Page 83 of Kyle

“Congratulations on your place, Kyle. Really. It’s fantastic.”

I swallow. “How did you know?”

“I saw Tina’s post.”

“Ah. I see.” I nod to the flowers. “You just stopped by to congratulate me, then?”

Her eyes stray to the long table filled with my brothers and their ol’ ladies. “Well, I wanted to talk to you…”

My father folds his arms. “Anything you got to say, you can say in front of all of us.”

Her gaze shifts briefly to Rafe, then back to me. “I wanted to tell you… you see, I wanted to ask…”

I wait, my chest squeezed into a tight band. I’m afraid to hope.

“Spit it out, girl,” Green says.

“Green, hush,” my mother snaps.

“I guess what I’m trying to say is… I’ve been miserable without you, and I’d like to give us a chance.” She looks down at the flowers, then holds them out. “Will you go out with me, Kyle?”

I grin and run to her, lifting her off her feet and twirling her around. Her arms wrap my neck, and she buries her face in my shoulder. When I set her on her feet, I hear my MC brothers’ wisecracks.

“Guess that’s your answer, girl,” Green says.

“I think that’s a yes,” Red Dog says with a laugh.

“How come you never asked me out on a date?” Reckless says to Harley Jean, who smacks him on the arm.

No matter the conversations around us, my focus is intently on Sutton. I cup her face and pull her mouth to mine for our first kiss. Having it in front of the entire club was not the dream I had in my head, but I’ll take it. I’ll take her… any way I can get her.

Her lips are soft, and the kiss is sweet and innocent, with the promise of so much more. More that I want to explore and partake of, the sooner the better.

When I break away, I look at the table full of people. “Party’s over. Everybody out.”

Cole raises a brow at me, daring to give him an order, but he grins and stands. “You heard the man. Out.”

Green scrapes his chair across the floor. “We didn’t even get chili.”

Sara puts her hand over his mouth. “Hush. You can take me out to dinner.”

“I thought that’s what I was doin’ here.”

She pushes him toward the door. “Go.”

My mother cups Sutton’s face, staring into her eyes with a smile. “I’m so glad you came home.” Then she hugs her, breaks off and hugs me, then leads my father out with the others.

“Give me a second,” I say, kissing Sutton’s hand and moving to the door to lock up after everyone files out.

Sutton sets the flowers on the table, and I grin as I walk back to her. “No one’s ever brought me flowers before.”

“Well, I felt like I messed up when I left town, so I needed to go all-out.”

I take her hands in mine. “What made you come back?”

“Besides the fact that I missed you terribly?” She looks around the place. “You named it after me.”

“I did.”

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