“You’re welcome, Pops. I’ll be over later.”
We end our call, and I smile because I swear, I hear a little tinkle of familiar laughter in the air.
‘Told you. She’ll make you happy.’
“You always were right, Ruthie,” I murmur before I walk into the house to clean up and make room for Emily’s things in the bedroom. The one thing I don’t have to worry about is Emily feeling uncomfortable in this house. I’d had it totally gutted and redone about two years after Ruthie had passed. Emily would be able to put her own stamp on it, and I was looking forward to seeing every single change.
CHAPTER 4
EMILY
‘Holy crap,’the man should come with a warning sign. I wafted a hand to my face trying to cool down as I walked with shaky knees back to my place. I hadn’t meant to push Deck to make a decision but when Stacey and Lizzie had been talking about where to put Blake and his kids, I’d known that the solution was staring us right in the face. And I know that it had been me who had put the stipulation of three months on our relationship but in the weeks that I’d been staying at the Queens Wraiths, Deck had made sure that he spent time with me every day getting to know me.
He probably knew more about me than any other person on this planet. There were no uncomfortable silences between us. We had conversations about just about anything under the sun.
We’d gone for rides on his bike…which I loved, and he’d taken me to lunch at the diner that the MC owned. We hadn’t made it to the bar yet, but I know he planned on it. Last weekend had been Stacey’s cut presentation, and Deck and I’d taken Poppy for the night.
It was easy. I’d never felt so comfortable with someone from the get-go. This MC was so different to the one that I’d been part of before. The women were respected, and the children were a delight. I knew that there had been issues at the school, but knowing that it more than likely came under club business, I hadn’t pried. I’d been on hand to help Stacey, Maggie, Jenny, and Lizzie when they asked for it.
I was probably twenty years older than them, but it didn’t bother us. For the first time in a long time—actually, scratch that. For the first time ever, I felt like I’d found my people. They’d welcomed me from the start and made me feel part of the club. I’m not sure what I’d done to get this second chance, but I wasn’t going to wait to move us to the next level. And from the way Deck had taken the news, he was all for it. Which is why I was hurrying on shaky knees to my place to pack up the little I’d unpacked and move into his house.
It’s not like I’d never been in it. I knew what it looked like. At first, I’d been worried that he’d have kept it the same as when he’d been married, but as soon as I walked in, I knew he hadn’tkept it as a shrine. He hadn’t lied when he’d told me he’d grieved but was moving on. It’s what Ruthie would have wanted.
Oh, don’t get me wrong; there were pictures of Ruthie and the boys when they were younger on the wall in the hallway, but other than that, the house had been all his.
It hadn’t bothered me seeing her up on the wall. From what I’d heard about her, she’d been a wonderful person, and I wish that I’d got to meet her because I think we could have been good friends. The saying that a person has a type didn’t adhere to Deck. He obviously didn’t because Ruthie and I were as different as night and day when it came to looks. While we looked completely different, I think underneath it all we had the same values. She’d loved her family, Deck and the club and would do anything for them.
I was built the same. Family was important to me because I’d never really had one, so I built my own. Deck because he was my second chance at love, and I’d trusted him from the start. One look at him and I’d known I could rely on him and he’d never let me down. And the club…well, any good Old Lady knew how important the club was to her man, and she’d better make peace with that or their relationship would be doomed.
Turns out I was born to be an Old Lady. Because I was at my happiest when I was on the back of a bike.
It didn’t take long for me to pack up. I was ready for the prospects when they arrived, and not two hours after leaving Deck in his garage, I was unpacking my bags into the empty side of the closet.
I was just finishing up when he walked in the door, stopping to stare at me. Wondering what was wrong, I looked down to check my clothing, but I was dressed in a clean pair of shorts, T-shirt and sandals, my hair up in a loose bun with a bandana tied around my head to keep it out of the way.
Not seeing anything out of place, I look up and hold my hands out to my sides. “What?”
“Nothing darlin’, just taking a moment to make sure that you’re really in my house and that I’m not dreaming.”
A smile lights up my face as I walk over to him and wrap my arms around his waist. “You romantic old sod.”
Comfort and love flow through me when he returns my embrace. “I’m your old sod though.”
Titling my head back to look at him, I agree, “Yeah you are. I’m nearly unpacked. Did you need something?”
He shakes his head, lowering it to press his lips to mine. Like with all our kisses, a fire lights up inside me. All my life I’ve yearned for this, and now here I am in my sixties, finally getting it. I’d always thought that maybe there was something wrong with me, but I guess it was just the men I’d been with.
Wrapping my arms around his thick shoulders, I stand on tiptoe to get better leverage. His lips soften on mine, our tongues twining lazily as if we have all the time in the world. As my tongue strokes against Deck’s, something settles in me. I knewthen that this was it. After all these years I’d found my home; it hadn’t been a place I was looking for, it had been someone.
Breaking our kiss with a sigh, Deck rests his forehead against mine. “Nothing I’d like more than to keep you home and take this further but the kids want us to go to the bar to celebrate you moving in.”
Another smile escapes me. “I love your kids, Deck.” I tell him before continuing, “What about Poppy?”
“Rosie, Ford, and Kyle are baby-sitting. Cash and Lizzie’s kids are going over to Maestro and Stacey’s. They’re having a movie marathon. It’s Friday night so they’ll be okay. The bar isn’t far away. What do you say?”
“Can we go on the bike?”
Deck grins at me before replying, “Yeah darlin’, we can go on the sled.”
