Nora leaned in, her eyes sparkling. “He’s not going to get tired of you.”
Annika nodded. “None of them do when they get that look in their eyes.”
Violet grinned. “And he’s watching you right now like he’s never going to let you out of his sight.”
“We’ve all been there before,” Thea agreed with a soft laugh.
I glanced over my shoulder. Colter was across the yard talking to King, but his eyes were on me.
“We’ve only known each other a couple of weeks,” I whispered. “What if?—”
Maren cut me off gently. “What if he’s the one? Because from where we’re standing, it looks like it is.”
“Even if we’re doing it sitting down because we’re too tired to actually stand.” Elena rubbed her baby bump.
“These guys don’t do halfway.” Linden leaned closer. “When they decide you’re theirs, that’s it. Forever.”
Happy tears pricked my eyes again. “I just… I’ve spent so long feeling like I’m too much. Loud. Chatty. Too everything.”
Stella wrapped her arm around me. “You’re exactly enough. And you’re good for him. We can all see it.”
Courtney nodded. “Definitely”
I swallowed hard. “You really think so?”
Stella smiled. “We know so.”
I wanted to trust they knew what they were talking about, but just because their relationships turned out so well didn’t mean mine would. I set those fears aside and focused on having fun at my first MC barbecue.
The rest of the day blurred into the best kind of chaos.
I held babies and chased Cadell around the grass. Laughed until my sides hurt at stories about Ace’s younger, stupider days, gleefully told by his club brothers. And when Colter wrapped his arms around me from behind toward the end of the barbecue, the doubts about being accepted that I had lived with for years had grown quieter.
My hope that I really was exactly who he wanted was starting to outweigh the fear that I wasn’t.
12
ACE
The sun had dipped low, streaking the evening sky with shades of purple and deep orange as the barbecue began to wind down. Brothers were scattered around, chatting and laughing as they helped their old ladies gather the kids and clean up, preparing to head home.
I’d watched Poppy all afternoon with fierce pride while she charmed everyone around her. Although my obsession and possessiveness reared their heads from time to time when she charmed one of my brothers a little too much—single or not.
Her bright laughter and excited chatter as she bounced from one conversation to another made warmth spread through my chest, a feeling I was already used to. She was radiant and genuine, effortlessly drawing in even the most hardened of my brothers.
She was also gorgeous and hot as fuck in her body-hugging jeans and the halter top that showed a little more skin than I liked, but not enough to demand she cover up without sounding like an asshole. When I wasn’t admiring her adorable chatter and keen intelligence, I was fighting a hard-on and the instinctto throw her over my shoulder and carry her to the nearest empty bedroom.
As we got ready to leave, Stella walked over and gave Poppy an affectionate hug. “We’re so glad you came today. Don’t be a stranger, okay?”
Poppy smiled a little shyly, glancing up at me and radiating happiness. I basked in the glow. Then she looked at Stella again and nodded enthusiastically. “I won’t. Thank you so much for having me.”
Stella turned to me, her brown eyes narrowing slightly as she pointed a finger and warned, “Don’t screw this up, Ace. All the old ladies like Poppy. We want to keep her.”
I arched a brow, my lips curving slightly. “You don’t trust me to treat her right?”
She snorted softly, arms folding across her chest as she leveled a teasing stare at me. “Just saying, if you do manage to screw this up, we’ll just have to find another Hound to claim her.”
A primal growl rumbled in my chest before I could stop it, the thought of Poppy with anyone else sending a surge of furious heat racing through me. “Over my dead fucking body.”
