Authors: Ann Mayburn
Was I a horrible person because for one brief instant I was sad Smoke and I wouldn’t be able to physically reconnect? Then I looked at my sister, and I couldn’t imagine letting her leave my sight. It was going to be hard to let her go, but I’m sure Beach was just about insane with worry at this point, and I wasn’t getting in his way once he arrived. Even if she’d been calling him once a day, I’m sure Beach had been ready to tear his hair out with worry. For all I knew, the psycho could be on his way via private helicopter.
Smoke’s phone beeped, and as he read the text, the corner of his lip curved up in a grin. “Beach will be here in two hours. He says he wants to talk to you in person.”
I could hear Sarah’s sharp inhalation, then she let out a shaky sigh. “How can I love and hate him at the same time?”
“Because you’re a crazy bitch,” I muttered.
Smoke just gave her a solemn look. “Which one are you gonna embrace, love or hate?”
Sarah’s brow crinkled. “What?”
I rolled my eyes at Smoke’s fortune cookie answer. “Just let go of your bullshit already and marry the guy. You’re obviously stupid for each other, so just make it official and live your happily ever after.”
Hope brightened her eyes to an intense sky blue and she wiggled her toes. “Just like that?”
“Why not?”
“But there’s so much between us…”
Smoke chuckled. “Women...always over-complicating shit. Here’s what you’re gonna do: when Beach comes in you are going to tell him you’re sorry, then kiss him until he stops trying to talk. I’ll clear the room across the hall out, and you can take him in there and remind him how much you love him. Then, you’re gonna take your punishment from your Papi like a good little girl.”
I blinked rapidly, waiting for Sarah to knock his ass to the ground for calling her a little girl but she just grinned. “Sometimes being a bad little girl is fun.”
“Tell me that tomorrow after you’ve had a night with Beach, knowing you scared the fuck out of him.”
“He’ll be fine,” she said with a breezy wave of her hand. I wasn’t fooled by her nonchalance, she was shaking in her boots, quite literally. A fine tremor ran through her, and I thought she might cry, but instead she burst out laughing. “Okay, he might be a little tiny bit irritated with me, but he acted like a dick.”
“True. In fact, I think he might still owe you,” Sarah beamed at Smoke and he shook his head, grinning back. “Remember to make him beg for it if you really want an apology. Make him hard until his dick hurts and he’ll forgive you for anything once you give him that pussy he’s been starvin’ for.”
Sarah and I blushed as Smoke went out into the hall to let the guards know what was going on. She ran her fingers through her hair. “I look like shit.”
“Well, let’s kick Smoke out so we can get you ready for Beach and get something to eat.”
When Beach finally arrived, I swear I knew it before the man was even in the building because suddenly Sarah sat up straighter and nervously smoothed her hand over her slightly rounded stomach. She wore a pretty white dress that had a loose, almost poncho style top that hid her bump, but when she flattened the fabric it was easy to see that she was a little over four months along. Evidently, Sarah had found a way to get pre-natal care while on the road without alerting anyone, and her baby was as healthy as could be, unhurt by Sarah’s intense morning sickness. She even knew the sex, but she wouldn’t tell me until she told Beach first. My respect for her grew by leaps and bounds as I imagined how much courage it took to head out, alone, pregnant, and sick to try and hunt down our mother. The marvel of a little baby being inside my sister still hadn’t faded, and I had a hard time keeping my hands off her belly. Thankfully, Sarah didn’t mind, she’d just place her hand over mine and smile at me.
Smoke and I stood as well, and when the door slammed open a tension-filled minute later, I didn’t even bother to go for my gun, because Beach’s aura filled the room like ocean waves in a storm. I knew that sounded goofy as shit, but I could have sworn I felt his energy rush over my skin the moment he saw Sarah. In less than a heartbeat, he had Sarah in his arms, and she was clinging to his neck with her legs wrapped around his waist. I could hear her whisper, “I’m sorry,” before they cinched into a lip lock while desperately grabbing at each other that made me blush.
“Sarah,” Beach groaned against her mouth and my heart hurt to hear the anguish, the pure relief and overwhelming love he put into that one word.
My blush heated further when Sarah and Beach began to tear at each other’s clothes to the point where I was shoving them out the door and into their own room. As soon as they were inside Smoke slammed the door shut and laughed, his mood visibly better than it had been twelve hours ago.
