Page 92 of Ridin' True

“Club business doesnotfollow us home. Not like this. Not ever. I don’t even know who to fuckin’ thank that the shooter didn’t feel the need to get out of his car and hunt her down on foot.”

“I hear you, brother,” Bull began, his tone irritatingly calm. “Get in my face if you need to. Hell, might even let you throw a punch. Don’t know what it’s like for danger to hurdle its way toward my Winnie. Doesn’t mean I haven’t imagined it a million times.

“But I do know one thing. Your woman’s gonna walk out that door any second,” he said, pointing down the hall. “When she does, you need to have your shit together. I don’t gotta tell you, she needs you. Tonight, she’s your only worry.

“I shouldn’t have to remind you, but I will—that woman is family now. I take this attack personally, and I’m not gonna roll over and play dead. But neither will I start a war with a blindfold over my eyes. Soon as we’ve got answers, we’ll know what to do next. Until we know who pulled that trigger, we’re blind. Now, calm the fuck down, take your woman home, and wait for my call. Understood?”

“Jed?”

Her soft voice was like a bucket of cold water dumped over his head.

Wrangler turned immediately and saw Alexia standing at the mouth of the hallway, fidgeting with her phone. She’d changed into jeans and a tee-shirt, but it was the look on her face that moved his feet. He hadn’t been there when the bullets were flying, but he was there now, and she needed him.

He ate the distance between them and took hold of her uninjured hand.

“You good to go, darlin’?”

She nodded, and he squeezed her fingers before starting for the door.

As they went, Wrangler locked eyes with Bull and muttered, “I’ll be waitin’ on that call.”

Bull merely jerked his chin in reply.

Alexia

AssoonasIstepped into Jed’s house, I started stripping out of my clothes. I left a trail all the way to his shower, and I was underneath the water before it even got warm.

“You okay in there, gorgeous?”

My panic had dissipated, and my tears had subsided. A part of me thought I should be afraid, but I never was when I was with Jed. Instead, I felt a little lost—like I didn’t know what to do next.

I must have taken too long to come up with an answer because, before I could decide what to say, Jed was naked and in the shower with me. He slid his hands across my belly as he shrouded me with his body, and I let my head fall back against his shoulder. I’m not sure how long we stood there; but the longer we did, the better I felt.

I wasalive.

I turned in his hold and wrapped one arm around his shoulders, cupping my opposite hand around the back of his neck. I barely had to apply pressure and he was there, giving me what I wanted. He kissed me hard and with a desperation I felt from my lips to my toes.

I wasalive—and his kiss heightened the realization of that truth.

I moaned into his mouth as I clung to him, my longing unrestrained and growing by the second. Just when I thought I couldn’t get close enough, Jed grabbed me around the waist, lifted me off my feet, and propped me against the shower wall. I opened my legs, raising my knees to hook around his hips, and he blindly found my entrance, filling me with a forceful thrust.

I cried out in relief, burying my fingers in his hair as he pounded in and out of me. He grabbed onto my outer thighs, the pressure of his fingertips digging into my skin another reminder that I wasalive, and I relished the feeling.

“Papi,” I whimpered, my eyes locked with his.

He felt so incredible, I could hardly breathe from excitement.

Steady and true. Each time he filled me was a reminder, a reassurance, apromisethat my man was steady and true. Reliant and strong. He had me in his grasp, and I was safe. No longer on a deserted island, but there—with him—aliveand whole.

My orgasm came out of nowhere, and I gasped as I trembled in delight—but Jed wasn’t done. With a groan, he rode me harder, never breaking his stride.

Hypersensitive, I felt another orgasm come to life on the heels of my first.

“Jed,” I moaned, my grip in his hair tightening as I panted.

“Breathe,” he told me, touching his forehead to mine.

“I’m—I’m—oh, papi,” I cried before I had no words left.