, a bag of fresh fruit, my gun, and a few other odds and ends remain in the sack as I remove my shitkickers and knife to stretch out on the blanket and await my frolicking future wife.

  Face red from exertion, little beads of sweat on her brow, Kit flounces over to our spot and flops down beside me, breathing heavy. I rest on my elbows, legs out, as she curls onto her side, propping her head on her arm.

  “This is beautiful,” she pants.

  “It’s a local secret few know about. Your tattoos reminded me of it.”

  “Thank you for this. For everything.”

  Lips pressed together, I nod once, not wanting the praise for somethin’ I’m supposed to do. “That’s what one does for their old lady.”

  “Like the new gardening tools and gloves that randomly showed up on our porch.” Brows bouncing in fun, she all but calls me out for something I haven’t admitted to doing.

  “Yep. Like those.” Ya can’t blame me. She needed them. Kit would rather dig hard, clumpy dirt with her bare hands than ask for anything. The last thing I want is her getting blisters because she was helping around the compound without proper tools. You take care of the females under your protection. If my grandbaby needs diapers, she gets diapers. If Bink needs a night off, she gets a night off. If Janie needs a new car seat for Dom, she gets a new car seat. If my woman needs gardening shit to garden shit, then I’m gonna make it happen. It’s not hard showing up for those you give a damn about. It’s as natural as breathing.

  Kit rolls onto her back and stares up at the blue, marshmallow-clouded sky. “If you keep this up, you’re gonna end up with your dick… living permanently in my mouth. Once you finally let me suck it, that is.” She sighs as if that’ll never happen.

  “Love.” I groan, throwing my head back in agony. “That sounds like… fuckin’ perfection. But I don’t do this shit to get anythin’ in return. That’s not how this works.”

  “I know. Which is why I wanna do it.”

  “We will… get there.” When I know it won’t trigger you. I’ve read books. I’ve done my research. Givin’ my woman pleasure is one thing. Taking it in return is another. Baby steps.

  “Today. We will get there today,” she announces, shocking the hell outta me.

  “Love… It’ll—”

  “Go in my mouth today, Erik,” she finishes in my stead.

  I drag a hand down my face. “Christ.”

  Tilting her head my way, batting those eyelashes the way women do, Kit juts out her bottom lip. “I wanna see it. Please.” She pleads all cutesy and far too adorable.

  A lot of headshaking ensues on my part. “Love. No.” I’m firm in my response, but not a dick.

  “Please. There’s no one here. I just wanna see it.” Kit flicks her gaze down south and lingers long enough my cock bucks against the fly of my jeans, desperate for attention. Wetness blooms through the denim before her gaze drags up my body. Goosebumps sprout like phantom touches upon my skin.

  “Fuck.” Unable to say no to this woman, I relent because I want her to see it too. Sure, I’d planned on gettin’ her mouth on me sometime soon. After we talked about it. I’d planned on eatin’ that sweet pussy here in the meadow. But I didn’t plan this.

  Unbuckling my belt, I unfasten my jeans, unzip, and scoot the denim down to my knees. Sans boxers, my wet-tipped, hard-as-steel cock bobs in the late afternoon sun. Curling back onto her side, Kit watches it in fascination. The fucker I am watches her lick her lips as I move my piercing and smear the precum into the fat head to keep it from makin’ any more of a mess. He has a tendency of doin’ that. The guy loves to perform.

  “That’s nice,” she groans, scissoring her legs together.

  Fuck.

  “Love, could you not do that?” I jut my chin at her, tryin’ to get friction on her clit.

  “I can’t help it.”

  Fine. Then we’ll both be exposed. “Take off your bottoms,” I order.

  The gorgeous minx does as she’s told, and off goes the boots, socks, jeans, and sexy little thong. She tosses them all into a pile in the grass and turns to face me, her teeth sunk into her bottom lip, pupils blown. I wanna consume this woman. Drown her on my cock. Cupping the back of her head, I lead her forward to do just that. She wants to see him. She wants to taste him. This is her fuckin’ chance because I’m not gonna say no. Not anymore. I fuckin’ hope this doesn’t backfire.

