Chapter 8
8
PHOENIX
W aking up with Lindsay tucked into my side, soft and warm, was exactly what I didn’t know I’d needed. Her bare back was pressed to my chest, her breathing slow and even, her legs tangled with mine. My cock stirred instantly—because how the hell could it not? But I didn’t feel an urgency to fuck her.
I felt satisfied.
She was mine now.
I’d marked her.
Claimed her.
And fucked her bare.
The possessive part of me felt smug as hell knowing I was already working on breeding her. If I had my way, she’d be pregnant by the end of the damn week. Maybe sooner. She wasn’t going anywhere, not now. Not after the way she’d begged for more, moaned my name, and clung to me as though she never wanted to let go.
Not that there’d ever been a chance in hell I would have let her go before.
I kissed her shoulder, letting my hand trail down her side and curve over her hip.
Her breath hitched slightly, then I heard the smile in her voice when she murmured, “That’s a nice way to wake up.”
“Mmm,” I grunted against her skin. “Better get used to it.”
She rolled over to face me, blinking sleepily, and my chest went tight and warm just looking at her. I didn’t know how this exquisite creature was mine. Or what I had done to deserve her.
I mentally snorted. Nothing. I would never be good enough for Lindsay. But I wasn’t gonna let that stop me from keeping her.
“I have to take care of some club shit,” I said with a sigh, brushing a strand of hair from her face. “Probably gone for a few hours.”
“Okay,” she said softly, but something flickered behind her eyes.
“Lindsay.” I cupped her cheek, making sure she was fully focused on me. “We need to talk about something. I’ll never lie to you. But if it’s club business, I won’t always be able to tell you everything. Some things aren't mine to share.”
She nodded without hesitation. “I can handle that. Just don’t shut me out, okay?”
My mouth curved as pride lit through me. “Good girl.”
Her cheeks flushed like they always did when I called her that, and I kissed her slow and deep. Showing her my gratitude and reminding her who owned her at the same time.
I only meant to make out with her for a few minutes, but the kiss got hotter by the second. When her fingers skimmed down my stomach, I groaned.
“Fuck,” I grunted as I pulled back before I forgot what the fuck I was supposed to be doing today.
With an irritated grunt, I forced myself to leave the warm bed and gorgeous, willing woman in it. Then I grabbed a pair of clean boxer briefs from my dresser.
Lindsay’s heated gaze dragged down my body, and her brows lifted. “You can’t just walk around like that?”
I growled low in my throat and turned toward her. “Keep lookin’ at me like that, sass me one more time, and that pretty, sore pussy of yours is gonna get stuffed again until you can’t walk tomorrow.”
She squeaked, biting her bottom lip as a pink blush stole over her cheeks and spread down under the sheet she was holding up over her tits.
I bent over and took her mouth hard in one last burning press of lips and tongue, then headed into the bathroom for a fast shower.
By the time I got out, she was dozing again, curled up on my side of the bed like she belonged there. Because she did.
A smile curled my lips, and I marveled at the happiness bursting inside me. I’d thought I was happy with my life, but now that I had Lindsay, I realized that I hadn’t been living. I’d existed. She brought joy into my life with her musical laughter, sassy mouth, and that hot as fuck body.
I dressed quickly in a black T-shirt, leather pants, my cut, and boots. Then I walked back over to the bed and leaned down to kiss her temple.
“Baby,” I murmured softly in her ear. She stirred and blinked at me sleepily, looking tempting as fuck. “I gotta go.”
She tried not to pout as she slowly nodded, making me smile. “Fucking adorable, know that?”
Lindsay raised an eyebrow and sniffed. “No woman wants to be called adorable when they’re naked in a man’s bed.”
A laugh burst from my chest, and I shook my head with a grin. “Relax, baby. You’re the sexiest woman I’ve ever seen. And cute as hell. Somehow, I got lucky enough to have the whole package naked and wrapped up in our bed.”
Pink dusted her cheeks again, and she looked pleased with my answer.
I crossed to the closet, grabbed my extra cut, and laid it on the bed beside her.
“If you leave this room, wear this.”
She blinked. “Are you giving me a dress code?”
“I’m giving you a fucking warning,” I said flatly. “This is nonnegotiable. You wear this cut, and nobody’s gonna touch you, look at you, or even breathe wrong in your direction. And if I find out you disobeyed me, we’re gonna revisit that spanking.”
She smirked, dragging the vest toward her with two fingers. “Yes, sir.”
I gave her ass a light smack, a promise and a warning. It wasn’t hard, but not soft either. Just enough to make her eyes go wide.
“Don’t tease me, baby,” I warned, my voice low and rough. “You’ll lose.”
“I’m not afraid of losing.”
I tangled a hand in her hair and held it tight, staring into her eyes with dark intensity. “You should be.”
Then I kissed her once more, slow and firm, before smacking her ass one last time and stalking out the door.
Time to get this shit handled and get back to my woman.
Paul’s apartment was a shitbox—no surprise there. Three of our enforcers, Racer, Hawk, and Savage, were already inside, tossing the place upside down. Before I joined the search, I scanned the front room, but nothing jumped out at me.
