Page 94 of Ruthless Reign

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BEAR

“Roman, please,” Julia whined, practically stamping her foot like a toddler. “This is madness.”

I grinned and put the helmet on her head, wrapping the buckle under her chin before connecting the two pieces and tightening it.

“You’re gonna enjoy it,” I said. “Motorcycles are fun.”

“Motorcycles are death machines,” she said, glancing over my bike with a mix of fear and hesitant excitement in her gaze. “It’s a good way to end up as roadkill.”

“That’s not true,” I said with a laugh. “I’ve been riding one for over a decade, and I’m still walking upright.”

She glared at me.

“Besides,” I said, “you stabbed Gabriella Caputi in the neck at your own wedding. You’re a badass. What do you have to be scared of?”

This did nothing to soften her resolve.

“Okay, okay,” she said. “Just…go slow, all right?”

“Oh,mia cara,”I said in that teasing tone that let her know exactly how…slow…I could go. “I promise to take extra special care of you.”

Blushing, she smiled and shoved my shoulder. “Stop it. Don’t get me all hot and bothered before getting on that monstrosity.”

I licked my lips and smiled harder, remembering Ru joking about what riding on the back of Saint’s bike did to her lady parts. “Who knows, little wife. You might like it.”

I put my helmet on and straddled my bike, turning the key in the ignition before kicking it to life. It roared between my legs, thunderous and overwhelming, and fucking hell, how I’d missed it. Sure, I’d ridden by myself a bunch of times since marrying Julia, but having her behind me would take it to a whole new level.

There was something to be said for a biker when he had his old lady on the back of his ride. It spoke to the intimacy between them, saying so much without saying anything at all. I had ached to have her legs on either side of mine, her arms wrapped around my torso, her squeal in my ear as I went faster than she’d ever been before.

“C’mon,” I shouted over the bike’s engine, patting the seat behind me.

She bit her bottom lip in an adorable pout that made me want to take it between my own teeth. Her worried eyes met mine again through the window of the visor. I grabbed the part of the helmet covering her mouth and yanked it close, touching my forehead to hers.

“I would die before I let anything happen to you,mia cara.Now get on the fucking bike.”

She took a deep breath and swung a leg over the seat, settling in before touching my hips to hold on. I laughed at her naivety and grabbed her hands to wrap them firmly around my stomach. Then, I hiked up the kickstand and took off.

Julia held on for dear life at first, her small body practically trembling behind me. But this was a bandage we had to ripoff. She couldn’t very well be married to the president of a motorcycle club and not get on a motorcycle.

Besides, she was my new favorite backpack. When I let it loose on the highway, she held on tighter and damned if that didn’t make me feel powerful.

After I’d lost my mom, I started to question the existence of God or a divine being altogether. How could such a thing exist and take away a mother from four young kids in such a heinous act? When Leo suggested I marry Julia, I again wondered how a supreme, all-knowing being could put me in a ridiculous situation. For a long time, I waffled back and forth, convinced nothing would ever confirm it one way or the other.

But in that moment, with my wife on the back of my bike and the heavens painting a rosy-tangerine blush across the sunset sky, I knew true heaven. Nothing would ever come close to the calm and serenity of that perfect existence.

Julia eventually loosened up, and I even caught her giggling when I took a hill a little too fast and that flipping feeling bloomed in my gut. After about half an hour, I pulled over on a spot high up in the mountains overlooking Madison County below it. The sun had just dipped under the horizon, and the full moon had risen in all its glory and splendor. It was a beautiful start to an excellent night.

I turned the bike off and kicked the stand out so I could lean it to the side. Julia climbed off behind me, and I swung my leg to stand. When I removed my helmet, she was already smiling with that entrancing mischief emanating from her dark brown eyes.

I didn’t even have to ask. “Look at you.”

“All right, Montgomery,” she said, clasping her hands behind her back, pretending to be coy. “You win. It was a lot of fun.”

“See?” I leaned back against the bike and grabbed her hips, pulling her toward me and nestling her in between my legs. “It’s almost like I know what I’m talking about.”

“I liked when you hit the higher gear and—” She cut herself off, her cheeks turning a gorgeous shade of pink.

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