Off Limits (Kings of Mayhem MC 5)

She started to cry. Like really cry.

I was used to Astrid’s crocodile tears. She could flick a switch and out they’d come. But these were genuine because our baby’s life was in danger and she was scared.

Hell, I was scared.

I squeezed her hand.

“What can I do to help?” I asked.

Astrid looked up at me with wet eyes. “Come back to New Orleans with me, Ruger, and be there when your son is born.”

CHASTITY

Crying made me sleepy.

I fell face-first onto my bed, closed my eyes and let sleep take me as far away from reality as it wanted to take me.

Anything to not be feeling how I’m feeling.

Something woke me up two hours later. I stared up at the ceiling, disoriented, tired and with the awful realization that I’d just fucked up more than I ever had in my twenty-two years.

As I lay there, my eyes slowly focused on the slow turning ceiling fan, and I began to see things more clearly.

When I realized how immature I’d been, I sat up with a rush.

Finding out Astrid was pregnant with Ruger’s son had sent me reeling.

Now I’d gotten my bearings, I could see how childish I had been.

I quickly reached for my phone and saw Ruger had tried calling me only moments earlier. I hastily called him back and was relieved when he answered almost immediately.

“So that was an epic fail,” I said lamely, my voice hoarse with sleep.

“Chastity—”

I cut him off. “I behaved like an immature brat and I’m sorry. I was caught off guard and I reacted poorly. You deserve better than that—we deserve better than that.”

He paused and I held my breath, praying he wasn’t going to tell me I had been right and we should take a break while this mess played out.

“Baby,” he said.

“Yes?”

“I’m outside.”

I stood up. “You’re what?”

I started to walk out of my bedroom, but then ran to the front door and pulled it open. He stood on the other side, his phone pressed to his ear. When he saw me, we both shoved our phones away and I fell into his arms.

He lifted me off the step and kissed me hard before letting me go.

I was so relieved to see him. “I’m sorry I freaked out.”

He rubbed his thumbs across my cheeks. “I meant what I said, baby, I’m all in. You and me, it’s what I want.”

“It’s what I want, too. We’ll figure this out.”

I was so thankful I hadn’t lost him.

Inside, he kissed me again and I melted into him, comforted by the heat of his powerful body. When he broke off the kiss, he ran his fingers through my hair and fixed me with his green eyes. He didn’t say anything. But I could see everything in his eyes. He was as relieved as I was.

“I really love you,” I whispered.

With a growl he lifted me up into his arms and took me to his bedroom where he spent the rest of the afternoon showing me just how relieved he was.

RUGER

I was lost in a flood of relief and bliss. In true Chastity fashion, she was being amazing about the situation, and I couldn’t be more grateful for my amazing girl.

Or love her more than I did right now.

We were naked, our bodies entwined and slick with the heat of our lovemaking. She was warm and supple against me, her body softened by the orgasms she’d had beneath me only minutes earlier. She rested her cheek against my chest as I trailed gentle caresses up and down her back.

Shafts of dusty gold light spilled into the room through the high windows, creating a warm, hazy glow around us as we slowly came down from our highs.

“What are you going to do?” Chastity finally asked.

Her voice was hoarse and smoky.

“She wants to go home to New Orleans.”

I watched her swallow. She knew what was coming.

“She wants you to go with her, doesn’t she?”

I nodded. But I had already made up my mind that I wasn’t going, so it wasn’t going to be an issue.

“I told her that was an impossibility.”

Chastity was silent for a moment, but then sat up. Her lashes dropped and she stared at the quilt she was absentmindedly picking at.

“You have to go,” she finally said.

“What? No.”

She looked at me and I could see the determination in her eyes. “There is a right or a wrong thing to do here, Ruger. The wrong thing would be to stay here while Astrid took care of a problematic pregnancy on her own in a city that’s a state away.”

“This is her trying to get me back.”

“Of course, that’s a factor. But so is the threat to your son. You have to go or you’ll never forgive yourself if something happens.”

“The baby isn’t due for two months.”

Two months without Chastity would be torture.