Page 12 of The Devil's Pair

“Ice,” Silver said heavily. “He was driving and he’s – well. He’s pretty goddamn distinctive looking, don’t you think, baby? If you were a cop investigating that fucking mess with the cult, and you saw a video with a van hauling ass away from the compound, wouldn’t you take a good, hard look at the driver?”

“Yes,” she whispered. “Of course I would.”

“So there we are.” Silver leaned back, took a deep breath. “What if Briley wasn’t the only cop that Gideon had in his pocket, and who he had investigating The Road Devils? Remember, Briley found out aboutuslong before we even knew whoshewas… what if someone else out there wasalsochecking us out for Gideon? Someone who knows our names, and our faces from criminal records and military records, and who knows where we are, and who knows all of our business addresses?”

“Then – then even if Ice’s face isn’t visible, or the CCTV is bad quality and doesn’t show much to use, then a clued-in cop could put two and two together,” she said numbly. “It wouldn’t be enough for someone coming in cold and blind, especially with no plates on the van, but someone with some background could make some pretty shrewd guesses who attacked the cult that night.”

“Exactly.”

“So… so Wolf is worried about being blackmailed to protect Briley and Ice and the twins and Viking? Like, he has to pay the cop so he doesn’t – what? Work with the cult again and turn you guys in, assuming that he knows about the New Mexico compound? I mean, Briley knew about the place in the desert, right?”

“Honestly? I think that Wolf is worried because he doesn’t have enough hard information. Everything is just ‘maybe’ and 'what if’. Lots of blind alleys. Wolf doesn’t do well with that level of uncertainty, baby. The man is a serious control freak in some ways, and the number one thing he likes to know is what an enemy or threat knows that can be used to hurt us. Healsolikes to know where exactly that enemy and threat’s assis, and right now, everyone is just ghosts. Wolfhatesghosts, he specializes in dragging them out into the light and knocking their heads clean off. But right now, he just can’t find them.”

“So what does he want us to do?” Jo looked around the beautiful living room. “He wants us to stay here?”

“Nope. The exact opposite. He wants us close.”

“He wants usinthe potential line of fire? That doesn’t sound like Wolf.”

“I know it seems contradictory, but Wolf feels better when all his people regroup and stick together. He’s a big believer in strength in numbers, and protecting his family, and he doesn’t think he can do that properly when we’re all scattered around the goddamn country.”

“How would he protect us all?”

“My guess is that he’d have you and Zoe and Keira living at Satan’s Bar, in the bedrooms upstairs, along with Elle and Violet. You’d be sort of locked down, and he’d have all of us men on shifts to keep an eye on things.”

“What?” Jo’s tone sharpened. “The women locked away upstairs, and you guys prowling around with guns on guard duty?”

Silver reached for her hands again. “I know how it sounds, angel. I do.”

“It sounds like I’d be trapped and controlled by a man. Again.”

“Hey,” Silver said gently. “If you don’t want to do it, then you just tell me, Jolene. I’ll call Wolf back right now and tell him that we’re staying here. Or if you really want to go home, then I’ll tell him that we’re moving into my place together, and we’ll just ramp up our security.” He stroked her lips, loving the sensual curve. “What do you want? Because whatever it is, that’s what we’ll do.”

“What – I decide for both of us?”

“That’s right. This is aboutyou, whatyoucan handle. You’ve been through hell, and if you need some more time before we head back into the wild unknown, then we stay here, in the wild known of the Rockies.” He grinned at her now, watched in relief as she returned his smile. “Wedostill have a couple more pieces of furniture to christen, baby, so I’m happy to do that.”

“Really?” To his eternal relief, her tone was teasing again. “Are yousurethat we missed some, handsome?”

“Uh-huh.” Watching her eyes, Silver parted her bathrobe, his thumbs just grazing her nipples. Jo arched at even that slight touch, her breath coming a bit faster, a bit tighter. “For instance, we haven’t made love on the chair by the door.”

Jo huffed out a laugh which ended on a squeak as his fingers slid down her belly, skimmed her pussy. “The spindly wooden one? It would never take our weight.”

“I was thinking maybeyou’dsit on it whileIkneeled down in front of you.”

“Oh, yeah?” Jo tried to look casual. “What would you be doing down there?”

“Youknowwhat I’d be doing,” he growled. “So get naked, hop that hot little ass over to that chair, and open those legs, angel. You’re going to come on my tongue in the next ten minutes.”

It was actually seven minutes later that Jo did exactly that, her head thrown back, her legs wrapped around Silver’s shoulders, her whole body shaking with release, gasping that she loved him. And just nine minutes afterthat– after Silver had dragged her to the carpeted floor, flipped her over and taken her from behind, his breath hot and harsh in her ear – they were in a tangled, exhausted, sated heap on the floor, Jo’s head against Silver’s chest, his arms holding her and calming her.

That was when Jo lifted her face and told Silver that she wanted to go home: she wanted to go tohishome and make it a home that they shared. She told him that she was ready to do what had to be done to reclaim the life that she’d worked so hard to build up in Denver, and she needed him beside her while she did that.

Silver smiled. “That’s my girl. My kick-ass little angel.”

“I’m scared, though,” she said. “I mean, this is what Iwantto do, and it’s the absolutelyrightthing to do… but I’m not a lunatic. I know what Wolf is worried about and why.”

“And you’re going to do it anyway.” Silver kissed her, brief and hard. “Weare.”

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