Destroying Beauty (Hell Hounds Motorcycle Club): Vegas Titans Series (22 page)

I pull my gloves back on as I pick up the hose and squeeze
the handle, dousing the newly planted ivy on the home's rear wall. Dale stands
up next to me to whistle at a woman walking her dog on the sidewalk and I turn
the spray on him.

"The fuck?" he protests as I laugh. He's about to
grab the hose away from me when he looks over my shoulder and his expression
changes to a grin. "Holt!" he yells with a wave.

Oh, shit. My stomach knots. I haven't seen or talked to him
in three weeks, since he disappeared behind the operating room doors at the
hospital. I take a deep breath and turn around.

A dumb grin spreads across my face as I see him and I bite
my lip to keep it under control. He looks different. A little thinner. Maybe
ten pounds, I think, as I scan his body. I feel heat run through my body as he
makes quick eye contact with me, and fidget awkwardly with the hose. Dale
starts talking to him and I stay put. I don't know what to say. Seeing him, I
recognize the man I grew to love, but I'm scared he's going to turn out to be
someone completely different.

Dale glances back at me, then to Holt. "What the fuck?
Lover's quarrel?"

"Something like that," Holt murmurs. I shiver at
the sound of his husky voice then steel myself enough to walk over.

"How are you?" I ask, hearing how unnatural and
formal I sound.

"Doctors say I'm making good progress. Probably another
week still until I can come back to work, but I wanted to come by as soon as I
could, check up on everything."

Dale looks back and forth between us as a silence stretches
on. "OK…well, I'm going to get back to it then." Holt grins after him
as he leaves. When his eyes fall back on me, I can see they contain a mixture
of sadness and trepidation.

"I…I wanted to see if you would go to dinner with me.
Tonight," he murmurs. "Just one dinner. And then we can see, well…just
one dinner."

I turn over his suggestion in my mind. Dinner. It feels like
a first date, which would be fitting, since we actually need to start over if
there's any hope for us. I feel myself nodding.

"Dinner."

I gaze at the tattoo covering Holt's bare back. He's turned
on his side away from me in my bed. After dinner last night, I didn't want to
say goodnight. We didn't broach any of the "big" issues, just talked
like two people getting to know each other for the first time. And then he
walked me to my door…I invited him in…but somehow sex didn't feel quite right.
We just fell asleep in bed together, on top of my covers. I like that he took
his shirt off during the night. I got so used to seeing him sleep with it on.

I move my fingers just a half an inch above his inked skin,
not wanting to wake him. His tattoo, like the rest of his brothers, depicts a
three-headed, snarling dog. Cerberus, he told me, guardian of the gates of the
underworld. The original Hell Hound.

He stirs and I yank my hand away. Shoot, must have woken
him. He needs his rest after what his body went through. He turns over onto his
back, the tattoo disappearing against my sheets, and opens one eye to squint at
me.

"Shit," I murmur, seeing the red scar at the top
of his stomach. I gingerly touch the ridge of skin, feeling the hard scar
tissue that's formed beneath it.

"It's not so bad. I still have a good chunk of my
spleen. People who have the whole thing removed sometimes have to take
antibiotics for the rest of their lives."

"Does it hurt?"

"I get a twinge every now and then. Mostly I just feel
more tired than usual, but the doctor said that'll pass. Said it's normal for
having been legally dead for almost a minute."

"Do you understand why I couldn't stay at the hospital?"
I whisper, knowing it's finally time to address what we've been pushing back.

"Yes," he murmurs. "I know I don't get to
expect anything from you, after what happened. Seeing you again, talking to
you, is already well above what I deserve."

"You saved my life."

"And you saved mine," he points out.

"So we're even then?" I ask.

"I don't know if it works like that," he replies
with a sad smile.

"Maybe I want it to. I want it to not be crazy that I
want you in my life still."

"You don't owe me anything," Holt says, looking
down at me, his green eyes serious.

"I know that. I'm not saying this because I feel like
you
owe
me anything, I'm saying it…I'm saying it, well, because I love
you."

"Are you sure?" he asks. I widen my eyes at him.
Not the right answer. He smiles in recognition. "I mean, I love you. Fuck,
I love you. I just can't believe I'm hearing you say it."

"Is this too insane? I mean, the way this started…it's
not exactly the kind of story we'd tell our kids."

"You want to have my kids?" he says with a wicked
grin. I blush and bury my face in his arm.

"You know what I mean," I groan.

"Yeah, I want to have kids with you, too," he
says. I raise my head and look at him in shock. "Well, I do," he says
with a shrug.

I can't hold back any longer. I grin wildly and lean down. I
pause just over his lips, savoring the moment of expectation, then softly press
my lower lip between his. I gasp as my body immediately comes alive as we
touch. How have I gone weeks without this feeling?

He groans underneath me and slips his tongue into my mouth.
"Fuck, I missed you," he says, taking my face in his hands and
bringing it away from his for a moment before pulling me back. Our tongues
explore each other's mouths like it's new territory as my body hums with
pleasure. I'm already shaking with desire for him. I force myself to sit up and
pull off my t-shirt and jeans, then dive back down on top of him, careful not
to jostle his scar. I move over to his ear as I unbuckle his belt, nuzzling him
with my nose and sucking on his earlobe.

