One More Ride (Night Riders Motorcycle Club Book 3) (10 page)

“Come on, Grace,” Paul said. “It’s over now.”

Lauren watched her tense body finally relax in his arms as Callie helped them off to make their getaway.

“Nice play,” Blake said as he gathered Lauren in her arms and kissed her cheeks.

“How did you know?” he asked.

“I didn’t. I took a chance. Guess it worked, huh?” He kissed her quickly, and as his mouth melted around hers, Lauren wanted nothing more than to be alone with him a place where they didn’t have to worry about the other shoe dropping. “So do you want me to take you home now?”

Turning her eyes towards the crew as they prepared to take off, Lauren felt the wind in her hair, and het soul buzzed at the promise of the unknown. It was who he was, who he always would be.

And she was not about to take that away from him.

“How about I just go with you?” she asked.

Blake started back and slowly shook his head.“We’ve covered that,” he said. “I’ll go wherever you want—”

“I know,” Lauren whispered as she stretched to the tips of her toes and lightly kissed his lips. “And I want to go with you.”

CHAPTER TWELVE

“It was really great to see you.”

“Honey, the feeling was more than mutual.”

Lauren hummed happily at the sound of her mother’s voice pouring through the phone. From the other room, she heard bottles cracking and glass clinking on glass.

“Sounds like a party out there,” Quin chimed in. “So you waited for me to hop out on a plane before breaking out the good stuff, huh?”

“Mom, it’s not like that,” Lauren said. “Just a little celebration.”

“Oh? And what’s the big occasion.”

“I’m not quite sure yet,” Lauren said as she peeked around the doorframe of the converted warehouse, the Night Riders’ new home base. Callie said a clubhouse was top priority as soon as the bikes crossed over the California border. Best to get the lay of the land, scope out the territory. Not that they would step on any toes. Not in the beginning at least. And as luck would have it, they chanced upon a corner of sidewalk with its share of pushers and pimps. But no clubs or crews, and the Night Riders offered protection in exchange for favors that lead to a wary but mutually beneficial arrangement where no one was chasing them anymore.

And for so many reasons, Lauren prayed that the peace would hold out forever.

“Well, have your fun I suppose,” Quinn teased. “Guess I’ll just have to make do with my feet up and a chilled bottle of chardonnay.”

The thought of her mother alone in the wake of her divorce tugged at Lauren’s heart. “I’m sorry again, mom,” she said.

“What do you have to be sorry for?” Quinn asked.

“I just… I mean if I hadn’t gone off… maybe things wouldn’t have gone south so fast for you and Dad.”

“Lauren, it was bound to happen sooner or later. It had nothing to do with you.” Quinn said as much when she’d visited. When Lauren was able to see the light in her eyes and failed to detect any hint of a lie, Lauren took her mother’s words to be fact.

“And you’re really okay with it?” Lauren asked. “Because… because you know if you want to come out here for keeps, I can talk to Blake—”

“Almost ready, babe?”

Lauren shot up straighter at the sound of another voice from the other end of the line. Answering in a muffled tone, Quinn said something that sounded like
two shakes, tiger
, and when she tried to resume their conversation as if a huge bombshell had not been dropped, Lauren cut her mother off at the pass.

“Alone with your wine?” Lauren challenged. “Who’s there with you?”

Sighing happily, Quinn held her daughter in suspense for several seconds before ripping the curtain away.

“Derek,” she murmured. “I think I might have mentioned him.”

“Yeah. You said he was your yoga instructor.”

“He is,” Quinn continued. “And take it from me. All those… positions are coming in quite handy.”

Lauren’s jaw dropped in amazement as she quickly connected the dots in her mind. “Mother! You said he was like my age.”

“He’s twenty-six, Lauren. Worlds away from twenty-two.”

She wasn’t sure about that, and the thought of her mother writhing around in bed with some young man striking the downward facing dog between her legs initially made Lauren shudder. A woman of Quinn’s age shouldn’t act like that. At least not with a man of Derek’s age. She started to challenge the revealed relationship when she caught Blake out of the corner of her eye. Gripping the neck of a bottle of beer, he returned her gaze with a sharp wink and a bright smile. Returning his grin, Lauren felt her body buzz at the sight of him.

Your man, your choice.

Turning her attention back to the call, Lauren tapped her fingers to a nearby table and nodded her head.

“Are you happy, Mom?” Lauren asked.

“Ecstatic is more like it,” Quinn said. “Sort of like you.”

As they agreed in silence, Callie poked her head in the room and beckoned Lauren forward with a wave of her hand.

“Hurry up!” she insisted. “Party won’t keep all night.”

“One sec.”

Callie’s heels clicked against the concrete as she sashayed back to the club in a leopard print skirt and gold halter top, making no effort to conceal her curves as she started to gather the group together for the purpose of the party.

