Page 28 of Riding the Line (Steel Saints MC #1)

Dalton gently pulled me to his chest and kissed the top of my head.

“Don’t worry about us, Vixen. You focus on getting better, and then I can think of plenty of things for us to do.

” He winked suggestively, and I felt my neck turn red.

I met Mac’s eyes in the rearview mirror and blushed harder when he smiled at me.

We pulled up outside Maria’s, and Dalton helped me out while Diego Jr. ran towards us.

Maria stood on the porch with Manny on her hip and Diego Sr. at her side.

Little Diego was yammering on a million miles an hour, and I didn’t pay much attention until he grabbed my hand and started pulling me toward the house.

“Come on, Aunt Nicky!”

I gaped at him and then at Maria, who shrugged and smiled at me. I smiled back—I kind of liked the sound of Aunt Nicky.

Mac and Dalton followed me to the porch. While Maria, the kids, and I all went inside, the two of them stayed outside with Jackson. I cast a curious glance over my shoulder at the three men who were speaking in a hushed whisper.

“Aunt Nicky, look what I made for you!” Diego said, dragging my attention to a giant “Welcome” banner that hung from the ceiling. It was decorated in pink glitter, shedding on the floor in a shiny pink mess that I knew Maria was thrilled about.

I couldn’t bend to give the boy a hug, so instead I ruffled his mess of brown hair. “I love it, buddy.” He gave me a toothy grin and ran off down the hallway.

I turned to Maria. “Girl, that is a lot of glitter.”

She groaned. “Don’t get me started on that. He found a bunch of leftover decor from Jewel’s quinceanera . By the time I got wind of it, Jewel had happily supplied all the glitter.”

The teenager in question was sitting in the living room but came into the kitchen as we talked. She giggled. “Sorry, momma. No arrepentirse de nada .”

Maria scowled at her daughter. “ Por eso mismo vas a tener que limpiarlo . And no Spanish while Nicky is here.”

Jewel protested—both the glitter punishment and her mother’s forbidding Spanish.

“You don’t have to do that, Maria. I don’t care what language y’all speak. I’m a guest here.”

But Maria was having none of it. She fixed Jewel with a stern stare which sent the girl stomping towards the living room in a huff, and then turned that stare on me, so I decided to keep my mouth shut on the matter.

Maria put Manny in a high chair while she worked in the kitchen.

I offered to help her, but she practically laughed in my face.

“I didn’t realize you had healed overnight!” I rolled my eyes as she brandished a spoon at me. “The doctor said take it easy, remember.”

I sighed but took a seat at the table. The guys came in from off the porch, and Manny threw a baby puff at his dad.

“Vixen giving you a hard time already, Maria?” Dalton said, giving her a friendly hug.

She laughed. “I don’t think your girl knows the meaning of take it easy or sit still. Might have to tie her down.”

Dalton’s sexy grin was intoxicating, and my attention was so focused on him that I didn’t notice Mac coming up behind me until I felt his breath on my ear.

“Bet you’d like that, wouldn’t you, Vixen?”

I turned so red I thought I would set the chair on fire and turned to give him an admonishing look, reminiscent of the one Maria had given Jewel and me a moment ago. But he just smirked at me.

Diego was pretending he hadn’t heard us, and Maria turned back to the pot on the stove with a wink at me.

Mac headed for the door and said, “Alright, Vixen. We gotta get going. Keep your phone on you.”

I stood at the table, legs just a little bit shaky, and Dalton kissed me, then followed his brother out.

Mac nodded at Diego, who nodded back—probably some secret male agreement.

He started to leave, but then stopped. He turned around and looked at me.

I gave him a curious look, head skewed to the side like a confused puppy.

Suddenly, he was in front of me again. He cupped the back of my head, tilting my face up and towards his, then he captured my lips with his.

This wasn’t the chaste kiss Dalton had just given me.

This was heat and danger, and it made me forget everyone else in the room.

I was vaguely aware of Diego covering baby Manny’s eyes.

Mac nipped my lip, and my heart felt like it would beat its way out of my chest. Then Maria cleared her throat and broke the spell.

Mac moved his hand from where it had been wrapped in my hair until it cupped my cheek.

I leaned into his touch and smiled at him.

He pressed his forehead against mine and said, “Be good, Vixen.”

Dalton chuckled, then shook his head as he shoulder-bumped his brother on their way out the door.