“Hulk, I need a man on both doors, one on each end of the hallway, and teams on the roof and the grounds. I’m sure they’ll surface at some point, but right now Beach will shoot any motherfucker dumb enough to interrupt them—even me. So leave ’em the fuck alone.”
I glanced around and saw a bunch of rough-as-fuck smiling bikers. Their genuine happiness for Beach and Sarah touched me, and I smiled back. These strangers had helped bring my sister back to me in their own way and kept me alive to see her again.
I didn’t have words for how awesome this moment was, but I had to try.
In an uncharacteristically bold move that drew everyone’s attention to me, I raised my voice a bit and said, “Thank you, so very much, from the bottom of my heart. You have no idea how much everything you’ve done for us means to me. I’ll be forever in your debt. Just…thank you.”
Hulk slung his arm around me and gave me a tight hug that made my nose burn. “You don’t need to thank us, sweetheart. You’re family.”
Before I could start bawling, Smoke led me into our room and I rushed into his arms.
Ahhh, instant, narcotic, loving comfort.
We fell into bed together after we quickly kicked off our shoes and shed our clothes. Soon we were nude and my nipples peaked as I took in Smoke’s smooth, tanned skin stretched tight over muscle. When Smoke shut the light off and set our guns and knives out, I couldn’t help but laugh.
“Always prepared.”
He let out a deep breath. “Ain’t nothin’ that could have prepared me for tonight. Shit.”
I traced my fingertips over his face, utterly mesmerized by the texture of his scruff against my fingertips. I was beyond exhausted, and the moment my head hit the pillow my eyelids dropped as well. A soft sigh escaped me, and I was almost asleep before I remembered that I forgot to tell Smoke what Sarah said.
“It’s over!”
He looked up at me in the dim light like I’d lost my mind. Maybe I had. “What’s over?”
I quickly told him what Sarah had said about the jewels and the weapons, everything but the Israelis, and that Sarah would take care of that as well. My sister was a fucking superwoman, and I was so damn proud of her I was sure Smoke could hear it in my voice. By the end of my explanation, he laid on his back and stared up at the ceiling. When he didn’t move for a few seconds, I worried that maybe he’d had a heart attack, but before I could touch him, he let out a whoop so loud it had Hulk pounding on the door.
“You okay in there?”
“Perfect,” Smoke bellowed back.
“If your sister wasn’t doing things to Beach right now that are probably illegal in most states, I’d go give her a big fuckin’ kiss. I
knew
that ballsy bitch was smart as shit, but to have pulled this off...fuck. She’s right, Beach doesn’t give her enough credit.”
I smiled and hugged him back, lazing in the warmth of his joy as he rocked me gently.
“Gonna be different now baby, you’ll see. Just you and me.”
Placing a gentle kiss on his lips I yawned as I said, “I can’t wait.”
He kissed my forehead and held me close. “Go to sleep.”
Grumbling, I did as he demanded and drifted off with relief.
Miguel ‘Smoke’ Santos
I’ve been through a lot of shit in my life, and I’m not saying that to brag.
I’m saying that because even though I’ve been through all that inanity, this was by far the most surreal, unbelievable scene I’d ever witnessed. We were at the epicenter of a gathering of the heads of criminal organizations unlike anything I’d ever encountered, and my baby girl was handling them like a champion. Earlier this morning Sarah had set everything up for the exchange with Mimi’s help. At 7 a.m., Mimi showed up at the clubhouse with a ton of breakfast takeout and two of Swan’s male cousins. She wouldn’t answer any questions as to where she’d been or what she’d been doing, but she did say that she could now openly help the girls without starting a mafia war.
But it was Sarah, with Beach on one side of her and Swan on the other, who was clearly in charge of the negotiations. Mimi just looked on with cold, dead eyes across the wide conference table at the men on the other side. Bet that badass bitch had enough knives on her beneath that fitted burgundy business suit to kill everyone in the room in less than a minute. I was glad she was on our side because that woman was on the warpath. These were Mimi’s daughters, and the mafia Mimi’s father headed had leant their full support. The essence of danger clung to her just like her classy perfume.
