I took her face in my hands and kissed her. Deep and slow to begin with, it quickly became the usual demanding kind of kiss we both craved. When we were done, I rasped, “I fucking love you, woman. If I could, I’d marry your ass tomorrow.”
Fuck, as long as I lived, I’d never get my fill of this woman.
She’d breathed life into me when I hadn’t thought there was any life beyond what I already knew.
She’d given me hope after I’d forgotten what it was.
She’d fucking helped quiet the demons raging deep inside me.
And I was holding on tight.
Wherever Lily went, I would follow.
She may have thought I was running this fucking show, but she was wrong.
She owned the fucking show.
Epilogue
King
4 Years Later
I stood on my back deck and watched the kids running around the backyard as I sucked back some beer. Holly pushed Cade on the swing I’d built last weekend while Zara carried Meredith on her hip, laughing at something Lily said. Robbie and the girl he’d invited over for the party sat on the wooden bench I’d built for the back corner of the yard. Lily’s meditation bench. The one she spent a good fucking half hour on every afternoon while I played with the kids inside. She called that half hour her Sacred Pause. I didn’t give a fuck what she called it so long as she had it. Lily without that pause was wired for my blood. With it, she was wired for my dick.
“Hey, brother,” Hyde said, stepping out onto the deck. “We finally made it.”
I glanced at him, my gaze going straight to his daughter, Sage, who held her arms out to me. Letting her climb across to me, I said, “Your dad being an ass today?”
“King,” Monroe said as she and Tatum walked past us to head downstairs. Her voice held a warning like it always did when I had her daughter. I cut back my language around the kids, but as far as I was fucking concerned, ass wasn’t a word I needed to watch.
“Mama,” Sage called out as she spotted Monroe. I put her down, and she ran to her mother who scooped her up and carried on towards Lily.
“Everyone here?” Hyde asked, surveying my backyard where club members and their families hung out laughing and drinking.
“Everyone except Fury.”
Hyde met my gaze. “You got him out on a job today?”
“Yeah. I doubt he’ll make it.” Not with the messy shit he was taking care of for me today. Detective Stark would breathe easier tonight thanks to Fury.
“King!” Kick called out. “We need you to settle something for us.” Elizabeth whipped past him, distracting him for a moment. Mostly, though, I figured it was his wife who did that as she chased after their daughter. He’d announced her second pregnancy last week. Fuck, we were having a fucking population explosion in the club these days between Hailee almost ready to pop a kid, Lily two months pregnant, and now Evie, too.
I headed down to where he stood with Devil and Nitro.
“Devil thinks that when you guys built this place, Lily got the final say in everything, because there’s no way you would have chosen half the shit here,” Kick said.
Lily’s hands slid around my waist as she pressed her body to mine from behind. “Wrong,” she said. “Well, kind of wrong. I did get the final say in everything, because let’s face it, King wants his dick sucked at night, but he chose more than half the shit in this place. My man has immaculate taste.”
“No shit,” Devil said, smiling at Lily. Fuck, every fucker in the club had a soft spot for my old lady. A hell of a lot of respect too, which was deserved. The past four years had shown Lily’s grit in ways I fucking wished we hadn’t had to live through.
“No shit, asshole,” I said. “Now give me a minute with my wife.”
As they walked away from us, I turned to face her, my gaze landing on the bruises on her neck. Tracing my finger over them, I said, “Fuck, I need to go easier on you.” Especially now that she had our child in her belly.
“Don’t you dare.”
I found her eyes. The heat in them caused my gut to tighten. I’d had her cunt twice already today, but it wasn’t enough. I’d arranged for her mother to take the kids tonight so I could dedicate a long stretch of time to her. We’d need it before I headed away for up to a week tomorrow. I had shit to take care of in Melbourne. Shit that was giving me nothing but fucking headaches.