Never Have an Outlaw's Baby (Deadly Pistols MC #3)(72)

I held onto Alex while the pirate jabbered on TV, slashing his plastic sword. Kid dozed in my arms, slipping off just before we all heard the lock jingle. Cora's phone buzzed at the same time.

“That's Firefly!” she said, springing to her feet. “Bye bye, Joker.”

I nodded, listening as she went for the door, stopping next to my girl for a few seconds. The girls swapped a hug on the way out, giddy about some gossip at the Heel about the strippers. Soon as Cora was out the door, heading for her old man, I turned the chair around.

Even after all these months, she looked damned beautiful.

It was surreal. The sweet, twisted kind of weird I liked.

“Busy day?” I asked, standing up with the kid.

She walked over, put her arms around us both, and gave Alex a little kiss on the cheek. “Yeah. Summer crowds. I'm starting to see the rush Meg warned me about.”

“You'll be fine. Summertime's your f*ckin' name, lady.”

Smiling, she rolled her eyes. She leaned in for a kiss, but I stopped her lips, moving away.

“Hold on. He just started dozing off, and I want to get him down for a nap so we can talk.”

“Talk?”

I turned my back so she wouldn't see the smile pulling at my lips. Once the kid was down, I walked back to her, leading her out to the balcony.

Bingo tried to follow, but I shut the screen on him this time. He'd get his chance to soak up the summer air later.

For now, we needed some damned privacy. Just her and me.

“Well?” she said, sounding nervous. “What is it?”

Finally. “You're talking to Meg everyday. I know she's told you about the wedding coming up, her and Skin's. Just a few weeks away now.”

“Uh, yeah. She's pretty excited.” Her eyes glowed, confusion shining full bore.

“Let's make it a double.” I reached into my pocket, took her hand, and dropped to one knee, pulling it out. “Marry me, babe.”

Her mouth dropped. Didn't have a box for the hard silver ring I'd forged in the club's workshop, its edges perfectly smooth, polished with platinum.

Didn't f*ckin' need one for shoving it into her hand, everything out in the open, do or die.

“It doesn't have a gem in it yet. That's coming later. I've been too f*cked up lately to find the perfect one, but I'm going shopping tomorrow.” I pointed to the space where I'd have the jeweler wedge it in. A nice, big space for a big goddamned diamond. “We missed three years we could've been living together, lovin' each other, raising our kid. I ain't missing anything a day longer, the whole package, soon as you tell me you're gonna be my wife. Fuck perfect. You and me, Summertime, that's enough. Second you tell me you're ready to be Summer Taylor, more than my old lady, everything else can wait. We've got all the time in the world to figure it out – together.”

“Joker...Jackson...of course I will!”

She dropped right into my arms. Pressed her tight. Laughing, kissing, I took her mouth, greedily rolling her over on the balcony, pushing the ring into her palm so hard it must've left its imprint on her skin.

Fuck. Completely f*ckin' beautiful.

We could've tangled lips for an eternity, without a witness in the world except Bingo laying next to the screen, and the wide summer fading down behind the Smokies.

“I don't care about the diamond,” she moaned, when I finally peeled my lips off hers. “I love you, love you, love you, baby...”

I smiled, grabbing the ring outta her palm, and pushed it on her finger. “Looks goddamned good there. Now, say it one more time. Need to hear it again, babe.”

“I love you, Jackson.”

“Love you, too, baby girl. Love you through the next hundred storms, 'til hell calls me home.”

My hip and my busted up shoulder still pulsed fire. But I wouldn't let myself feel anything except my lips roaming all over her that afternoon, greedy as ever.





13





Down That Aisle (Summer)





Six Weeks Later





Joker told me the club hadn't been so full and carefree since the bash they had celebrating Cora and Firefly. I hadn't been around for that, but Lord if the ruckus here didn't toss me headfirst into a biker wedding.

I stood at the makeshift altar, outside in the huge open valley at the foot of the Smokies. Dust's family owned land around here going back years. He put it to good use when the time came for shindigs like these.

Whatever else I still had to learn about MC life, I had a feeling nothing – and I mean nothing – compared to this.

The words coming out of the oddball preacher man's mouth washed over me. Meg stood next to Skin. Her decked in lily white, a short dress that clung close to her body. Him, with a cut he'd cleaned up so much it glowed in the sunlight, a new coat of polish on his boots that must've wiped away all the blood and violence they'd waded through.

“Do you, Parker Bradley, take this woman...”

I let myself look at Joker. We were right behind the happy couple, waiting, next in line. He turned his head, barely holding in a smile.

Fuck, you look beautiful. Every single hungry glance he gave said it. We were beyond words – one more way this wedding was anything but traditional.