Annabel giggled. “I think I’ve created an ego monster.”
I grinned. “Let’s just say after conquering that first time, I was back in the saddle pretty quickly.” As I stared into her beautiful green eyes, my expression grew serious. “No matter how many times we do this, you don’t ever have to explain if you’re having a hard time with it. I’m a pretty good reader of your body language, but if we need to, we can come up with a safe word or something like that.”
“We don’t need anything like a safe word. You know me inside and out, Rev. I know that you’ll never expect more of me in the bedroom than I can give, even if it means I have to convince you I’m ready to take things to another level. It’s just one of the many reasons why I love you.”
Her words caused my chest to tighten. I had never experienced absolute trust with a woman like I did with Annabel. I knew now why Mama Beth had said it was the most important thing in a relationship. After all that Annabel had been through, her giving me her implicit trust was one of the greatest gifts she could ever give me.
I had her heart, her mind, her body, and her soul, and she, in turn, held me captive in the palm of her hand.
Although sunlight streamed through the hotel curtains, I refused to wake up. I was having the most amazing sex dream of my life. Silky wet lips traveled up and down my hard dick. I groaned, bucking my hips. As I was suctioned into her warm, inviting mouth, I felt like I had died and gone to heaven.
And then my eyes flew wide open. This was no dream. This was all wonderfully fucking real. Gazing down, I watched as Annabel drew me in and out of her mouth. When she looked up at me, I fought not to blow my load right then and there.
I started to ease her off me, but she refused. Instead, she kept right on bobbing up and down, her tongue swirling around me. “I’m about to come, Annabel,” I muttered. That statement only seemed to fuel her to go faster. Gripping the sheets with both my hands, I let myself go, jerking my hips off the bed as I came into her mouth. “Annabel!” I cried.
Once I had finished, she crawled up my body to lie beside me. “Good morning,” she said with an impish grin.
I chuckled. “Good morning to you. That was a hell of a wakeup call.”
“You were so attentive to me last night I wanted to repay the favor.” She brushed her hand up and down my chest, her fingertips raking through my thick hair.
“I will always attend to you first. That’s just the kind of man I am.”
She giggled. “You’ll get no protests from me.”
Ducking my head, I leaned down to kiss her gently. When I pulled away, I stared intently into her eyes. “Are you okay?”
“Deliciously sore in all the right places,” she replied.
I cupped her cheek. “Although I’m always concerned with your body, I think you know what I mean.”
She sighed. “Yes, I do. And I’m fine.” When I gave her a skeptical look, she countered, “Do you think I would have blown you this morning if I was emotionally fragile about us having sex?”
My eyes widened. “What a naughty mouth you have there, Miss Percy.”
Annabel grinned. “You have firsthand knowledge of my naughty mouth.”
Relief filled me that she was okay emotionally. I didn’t know what it might be like for her in the light of day. We seemed to be moving at warp speed since last night, considering she’d run away with me and now we had taken our relationship even further by making it physical.
“I missed waking up next to you these past four months,” she said softly.
“I missed it, too.”
Annabel stared up at me. “What was it that made you finally come after me? I mean, the way you showed up at the party was like something out of a movie. After all those months, I thought you had forgotten me.”
“You really don’t get it, do you?”
“What do you mean?”
“You’re the most amazing woman I’ve ever known. Strong, beautiful, kind, caring, and funny. No man in his right mind could ever forget you.”
Her lip trembled at my compliments. “You really mean that, don’t you?”
“I sure as hell do. As for me coming after you, I was pretty much miserable on a daily basis, but it was Willow who really helped me see the light.”
Her mouth dropped open in surprise. “She did?”
“I swear that kid is one hell of an old soul.”
With a smile, Annabel said, “I can’t wait to see her again.”
“She’ll be thrilled to see you. Everyone will. They love you as much as I do.”
“And I love them.”
I brought her arm up from my chest to kiss her palm and then her scarred wrist. “I’ve been thinking,” she said.