“Stay ecstatic, Mom,” Lauren said. “I know for a fact that it’s the very best place to be.”

“Wait three months,” Quinn teased. “You’ll be happier still.”

Lauren threw her head back with a laugh and ran her fingers through her loose air.

“I’ll see you then.” Lauren promised. “And feel free to bring Derek along for the ride.”

“I will,” Quinn says. “And who knows? Maybe he and your boy will hit it off.”

As Lauren ended the call, she wasn’t completely on board with that. Any man that stretched and contorted in tight pants for a living would most definitely not be his cup of tea. But Lauren knew with utter certainty that he would put up a brave front if it made her happy.

Riding the wave of this blissful thought, she stepped into the thick of the party just getting underway. Lauren was barely at his side when Blake wrapped her in his arms and held her close.

“All good with your mom?”

“A bit of a surprise,” Lauren confessed. “But yes. She’s happy.”

“She’s not the only one.”

He lightly kissed the top of her head as his hands ran down her back. Callie quickly clapped hands and brought the room to a hush in less than an instant. “Okay, boys and girls. A lot has changed this past year. And more than just the scenery. New digs. New threads.”

She proudly modeled her sexy ensemble and basked in the good-natured catcalls emanating from the Night Riders.

“Pipe down,” she said as she nodded her head in proud agreement. “But this night isn’t all about me. And I think that Paul here has something to stay.”

Callie waved him to the center of the room, and he stepped forward with Grace’s hand in his. With her golden brown hair tied over her head in a soft bun and some color in her cheeks, a little more meat on her bones, Grace looked healthy. When she held Paul’s hand tighter and gazed into his eyes, she looked overjoyed, all the bad memories fading into her past to never torment her again.

“Well… uh… yeah,” Paul started. Callie patted his back and handed him a beer. He took a quick swig and seemed fortified enough to continue.

“Like Callie said. We’ve come a long away. But it looks like we all landed on our feet. Right smack where were supposed to be.”

He shared a warm look with Blake before gazing back and Grace and bringing his hand to her smiling face.

“Exactly the place,” he said.

As he leaned closer and pressed his lips to her ear, Lauren strained forward and heard him a mutter a single word in the form of a knowing question.

“Happy?” he asked.

Grace nodded slowly, and as her mouth expanded into a soft, relaxed grin, Paul reached into his pocket. Revealing a small box of beige velvet he sank to one knee and flipped open the lid. Grace wasn’t the only one in the room to gasp at the sight of the diamond set in a band of white gold, and Grace trembled as she slapped her hand to her mouth.

“So what do you say?” he asked. “You want make an honest man out of an old timer?”

“Stop selling yourself short,” Callie hissed through her teeth as she nudged his back with her elbow.

Paul either didn’t feel her touch or didn’t care. His eyes were only for Grace as he pulled the ring from the box and offered it with a smile. “It’d make me happy,” he said. “As happy as I want to make you.”

A pin could have dropped and sounded like a cracking mirror crushing into a million jagged shards. But when Grace nodded and let him slip the ring on her finger, Lauren knew that there was no risk of bad luck. Not anymore. Paul was on his feet in two seconds flat, and as he kissed Grace quickly, and the room burst into applause. Some of the boys surrounded the pair, slapping Paul on the back as they kissed Grace’s flushed cheeks. Lauren surveyed the scene happily as Trent cranked the music to full volume and Callie sauntered to her side.

“Happy news, ain’t it?” Callie asked.

“Well worth a party,” Lauren answered.

Narrowing her gaze, Callie looked up at Blake and tilted her head to the side. “You better get on the stick, boy,” she said. “Time’s a wasting.”

As she stepped away from him, Blake eased Lauren into a dark corner and wrapped his arms around her waist. “Callie has a point,” he said. “I mean… maybe we should…”

“Not now,” Lauren teased. “If… when we do it, I want to look like a princess.”

“You always look that way to me.”

Taking her into his arms, his kiss blazed against her lips, and Lauren started to fall into his arms when he held her back and studied her face carefully.

“What?” she asked.

“No regrets? For any of it?”

Not for leaving home. Not for falling into his hot hands and learning every curvature of his taut frame. And not for pulling up stakes for one more ride and following him to this point in time.

“Well…”

“What?” Blake asked as he shot up straighter and grabbed her arms.

“I sort of would like to see the baby right here and now,” she said as she brought his hands to her rounded belly. Blake stroked her ever-expanding middle and buried his face in her hair.

“Only three more months,” he crooned. “Flash in the bucket compared to always.”

Leaning away from him, Lauren rested her hands on his arms and flashed him a smile.

“I guess I can wait,” she said. “Because there’s always going to be a tomorrow night.”

As he kissed her deeply, Lauren basked in Blake’s embrace. The party swirled around them, and tomorrow couldn’t get here soon enough.

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