Page 79 of The Biker and the Loner

He chuckles, his chest vibrating with the sound. “Commando.”

“What does a ‘commando’ do?”

“Um…” He trails off for a long moment as if debating whether or not to tell me.

“Is it dangerous?” I press.

“No.” His answer is so swift that I know he’s lying. “Think search and rescue. Emergency response team, that kinda stuff.”

I breathe out a heavy sigh. “Remind me to give you back Papà’s chain.”

He bursts out laughing.

“I can tell you’re excited about it, so I won’t tell you that I don’t like it,” I say, rubbing the sole of my foot along his calf. “But just promise me you’ll always come back to me in one piece from this so-called ‘search and rescue’ job.”

“Promise.”

“I need to tell you something.”

His body goes rigid. “You didn’t kiss another man, did you? Because I didn’t mean that hall pass shit. I’ll kill him, whoever he is. I’ll fucking kill him.”

“Simmer down,” I admonish through a laugh. “Why are you always in the mood to kill someone?”

“Only when it comes to you,” he argues. “You’re my baby.”

“No, I didn’t kiss anyone,” I assure him. “But I did rent a space in town. I’m going to open a breakfast restaurant.”

“Yeah?” He shifts and props his head up in one palm, looking down at me with a proud grin. “Finally figured out what you wanna do, huh?”

“Yes, but....” I trail off and bite my lip, wondering if it’s too soon. Not for me, but for him. Iknowthis is what I want, but doeshe? Will he be ready?

“But what?”

“The restaurant is only part of what I want,” I say tentatively. “Temporary, even.”

His expression sobers, and he reaches down to sweep hair from my forehead. “Tell me.”

“I want…um…”Oh, just say it!“I want to start a family,” I blurt. “Three to four kids. Five if you’re up for it. I just...I want to start fresh, considering...you know. I’ve thought about it long and hard, what I want to do with my life, and it’s what I keep coming back to: becoming a mom. Starting a family of my own. Keeping Papà alive by loving them the way he loved me…”

“Damn,” he grunts with widened eyes. “It’s a good thing I got a new job. That’sfivecollege tuitions, bruh.”

A giggle flutters from me. I don’t tell him about my enormous inheritance. Toni advised me not to until we were married. She divulged Grunt still doesn’t know her net worth and he won’t know until they tie the knot.

“People are people, you know? Fallible,” she’d said. “No matter how much you think you know someone, they can still surprise you. And money, it brings out the worse in most. So, lifetime commitment first.”

I tell Scratch, “I think we’ll be fine.”

His expression becomes thoughtful, glazed with wistfulness. “Is adoption on the table?”

Right away, I know this is important to him as much as starting a family is important to me. He’d grown up in a shitty foster home, and by adopting, he would be able to give those kids the love he never received.

“Of course,” I answer. “We can try for two of our own and adopt three. A Kenny, a Grunt, and a Scratch.”

“A Kendra, a Nero, and a Landon,” he corrects. “We’re all saved now. We’re all...loved. We don’t need to be those rebels anymore.”

“Okay, so….” I bite my lip, eyeing him nervously. “You’re in?”

In answer, he rolls me onto my back and falls between my thighs, which instinctively widens to accommodate his big frame. He cups my jaw with one hand and crushes his mouth to mine, while his other hand palms my breast.

Then, when I’m slick with fresh arousal, he guides himself inside me. Bareback.

He breaks our kiss and gazes down at me with so much love and adoration as he glides out, then right back in, buried to the hilt. And with a slow, sexy smile, he whispers, “I’m soin.”