Battle Hearts (Storm MC Reloaded 3)

Torres isn’t known for easy dealings, but as much as I know King would rather deal with someone else, Torres brings a lot to the table. Mostly, though, he brings a lot of fucking unpredictability, so going in fully prepared for anything is essential.

We end the call and I make my way to my bike, my mind turning over all the things I need to take care of this week. I’m going to have to rearrange some of it and maybe reschedule some things because it’s a busy week for the club, but I want to be home more than usual in case Birdie needs me.

Twenty minutes later, I pull into the driveway of our home and find Birdie in the front yard on the phone while pulling weeds from the rose garden she loves. She glances up at me and smiles as I walk her way. When I reach her, she grabs my shirt and stands on her toes to plant a kiss on my lips. “You’re home early,” she whispers while still listening to whoever is on the other end of the phone.

Jerking my chin at the phone, I ask, “Who’re you talking to?”

Still keeping hold of my shirt, she says into the phone, “Cleo, I have to go. My husband came home early and I need to break the bad news to him about what I did.”

Cleo says her goodbyes while I narrow my eyes at Birdie, wondering what she’s done that is bad enough to be deemed bad news. The last time I arrived home to this kind of news, she’d ripped our kitchen apart in our old house. Christ help me if she’s done something as extreme today; we’ve got enough on our plate.

“What have you done?” I ask as soon as she’s off the phone.

She press

es herself to me and loops both hands around my neck. “How much do you love me?”

I place my hand on her ass. “I’m not answering that until I know what I’m up against here.”

Grinning, she says, “You make it sound so serious.”

“You’re saying it’s not?”

“It depends.”

“Fuck, Birdie, don’t keep me in suspense.”

“Well,” she starts, drawing it out, “it depends on how much you want a roast meal tonight versus how much you want me.”

“The answer to that question shouldn’t be one you even need to think about, angel.”

Her hands tighten around my neck. “I figured that, but things can change, so—”

I bend my mouth to hers and kiss her. “That will never change,” I say, growing hard for her. “What’s changed for you, though, between this morning and now?”

“I got out of my head when I went to work.”

“Thank fuck you went to work.”

“And to think you tried to boss me into not going.”

I scoop her into my arms, catching her off guard and eliciting one of her squeals of delight that I live for. Walking her inside, I say, “So the bad news is that there’s no roast meal tonight?”

“Yes.”

“Because you were conserving your energy for sex?”

“Correct again.”

“And there’s no other bad news?”

Her brows pull together in question. “No. Why?”

We pass the lounge room and then the kitchen, and I note that Birdie has cleaned them both to the point of spotlessness. This is something she does when she’s anxious. “Just making sure I’m not going to find any rooms in the house you’ve started renovating.”

She playfully smacks my chest. “You told me it was a good thing I started that kitchen reno.”

I chuckle as we enter our bedroom. “It was, but don’t go getting any ideas for this week or even this month. A renovation is the last thing we need right now.”