“Mmm,” I murmured as I continued kissing along the scar.
“Since I’m going to be a biker’s old lady, I think I need some ink.”
I glanced up from her hand in surprise. “You do?”
“All of the girls have a tattoo but me, even Alexandra.”
I was once again surprised. “She does?”
Annabel nodded. “It’s somewhere hidden by her clothes. Somewhere only Deacon can see.”
“Mmm-hmm, and is that the type of ink you plan on getting? Something somewhere that only my eyes will see?”
“Not exactly.” She held her wrists up for both of us to look at. “I want to get the scars made into something beautiful. Maybe a butterfly on one wrist and angel wings on the other.”
I smiled, since it was obvious she had been giving this a lot of thought, even when we were apart. “Why those specifically?” I asked.
Annabel pursed her lips thoughtfully. “Well, a butterfly has a beautiful rebirth when it comes out of its cocoon, especially since it seemed like its entire world was over.”
“That’s true.”
“And then angel wings because it felt like at times I had an angel watching over me.” She smiled. “Or maybe you’re my angel.”
I laughed. “I think I would be more of the fallen angel variety.”
“I don’t mind.”
“I think you getting ink would be wonderful. I have just the guy to do it for you. I can make you an appointment when we get back.”
“Thank you. I would appreciate that.” She stared up at me with hopeful eyes. “Will you go with me?”
“Of course.” I pushed a strand of hair out of her face. “We’re a team now.”
“I’m glad to hear that.” She reached up to kiss me tenderly. Just as we started to get hot and heavy, my cell phone rang on the nightstand.
When I pulled away, she protested by gripping me tighter. “I need to get that,” I murmured against her lips. “Tell the boys where I am.”
“Okay.”
I reached over and grabbed the phone. “Yeah?”
“You’re in Virginia?” Deacon demanded.
“Are you tracing my phone now?”
He snorted. “No. But as your VP, I was just informed by a prospect that a very angry-sounding man by the name of Senator Percy called the roadhouse wanting to speak to you.”
With a groan, I glanced over my shoulder at Annabel. When her brows rose questioningly, I said to her, “You need to call your parents.” Then it was her turn to groan.
“Thanks, brother. I’ll take care of it.”
There was a moment of silence on the line before Deacon asked, “So you went after her finally?”
I smiled into the phone. “Yeah, I did.”
“It’s about fucking time.”
With a laugh, I said, “I assume that means we have your blessing.”
“It sure as hell does. Just get your ass back here ASAP so we can celebrate.”
“We’ll be there as soon as we can.”
“Later.”
“Bye.” I then handed the phone over to Annabel. “Deacon sends his love.”
She grinned. “He does?”
“Yeah, he’s glad I finally came after you.”
“That makes two of us.”<
br />
When she crawled across the bed to wrap herself around me, I shook my head. “Call your parents.”
“Then will you make love to me again?” she asked, her breath warm against my cheek.
“Babe, you don’t even have to ask.”
NINETEEN
ANNABEL
Getting home to Georgia took a little longer than we had expected. While I had bought some warm clothes and boots to make the drive, it was still blistering cold to be on the back of the bike for any length of time. But even with the extreme cold, I grew to enjoy riding with Rev. It didn’t take too long to see the allure that it held for him—the freedom, the adrenaline rush. More than anything, I enjoyed wrapping my arms around him and squeezing him tight. Although I’m not proud to admit it, I might’ve played on his sympathies a bit with worrying about me and the cold. The truth was I wanted nothing more than to stay in bed with him for a few days.
I don’t know who was more surprised by my insatiable appetite—me or Rev. But I couldn’t seem to get enough of him. I loved learning all the little things about him, like what made him groan with need or pinch his eyes shut with passion. It felt like I was discovering sex for the first time. In some ways I was—at least the new Annabel was. I knew there was still a wolf looming at the door, and at any minute this newfound perfection could come crashing down through flashbacks. But for the moment, I chose to be optimistic and happy.
