“Need you, Viv. Now.”
I smiled against his lips before pulling back just enough to speak. “I’m here,” I breathed. “Always.”
In one slow thrust he was buried deep, pulsing inside of me. His cock was so thick, so hard that I felt overly full, but I loved the sensation and pulsed around him. Falcon moved in slow, steady strokes. His gaze was locked on mine, hitting that perfect spot every single time he pushed deep.
The way he looked at me, as if making love to me in this moment was the only way to remind himself that he was still alive, hit me like a drug. My legs shook and I moved my hips in shallow thrusts. “Please, Falcon.”
He grinned, hooking my leg over his forearm, which sent him deeper. It was pure perfection, the way he thrust into my body. The world melted around us until there was nothing left but Falcon. His body. His heartbeat. His soul pressed into mine. Every stroke was like a lightning bolt that went straight through me and when I shattered, he followed, holding me tight as if he was afraid I’d disappear if he didn’t. “Viv, babe.” His lips found my neck, dotting kisses up and down the column while I shivered and pulsed around him. “You…Viv.”
I wasn’t sure how long we stood there under the hot spray but eventually the water cooled and we stepped from the shower. I grabbed a towel and took my time drying his powerful body, relishing the way he let me take care of him. Without any fight, he stepped into his boxers and leaned against me as I guided him to the bed. “Lie back,” I ordered, giving his chest a soft shove.
He lay back, the shifting mattress caused TJ to stir and when he blinked up at Falcon, he snuggled into his side. My heart clenched hard when he pulled TJ close, wrapping a protective arm around him before his eyes drifted shut.
I ignored the stinging tears behind my eyes and walked to the other side of the bed, watching father and son sleep peacefully.
Watching them and listening to their even breathing, I realized something I hadn’t let myself think about too carefully since coming back to Steel City. Since sleeping with Falcon again. I loved him even more today than I did three years ago. Back then it was new and exciting, and he was so different from any man I’d ever met. That, combined with the chemistry, made it easy to fall for him, but now I saw every part of him. The dad. The friend. The goofball. The protector. The killer. I saw all the parts that made up the man, the cracks and the darkness, the broken edges too and I still wanted him.
Maybe I wanted him even more because of it.
All I knew was taking care of him tonight hadn’t felt like a burden. His pain hurt me, but I happily took that on, wishing I could take it all. No, taking care of him felt like coming home.
Like maybe, just maybe, I was enough for him.
Chapter Twenty-One
Falcon
Islept like the dead. After that shit in the dungeon with St. John, the polished doctor on the surface who was actually a wicked piece of shit, my mind had shut down as my body carried me from the cells into the clubhouse where my woman and my son slept. With the way Viv had taken care of me, not even the echo of the good doctor’s screaming or the sight of his blood on my hands followed me into sleep.
I didn’t regret one fucking second of what I had done, but as I lay there with the early morning light filtering through the blinds, I knew that shithadchanged me. Something had snapped off and stayed behind in that basement under the auto shop. I wasn’t the same man I’d been when I walked through those doors. I was harder now. But also stronger. I knew, without any doubt, what I’d do to protect my family. What I’d do to anybody who threatened them.
My eyes were still closed but I smiled as a shadow fell across my face. A soft giggle sounded inches from me. When I finally peeled my eyes open, I found TJ leaning over me, his chubby cheeks pulled into an amused smile, his little hands rested on my cheeks. “Dada.” His sweet voice was a little groggy from sleep.
My heart squeezed so fucking tight it hurt to breathe. I swallowed hard around that sensation and dragged him against my chest. “That’s me, Dada.”
He laughed as if that was the funniest shit he’d ever heard, leaning forward too quickly so his wet, sloppy kiss was more like an attack on my cheek. “Dada!”
This right here? This was every-fucking-thing. It was worth every moment of pain last night. Every broken knuckle, every drop of blood I’d spilled down in the dungeon and on the streets of Steel City. I would do it all over again with a smile if anyone ever threatened TJ. Hell, if they even threatened his happiness, I’d do all that and more. He owned a joy I never had at his age, and it was something precious enough to protect.
Vivian stirred beside us on the bed but didn’t wake, her breathing remained soft and steady. She looked peaceful in sleep, like the weight she carried when she was awake had finally slipped off her shoulders for a few hours. Not even the noise of TJ’s words and laughter stirred her.
Vivian.
My chest tightened again but this time for a different reason altogether. She’d been a godsend last night, everything I didn’t even know I needed. She hadn’t asked any questions when I showed up bloody and worn out, beyond making sure I was all right. She just took care of me. She touched me gently as she cleaned my wounds and patched me up, kissing them softly as if those scars hadn’t come from some dark shit. She washed away the blood, mine and St. John’s, and touched me like I wasn’t a monster who spent all night torturing someone.
She held me like I was a man and not a weapon of destruction.
She gave me pleasure. Herself. Peace.
And that had changed it all for me.
The fact that I could let my guard down with her so completely, trusting that she wouldn’t hurt me, trusting that she’d still look at me with warmth in her eyes even after everything? It told me everything I’d been trying to deny.
I loved her.
There it was. Raw and undeniable. I loved Viv and I wanted her here with me in Steel City. Forever.
I just had to figure out how to tell her.
