“I love him, Mom. I do. He’s a good man.”
“You don’t gotta convince me, sweetheart. I’ve spent weeks getting to know him. I think you’ve made an excellent choice.”
Ace’s heart swelled. Here, finally, was acceptance he’d always longed for. The acceptance he’d never received from his own family or even from his own husband. Before he could stop himself, he burst through the door and blurted, “I love you too!”
Sylvia clutched her heart. “Dear Jesus! You scared the life out of me.”
Ace didn’t pay her any attention. His entire focus was on Rusty.
“You do?” Rusty’s expression was so sweet and hopeful that Ace nearly broke down.
Luckily, he kept his shit together. “Of course I do.”
Sylvia, obviously the most perceptive woman in the world, quietly got up from Rusty’s hospital bed, indicating Ace should take her place.
He didn’t waste a moment and flew to Rusty’s side.
His heart was so full, he thought it a wonder it didn’t burst like a balloon. Before he considered whether or not displays of affection were something Rusty was ready for—especially in front of the folks—he grabbed Rusty’s face between his hands and kissed the man of his dreams with all his too-full heart.
After a minute, Sylvia cleared her throat. “Oooh, I can’t wait to help plan the wedding.”
Reluctantly, Ace pulled back from the kiss, seeing love—pure, true love—shining in Rusty’s hazel eyes. He turned to inform Sylvia, “Your son doesn’t believe in marriage, Mrs. Parker. He says it’s an antiquated institution destined to fail.”
Sylvia walked over and whacked Rusty upside the head.
“Ow, Mom!” Rusty rubbed his noggin. “What the hell? How can you hit a wounded man?”
“What’s this claptrap about you not believing in marriage?”
Rusty frowned. “I was only making a point that fifty percent of them fail, and it’s probably because they weren’t supposed to last forty or fifty years. But…” He turned to Ace. His roguish smile nearly had Ace melting into a puddle on the floor. “I do like the idea of us being the exception to the rule. Don’t you?”
With all the joy and pride and amazement inside him, Ace said two words he hoped to be repeating legally very soon. “I do.”
Chapter 38
Black Knights Inc. Headquarters…
Angel snapped a salute to Manus Connelly, one of the four brothers who’d been manning BKI’s front gate since long before Angel joined the ranks. It was a cool September afternoon, and Manus wore a red flannel shirt that made his hair look orange by contrast. The smattering of freckles across Manus’s face stood out in sharp relief when the sun shone in through the open window of the gatehouse.
“You got company!” he called to Angel before hitting the switch that opened the giant wrought-iron gates.
The Black Knights’ compound took up a full city block and was surrounded by ten-foot-high brick walls. Inside those walls, standing over three stories, was the old menthol cigarette factory that housed the shop where beautiful custom motorcycles were built, where an entire floor of loft-style bedrooms had once housed all the BKI operators, and where…until recently…the clandestine offices of the Black Knights were located. Beside the factory building squatted a little foreman’s cottage, and at the back of the property were various outbuildings, some—like the weapons shed—useless now that BKI had gone civilian.
Angel took it all in at a glance and yelled at Manus above the idling rumble of Divinity’s engine, “What do you mean? Who?”
His affiliation with the Black Knights was still hush-hush. Who would know to come looking for him—
His thoughts cut off, realization dawning at the same time Manus yelled back, “A Miss Sonya Butler! Becky took her out back! She’s been waiting for the last thirty minutes and… Never mind! There they are!”
Heart in his throat, Angel looked toward the old factory. Sure enough, Becky and Sonya had come from the back courtyard via the side gate. Even from a distance, he was dumbstruck by Sonya’s beauty.
Her golden hair gleamed in the sunlight, and the slight nip in the air had pinkened her cheeks. She wore painted-on jeans, a suede jacket, and stacked-heel boots that made her legs look about a mile long. The muscles in his arms twitched with the need to close around her. To feel her lush, feminine curves, to hold on to her woman’s heat.
He hadn’t realized how long he’d sat there until the gates began to close automatically, forcing Manus to hit the button again.
“What are you waitin’ on?” Manus yelled.