  Curling over me, she wraps those lips tentatively around my pierced head, and I nearly explode on contact. Grippin’ the back of her neck, I thrust into her mouth, just enough to graze the back of her throat, but not enough to hurt. The darkness I’m afraid to unleash ripples through my body as Kit moans around my cock, taking as much as she can like it’s a goddamn Olympic sport. The depraved part of me revels in her sounds, in the wet heat, in her potent eagerness. It’s sweet and salty—beautiful and addicting.

  Knowin’ the shackled part of me can’t yield much longer, I grasp the blanket in my fist as my other continues to encourage her to suck, to take, to draw him in, to drink his offering.

  “Love, I don’t… fuck… I don’t know if I can… I’m… I’m gonna lose control… You’re—”

  Somehow understanding me unlike anyone has before, Kit hums around my fat cockhead, then crawls up and throws a leg over my body to straddle my face. Met with my favorite taste in the world, I dive in and ravage her wet cunt. Gripping both of her thick, ass cheeks in my hands, I smother my face in her pussy, suck on her little clit, and tongue fuck her hole. Lost in her heady scent, I get high as she sucks me and uses her hand to stroke whatever doesn’t fit.

  It’s sweet fuckin’ relief.

  To feel. To fuck. To savor and consume what I want most as she cups my balls. I groan, snapping my hips to get deeper, to fill her. My fuckin’ toes curl when she gags on my prick. Likin’ my reaction, the minx does it again, gettin’ the same response. Eyes closing, I suffocate in her pussy as she wrecks me. Tongue slidin’ over my piercing. Throat closing around my sensitive glans. The darkness ebbs and flows. One moment, the urge to destroy her has me thrusting into her mouth. The next, I submit to her ministrations—lying still as she explores and tastes to her heart’s content. When I can’t take it anymore, the internal chains snap. Before I realize what’s happening, she’s on her back, and I’m straddling her chest, feeding my cock between a set of rosy, red lips.

  Kit takes me—honeyed gaze on mine, nostrils flaring between each thrust. She swallows me down, her hands gripping my ass as I cradle the back of her head, feeding her more and more until tears spill over, and she’s shaking. Not from sadness but need. From desire. From me owning her mouth as I take what’s mine. Forever.

  Without warning, my nuts draw up tight, and I come, growling her name. Fillin’ her mouth and throat. It spurts out of the sides of her lips, and I fuck it back in. Beautiful eyes closing in ecstasy, she moans, and swallows what she can of my offering.

  “That’s it, love. That’s it,” I encourage as she consumes whatever I give, licking and sucking every drop from my shaft.

  When I pull back, my dick falls from her mouth with a suctioned pop. Because I can’t fuckin’ help myself, I smear my cockhead over her wet mouth, painting my cum over the last pair of lips I’ll ever wreck. Kit’s tongue sneaks out and teases my slit, a devilish glint in her eye.

  “You like this, love?”

  A small, innocent, hot-as-sin nod.

  “You did so fuckin’ good,” I praise because that was the best blowjob of my life.

  A blush consumes her cheeks at the compliment.

  To take it a step further, I hook my thumb into the corner of her mouth. She opens for me, and I dip my softening head back inside, where she suckles him. I caress her cheek with the backs of my fingers. “So fuckin’ beautiful. So fuckin’ good at that. You look fuckin’ perfect with my cock in your mouth.”

  She hums in agreement, continuing to taste what’s hers.

  “This what you wanted?”

  Another nod, her hooded eyes on mine.

  “You gonna let me take your mouth whenever I want?”

  Another nod.

  “You sure?”

  Blink. Nod. Suckle.

  “You ready for me to eat your pussy?”

  Her tongue swirls around my piercing as she delivers a subtle nod as if she’s happy to just sit here and suckle him all damn day.

  Only, I’m not down with that. Doin’ what I do every single day, sometimes twice a day, I scoot down her body and open those fine-ass legs. The sun highlights everything. The wet sheen of her arousal. The light dusting of hair. Her sexy little clit hiding under its hood. Kneeling between her legs, I lick my lips at the sight and groan. I fuckin’ love this pussy. It’s pretty. A pretty pussy just for me.

  I drag a finger through her folds, and she arches her back, hands fisting on either side of her body. “You want me to get you off, love? Make you squirt on my face?”