Maria cleared her throat again, and I turned to look at her. “What?” I said innocently. Diego picked up Manny, and beat a hasty retreat towards the living room.

“Girl!” Maria smirked at me. “I’ve never seen him like that. Not with anyone. Not even in high school.”

“What was he like?”

She tilted her head. “Mac was pretty much the same. Calm, quiet, yet somehow still in charge. Dalton was a total man-ho. They’ve both matured, obviously. But you do something to them, Nicky. Holy shit, wait ‘til I tell Holly you about turned my kitchen into an episode of Pasión de Gavilanes .”

I groaned and threw a dish towel at her as she hummed the theme song, swaying her ample hips to the imaginary beat.

Diego came from the hallway, dragging a bin of toys as best he could. “Aunt Nicky, wanna play?”

As if I could turn him down.

“Absolutely I do, handsome man. But you’re gonna have to play on the table ‘cos Aunt Nicky can’t move too well, okay?” Look at me, talking in third person and shit.

Diego gave his mother a quizzical look, and she said, “You can play with toys on the table only when Aunt Nicky is here, and they better be cleared off for dinner.”

The little boy nodded eagerly before handing me a few action figures and climbing into the chair next to me.

Diego and I played while his mom cooked.

Diego Sr. would come into the kitchen every now and then, on the hunt for a snack for the baby and stealing kisses from his wife.

It was a sweet, domestic scene, and I found myself completely at peace—despite the fact that Diego kept brutally killing my action figure.

So far, I had been murdered by a T. rex, a bomber, and a Barbie.

He was thrilled every time I went down dramatically, groaning and moaning and playing along.

“Alright, mi familia , dinner is ready. Everyone, come wash your hands!”

Jewel sauntered into the kitchen with Manny in her arms. “You said no Spanish, Mom. Just saying.”

She dragged the high chair over to the table and secured Manny in it before taking the seat across from me.

Diego busied himself clearing the toys from the table, while his dad set out plates and silverware.

Jewel and I just sat there, her staring at me—man, the kid should take up detective work.

I squirmed in my seat. Was this a normal teenager thing?

Because her brown eyes were staring into my soul.

“Sorry I missed your party, by the way,” I said, trying to break the ice.

She shrugged. “You were almost dead. Would’ve totally ruined the mood.”

Well, alrighty then.

Maria set down a massive platter of chicken drenched in some sort of brown sauce.

The smell was enough to send me to heaven.

Next to it, she put a big bowl of yellow rice and then some sort of corn dish that had peppers and black beans in it.

I was practically drooling when Maria sat next to me and said, “I hope you like mole .”

I shrugged. “I have no idea what that is, but it smells divine. Definitely better than hospital food.”

Over the next hour, I ate my weight in food while listening to the Gonzales family banter and chat.

They were a rambunctious group—even little Manny occasionally shouting baby nonsense while his mom fed him a mixture of baby food and little bits off her plate.

Jewel and her stepdad were locked in an intense debate about her book budget.

She had evidently exceeded it for the month, and was expertly negotiating for more.

Maria brought out some tres leches cake for dessert, and I was pretty sure I could’ve taken the whole thing to my room and been a happy woman.

“Girl, you need to show me how to make all this. I’m afraid my skills are decidedly centered on American cuisine. This is some of the best food I’ve ever had.”

Maria shrugged my compliment off, but smiled broadly. “You made those delicious fajitas that first night, remember? And then those tamales my son suckered you into making.”

“Girl, my tamales probably haunt the dreams of your abuela .”

She had told me about her grandma more times than I can count. The woman was evidently a force to be reckoned with, old school and no nonsense. But she had loved Maria fiercely, and had a penchant for taking in lost souls—a trait her beloved granddaughter had clearly inherited.

Maria laughed at me, and even Diego Sr. cracked a smile. “You’re not wrong there, Nicole. That woman scared the shit out of me.”

Maria threw a napkin at him, and he winked at her. Handing the baby a piece of chicken to gnaw on, she said, “She would’ve loved you, you know. I’ll have to show you some pictures while you’re here.”

I took a sip of my water. “I would love that.”

When dinner was over, my offer to help clean up was promptly dismissed.

No surprise there. I played with Manny at the dining room table while they got everything put away.

Despite my insistence that I was fine, Maria was adamant that I let her help me stand.

Secretly, I was grateful for the help. My pain meds were starting to wear off, and the damn things were probably in my room which seemed incredibly far away.