Page 24 of Kingpin (Blackjacks MC #1)

“Fuck no,” I said. “I still burn my toast every morning. My club doesn’t let me go hungry though. Someone is usually stuffing food into my refrigerator when I’m not looking.”

I flicked on the lights as we entered the house, making our way to the kitchen. Pulling out a chair at the table, I gestured for Hattie to take a seat. She skimmed her palm over the table’s surface with a fond gesture.

“God, it’s like I never left.”

I smiled to myself, seeing her back home again. Rummaging around in the refrigerator, I came up with a Tupperware of black bean and lime taquitos that Tex had dropped off, and two beers. Grabbing a pair of forks from the silverware drawer, I sat across from Hattie at the table.

“Why the change of heart?” I asked, opening the container lid. The pungent scent of citrus made my mouth water. “I thought you liked Seattle.”

“It’s hard to be away from Connie,” Hattie admitted. “Wylie is growing up so fast, too. I feel like I’ve missed a lot already. And Emma is a darling, precious little girl.”

I nodded, heart squeezing in my chest. Waiting. Hoping. Living close to her sister was an understandable reason to return to Brightwater. But did that mean she was coming back to me? Or would I have to stand by and watch her fall in love with another man, right before my eyes?

I popped the top off one beer and slid it over to her.

“There’s a place for you here,” I offered. “And we could try for that baby you always wanted.”

Hattie blew out a breath and blinked in surprise.

“You can’t be serious, Neil. I’m forty-six.”

“So?” I shrugged. “You’re still taking birth control. There’s a chance you could get pregnant, right?”

She hesitated, staring at me like I’d grown a second head.

“An extremely slim one.”

I pushed the container of food aside and pulled Hattie into my lap. Fuck, it was going to be difficult to stay focused with her soft curves pressed against me.

“I don’t know how to be a dad, sweetheart,” I said. “But I’ll try my damnedest if that will make you happy. I can’t—can’t quit the club. And if—”

“Neil,” Hattie whispered. “I realize I pushed for the divorce…”

I shook my head and tightened my grip on her.

“Forget about the divorce, honey. It’s just a piece of paper. Doesn’t mean shit.”

She huffed a laugh.

“Yes, you had no problem ignoring it for a decade.”

Reaching into the collar of my shirt, she took out my ring and slid it onto her finger. It was far too big on her, but that didn’t matter. I wrapped my hand arounds hers.

“I don’t have to spell it out for you this time around,” I said. “You know what you’re getting into with me, Hattie.”

She nodded.

“I do. And for the record, it still scares the shit out of me.”

“Fair enough,” I replied.

“But…” She placed her hands on my chest, sliding up to loop her arms around my neck.

“The only future I want is with you. Whatever form that takes. Maybe we have kids. But maybe we don’t.

I like this little home we have here. It’s not perfect, but it’s ours.

And your club is growing on me. It turns out that Vlad is really good with kids, and you’re going to have a hard time prying him away from Connie. ”

I laughed softly, pressing my face into the curve of her neck. God, she smelled so fucking good. She shivered when I kissed her jaw, nuzzling into the hollow beneath her ear.

“I think Spike and I will get along really well,” she added, with a smile in her voice. The little minx.

“No,” I said in a flat voice. “You better not.”

“He seemed very charming. Handsome, too.”

I lifted my head to look at her.

“I know what you’re doing.”

She grinned and wiggled against my dick. I sucked in a sharp breath, digging my fingers into her hips.

“You fucking tease. You said no sex.”

“And you said you were willing to try for a baby,” she said. “Shouldn’t we practice?”

Before she’d finished speaking, I was on my feet, hoisting her into my arms. Hattie squeaked in surprise and locked her legs around my waist. My ribs screamed in protest, and my leg ached a bit, but I gritted my teeth and carried her to the bedroom.

Hattie’s lips tipped up in a smile as she kissed my neck. Nibbling at my ear. My cock surged. I tossed her on the bed, grabbing her ankle to pry her shoe off. She wiggled out of her shirt and bra, leaning back against the pillows topless.

I tugged her other shoe off, tossing it aside. Then I yanked her to the edge of the mattress, peeling her jeans off. No panties this time. Nothing but bare pussy for me.

Hooking her legs over my shoulder, I buried my face between her thighs. Hattie sighed, squeezing her legs around my head. I don’t know how I managed to survive for so long without tasting her like this.

Now that she came back to me, I intended to wake her up like this every morning if she would let me. I had to make up for thirteen years apart, and I wouldn’t stop until my woman, my wife , was screaming my name.

“Neil, I need—” Hattie gasped, clawing at my shoulder.

I lapped and swirled and sucked at her clit until she was shaking. I kept going, even when she came with a shout, I didn’t stop.

Finally, she gave my head a weak shove.

“Inside me. Please. ”

I pulled back, wiping her slick off my chin, rising to my feet.

“On your hands and knees, baby,” I said.

With wobbly legs, Hattie obeyed. I tugged her hips to the edge of the bed and unbuckled my belt. The metallic clank and the gritty rasp of my zipper was the only sound in the room.

I slid my hand down the slope of Hattie’s spine, fisting my hand into her hair. Pressing her face down into the mattress, plump ass up. My bruised knuckles contrasted with her silky smooth skin—a reminder of what I was capable of when it came to my wife.

My cock throbbed, just from looking at her. Naked. Vulnerable. All mine.

I dragged my cock up and down her slit, gathering the cream of her arousal on my tip. Coating my length with it.