He grunts as he tries to sit up to take off his jeans. I lay
my hands on his shoulder and press him back into the mattress. "Let me do
the work this time, OK?" He pauses, then nods and lies back. I know he's
not used to giving up control. I stand up and walk to the foot of the bed, then
take the hem of his jeans in my hands and slide them off his legs. With a grin,
I reach up to his boxers and carefully wiggle them off, too. I lick my lips at
the sight of him completely unclothed, and reach behind myself to unhook my bra
and then slide my underwear off.

He picks his head up off the pillow to get a good look at
me, running his eyes over my body as I shiver in anticipation. I push his legs
apart as I kneel between them on the bed, softly kissing the inside of his
knee. His head falls back against the pillow as I lick and bite my way up his
muscular inner thigh.

I reach his crotch and an animalistic urge rises inside me.
I take a long lick of his dick, from base to tip, and hear him moan in response.
I want to feel him inside me right away, but take a deep breath to try to
control myself. I bend over and take his balls in my mouth, moving them around
slowly and tasting his sweat. Then I move up, licking his length again, before
tucking my lips behind my teeth and moving slowly down his dick.

He moans as I crest over his tip and his dick runs along my
tongue and hits the back of my mouth. I manage to relax my throat enough to
take him in almost to his base, and then move back up to the tip. I bear down
now, putting a lot of pressure on him, as I speed up. His hips begin to buck
and I press down on them to keep him where I want him. I take him almost to
orgasm before I stop and with a light kiss on his tip, sit back up and onto my
knees.

I inch forward until I'm hovering over his cock and watch it
jerk with wanting. He bites his lip as he stares at me. I take his cock with
one hand and move it against my clit so he can feel how wet I am.

"Oh, fuck, Jo. Get up here." He grabs my ass with
his hands and pulls me up along his chest until I'm straddling his shoulders
and my opening is just over his mouth. He moves his hands onto the top of my
thighs and pulls me down over him until I feel his warm breath against me. He
blows against my clit and I gasp. As he makes contact with a soft flick of his
tongue, I almost unravel. He takes a long suck of my clit and I cry out. He
circles his tongue around me and I feel his right hand drop from my thigh and
move under me. I feel his fingers pushing inside me and moan at the sensation.
His other hand moves up to my breast and I push against him, feeling his palm
warm against my hard nipple.

"Holt, yes, right there," I breathe as he circles
his fingers inside me, against my g-spot. He knows just how to work me, knows
exactly what I need. I feel pleasure building up inside me, but just as I'm
about to come, I tear myself away from him. I look down at him to see a hurt
expression on his face, but I grin and move my knees quickly back down and
drive myself down onto his cock.

"Ahhh," he groans, as I press down until he's all
the way inside me. I move my hips from side to side, cherishing the feeling of
this fullness. I rise up again, almost letting his tip slide out, before I sink
back down. My mouth drops open at the sensation, and I let my hands fall back
against the top of his thighs to support myself. I gasp as his dick hits me
even harder with the arch of my back. I feel his fingers find their way back to
my clit, rubbing me hard, and pleasure builds back up inside me.

I begin to unspool around him. I open my eyes to look down
at him and his eyes bore into mine. I've never felt so exposed. The morning sun
streams in through the window, illuminating everything. I feel beautiful and
desired as he grits his teeth, wanting to keep the pleasure alive for both of
us as long as possible. My body begins to tremble and his hips thrust
underneath me. We let go together, crying out as one.

I press down twice more on top of him, then collapse onto my
elbows on either side of his torso and lay my head on his sweaty chest. I feel
his hand move into my hair, softly stroking my scalp. I'd love to stay like
this forever, but I know his wound is still healing, so I roll off him,
nestling into his armpit, and fling one leg over his hip.

"I want to take you on a trip," he whispers. I
grin.

"Where'd that come from?"

"Well, I'm on probation for a while from the Hounds,
and I don't expect you to fit in with them right away anyway. But mostly, I
want to see new places with you. See them for the first time together."

"I'd love that. When you're healthy enough." I
stare up at the ceiling, imagining me on the back of his Harley, the open road
in front of us. It feels right. "One more thing. Something I've been
wondering. How'd you find me that night? When Fish took me?"

"I never really left. I was watching you the whole
time."

"But I checked around. I made sure no one was following
me."

"Honey, no offense, but you're not exactly Jason
Bourne."

I laugh. "That's exactly what I was telling
myself." His face changes.

"Though you are a good shot. I hope you know you made
the right decision."

"I know," I say quietly. "Maybe I'm supposed
to feel conflicted about it, taking someone's life. But the truth is, I don't.
I knew in that moment that it was me, or me
and
you, or him. Is that
cold?"

"No. Just honest. I'm glad you did what you did.
Neither of us would be here if you didn't." He bends over and kisses my
forehead. "To tell you the truth, I'd do the whole thing over again, take
a bullet, lie to you, to the club, if it meant I'd get to end up in this spot.
It was worth it. I'll never let you go."

Epilogue

Holt

I watch Jo across the club's yard as she talks with Elise
and Cara. I know she wants Elise to feel comfortable with her new life, but I'm
not sure how into it Elise will ever be.

"I've said it before and I'll say it again: she looks
good in that cut," Wilkes murmurs, sidling up to me.