Exquisite Redemption (Iron Horse MC Book 3) (26 page)

“Shit,” I hissed. “Your mom is going to think I’m a psycho and a slut!”

Not looking up from his phone, Beach muttered, “Babe, told ya, she’s gonna love you ’cause you saved my life. Stop worrying and stop callin’ yourself names, I don’t like it.”

“Stop worrying? Are you insane?” I ran my fingers through my wet hair while towel drying it as best I could.

“I got this covered.”

“Absolutely bonkers.”

With a sigh, he put his phone into the pocket of his dark, well-fitting jeans then put on his shoes and socks while I toed on a pair of slightly small, bright yellow flip-flops that matched the happy face on my t-shirt with the words “Myrtle Beach Spring Break 2012” on it.

Great, I looked like a hungover white trash tourist while he was all biker hotness.

He held out his hand to me. “Ready?”

“No, but I don’t have a choice.”

Pausing, he turned serious for a moment and cupped my chin, making me meet his deep blue eyes. “If you don’t wanna see them, we’ll leave, right now, no questions asked.”

I leaned up on my tiptoes and gave him a soft, sweet kiss. “Thank you, but I need to face Mimi or she’ll chase me down again.”

He kissed me back, then rubbed his nose slowly against mine in an affectionate gesture that melted my heart.

Who knew I’d love Eskimo kisses so much?

“No matter what happens out there, I want you to know that you’re mine and I’m not giving you up.”

“Beach—”

“Mine.”

Exasperated, I threw my hands up in the air, “Just because you say it’s yours doesn’t make it yours. Didn’t you learn that in kindergarten?”

He laughed, a sexy-as-hell arrogant laugh that made me yearn to feel him deep inside of me again even as I wanted to strangle him. “You keep tellin’ yourself that.”

“I’ve reconsidered my stance on spanking you,” I announced in a haughty voice.

At that, Beach burst out laughing, his head thrown back and his arms clutching his stomach. It was a beautiful sight and I swore I felt him dig even deeper into my heart despite my best efforts. A giggle escaped me before I stopped it as I began to laugh with him, our eyes meeting, which sent us off into another peal of laughter.

We only stopped when he crossed the room in two big strides and kissed me but good, our tongues stroking together while we both made happy noises that were something between a laugh and a moan.

I think I’m falling in love with him.

I waited for the panic, but it wasn’t there.

Weird.

Slipping his hand into mine, he lifted our joined fingers and kissed my scarred knuckles. “You got nothin to worry ’bout. I’m gonna make this right.”

Sighing, I kissed his bristly cheek. “You need to shave before you go down on me.”

He stared at me. “You tryin’ to make my dick hard?”

“What?”

It was obvious he didn’t believe my wide-eyed innocent act. “Brat.”

“Whatever.”

Chapter 13

Carlos “Beach” Rodriguez

A
fine tremor ran through Sarah’s hand into mine and I paused as we left our room, making her face me. “Baby, swear, it will be okay.”

“Right.” Her brittle smile was so obviously forced I could only sigh.

“You don’t believe me now, but you will.”

“Right.”

Giving up on soothing her, I led us downstairs and into the kitchen, her breaths coming hard and fast. Even when she was trying to cut herself free in the back of that fuckin’ van we’d been in she hadn’t been this scared. It set off warning bells in my mind and my protective instincts roared to life, wanting to tell everyone to piss off and leave us alone. Unfortunately, saying that to my mom would result in years—no,
decades
of guilt being thrown my way on a regular basis.

No fuckin’ thank you. Woman already has it out for me ’cause I haven’t given her any grandbabies yet. Then again, I’ve never been with a woman she thought was good enough for me.

Birdie spots us first and a wide smile fills her weathered face. “Morning, lovebirds.”

Sarah winces while Birdie laughs and my mama shakes her head. “Honestly, Sarah, like I was telling Mimi, I did raise him better than this.”

Before they can embarrass Sarah further—she’s looking like she wished she could run out the door—I cut them off. “Mimi, can I have a word with you, please?”

She tilts her head to the side, the faintest hint of grey at the temples in her still dark, long hair. “Sure.”

Sarah just about jerked my arm out of its socket when she pulled me down to harshly whisper into my ear, “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

Fighting the urge to laugh at the look of utter panic on her face, I cup her soft cheeks gently, then rub my nose against hers. “We’re not going outside to dual, promise. I need to clear the air between us so we both know where we stand. It’s a good thing, not bad.”

“You swear?”

Normally I’d think a girl was batshit crazy if I had to promise not to try to kill her stepmom first time we talked, but I understood her fears. “I swear.”

