The flight back was uneventful, and then we had a thirty-minute cab drive before someone picked us up in one of Aaron’s helicopters and took us back to Chattanooga.
I wanted nothing more than to go home with Brain, alone, but we agreed to stay in a guest room at Duke’s house that night, before he and Gen drove us home the next day.
I’d heard a lot about Duke’s wife, and I knew she and Brain were close, but after the little bit I’d been around her at Abbott’s, I hadn’t expected to like her as much as I did.
She lived in a huge house with a killer view, but she didn’t act like your typical rich bitch in ridiculous heels, though she looked the part when she first arrived home, shortly after us. However, she immediately changed into casual jeans and a plain t-shirt, her feet bare as she gave me the option of, “wine, beer, margaritas, or most anything else.”
“She likes Long Island Tea,” Brain told her, before I could decline.
I glared at him and said, “Only when I’m trying to get drunk.” I turned to Gen. “If you’re going to open the wine anyway, I’d like a glass with you, please.”
The second we sat in her living room, the guys with beer bottles, Gen and I with wine glasses, she told Brain, “Please tell me this means you’re coming back to the MC?”
“Don’t pressure him, Beautiful. He needs to make up his own mind, in his own time. Same as always,” Duke said, his voice sad, though he smiled at his wife as he said it.
“He’s my friend, too. I’ll pressure him if I want to.” I smiled at her tone of voice, and grinned at Duke as he rolled his eyes at Brain as if to say, “Sorry, dude, I tried.”
I’d settled up with Aaron when we arrived back in the ‘copter, thankful he accepted cash. I owed him for the final plane ride, cleanup on the original plane, and for the copter ride at the end. I’d tried to give Duke, Gonzo, and Bash fifteen thousand each, for their time and help, since that’s about what I’d have had to pay for three of Aaron’s men for that length of time. However, they’d all refused the money, saying Brain was their brother and it was the least they could do.
So now, my heart soared when Brain said, “Harmony and I have a lot to discuss in the coming weeks, to decide where we’ll live, what we’ll do. Coming back to the Chattanooga RTMC wasn’t an option before, now it is, but I can’t make any promises.”
Gen looked at me, and I told her, “The MC here is his family, and sometimes families fight, but they make up. My vote will be for him to rejoin his family, if we can make it work.”
She lifted her wine glass towards me before taking a sip and saying, “Thank goodness. I’ve really missed him, and I know the guys have.”
I learned Gen was a Realtor, and she’d known Duke as a teenager, though he’d never given her the time of day, since he was friends with her big brother and thus she was off limits. Hearing the story of how they’d gotten together helped explain how this well dressed, well spoken, beautiful woman ended up with the rough-and-tough barrel-chested biker.
Brain and I fit together so well because we’re so much alike, but it seemed in the case of Duke and Gen, it was the whole opposites attract thing.
Chapter Forty-Six
Harmony
In the three weeks since we’d arrived home, my leg had healed enough for me to walk a few miles a day, though I wasn’t doing any legwork at the gym, and hadn’t tried to run, yet.
And because I couldn’t strain it when bent, Brain had to be on top all the time when we fucked, which had taken a lot of getting used to. Before, he’d often let me on top first, until I was near orgasm, before flipping us around to missionary.
I’d waited until we were home, alone, to tell him I loved him again. I hadn’t had the nerve on the yacht, but the first time Brain made love to me after we were home, it just kind of came out, and the look in his eyes made me melt as I saw how much my words meant to the man, and how much the sentiment meant to the wolf.
Now, we were like kids who couldn’t stop saying it.
After being alone and on my own for so long, I was thankful Brain had cared enough to find me and then refuse to let go.
Now, I needed to pay him back by reuniting him with his MC family.
So, as we sat outside on the porch that night and listened to the katydids and tree frogs, I told him, “The Harmony identity officially has four hundred and twenty-seven dollars in the bank, with rent of more than three times that due in a week, and a car payment and credit card payment due soon after. It’s time for me to get a job and start working on ways to launder my cash, so I can pay bills with it.”