Oh.
My.
God!
That was so sweet!
“Hopper,” I whispered.
“Babe, hear this. I figured something out about Mitzi. She didn’t want that guy because he had her heart. She wanted that guy because her dad made shit but they lived in a part of town where she went to school with kids that had serious money. Don’t know but I guess, for her, bein’ poor around the rich f**ked with her head. And that guy’s dad made money. The kind of money that meant he had it easy in life, doors opened for him. So by the time I met him, he had a wife who couldn’t give him kids but he still had a six-bedroom house in Cherry Creek. He drove a BMW. She drove a Merc. He wore f**kin’ loafers shined so bright, I fought against puttin’ on shades to battle the glare. And she was so tricked out, it didn’t take a psychologist to figure out she was usin’ money to buy her happiness. Mitzi wanted that. She wanted the Merc and designer gear. She didn’t want him.”
I didn’t know where he was leading with this so I just said, “Okay.”
Hop got I didn’t understand so he explained.
“What I’m sayin’ is, f**ks with a man’s pride, his woman steps out on him. But when Mitzi sorted her shit and figured out she’d wasted most of her life on a dream she wouldn’t live because she wasn’t woman enough to keep a decent man, she came crawlin’ back to me. She didn’t step out on me. She didn’t give a shit about me. I was just there to keep her from bein’ lonely and to get her off. She was steppin’ out on our life. She understood, too late, that flashy cars and big houses were not where it was at. A man in your bed who’s gonna be true to you and whose highest priority in life is lookin’ after you and the kids you make together is.”
Well, that was the God’s honest truth.
And I loved, loved, loved it that Hop thought that way.
“Life is f**ked up,” Hop continued. “First it leads me to a bitch who wants the high life and f**ks me over while she’s tryin’ to get it. And then it leads me to a good woman who had the high life and knew better what was important.” He lifted a hand to cup my jaw before he finished, “Thank f**k it came in that order, babe, or I’d be f**ked.”
“Funny,” I said quietly, “I was thanking f**k because you came into my life at all.”
After I spoke my words, the room went still and it stayed that way for so long, it began to freak me out.
“Hop?” I called.
“Do you have any f**kin’ clue how much I love you?”
After his growled words, I stopped breathing. Therefore it took effort to wheeze out, “I do now.”
I felt his lips hit mine, where he said, “Every step, every breath, every second I lived on this earth, I’m thankful for, no matter how f**ked up or whacked or hard or good, ’cause all that shit led me to you.”
Oh dear.
I was going to cry.
Damn!
I was crying.
In fact, I burst into tears on a muffled sob, twisting my head and shoving my face in Hop’s neck.
His arms closed around me, he rolled us to our sides and he held me close, one hand stroking my spine as the goodness I felt from his words flowed from my eyes and into his skin.
“I’m giving you a key to my house,” I announced stupidly, my words breaking, my breath hitching.
“Good,” he muttered, his words breaking because he was stifling laughter.
“We need to speed up the easing Cody and Molly into things gig because I don’t want to sleep without you, even if it might be inappropriate Dad’s girlfriend spends the night,” I declared.
“I’ll work on that with them right away,” Hop replied, still sounding amused.
“If it takes time, when they’re asleep, I’ll crawl through the window.”
Even more humor in his tone when he stated, “Babe, seein’ as my room is on the top floor, I’d like to see how you pull that off, but I’ll save you that hassle and let you in the front door.”
I belatedly fell silent and stopped acting like an idiot but kept crying.
Hop asked, “Easing the Cody and Molly into things… gig?”
I pulled my head back and looked at him. “What?”
“You don’t say words like ‘gig’, lady.”
“My man’s a biker. Shit rubs off.”
The minute I finished speaking, Hop’s arms spasmed around me as he burst out laughing.
I watched and listened through the dark, loving every second.
Still laughing, he bent his head and took my lips, laughing into my mouth as he kissed me.
Amazing.
Then he made love to me, a lot slower this time.
Even better.
And last, I fell asleep, na**d in his arms.
No dreams.
Just Hop.
Chapter Seventeen
Glad to have you back, darlin’
The pounding at the door woke us. Hop’s arm convulsed around me and I lifted my head from where it lay on his chest to stare at the door.
“Open this goddamned door, brother!”
Oh God.
That was Tack.
And he sounded really, really angry.
“Fuck,” Hop muttered.
“Fuckin’ now!” Tack shouted.
“Fuck,” Hop repeated.
“Oh dear,” I mumbled.
“Not a good time!” Hop yelled.
“Open it or I kick it in!” Tack shouted and I felt my eyes get wide. I’d never heard Tack angry like that.
“Oh dear,” I whispered.
“Fuck,” Hop grumbled, rolled into me, kissed me quickly then he rolled out of bed.
Tack pounded at the door.
Hop tossed his thermal to me and I tugged it on as he pulled up a pair of jeans and moved to the door.
“Jesus, brother, cool it! Fuck! I’m comin’!” Hop yelled, made it to the door, unlocked it and opened it. I had the thermal down to my waist, the covers up it and I watched as Hop took a quick step back because Tack pushed in.
Tack scowled at me in bed for a nanosecond before his head swung Hop’s way.
“Seriously?” he asked. “I just get done dealin’ with that shit with Tabby and you, another brother, are nailin’ my other girl in… fuckin’… secret?”
How sweet. I loved it that I was his other girl.
“Tack, breathe, brother, and give me a second to explain,” Hop stated calmly.
Tack pointed my way. “Her head’s messed up. You go in there when her head’s messed up?”
“My head isn’t messed up,” I butted in and Tack turned his scowl back to me.