Chapter 7

Seven

K aila

We spent the rest of the day learning each other's bodies and I agreed to stay the night. How could I refuse when he offered to cook dinner? When we finally peeled ourselves out of bed the next morning, I was giddy with happiness. I'd never felt so alive. Ever.

Yet I couldn't help but worry about my brother and especially my father. I didn't want to let them down, but I know I'm making the right decision with Diesel. He was a good man, kind and tender to those around him.

Fate had really brought my life around. Not only did I have my degrees and my new bookstore, my passion in life, but I now had Diesel back in my life again, and it felt full to bursting.

Not wanting to do the walk of shame, I pushed Diesel to wake before any of the other artists arrived, since he promised to give me a ride back home.

Instead of going to my apartment, I opted for my bookstore. I had a huge amount of work ahead of me if I wanted to have my grand opening come Monday.

Diesel came back from retrieving my clothes, minus my shredded thong, and I took a quick shower and then shimmied into my top and skirt.

While I fixed my hair in the bathroom, Diesel leaned his broad shoulder against the frame. His eyes tracked every movement, and I started to feel the heat of arousal color my cheeks.

While I wanted this, I also didn't come home to make life difficult for anyone. Crap. Why did life have to be so damn difficult? Couldn't it just be simple? He made me happy. End of story. But I knew Caleb wouldn't see it that way.

He pushed off the frame and crossed the room. He stroked the rough pad of his thumb down my cheek. "I see that blush, baby, and you're more beautiful than the rising sun, but what has put that sadness in your eyes?"

I raised a brow at my lover and fell into his open arms. Today he wore a tight-fitting black T-shirt paired with black jeans that did things for a man's assets.

"Caleb. My father." I felt like an ass bringing them up after the night we had, but someone had to. "Where do we go from here, Diesel?"

He pulled me back and looked into my eyes. "In case I wasn't clear yesterday, after what we shared, you're mine, baby. Just as much as I am yours." His arms tightened around me, and I loved the smell of his cologne. It fit a dominant alpha like him perfectly. It held powerful undercurrents of strength but didn't overpower and suffocate. It was all Diesel.

"You keep staring at me like that and I won't let you leave my apartment anytime soon."

A smile quirked my lip into a smirk. I tapped a pec and laughed when it bounced. "As good as that sounds, I have a bookstore to finish."

He nodded. "Let's get you home then. When you're ready, give me a call and I'll come to pick you up. We can have Italian tonight. I'm cooking. Then maybe we can talk."

"Wow, two nights in a row." I took the helmet he extended to me and loved how my body molds around his as I climbed up on his Harley. I linked my fingers together and rested my chin on his shoulder. Something I was fast learning about my new lover—he liked cooking and taking care of me.

Ten minutes later, he pulled the Harley to a stop outside my bookstore. The sun rose an hour ago and the air had a dewiness to it that felt amazing against my skin. The rumble of the motor between my legs left me vibrating in ways that tempted me to ask Diesel in for coffee and other surprises. As soon as he killed the motor, I opened my mouth but slammed it shut just as quickly.

My brother crossed the parking lot, his face an angry shade of furious red.

"Is this what I think it is? Did you screw my sister when I told you to stay away from her?"

Diesel helped me down and placed a hand on my thigh, pushing me behind him with an instinct to protect, though it was not like my brother would hurt me. From the looks of it, his rage all aimed at him, not me.

I stepped out from behind Diesel. "Back off, Caleb. This has nothing to do with you." He looked like he wanted to bury his fist in the other man's gut but if I had the power to stop this before it got started, I damn well would.

My brother didn't get the message, however. If anything, his face became redder.

"What? Is your head too thick to understand? I told you five years ago to stay away from her. I was right." He jabbed a finger into Diesel's chest, and I saw the ire rising. His eyes narrowed.

"Fuck off, Caleb. That's what I should have told you five years ago. Mind your own fucking business. Your sister can make up her mind for herself."

It was happening all over again. Why did I have to be so stupid? Start something that would cause a problem not even a month out from arriving home.

"Really?" my brother spat out, and this pained expression morphed his face. "Did you tell her where you've been for the last five years? Or, were you waiting till you got her pregnant before you broke her heart, man? Come on. You're better than that. At least I thought you were."

Diesel raised his chin, his face dark. Solemn. "It's true. I did time. But I don't owe you the explanation." He turned to me. "I'm sorry."

It dawned on me what he said this morning. "Is this what you wanted to talk about tonight? After dinner?"

Diesel gave a single nod. "I had hoped. I paid my dues, Kaila, and now I'm home to stay. Please believe me when I say I will explain it all to you. Honest. I wasn't planning on keeping anything from you."

It was my turn to nod. I believed him, and I couldn't be mad for him not blurting out the truth to me the second he saw me walk into his shop. He didn't do anything to me that I didn't want.

He turned back to my brother. "I no longer take orders from any man. Especially not you. I was good enough to be buddies with for years, but the second I showed an ounce of emotion for your sister I was what? Trash?"

"Hell no. It's not that, man. Damn it." Caleb scrubbed both hands down his face and paced a few steps away. He turned back. "But you didn't help your case when you went away. The first time it was because you were too damn old for her. Still are, but now..."

His words trailed off to thin air.

My eyes darted to Diesel, then back to my brother. "What exactly did you do to be sent to prison, Diesel?"

The shift in Diesel, between passive to outright ready to kick ass, was immediate. Diesel stood half a head taller than my brother. Both played football in their high school days and kept the bulky mass. If it came down to a fistfight, I didn't know who would come out on top. All I knew was, I refused to stand around and watch.