While Mimi, Beach, Sarah, and Swan sat at the table, I stood behind them along with a wall of muscle. There were bikers, members of the Stefano mafia, and a whole bunch of retired Special Forces motherfuckers, some of whom were now hitmen of the highest caliber, who were all here to represent Mike. Swan’s dad was God-knew-where doing God-knew-what, but I think we all agreed it was a good thing he wasn’t here. We didn’t need him flipping out and gunning everyone down.
And Swan was hovering just above her killing space, waiting for one hard shove to send her into violence.
Our group would be enough to intimidate even the most hardened criminals, but the stone-faced guys sitting on the other side of the table didn’t give anything away, and neither did their partners, the Israeli mafia.
Now most people in the States would laugh at the thought of an Israeli Mafia, but they are real. They’re the most secretive of the world’s various criminal organizations and deadlier than most—except possibly the Russians. But they’re also practical men known for not letting their emotions get involved in business, which could work in our favor. They’re lethal if double-crossed, but they’re also fair-handed and open to negotiation. Growing up in a world of violence and in a country that was constantly on the edge of war tended to make a man less likely to take a life if he didn’t have to.
Sarah laid out the terms of the deal with them. The missiles had been found right where she had said they would be and were recovered, but they’d been abandoned before they were found, so we didn’t get a chance to capture and interrogate anyone. That really chapped my fuckin’ ass, because we still didn’t know who our rats were. At this point, the only men I trusted were Beach, Hulk, and maybe Breaker. Khan’s security was sloppy enough that my girl almost got really fuckin’ hurt, and I would be addressing that with him in the near future. I also needed to ream out Alisha’s ass for giving Swan alcohol after I’d told her not to. But I returned my attention to my future sister-in-law and her razor-sharp tongue and watched her lecture one of the high-ranking members of the Boldin
Bratva
, Mr. Loktev.
Her tone was smooth and uncompromising. “You and I both know that your reputation hasn’t been harmed, because not only did you find the items she stole from you, I know there were some very expensive, very interesting toys there as well that will make you a ton of money. And don’t try to bullshit me. I saw them with my own eyes, and I know what they are worth.”
Mr. Loktev tilted his head to the side, then narrowed his gaze at her. “You do not know this for sure. Since you were not there, you can only assume that the extra weaponry was where you said we’d find it.”
Sarah calmly smoothed her shoulder-length hair back, and I noticed the tips of her ears were red, something that also happened to Swan when she was pissed. No matter how relaxed Sarah appeared, she was getting really, really angry. I hoped she could hold her temper long enough to deal with this asshole. Beach was also close to losing it, and I couldn’t blame him. Sarah offered the fucking Boldin
Bratva
everything they’d lost and more on a silver platter in exchange for Swan’s safety as well as hers, but the old bastard was hedging.
Sarah leaned forward slightly and glared at him. “We had an agreement.”
“If,” Mr. Loktev said with a grim smile, “you paid the interest, dear Sarah.”
I tensed, ready for Sarah to flip out, but before she could, there was a loud knock on the door. Everyone turned as one of the bodyguards opened it and Tom fucking Sokolov, one of my oldest friends, breezed in with a smug look on his slightly nerdy face. He was wearing a dark blue suit and looked like he was late for a board meeting as he adjusted his thick, black-framed glasses. I blinked—twice—sure I was imagining things. Last time I’d talked to Tom he was speaking with his relatives on Swan’s behalf, but he hadn’t sounded too optimistic—said something about having to talk directly to his uncle and ask for help.
I guess his talk with his uncle had gone well because there was more than a bit of cockiness in his smile as he surveyed the room until he found me.
Moving quickly through the crowd, he leaned in and whispered, “After this, we’re even.”
For a moment I frowned, then understanding filled me. Five years ago, I’d saved Tom’s niece from being molested by a serial child rapist. She was just four at the time, and her mother had been beaten into a coma before the molester took Tom’s niece. I found him with the little girl before things got too far. Once I had him alone I’d done things to that piece of filth who got off on destroying children, which still gave me nightmares to this day. If there was such a thing as Hell, that man was there, but I made sure his last hours on this earth were a taste of what was to come. Tom had tried to pay me, to give me anything and anyone I ever wanted in return for saving his niece and extracting revenge, but I turned him down. I didn’t want or need any of that stuff, so instead, we worked out a deal. If the world went to shit around me he’d be there to bail my ass out of the fire.