She leaned up on her tiptoes, then rubbed her nose slowly against mine.

Never thought rubbing my nose against someone else’s could be sexy, but everything Sarah did seemed to make my dick sit up and take notice.

In an effort to keep my cock under control, I stepped back and went over to the door, holding it open for Mimi. “If you don’t mind?”

She stood with a truly deadly grace then gave Sarah a quick hug as she passed, kissing her cheek before whispering into her ear, then giving her shoulder a squeeze.

The moment we were out back and down the porch steps into the massive yard, the smile fell from Mimi’s face. “You’re lucky I don’t gut you.”

Glad we weren’t going to tap dance around each other, I grinned. “’Appreciate that.”

“It doesn’t mean I like you.”

We began to stroll in the direction of one of the fenced-in fields butting against the far side of the lawn, the horses inside enjoying a leisurely afternoon grazing.

“Need to let you know right now I really couldn’t give a shit less. My main concern is Sarah, as long as she’s happy, I’m happy.” She stopped walking and glared at me, but I continued in an even voice, “She loves you deeply, so I’m gonna do my best to be civil with you, but I will never kiss your ass. Long as you’re good with that, we’ll get along fine.”

She closed her eyes and tipped her head back, speaking to the sky as she said, “My husband is going to kill you.”

I shrugged. “Maybe he’ll try, he wouldn’t be the first or the last.”

Lowering her face again, she studied me closely. “What do you want from my daughter?”

“Like I said before, I want to make her happy.”

“You’re almost old enough to be her father.”

“She may be younger than me in age, but both you and I know that woman is way older than her years. The hard things in life touch us, change us, and shape who we are. Can you really imagine her with some young dipshit her age? Do you really think he’d have what it’s gonna take to be her man?”

“You may have a point, but there are a million men I’d chose for Sarah before you.”

“That may be true, but none of ’em would make her as happy as I can.”

Mimi pointed her finger at me, anger and concern twisting her regal face. “You have no idea what she’s been through.”

“She’s fragile, I understand that, but she’s also amazingly strong. Mimi, she saved my life and she did it as coldly, as professionally, as any seasoned hitman I’ve ever met. Not gonna lie, wish I’d been in the position to do the rescuing, but it was her courage that saved us while I was pretty much mummified with duct tape. Yeah, my boys brought in the chopper, but that was the easy part. She did all the hard work, so I don’t just want her to be happy, I
need
it. I need to give this to her.”

“You have no idea what you’re taking on, but you’ll learn.” She blew out a frustrated breath. “She is fiercely independent and I’m afraid you’ll try to crush her spirit.”

I couldn’t help but laugh. “Sarah would carve my ass up if I tried that. ’Sides, why would I want to crush a butterfly?”

It was funny to hear Mimi snort with laughter and realize where Sarah had picked that up. “Women’s panties must fall off around you.”

I didn’t bother to deny it, instead moving the topic back to where I wanted it. “She’s safe with me. I’ll move heaven and earth to protect her.”

“She doesn’t need you for that. Her father and I—”

“You know as well as I do that she will not stay at home with you, isolated out in the middle of nowhere. She’d go insane, and there is no fuckin’ way I’m letting her go back to Las Vegas. So it’s either she stays here with me, where I can have constant protection on her, or you can hope that she doesn’t do something that gets her ass dead, which I will never fucking allow.”

“She may be physically safe with you, but she needs stability. She needs a man who will let her try to be what she thinks of as normal. I think we both know you can’t provide that.”

“Bullshit. I’ve experienced enough to know how to protect what’s mine. Also know how to cherish it, and recognize a gift from God when I get it. Your daughter will never know anything but love from me. More important, I have tens of thousands of men who swear their alliance to me across the world. Mutual friends in cold places.”

“I know.” She crossed her arms and I couldn’t help but wonder if she was reaching for a knife. “As far as our friends go, they stay out of whatever happens between us, on both sides. This is a discussion about family and it stays within the family. Understood?”

I watched her close, taking in the tension that was more worry than anger. Her words were abrasive, but she was the daughter of a mafia boss so it was natural she would pick up some of his attitude. Shit, I needed to keep in mind that no matter what else she was, Mimi was first and foremost Sarah’s stepmom and I needed to respect her concern. I needed to reassure her, not make an enemy of her.

“I know you researched me. You ever find mention of me making any woman my old lady? Find anything beyond dating? Never. All my years as a biker and never once have I had a woman wear my patch, but I was ready to put it on Sarah’s back the moment I saw her.”