Three days later, we pulled up at the Raiders compound. I was never so glad to see a place in all my life. Still, I was more than a little surprised to see the twinkling Christmas lights. “Who would have thought bikers would be so festive,” I remarked as I handed Rev my helmet.
He chuckled. “Trust me, we aren’t. That’s all for Willow.”
When we walked through the front door, a roar went up in the room. “WELCOME HOME!” everyone shouted. At first I felt completely overwhelmed, but the feel of Rev’s hand on the small of my back gave me the courage to smile and move closer to my new family.
As if they had been given a pep talk on how to treat me, they hung back and let me go to them. I was hugged and kissed by more people in the first few minutes than I had been in my entire life. At the back of the main room, Rev’s blood family stood anxiously awaiting me. I couldn’t hide my shock at seeing Mama Beth. She was never one to be in the roadhouse. I ran into her waiting arms. “I’m so glad you’re home, sweetheart,” she said, her voice wavering as if she was about to cry.
Her warm welcome and words caused tears to burn my eyes. “I am, too.”
When I pulled away, there were quick hugs from Deacon and Bishop, and then a lingering one from Alexandra, whose enormous belly looked like she was ready to deliver at any moment. When I said as much, she shook her head. “I still have six weeks, if you can believe it.”
“He’s going to be a very big boy.”
Alexandra smiled as she patted her stomach. “He already feels enormous when he’s kicking me.”
I then turned to a very impatient Willow who I was surprised had waited this long to give me a hug. “Wait until you see Poe. He’s huge!” she said after she’d clung to me for several seconds.
“Thank you for taking such good care of him!”
“It was mainly Uncle Rev who took care of him, but I had to help because he was such a mess over missing you.”
I couldn’t help the laugh that erupted from me at the pint-sized girl talking about relationships like a grown woman. When I looked at Rev, he appeared to want to strangle his niece. “Well, I missed him pretty bad, too.”
“I figured you did.” She grinned up at me. “Did he tell you he loves you?”
“Willow!” Alexandra and Deacon admonished.
“What?” she questioned innocently. “You guys said you wondered if he did earlier.”
While Deacon and Alexandra gave Rev and me sheepish looks, I couldn’t help laughing at the situation. “Yes, he told me he loves me, and I told him I love him.”
“Are you gonna get married?” Willow asked.
Now it was my turn to be speechless. Although there had been no proposal or discussion of marriage, the idea of Rev and me living the rest of our lives together seemed to be a given. While it seemed that we knew each other down to the deepest and darkest parts, there was still a lot of relationship building we needed to do before we thought of marriage.
“I think it’s time we got you something to eat,” Alexandra suggested.
“Yeah, that’s a helluva good idea. Let’s stick something in her mouth to shut her up,” Deacon muttered under his breath.
Once Willow had been ushered over to the food table, Rev and I exchanged a glance. “Well, um, that was . . . intense,” he said.
“Very. Who would have thought we would get the marriage question already?” I said, giving a laugh to try to ease the tension.
“I meant more the inquisition by Willow.”
“Oh,” I murmured. What did he mean by that exactly? Had he been thinking of marriage? I swallowed hard at the thought.
With a smile, Rev said, “I think I could use a drink.”
“You and me both.”
He took me by the hand and led me over to the bar. This time I settled on a Corona rather than my former buddy Jack Daniel’s. The house band went up onstage, and it wasn’t long before they were cranking out tunes, including some rock versions of Christmas carols.
After we finished our beers, Rev steered me over to the kitchen. The old ladies and other women had put on quite a spread of food. “All this for me?” I asked as I was handed a plate.
Kim grinned. “Of course. Especially since you decided to come home on the night of our annual Christmas party.”
I laughed. “Lucky me that I didn’t keep Rev gone another day.”
