Page 43 of Rogue’s Path (Sweet Chaos #1)

Rogue

As I climb into the truck on my way back to Peaches, I call Havoc. “She’s safe.”

“Good. Your package arrived. Bishop has it.”

Even before I fully turn towards him, Bishop holds out the little box from the jewelry store I had Vandal order for me.

“Thanks.”

“Congrats, Brother.”

It isn’t a done deal yet, but it’s close.

“Did you talk about that minivan yet?” Havoc chuckles.

“I’m going to spell his name with a K instead of a C.”

All the guys in the car laugh with Havoc, but me. Though if I’m honest, picturing a little girl with Peaches’ heart and mind is enough to make me smile. And buy more guns.

As a gun dealer, the number I’ll still need to accumulate is a daunting thought. At least she’ll have enough uncles and cousins to keep her safe and make boys rethink their choices. Which are living or my daughter. They can only pick one.

“Whatever works. We have a problem here.”

That’s not what I want to hear.

“Two kids died last night. We can’t wait to send in Vandal, Torque, and Ryot.”

Havoc’s right. We can’t put it off longer to train them. “When I get back?”

“Yeah, that’s what I was thinking. They’re already looking at apartments near each campus. Though we might be able to get them in the dorms…”

***

How is Peaches going to react when I walk in that door? She wasn’t giving me the silent treatment, but she was subdued when she left.

Peaches loves me, and I love her.

There’s nothing to worry about.

I open the door.

She stops mid-step and hurls herself at me. “I wasn’t worried…mostly. But a little bit because bad things happen. And I didn’t want anything to happen to you.”

Before she gets herself into a rant that she can’t stop, I cover her lips with mine.

It should be a soft, sweet kiss after all she’s been through today, but I can’t stop myself from pouring my heart out, reassuring myself that she’s healthy and no permanent damage has been done to our relationship by the dead man or my choices.

Peaches pulls my head in even closer.

That’s all I need.

Then suddenly she pulls away. “We need to talk.”

Uh oh.

“When I was driving back here, I thought about all the wild things I’ve done in my life. And how I almost lost you because I wasn’t willing to ride a motorcycle or try new clothing because they felt like they were changing who I am."

“I’d never—”

She puts a finger over my lips. “Then I realized you already changed who I am. You changed my heart and my mind. What does a new outfit matter?”

I move to kiss her again.

“Are you planning on giving me whisker burn?”

“That could be a possibility.”

“We’re going to need to find you some beard oil. Because people tease me about it.”

Like I care if people see her face after I ravish her lips. I pull her in closer, then stop. “Does it hurt?”

“No.” She drags my lips to hers.

We’ll pick up beard oil tomorrow.

As fast as the kiss starts, it stops.

“Wait. You still have a debt to pay.”

Huh?

“Take it off, mister.”

Oh! A smile spreads across my face.

“Nope. I don’t care how sexy you are. A debt is a debt. Pay up.” Peaches backs away. “I’ve waited a long time to see this.” The temptress is out in full force.

“You want me to take my shirt off?”

“Oh, yeah.” She walks over to the counter and hops up on it for a better view. “You wouldn’t want to welch on a deal.”

Like I needed any deal to show her the tattoo. “Do you know when I first knew I loved you?” I stalk towards her with my hand on the edge of my shirt.

“No.” Her voice gets breathy.

“I thought it was the first time we kissed, but I was wrong.” I stop inches away from her. “It was when you came up and kissed me in the café. You weren’t afraid of anything. I knew you could handle living in my world and loving me.” With a single tug, my shirt comes off and flutters to the floor.

“A peach.” Her finger reaches out and lightly touches the stubbly tattoo. “You put a peach over your heart.”

“That’s where you’ll always be.”’

Her finger slides over to the empty patch next to it. “And what’s going to go there?”

“I was thinking we could put our children’s names there. If you want to have kids.” This is all Havoc’s fault. If any of the brats we have get croup, he’s going to be rocking them all night.

“Before you, I never thought of having kids. With you—” She leans forward to kiss me with her hand on my heart.

It’s almost impossible to stop myself from kissing her, but some things are too important. “There’s just one little point we have to discuss about kids.”

Her brows wrinkle. “What?”

“We are not a minivan family. We ride motorcycles, trucks, and SUVs. We do not get minivans.”

“You take your cars very seriously.”

“I’m serious, Peaches. No minivans.”

“What if we call it a mom-mobile? Would that offend your delicate sensibilities?”

I’ll show her delicate sensibilities.

A knock at the door stops me. “WHAT?”

“We're ready to eat,” Integer shouts back.

“Ignore him. He’ll go away,” I whisper in her ear as I trail kisses up it.

“Let’s go have dinner with your family.”

***

“I look good in leather.” Peaches wiggles from side to side in front of the mirror.

Like there was any question she would. “Yeah, you do.”

She giggles. “No, I look good.”

My woman is feeling her inner biker babe. “Very good.” I walk over to her. “But I think I have something that will look even better on you.”

“Oh, really?”

I hold out a folded-over hand to her, flattening it out slowly.

“You got me lip balm.”

“Peach lip balm.”

She takes it from my palm and starts to apply it in the mirror.

I sink to one knee. “But this is what I want you to wear forever.”

Her eyes go wide in the mirror.

“Will you be my old lady?”

“You’re terrible. You know that, right?” She grins at me the entire time.

“So is that a yes?”

“I’ll marry you, but I’m not sure about this old lady thing.”

Peaches is going to love it when I call her my old lady…eventually.

“I love you.”

“That’s the best thing we have in common.” I slide the peach sapphire onto her finger and lean in to seal our engagement with a kiss.

“There’s no time for that, mister.” She puts her hand on my chest, right over my heart, and stares at her ring. “You know my parents are going to come.”

Do they have to? “Of course.”

“And I want to have all your brothers there.”

That’s a given. Like those busybodies would let us get away with not inviting them.

“But I was thinking…we’re pretty close to Vegas.”

Is she saying what I think she’s saying?

“One of those silly little wedding shops would make for a funny story to tell our kids.”

I would think it would be more romantic than funny. “We are not getting a minivan. What do you want? A pearl SUV? A four-door truck? You name it, I’ll get right on it.”

She grins at me. “There’s no time for you to obsess about cars. We need to ride.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

The end…for now.

Thank you for reading Rogue's Path . The next book in this series is Havoc's Path .