“Doubtful,” I told her. “Go on.”
“Since he was old enough, I told him you were his father. I had this old photo of us from back in the days when I’d come to the clubhouse for parties, and I showed him that and said that you were his daddy. I never thought I’d ever run into you again, so it seemed like a safe bet.”
“Not that I don’t love that you did that, especially knowing what an ass his real father is, but why me?”
She sighed, and interlaced her fingers between mine. I brought our joined hand up to my lips and kissed her palm, before I kissed her jaw.
“Because I wished you were.”
My hand halted on her shoulder, her words washing over me like a tidal wave. It did something internally that made me…proud almost, like I wanted to beat my fists onto my chest.
“What do you mean?”
“That night…when we were finally going to give in to the flirting. That’s the night I got pregnant with Van. There were so many times I wished I had waited for you, stayed there until you came back…but well, you know who I am now so you know how dangerous it was to stick around. If I’d stayed…he’d be yours.”
My chest felt tight. The realisation that if I hadn’t gone on that run, the run I wasn’t even meant to be on if it weren’t for our tail gunner, Snake, taking off early, then she and I would have been together all this time.
“Tavi…”
“I know…it’s stupid.”
“It’s not stupid, you have no idea how much I wish that kid were mine…no, you know what, fuck that, he is mine, but even if he were my DNA, he wouldn’t be the Van you love. Even if that fuckhead is his biological father, I’m his dad, and he’s never going to ever want for fucking anything in this world. I promise you that.”
Tavi sat up, and turned around in my lap, straddling my thighs. I leaned forward and traced my tongue over her breast, sucking her nipple into my mouth. She threw her head back and moaned, her hips moving over mine. My cock was brushing over her pussy lips in the water, and sending signals to my body to take her, right here, right now. Lay claim to my woman, over and over again, until she realised how much she meant to me.
“Please, Dane, I need you.”
That was my kryptonite.
“You got me, baby,” I groaned against her nipple. “Always. I’m going to fill you every goddamn night, watch you grow roundwith my babies. You’re going to be so happy, for the rest of your life. I promise you.”
She moaned, kissing me deeply. “How about we start now?”
I pulled from her breast. “You’re killin’ me here.”
“Why get clean when we’re only going to get dirty?” she queried, with a teasing smirk.
“Get clean, baby,” I said, kissing her hard before I washed myself and climbed out, wrapping a towel around my waist, before I grabbed her one. When she got out of the tub, pulling the plug from the bath with her, I wrapped her in the towel and slowly dried her.
Before she could protest, I pulled her up into my arms and carried her, bridal style, out of the bathroom and across the hall to the room Trey used to occupy. It was empty now, due to the non-stop sex Rowan and Reaper seemed to have every night. It would do for now.
I pulled her towel off her once I set her down on her feet. Dropping to my knees, I made sure she was dry before I tossed the towel to the side, doing the same for me, and walked her backward until the backs of her knees hit the bed.
“Get comfy, babe,” I said against her lips. “We’re going to be here for a while.”
Tavi made a groaning sound before she did as I asked, pulling her body back against the pillows on the bed. The navy blue sheets underneath only highlighted just how bruised she was. It pained me to see it, knowing it was my own stupidity that meant she was under his torturous hands for longer.
How hadn’t I seen it? Why didn’t she come to me?
“Stop looking at me like I’m broken,” she said. I looked up into her eyes, realising I was looking down at her for too long.
“You’re not broken, baby,” I said, moving between her legs, and kissing her lips softly. “And even if you were, I’d be the glue holding you together.”
Tears tumbled over her cheeks and it broke me to see it, but I knew they weren’t sad tears. She was crying because she knew I loved her, that I would do anything for her.
I would.
Without hesitation.
