Page 153 of Cook

Those were our men, but when had Cook gone back to Phoenix to get his bike?

I dodged around Melanie, running to Cook, and he took me up in his arms. It was good to have him home. But when I looked down at the bike, I could see it wasn’t his.

After Cook kissed me on the forehead, he slung his arm around my shoulder and led me toward the house. “Pack a bag,” he said.

“Where are we going?” I asked hesitantly. I only wanted to be with him and in our home, where it was safe. I checked over my shoulder at Celt as Roni came out to greet him.

“We’re riding up to the hills for a bonfire and party.” Cook leaned his head down to my ear. “Make sure you’re pretty for me, okay?”

Latching my fingers together, I twisted them nervously. But I forced myself to give him a nod and then I cleared my throat, trying to remove the lump. “What’s the party for?”

“Time to get our new patches and positions.” He beamed.

I stared down at the rock I’d been kicking. “I thought it was dangerous.”

He grabbed my chin. “Eyes on me, nizhóní.”

When I met his gaze, the corners of his eyes crinkled. “Life’s dangerous, baby girl, but in this, I gotchu.”

Smiling, I curled into him. I had Cook, and I trusted him to have me too.

Chapter 26

Cook

Maddie still smelled like lastnight’s bonfire. The smoke had curled into her hair and whispered across her skin, and when she had fallen asleep in my arms, I had dreamed of her dancing near the flames. My little moth, drawn to beautiful and deadly things. How her body had swayed.

As though my morning wood wasn’t hard enough, these thoughts filtered down to my cock. It had nowhere to rise to when Maddie’s lower back was pressed into my abs and her ass resting in the curve of my hips. Just the smallest movement of hers—or mine—would detonate me. Even worse, she had me partially pinned. If I wanted to escape, I would have no choice but to wake her up and free my arm.

Her copper hair covered her face, and I brushed it back before tucking it behind her ear. The sun glistened across her skin, illuminating her like she was a star. A smattering of freckles dotted her nose and cheeks.

Fuck, she was gorgeous. But so tired.

Dark bags that had been hanging under her eyes yesterday, but those cleared up overnight. She was peaceful, perhaps the most at ease I had seen her. Even in sleep. A small smile even curled up the corners of her mouth.

I hated to wake her and break her free of the much-neededreprise. Wherever she was, neither Signora nor Tommy G. existed. None of the sick bastards she had been sold to would brave such a calm place either. Waking her would bring her back to this world with shadows and pain.

I wanted to give her every ounce of peace I could, ripping it from the sky and raining it down over the house, nowourhouse. The place that was becoming a home, thanks to Maddie. Even my physical efforts to repair the place were owed to her presence.

For now, all I could give her was a few more moments of rest.

Maddie’s eyelashes fluttered, and I stalled my breathing. She peeked out of the corner of her eye, peeling back her eyelashes. A lazy smile stretched her lips, and my heart beat louder.

“How long were you planning on staring at me, Daddy?” she purred.

I chuckled. “As long as you needed, baby girl. Beauty rest is important.”

Rolling over, she curled her fingers into my t-shirt. “I need you.”

That was all the encouragement I needed. I flipped her onto her stomach and hiked up my old T-shirt, loving the fact that she liked to sleep in my clothes. It labeled her as mine—property I never knew I needed in my life.

Soon, so very soon, I’d get her into a leather jacket and cut with a proper patch... property of Cook. My cock thickened at the thought, but I craved something from her before I could parade her around with such a label.

Her absolute and unyielding consent. I’d pushed her to the breaking point, and I wanted to understand that limit a little more. But not this morning.

She shuddered under me as I slipped a finger into her panties and then down her slit.

“Maddie,” I whispered with my chin on her shoulder.

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