Sweeping a hand to her hip, she said, “Yeah, about the trip home, missy. It doesn’t usually take over a day. Just what caused you all to be so late?”
As I spooned up some lasagna, I couldn’t fight the warmth spreading across my cheeks. “We just had to stop a lot because it was so cold,” I finally answered.
“Mmm-hmm. I bet I can imagine just what kind of warming up went on, too.”
“Easy there, Kim,” Rev cautioned.
She grinned. “Like I couldn’t tell you’d been fucking nonstop from the utterly satisfied looks on your faces.”
While it was totally mortifying to have our sex life discussed, there was also a grateful feeling that accompanied it. No one was treating me with kid gloves or walking on eggshells when it came to the topic of sex. That meant I was no longer seen as just a victim, and that was certainly liberating.
As we ate dinner, we talked with different in- and out-of-town members who came by our table. Everyone was in the festive holiday spirit. I couldn’t help thinking how different this party was from my parents’ party.
At the thought of them, I wrinkled my nose. When I had spoken to them the other day, they had been utterly horrified at what I had done. Regardless of how they chided me, I was not about to change my mind about my decision. Even though they threw out words like “disinheriting” and “disown,” they forgot I was just months away from my twenty-fifth birthday, when I would receive my inheritance from my grandfather. When I had told Rev about the half million dollars coming to me, he had nearly fallen off the bed in shock. While the money meant security for us, it would have no value to me without Rev in my life.
When the band shifted to a slow love song, Rev took my hand. “I think I owe you a real dance.”
“What do you mean?”
“That night when we got drunk together, we danced in my room.”
At first my eyes widened at his words, and then the memory came back to me. “I remember that,” I murmured.
Rev smiled as he wrapped his arms around my waist, drawing me flush against him. I would never get enough of being this close to him, especially being able to press my ear against his chest and listen to his heartbeat. “I love you,” I said loud enough f
or him to hear me over the music.
“I love you, too. I know this all seems to be happening very fast—”
I shook my head. “We built a strong foundation for it the month we were together.”
He smiled. “I agree. With that said, it’s been a whirlwind of a couple of days. But it still doesn’t keep me from wanting to do this.”
I stared dumbfounded at him as he pulled away from me. When he sank onto one knee, I began trembling all over. In times past, though, I had trembled with fear and anxiety, but now I felt a wonderful sense of anticipation. Whistles and catcalls went up around the room. The roar of Rev’s brothers became so loud it almost deafened me.
After digging into his pocket, he produced a glittering diamond. “Annabel Lee Percy, would you make me the happiest man alive by marrying me?”
“Get it, Rev!” Bishop shouted.
“Oh my God,” I whispered.
“That’s not quite the response I was hoping for,” Rev mused.
I licked my suddenly dry lips. “Are you really sure about this?”
“I think this fat diamond should illustrate how very certain I am.”
“It’s just so . . .”
“Sudden?”
I nodded. “A little.”
“I bought the ring before I went to Virginia because I knew if you accepted my apology, there was no one else in the world I wanted to share my life with. And while we could live together, I’m an old-fashioned guy and would prefer you to be my wife.”
“That’s understandable,” I murmured breathlessly. Staring into his earnest dark eyes, I couldn’t help feeling totally undeserving of him. “Even with all of my baggage?”
Rev smiled. “We both have baggage. I’ll help you carry yours, and you can help carry mine. How does that sound?”
The tears that flooded my eyes caused his image to grow wavy before me. Even though it was sudden, I couldn’t fathom loving Rev any more than I did at this moment. He had been it for me since he had bared his soul to me that day in the hospital bathroom. He had spent nights by my side giving me the strength of his silent comfort. He had spent countless hours talking with me, laughing with me, and offering me a depth of friendship I had never experienced before with anyone—male or female. He had given me the greatest gift anyone ever could by bringing me into his blood and MC family, which set me on the path of the healing and acceptance I so desperately needed.