Cross My Heart (The Devil's Riders 8.50)

“Mom, seriously. I can’t believe you are still tucking me in.”

I didn’t do it every night, but I wanted to. And tonight for some reason, I couldn’t help myself. Births and deaths did that. Made you think about the passage of time. Made you think about what you had in the moment, and what you were afraid to lose in the future. Having a daughter with a fatal disease would do that to you, even if they had made tremendous strides in treating her condition.

But I didn’t say any of that. I just smiled.

“Let me. You don’t have to grow up so fast, you know.”

She rolled her eyes again. I resisted the urge to warn her her peepers might get stuck that way, the way I did when she was younger and more impressed by her mama’s teasing. She sat up to kiss me, just like she did when she was a little girl. A lot of parallels tonight. A lot of sweetness and a lot of sadness in my heart.

I couldn’t lie. My heart felt strong and full at that. Like I could live forever on all the love I had for this girl.

“I love you, mom.”

“I love you, too.”

“And I love the both of you,” a deep voice came from the doorway. “But I need to steal your mama away.”

I turned to see Lucky leaning negligently in the door frame. The man always looked like he was up to no good. It was sexy as hell. It was one of the many, many things I loved about him.

“Night, Princess,” he said, walking over to give our eldest daughter a kiss. He was an amazing dad. He’d adopted her and treated her like his own. She was his own.

Sometimes it shocked me how well things had worked out. My life had been so hard before I met him. He helped me get out of a terrible situation and land into a pot of love. I could not express just how much I loved that man of mine.

He was brazen, yes. Loud and even obnoxious at times, not unlike Drake. But goddamn, did he know how to love me. And his heart was about as big as the moon.

Bigger.

“Come on, Angel,” he said, scooping me up and carrying me out of the room. Our daughter giggled as he closed the door behind him. He didn’t set me down until we were alone in the master bedroom. Our toddler was asleep. We were alone.

I knew what that meant. What it always meant. My man could not keep his hands off of me.

But we were going to the hospital to wait for Sally to have her baby. He knew that.

“Lucky…” I said warningly as he started to rub his hands all over my body. “We don’t have time for this.”

“Babe, there is always time,” he grinned at me, looking crazy and gorgeous at the same time. His white teeth glinted and his eyes crinkled in that way that I absolutely loved. “Let me take care of you, real quick.”

“Kaylie and Dev are already on their way!” I protested, but I was already feeling decidedly tingly.

“So, it’s not like Sally is alone. And Donnie’s mom will be there, too. We’ll just be underfoot.”

I laughed. I couldn’t help it.

“I don’t think Donnie’s mom is there,” I countered. “Not yet.”

“They are covered for a little while babe. You know how long these things take. We’ll just be in the way. They are front loaded.”

“You really are good at twisting the facts to suit yourself, aren’t you?”

“Those are the facts, Angel. There is no need to twist them,” he said as he started to kiss my neck. “But hell yes, I would do whatever it takes to make you mine. Remember?”

“I remember,” I breathed as he started to work his magic on me.

“I laid in the middle of the damned road for your attention.”

“That wasn’t on purpose!” I protested as he slid my shirt down over my arms.

“Well, on some primal level, it was. I had one mission in life. You,” he breathed against my ear. The tingles all over my body intensified. “I was single minded, down to my last cell.”

I resisted the urge to make a joke about brain cells. My man was smarter than he looked. And he could be serious. He was always serious when it counted. He was always serious when it came to loving and protecting our family.

And when it came to sex, he was as serious as a judge.

“Alright, but be quick.”

“Hmmm, whatever you say babe,” he said, clearly distracted by my curves.

He looked like a kid staring at a big pile of birthday presents as he undressed me. He licked his lips. Suddenly I felt more like an ice cream cone he wanted to devour than a toy. Either way, I knew I was in for some serious loving.