Claimed By The Devil (Devil's Riders 8)

“Here,” I said, handing her a cup of coffee. I knew how she liked it from all our mornings together. She sipped it gratefully with a softly spoken ‘thanks’. She looked even cuter than usual, all sleepy eyed and relaxed. I wanted to crawl into bed with her more than anything. Hey, it didn’t matter that it was a twin bed. I would be more than happy to make do.

Not today, Nick. Not for a while. She needs your shoulder to lean on, not your cock.

“Need help getting dressed?” I asked. I wanted to dress her up like a little doll. In fact, I fucking would. As soon as she got through this, we were going shopping.

My girl’s closet was almost empty, I noticed as I opened the narrow door. A handful of summer dresses, most of them looking vintage. One black dress, still in the plastic wrapping from the dry cleaners. It must be the dress she’d worn to her father’s funeral. I was pretty sure she’d grown up too much to fit it, glancing back at the curvy girl in the bed.

A black dress. My gut tightened at all she’d been through. I’d lost my parents early as well. I knew how fucking awful it was.

I grabbed a pair of jeans and a shirt, adding a warm sweater to the pile on the foot of her bed.

“Now, where are your panties?” I teased, chuckling when she turned beet red. My God, it was cute when she did that. She was going to have to get used to my touching and tasting her. Worshipping her. I could hardly fucking wait.

“I can . . . get those,” she said primly, and I laughed softly. I took the coffee cup and headed back downstairs. She would eat something and then we would go back to the hospital for the night. Tomorrow, we would do it all again. As many times as it took, for as long as it took.

Only my girl was more stubborn than I knew. She refused to sit down in the kitchen. Melissa insisted on taking her sandwich to eat in the car. Not that rickety old thing she was driving, either. We were using one of Jack and Janet’s spare SUVs. With the number of kids they had, they needed multiple vehicles. I would get my own car as soon as Melissa was okay for a few hours. She let me buckle her in and give her a quick kiss.

“Is this yours?”

“I borrowed it. I’ll get one, though. I didn’t need one before,” I said, my jaw tight.

“You need one now?” she asked distractedly, still half asleep. I looked at her as I turned the car on.

“Yes. I do. I can’t be driving you and your mom around on my ride, now can I?”

“Nick . . .” she breathed, her eyes looking suspiciously moist.

“I know, sweetie. I know. I’m not going to let you go through this alone.”

She looked uncertain but she nodded.

“Thank you,” was all she said.

I told her to eat her sandwich slowly and carefully drove the country roads toward town.

Chapter Eighteen

Sally

“Put your feet up,” I said to Kaylie for what felt like the hundredth time. “I can hold them.”

She knew I was worried about her getting tired. But she kept joking that she was going to be at the hospital soon enough for delivery and she might as well get used to it.

The truth was, we all spent a lot of time in this particular hospital. Lots of baby making going on with our crew. Never mind what was going on with Janet.

But nobody knew about that yet. I wasn't even sure if she had told Jack. She wanted to protect him. She didn't want the big guy to worry.

Once again, Kaylie sweetly refused to put her feet on my lap.

“I’ll tell Dev,” I threatened. Finally, she kicked off her shoes and settled her cute little feet across my thighs. I patted her ankles gently.

“Smart girl,” I said with a smirk.

“Blackmail is beneath you,” she countered with a sugary sweet smile.

“No, it’s not,” I teased back. We both knew I used blackmail and bribery all the time on my husband and children. Not that Donahue needed much encouragement to do what I asked. He pretty much bent over backward to make me happy on a daily basis.

I was a very lucky lady, and I knew it. All of us girls were. The Devil’s Riders boys were the most dedicated husbands in the state of California, if not the whole country!

We both stood a few minutes later when Melissa and Nick came in. We offered her a quick hug. Her eyes looked a little red from crying, but other than that she looked good. Not falling apart at the seams. It was obvious that Nick was taking good care of her.