Free Road to Passion by Piper Davenport Page B

familiar with
the Bekhterevs. Want me to run it by him?”
    Ace and Knight were two of six
brothers. Their older brothers, Matt and Jaxon, were FBI agents, and worked
with Payton’s brother, Brock. So far, they’d kept the Dogs at a distance, but
had intervened when Cassidy had been held hostage, and when Dani had been
kidnapped, so they were a resource, if a last resort.
    “You think we need to?” Mack
asked.
    “I don’t want whatever shit the
Kozlovs are into to drag the club down, do you?”
    “You might have a point.”
    Booker shook his head. “Last
resort, yeah?”
    “Yeah, brother. That’d be good.”
    “Okay, I promised Dani no work,
so let’s get back to the party.”
    Mack nodded and stood, following
Booker out of the office.
    * * *
    I was standing
with Kim watching Cassidy annihilate Ace at pool when strong arms wrapped
around my waist from behind. “Hey,” Mack whispered, and kissed the back of my
neck.
    “Hi.” I smiled up at him.
“Everything okay?”
    Mack nodded. “I’m gonna get a
beer. Need anything?”
    “Nope, I’m good.”
    He squeezed my hip and then left
me briefly. As I stood with Dani, watching the pool game that had now become
some form of blood sport between Ace and Cassidy, I heard a squeal of laughter
and followed the sound to find Mack with a little blonde girl in his arms. My
heart melted at the sight of her tiny hands cupping his cheeks while he smiled
at her.
    Mack nodded and said something I
couldn’t hear, then the little girl hugged his neck before he lowered her to
the ground and took her hand. They walked over to me and Mack smiled. “Darien,
this is Lily. She’s Hawk and Payton’s daughter.”
    I knelt to her level with a grin.
“Hi Lily.”
    “Hi.” She reached out and took a
strand of my hair. “Your hair is so pretty.”
    “Thank you, honey, so is yours.”
    “Lily!”
    We turned to see a rather
handsome young man coming rushing towards us. “You didn’t tell me where you
were going,” he accused.
    Lily threw her hands in the air.
“I wanted to say hi to Uncle Mack. You were playing Smash Bros.”
    “This is Maverick,” Mack
provided. “He’s Ace and Cassidy’s.”
    Maverick took Lily’s hand and
tugged her toward him.
    “Bud,” Ace said, closing the
distance between them and laying his hand on his head. “What’d we talk about?”
    Maverick frowned. “I’m supposed
to give Lily her space,” he grumbled.
    “It’s okay, Uncle Ace,” Lily said.
“I like Maverick.”
    “See, Dad?” Maverick said with a
triumphant grin. “She likes me in her space.”
    I bit my lip in an effort not to
laugh and leaned against Mack who slid his arm around me. I looked at Cassidy
who was shaking her head and pressing her lips together.
    “How about,” Cassidy began, “we
find something to eat?”
    “Daddy!” Lily squealed, and made
a run for Hawk as he walked back into the room. He and Payton had walked out
back to check on the pig just a few minutes before.
    “Hey, baby girl,” he said, and
scooped her up. “You havin’ fun?”
    “I’m with Maverick,” she
answered, and Hawk chuckled.
    “You’re havin’ fun, then.”
    “We were just heading out to
eat,” Cassidy said.
    Hawk nodded. “Payton’s already
gettin’ a plate for Lily.”
    The kids followed their parents
outside and I faced Mack. “You start them early here, huh?”
    Mack laughed. “Maverick’s gonna
be devastated when Lily figures out there are other boys in the world besides him.”
    “You might be surprised,” I
countered. “They might end up together forever. Girls know when they meet their
match.”
    He grinned. “Yeah?”
    “Definitely.”
    Mack kissed me gently and then we
headed outside to eat.
     

 

     
    A MONTH AFTER he and Darien had become
“official,” Mack followed Knight into the restaurant Kim and Pauley worked at
and smiled as he caught her eye. Kim didn’t know he was coming and she sure as
hell didn’t know he was bringing Knight. But, as