  Another one of those sexy nods is my offering. As much as I love her words, her little cues are just as hot. I don’t make her wait. What kinda fiancé would I be if I did? Lying on my stomach, bare legs half in the grass, I dive in.

  As always, she doesn’t take long to come.

  Once.

  Twice.

  Soaking the blanket in her essence.

  I drink up what I can, as my cock hardens a second time, ready for another round. Knowin’ it ain’t the right thing to do, but givin’ zero actual fucks, I get my woman off a third time, then crawl between her legs and rub my wet cockhead all over her cunt. Pressing it against her clit, she squeaks in pleasure.

  “You like that?”

  “Yes,” Kit breathes, wigglin’ beneath me, skin all glowy.

  I tickle her entrance with him. “How about that?”

  Her eyes widen as those legs follow suit, to give me better access.

  ’Cause I’m a bastard, I don’t ask for permission when I nudge him inside, just the head, and rest him there, my eyes on hers, so she knows I’m the one there, not those bastards in the warehouse, not her ex, or any other unworthy piece of shit who’s taken what’s mine before.

  “I’m not gonna lie, love. I wanna fuck you right now. But I won’t. I’m gonna kneel here, and I’m gonna let you feel him. You good with that?”

  A shallow, nostril-flaring nod.

  “Words. I need the words, love.”

  Her eyelids flutter. “Yes.”

  “You want more?”

  “Yes.”

  Doin’ as requested, I push him in halfway. Her walls contract around my girth, gettin’ used to his size, and piercing. Kit sucks in a sharp, sexy breath. I watch him there, fascinated by the bare connection. It’s been decades since I’ve gone without protection, and damn, is it fuckin’ awesome. Not wanting her to freak out and go to a dark place and lose what we have right now, I gesture for her to give me her hand. She does so without pause, and I place it between us, right where my cock is, inside her. Delicate little fingers touch our connection. My shaft, her entrance.

  “You good?” I check, proud of how brave she is.

  “Yes.”

  “You want more?”

  “Yes.”

  Keeping her hand where it’s at, I glide myself inside her body. To the hilt. Kit’s eyes widen at the fullness, at the stretch, and she moans like the perfect woman she is.

  “That’s it, love.”

  Massaging her little clit with my thumb, she cries out in pleasure, her cunt squeezing me in a vise. I don’t move. I let her adjust as I give that little nub just what it deserves. When she comes, her throat elongates, back arches off the blanket, and cunt flutters around me. When she’s through, I back out, still hard as steel. Curling onto my side, I rest next to my woman and draw her into my front. Throwing her leg over my hip, I cup Kit’s bare ass, to keep us close, as my cock folds between us, wetting her stomach. Needin’ a bit more, I nudge my woman’s lips with my own, and she opens as she always does. The kiss is soft. It’s everything and more as it lingers for minutes, hours, days, I dunno which, and I don’t care. I melt into her, our invisible tether twining around us like a cocoon of our own making. Her palm upon my cheek. The sweetest of tastes on my tongue.

  For the rest of the afternoon, into the early evening, we laze in our own world, just like this. Half-naked, together. Never apart. Always touching. Always kissing or sharing.

  We speak of the future. Of the wedding and what we’d like our lives to look like together. She explains how happy she is to be where we are in our lives. And I vow to myself, to make damn sure she remains this happy, this satisfied, for always.

  We suck on Dum Dums, eat the fruit I packed, and make sure she stays hydrated with the water I brought.

  I play with her pussy a few more times, and she’s nice enough to swallow down a second batch from my cock. I couldn’t think of a better day, nor a better person to spend it with.

  When we’re through, we pack up together, and she takes a final stroll through the meadow, that same sunny smile playing on her lips before we navigate through the woods, and back to my bike. Before I take her home, we hit the final stop. Dinner in town, at a biker-friendly café, where our conversation never ceases, and we play footsie like teenagers under the table.

  The new compound gate yawns open as we arrive home. After today, I know, without a shadow of a doubt, I made the right choice to marry this woman. I should’ve known she was the woman of my dreams all those years ago, but I wasn’t ready then. Hell, I didn’t realize I was capable now, until she showed up, banging on the gate, demanding I help our son.