unhooks my leg from his shoulder and stands. Wiping my cum from his beard, he growls, “We’re going back to me doing that every morning. Life’s too fucking short not to taste you every day.”
I frantically grab for him, needing him inside me. “Can we discuss this after you fuck me?”
Taking hold of my arms, he stops me and crushes his body to mine. The look in his eyes tells me he has something important to say so I give him the space to say it. “I know I’ve been distracted and distant for a while now, angel, and I’m sorry. This shit going on… it’s fucked up and I’ve allowed it to come between us. I won’t do that anymore.”
My heart hurts for him. He thinks this is all on him? It’s not. “You’re not the only one who’s allowed distance to build, Winter. We’re both hurting. We both did this.”
He works his jaw, determination clear in his eyes. “However it happened, it stops now. You come first, every fucking day from here on out.”
I want to tell him that what we need is a whole lot more than sex every day, but I don’t want to ruin this moment. Baby steps. We can start with this and build from here. Today, though, we just need to be close and start connecting again.
“I love you and I’ll never stop loving you.” I kiss him, long and slow. “And now what I really want is for you to fuck me and not hold back.”
He doesn’t need any further encouragement. Spinning me around, he takes hold of my hips and thrusts inside me. Hard. Exactly how I want it.
When we’re finished, he kisses me one last time and says with force, “I love you. Never forget that.”
“I never will. And I’ll never allow anything to break us apart.”
His chest rises and falls, and it’s like a load is lifted off his shoulders. “Thank fuck.”
I don’t know what’s running through his head, but after this, I’m more determined for us to get some counselling. My man is hard as nails, but a man can only take so many knocks, and Winter has taken more than his fair share. We’ve each been engrossed in our own pain the last few months; it’s time we shared it again and getting counselling will hopefully help us do that.
39
Winter
* * *
“The number one thing for tonight to go down as planned, without any complications we don’t need,” I say to the men assembled in front of me, “is for us all to get in and get out as fast as possible. That means”—I look around at everyone—“we don’t prolong anyone’s death even though that’s what we all want to do. We shoot to kill; we don’t shoot to torture.”
These are the hardest fucking words out of my mouth, because I want to torture the motherfucker who tried to ruin my club. I want to beat him black and blue. Carve his body up. Drain the fucking blood from his veins. But I’ve gone over the plan with Axe and Zane a hundred times, and we don’t have time for that. Not when our plan is as elaborate as it is.
Tonight, we’re taking down Zenith and Silver Hell in multiple locations. We have men in Brisbane, Sydney, and Melbourne ready to attack. King will lead a team to take out the Silver Hell compound in Melbourne. Hyde will do the same in Sydney; Cole in Brisbane. Ransom and I will lead teams to take out both Zenith locations in Brisbane. It will all happen simultaneously; directed by Axe and Zane from their headquarters in Brisbane, which is where I am now.
Zane steps next to me, his features hard. He’s worked around the clock helping King, Axe, and me put this plan together, and I know it weighs heavily on him. If even just one part of tonight goes wrong, it could set off a chain of events we don’t want to have to deal with. We do have back-up plans if that happens, but we’re all working to ensure they aren’t needed.
Lifting his chin at the group, Zane says, “You’ve got your instructions. Read them closely and read them well. Axe has already detailed them for you, but if you have any questions, ask. No one needs to die tonight because someone didn’t ask a question.”
The door at the back of the room opens, and a guy I don’t know enters. He comes our way, stopping next