assigned that role, and he wasn’t happy about how Taxi dealt with me.”
“But?”
“But, Dalton doesn’t have the power to stop it.”
“Does Jaxon?”
“Nope.” He kissed my forehead. “I’m in it, baby.”
“You don’t have to be,” I said. “Daddy will get you out.”
“I’m not runnin’ to your daddy, Parker.”
“No one would know you ran to him, honey. He’d help you. You know he would.”
He cocked his head. “I know this is gonna sound crazy, but I kind of want to be in.”
“What?” I sat up. “Why?”
He took my hand, linking our fingers together. “My whole life I’ve been defined by what has happened to me. Jette, the club, and you, are all I’ve ever had that I’ve chosen.”
“You consider Jette chosen?”
“Yeah, baby, I do. I’ve known her since I was six, and she protected me from the get. We may have been fated to be family, but we fought tooth-and-nail to stay that way.”
“Yeah, I guess that’s true, huh?” I agreed.
He tugged me back over him and stroked my back. “The Burning Saints’ relationship with Taxi and the Bureau has been beneficial, and if I play this right, it’ll be a good thing for us as well.”
“Is this really all on your shoulders, though?”
“No,” he said, kissing my temple. “That’s the beauty of being part of this club. My brothers have my back.”
“I do, too.”
He gave me a gentle squeeze. “I know you do.” He rolled me onto my back and smiled down at me. “It’s a big part of the reason I feel empowered to do this, Pebbles. You make me strong in ways I’ve never thought I was.”
I cupped his face. “You’re the strongest person I know, honey.”
“Because you make me that way.” He leaned down and kissed me. “I love you.”
“I love you, too.”
“If you want me to back outta this, baby, say it now and I’ll tell Taxi to fuck off,” he said. “I need you to agree because I don’t think I can do it without you.”
“It scares the shit out of me.”
“I know, honey.”
“But I trust you. And I trust the club, sort of.”
He smiled. “Just sort of?”
“They didn’t protect you from being taken, hooded, and drugged, so, yeah. Sort of.”
“Well, they’re more vigilant now.”
“They better be,” I said. “Because if you get hurt again, I will rage.”
He touched his nose to mine and then kissed me. “No one wants you to rage, baby, so we’ll make sure that doesn’t happen.”
I nodded. “Then I’m in.”
He smiled. “Thank you.”
“One condition.”
“Name it.”
“You figure out how to put a tracker somewhere they won’t know. Your ring, your neck, whatever.”
He chuckled. “Okay, baby, we’ll figure it out.”
I nodded, biting back a yawn.
“Let’s go to sleep,” he said.
“Okay,” I whispered, and he settled on his back again, pulling me close.
I buried my face in his neck, kissing his pulse, then quickly fell asleep.
Parker
THREE WEEKS PASSED, and life had settled down to the point where I actually started to relax a little. The prospects were killing it in the store, and they were loved by both me and the customers. I honestly didn’t know what I did before without them. It meant we could move forward with the second location, so we pulled the trigger on the space.
Stevie took Bucky over to the new space on a permanent basis, while I kept Dice. Shadow and Mouse worked primarily at the new space to get it ready, but then they’d be back to doing their normal biker thing and we’d be on our own again.
Today, however, was Wednesday, and Rabbit was with me all day, as well as Dice, and I was, admittedly, having way too much fun.
Rabbit was watching the front because we’d gotten a big birthday party order and I needed to arrange everything in order for Dice to drive the flowers to the venue, so I was in the back room, doing my thing, ear buds in, rocking out to Whitesnake.
I had just packed the last arrangement into a box and turned to make my way out to the front when I caught Rabbit leaning against the doorjamb, a stupid grin on his face. I squeaked and pulled my ear buds out. “Why do you keep doing that?”
He laughed. “Because you’re fuckin’ gorgeous shakin’ your ass while you work your passion.”
I gripped his cut. “You’re sexy when you’re analyzing me.”
He leaned down and kissed me. “You’re sexy all the time.”
“You always have to one-up me on the romance front.”
He cupped my cheek. “Can’t help that you bring out the best