“There are so many things I want to say, but I can’t.” To my surprise, Mimi had tears in her eyes that sparkled in the golden sunlight. “I’m afraid you’re going to break her heart, but I promised her I would never interfere with her love life. If I do, she’ll be dust in the wind, and I can promise you she’s more than capable of hiding so well even
you’ll
never find her.”

I rolled my eyes. “Her fake identity is good, but it’s not bulletproof.”

“I know that, but what you don’t understand is that her identity when she disappeared was so good, we had no clue, not one, where she went. We didn’t know anything about Sarah other than the fact that she was alive. And we only knew that because she’d send me untraceable emails. Two a week, all saying the same thing. ‘I’m alive, I’m fine, I love you and I’ll see you soon.’ You must understand, Carlos, if you push my daughter into a corner, she will run and hide somewhere neither you, nor I, will be able to find her.”

I did not like the thought of that happening one fucking bit. “Understood.”

“I can see that doesn’t make you a happy camper, and I’m not particularly thrilled with the notion either. So while I’d like to cut your throat then burn your body and scatter the ashes, instead I’ll try to give you a little advice to attempt to save some heartache between you. If Sarah can truly fall in love with you, if you can truly make her as happy as you say you will, then I wish you all the luck in the world. She has suffered in her life, and I don’t mean that word lightly, so you have to understand she has a hard time accepting affection, and you’ll need a great deal of patience. Do you have that in you to give?”

“I do.”

“Even when she’s being vile to you?”

“Even then. Just words.”

“She can be mean, cutting, and so heartless with her words they slice into you as neatly as any knife.”

“I’m sure she can, but she hasn’t used the sharp side of her tongue on me yet.”

“Sometimes things…trigger her. She isn’t even aware of what she’s doing. I’ve seen it once or twice, and it’s terrifying. If that happens, hug her, reassure her, remind her she’s in the here and now. Keep her mind occupied on something other than trying to relive memories long buried.”

My breath came out in a low sigh as I fought the growing pit of nausea in my stomach. “PTSD?”

“Yes.”

We’d reached the fence and Mimi smiled at the horses grazing nearby on the deep green grass. They were fat, spoiled animals and lived a good life. Birdie had babied the hell outta them since her kids moved out, and they no doubt expected us to be carrying some kind of treat for them and then fawn all over ’em.

A dappled grey mare by the name of Cha Cha butted her nose against Mimi’s hand and she laughed. “Shy, aren’t they?”

Another horse joined us, Titan, a big blood-red Morgan who was as affectionate as a puppy. “Birdie has ’em thinkin’ they’re humans, treats ’em like they’re the grandbabies she doesn’t have yet.”

Mimi stilled and Cha Cha let out an uneasy whinny before Mimi returned to stroking her. “Speaking of grandchildren, I do not want any anytime soon.”

I yearned to tell her to fuck off, that it was none of her business, but managed to censor myself. “That’s a discussion for me and Sarah to have, but I will tell you this, I want her to have a chance to live her life a little bit before we do talk about kids. We need to work on us before we bring any baby into the mix.”

“Good.” Mimi looked back at the house, her eyes unfocused as she rested her cheek on the horse’s outstretched neck. “Let me be clear—if you hurt her, I will end you.”

I chuckled. “I hear ya. Come on, we better head back before Sarah worries herself into a frenzy.”

Mimi slipped her arm into mine and smiled as she said, “I don’t trust you, I’m not sure if I like you, and I’m pretty sure my husband will hate you, but none of that matters.”

“Why’s that?”

“Because my daughter looks at you like you hung the stars in the sky for her pleasure. I’ve never seen Sarah look at anyone like that, man or woman.”

Before I could school my expression, my eyebrows flew up. “Woman?”

“Sarah is one of the least judgmental people you’ll ever meet. She bases her opinion of someone on how they act, but she likes to give everyone a chance. It’s probably why she could look past your age, the way you dress, the criminal vibe, and see the man beneath. She can also overlook gender and has had a few girlfriends she’s brought home to meet us. But never any men.”

“Mimi, all due respect, I think this is Sarah’s business to tell me, not yours.”

“Oh my, you do have a backbone. You’ll need it if you’re going to make my daughter happy.”

The door opened before I could respond and Sarah stood there in her t-shirt that hung tight in the chest and loose everywhere else. Her big breasts pushed against the worn fabric and my body felt lighter just looking at her. She was so beautiful it brought me pleasure to stare at her and drink her in. Then she smiled at the sight of us walking arm in arm and I could almost feel the relief pouring off of her.