“Found anything?” I asked, stepping around a broken coffee table leg and what looked like week-old takeout. Fucking hell. This guy was a waste of the world’s oxygen supply.
“Bunch of junk,” Hawk muttered. “Loose receipts, bills, and other random papers, but nothin’ helpful. No ledgers. Nothing that gives us a clue to whatever shit he was involved in.”
“Wait,” Racer called out. He held up a thick spiral notebook. “Found this tucked behind the water heater.”
I took it and flipped it open. There were pages full of handwritten numbers, all in columns. No names or addresses. Nothing obvious. Just digits and symbols.
“Could be codes,” Savage suggested.
“Could be tracking something.” I frowned, scanning the pattern. “Deviant’s gonna want a copy.”
We took photos of the whole thing and sent them to the tech genius. Then I secured the notebook in my saddlebag before heading out.
By the time I got back to the clubhouse, it was late afternoon. I cut through the side door and followed the sound of soft laughter to the kitchen. I recognized that sweet sound.
There she is .
Lindsay had her hair twisted into a messy bun and was covered in flour as she laughed with Sadie—Hunter’s wife and the best damn baker in Tennessee.
Sadie was showing her how to knead dough, her voice warm and patient. Lindsay was smiling like she hadn’t been nearly abducted the day before.
That smile settled something deep inside me. I intended to put that happy, satisfied look on her face every day for the rest of our lives.
She spotted me and rushed over, dusting the flour off her hands. “How’d it go?”
“Need a shower after being in that apartment,” I grunted. “But it wasn’t a total bust.” I raised the notebook and handed it to her. “We found this.”
She flipped through it slowly, brow furrowed. “This looks like tracking data.”
“Yeah—wait. You recognize it?” It suddenly occurred to me that I hadn’t had a chance to really get to know her…other than what her pretty pussy tasted like and how fucking beautiful she was when I was making her come.
“Maybe. Numbers are kind of my thing. I’m getting my degree in statistics.”
My brow shot up. “Just when I thought you couldn’t be any more perfect.”
Lindsay’s sweet mouth curved up into a sassy smile. “Perfect? Please. You haven’t even seen my spreadsheet skills yet.”
I burst into laughter, then smirked as I leaned in, my voice rough against her ear. “If you keep talkin’ like that, I’m gonna clear my desk and bend you over it. Club business be damned.”
Lindsay’s breath caught in her throat, and a shiver shook her body, making me grin even wider. Yeah, that was definitely gonna happen. Soon.
Her eyes dropped back to the notebook, and she cleared her throat. Then her brow furrowed. “Huh.”
“See anything that stands out?”
“I’m not sure. Let me try something. Can I see his bank statements?”
“Sure, baby. Let’s go to my office.” I ignored the bright red that bloomed on her cheeks. If I didn’t focus on something else, she was gonna spend the rest of the night being fucked on my desk and every other flat surface I could find.
She called out goodbye to Sadie, who winked and waved. Then I guided her out of the kitchen, through the lounge, and down the hall to my office. She dropped onto the chair at my desk, and I opened my laptop, using my thumb to unlock it before setting it in front of her. Then I pulled up the spreadsheets I’d created with all of Paul’s financial transactions.
“Wow. This is even better.”
I dropped onto a chair beside her and tossed my arm across the back of hers. Then I trailed my fingertips along her neck as I drawled, “I aim to please.”
“Stop that,” she whispered, shifting restlessly in her seat, her pretty freckles fading from the flush covering her skin.
I put my lips on her jaw and glided them along the line, then up to her ear. “Is that what you really want?”
She bit her lip and tossed me a disgruntled pout that was so cute, I couldn’t help chuckling. “No,” she finally admitted. “Just, um, save it for later.”
Chuckling again, I gave her a little space to do her thing. There would be plenty of time for teasing, seducing, and driving her all kinds of wild. We had the rest of our lives as soon as this bullshit was behind us.
She flipped through the pages of the notebook and scrolled through the spreadsheets for a few minutes.
“Yep,” she murmured after a while. She pointed at a column of numbers. “Some of these match up to ATM withdrawals.”
I arched a brow. “You sure?”
She nodded. “See?”
Pointing at numbers on the screen, then to numbers in the notebook, she showed me how she’d come to the conclusion. I whistled, impressed. “I’ll be damned, baby. Nice catch.”
Lindsay beamed at me, pointing at another column. And these look like betting odds. See this column? Looks like wagers and outcomes. Wins, losses.”
“That’s why he was always broke.”
“Yeah,” she said slowly, eyes narrowing. “But these two columns still don’t make sense.”
“Figure it out,” I urged her, brushing her hair over her shoulder. “I’m gonna have Deviant send me the information for every betting ring, bookie, and underground game within ten miles of Old Bridge. I’ll cross-reference everything, and then we’ll widen the net if need be.”
She nodded, her whole focus on the numbers, her fingers moving fast over the keys of my computer.
My woman was fucking brilliant.
And gorgeous.
And sexy as hell.
But mostly, she was all fucking mine.
And when we nailed the bastard behind this, I was gonna take her back to my room, strip her bare, and start trying to knock her up all over again.