"Loverboy here spent five years in prison for armed robbery."

"You don't know the whole story. Stop spouting lies, Caleb. For once let me find a piece of happiness," he growled.

I saw the anger in my brother ebb as he considered his one-time best friend's plea.

"I get why you're mad. I do. Let me talk with her. But ultimately, it's her decision."

Caleb didn't say anything for a long minute. War battled on behind those eyes as blue as mine.

Enough already. This needed to end. Before long we would have an audience and like hell that would happen. "You're the one who told me to go to him in the first place. Now that I did, you want to get mad? No, Caleb. You need to leave. Come back when you're more levelheaded."

His gaze scanned over us, taking in how I held Diesel's hand.

"Fuck, what a mess." Caleb scrubbed a hand down his face and for the first time since I've been home, I saw the years weigh on him. Worry lines that life loved to give out like candy on Halloween etched the corners of his eyes.

"I didn't tell you to sleep with the ex-con, Kaila, damn."

I jerked back as if slapped. That stung. Not only for me but for Diesel.

My pulse quickened, and my face burned hot under the Georgia morning sun. I crossed my arms and narrowed my eyes. "Diesel is right. It's none of your business. And I didn't ask for your permission. Why? Because I don't need it. You might have stuck up for me when I was in junior high and high school, but I don't need you to do that now, Caleb. I love you for trying to protect me, but this is for Diesel and me to work out. Not you." Seeing the anger fade from my brother, I crossed to him and took his hand in mine.

"I need you to trust me."

"I don't want to see you get hurt, short stuff." He turned his gaze back to the man behind me. "I was wrong to get between you back then, but now, you could ruin her chance of success before she gets started. I don't think you want that any more than I do."

Fear jolted through me. I saw the minute realization dawned in Diesel's eyes.

With a lot more confidence than I felt, I jabbed a finger into Caleb's chest. "You need to stop talking. Go home. I'll call you later." I took Diesel's hand. "You and me, bookstore now." I pulled him to the door and slipped in the key. I didn't wait to see if my brother took my order seriously. He could stay in the parking lot for all I cared. I locked the door behind me.

I knew Diesel humored my demands by allowing me to pull him inside, and I wasn't about to waste the little time we had before my father got wind of everything and showed up outside the shop.

I motioned to the couch and hoped he followed.

When he only stood by the door, I sighed. "Please, Diesel. If you feel even an ounce of what I felt last night between us and then again this morning, please sit down and tell me about what happened."

Slowly, reluctantly he reached for my extended hand and took a seat beside me.

"The night I let you go was the worst night of my life, Kaila. But when you walked back into my life yesterday, I was blown away. I didn't even know you were back in town."

He paused, gathering his words and thoughts from the looks of it, so I stayed quiet. Patient.

"I had every intention of going to Chicago when all the dust settled between me and your brother. I wanted to give it six months, build something out on the West Coast and then seek you out and do whatever it took to win your heart again. Hell, I still can't believe you wanted me in the first place. Wrong-side-of-the-track Diesel."

I took his hand in mine and moved across the couch until no space separated us.

"And," I prompted.

"Then shit went down with my brother."

"What do you mean?"

"My brother invited me out to his shop. Get my feet under me again in a new location. So, I closed down shop here and headed out."

"I forgot he inked too."

"Yep."

"But?"

"It was somewhere around two in the morning. We had inked a high-profile client earlier that day and went out celebrating. A gorgeous dragon similar to mine. You saw it on the poster outside."

I nodded not saying anything, not wanting to interrupt him.

"We were pulled over and my brother was guilty of possession. Enough to earn him a few years."

I hissed and tightened my hold around his hand, offering whatever kind of comfort I could. I had a feeling I knew where this was heading.

"I didn't know he was abusing or I would have kicked his ass myself. He just had a baby girl and was expecting another in a few months. A boy. Turns out, the drugs were not his. My brother hadn't used in a couple of years since he got sober and married. But it didn't matter. They would have thrown the book at him since he had two priors. Since it was my car, I took the fall for him. He had a family, and I didn't. Another lesson learned the hard way—never lend your car out unless you really know the person. The drugs belonged to an artist friend we let set up shop with us, but he took off. So…"

He trailed off. I felt too stunned to say anything for a long moment. How could I express how utterly selfless his sacrifice was? There was no amount of words in the English language to express the swelling of emotions clogging my throat.

I threw my arms around his neck and slid a leg over his lap.

Straddling him, I cupped his face and waited for him to raise his gaze to mine.

"You're the best man I've ever met. My gut told me you were the man my soul needed way back before college, and now I know it to my core."

"There's no erasing my past, Kaila. Your brother is right as much as I hate to admit it. I could drag you down with me, and I would die if that happened."

"There's no turning back. Didn't you tell me I was yours?"

A dark shadow passed over his expression. The same one I saw yesterday when he whispered those claiming words to me.

"I did," he gruffly acknowledged.

"What about your father?"

"Once he knows your true story, he'll see I'm right. You are a tender-hearted mountain of a man, and I never stopped loving you deep down."

"I know for a fact I never stopped loving you."

He scooped me up and held me closer until our hearts practically beat as one. I hear a knock at my door, but his lips are on mine and the curtains are pulled so we're okay. For now. It's just the two of us. No one to tell us our love was wrong. He took our kiss deeper, buried his hand in my hair, and held me close.

I had a feeling our happily-ever-after was just getting started.