“You’re so fucking gorgeous, sweetheart.”

Just as Hattie took a deep breath of anticipation, I thrust in—long, deep, and slow. Making sure she felt every inch. Her fingers curled into the sheets.

“Holy shit, yes ,” she exhaled.

“When I put my ring on your finger again,” I said. “You’re never taking it off. Understood?”

Before she could reply, I pulled out and drove in for a second time. Harder. Burying my cock and grinding until her back arched.

“Yes,” she whimpered, voice thick with pleasure. “I understand. I’ll never take it off.”

My fingertips indented into Hattie’s hips, wiping all coherent thought from my brain. She came back to me. That was the only thing that mattered. She was here, in our bed, wrapped around my cock, where she was always meant to be.

I snapped my hips into her, again and again. Hattie stretched her arms out like a cat, tilting her head back with a whine.

“Touch your clit for me, sweetheart,” I said through gritted teeth. Fighting to hold on.

Quick as a flash, Hattie tucked her hand between her legs. I felt her fingers graze my length, pumping like a piston in and out of her. As soon as she started circling her clit, her walls seized my cock and a strangled noise of pleasure tore from her throat.

I pulled out just before her orgasm hit. Pushing Hattie onto her back, I smoothed the sweat-damp tendrils of hair away from her face, sliding my hand down her body. When I fingered her pussy to test how sensitive she was, she clamped her thighs around my wrist with a moan.

I kicked off my boots, and draped my cut on the foot of the bed. Peeling off my clothes, I climbed over Hattie and slotted my cock at her entrance again. Hattie’s gaze settled on my silver chain, wedding ring swinging freely.

“Look at me,” I murmured.

Hattie’s gaze flicked up to my face. I pressed in, deeper, deeper, until I was fully sheathed inside her. My chest against her chest. My wedding ring trapped between our bodies.

“You’re mine,” I said. “Say it.”

“I’m yours,” she whispered, brushing my lips as she spoke.

Less than an hour ago, I beat a man to death for threatening my woman. My love. My wife. And now, this perfect creature was beneath me, whispering, I’m yours, like a prayer.

I guided her legs up around my waist, driving even deeper at a fresh angle that made Hattie dig her nails into my back.

“ Fuck, Neil, don’t stop, don’t stop ,” she babbled into my shoulder.

I locked my arms around her, thinking of nothing else except her. The scent of her skin. The clutch of her pussy. The sweet taste of her, still lingering on my tongue. It was sloppy and messy, but it was us. Together. After years without her, I never wanted to be that fucking empty again.

Hattie crested the swell of her orgasm and I toppled after her. Gripping her thighs hard enough to bruise. Sinking so deep into her pussy, as if I could fuse our bodies together by sheer willpower.

At last, I sagged against her. Kissed her jaw, the corner of her mouth. Hattie fought to catch her breath, with a little smile of contentment gracing her lips as she hummed.

“Marry me,” I murmured.

She breathed a tired laugh.

“Haven’t you been saying all this time that we never divorced in the first place?”

“Marry me again anyway. Just because we can.”

Hattie studied me for a moment, searching my face.

“Only if we do it at the clubhouse. I strong-armed you into a regular wedding the first time around, and you hated that damn tux. You looked so miserable.”

I groaned at the memory.

“The fucking thing felt like it was strangling me.”

Hattie pressed a light kiss to my lips.

“If I’m marrying a biker, I should have a biker wedding.”

I brushed my knuckles over her cheek, down the curve of her throat. No words could describe how much I loved this woman. If she wanted a biker wedding at the clubhouse, that’s what she would get.

The harsh ringing of a phone made me jolt awake. Hattie was curled into my side, arm draped over my middle, leg hitched over my hips. She groaned and burrowed into my chest.

Swearing under my breath, I patted around blindly on the nightstand for my phone. But it wasn’t there.

Damn it. I’d probably left it in the pocket of my cut.

Reluctantly tearing myself away from Hattie, I crossed the room and rummaged around in the pockets of my cut until I found my phone.

“What?” I grumbled.

“Whoa, you clearly haven't had your coffee yet,” Baby Doll chirped. “Shepard called from the courthouse a minute ago. Thought you’d like to know that the jury reached a verdict in Hattie’s trial.”

The cobwebs of sleep quickly vanished from my mind. I glanced at Hattie, sheets barely covering her tits, exposing a bare hip. I scrubbed a hand down my face, fighting the knot in the pit of my stomach.

“I’m listening.”

“Not guilty,” Baby Doll said. “If you can believe it. Welch’s damn attorney planted just enough doubt regarding Hattie's statement that the jury didn't feel it carried weight."

“Fuck,” I hissed.

If I’d kept my distance, like Officer Shepard suggested, maybe this wouldn’t have happened.

On the other hand, if I’d stayed close to Hattie, she wouldn’t have endured any of this in the first place.

“You’re telling me Welch walks away clean,” I said.

“Afraid so,” Baby Doll admitted. “Now that his partners in crime have been taken out of the game, I can’t imagine Welch will be happy about that.”

“No. He won’t.”

After hanging up, I heard the sheets rustle. When I turned around, I found Hattie sitting up in bed, sheets clutched to her chest.

“The trial?” she whispered.

I nodded, sliding back into bed. I kissed her temple.

“The jury decided Welch is innocent.”

Hattie’s face fell. My heart clenched to see the disappointment, worry, and fear in her eyes.

“I’ll take care of it, baby,” I said softly. “Just focus on planning that biker wedding, all right?”