Page 14 of Smoke

Then he pulled back, and I looked up. "Problem?"

"Another minute and this gets embarrassing."

I laughed, and he kissed me before easing me onto my back.

Smoke pushed inside with one slow stroke. When he held back again, I touched his face. "Don't treat me like I'll break."

Something dark moved through his expression, and the next thrust drove him deeper. I gasped and dug my fingers into his shoulders as he settled into a harder pace, the weight of his body over mine and the drag of him inside me wiping out everything else.

I met every thrust. Sex had always been the easy part of us, one of the few places where neither of us struggled to say what we wanted, and the familiarity only made the newness sharper.

Smoke lifted one of my thighs higher. The angle changed enough to pull a moan from me.

"That?"

"Yes. Don't stop."

He didn't. The pressure built low and hard as he drove into me, and when I reached between us, Smoke replaced my hand with his own, rubbing my clit in time with his thrusts.

"Look at me," he said.

I opened my eyes.

For years I'd remembered Smoke as a man who always seemed to have part of himself somewhere else, listening for a phone, thinking about the club or watching the next problem coming. There was nothing divided about him now.

I came with my eyes open, the orgasm rolling through me hard enough to pull his name from my mouth. Smoke followed moments later, forehead dropping against mine as his body tightened.

Afterward he pulled me against his chest and smoothed one hand along my back. The quiet felt easy even though the future wasn't solved.

"I meant what I said about another chance," he murmured.

"I know."

"You don't have to decide more tonight."

I lifted my head. "I think I already decided. My dad might have things to say though."

His laugh moved beneath my cheek as his hand traced lazily down my back. "I was never his idea of a son-in-law, was I?"

"But you married me anyway."

"Thinking about doing it again."

I went still, and Smoke caught it immediately. "I'm not asking, and I'm not assuming shit."

I believed him. I smiled and kissed him once before settling back against him, and for the first time since returning to Salvation the future didn't feel like something I needed to avoid thinking about.

The following afternoon, I went to the hospital while Smoke dealt with something at the clubhouse connected to the men from the grocery store. We managed the arrangement without turning it into a fight. Gage followed me there, confirmed Shade was already on the floor and left once I was inside.

Dad was tired but irritated, his preferred stage of recovery. I spent an hour with him, argued about whether he was allowed to answer work calls and finally left after promising I would return in the morning.

Smoke had texted while I was upstairs. Call when you leave. I dialled as I walked toward the parking lot. He answered quickly, and the conversation drifted into an argument about food after I pointed out that buying ingredients didn't automatically mean he had bought dinner. His laugh followed me across the lot, and I was still smiling when I pulled onto the road.

That was probably why the dark sedan behind me took longer to register than it should have.

I checked the mirror after the next turn and again after another. The car stayed far enough back to look casual, but three turns made coincidence unlikely. Instead of continuing toward Smoke's house, I headed back toward Main Street where there would be more traffic and a better chance of someone seeing if the sedan followed.

It did, so I called Smoke and got no answer, then switched to Preacher when the second attempt went to voicemail. Before the call connected, a truck pulled out ahead of me and rolled across both lanes.