Page 42 of These Reckless Hearts

Cole starts forward, but Stone holds out his hand, stopping him. Instead, he takes a step closer to Lionel. “How much did he pay you to come here, huh? How much did he give you to threaten us? You should know that my father isn’t the only Jacobs who can fight dirty. You hurt my family again and you’ll find out he’s the least of your worries, Chief.”

Lionel’s lips thin. He’s buzzing with his own anger now. I watch the exchange, a pinch in my chest. I don’t want Stone to have to do that, but on the other hand...I might also be super turned on at seeing him stick up for us—for me.

Lionel spins on his heel and walks toward his cruiser. He thought he could intimidate us into leaving. He believed the power of the guy behind him would scare us, but I think we—well, Stone—have shown him we won’t just roll over and let him do what he wants.

Chief Lionel leaves without looking back, turning at the end of the driveway toward Clary. In a way, I feel sorry for him. None of us want outsiders to get pulled into this mess, but we’re certainly not going to let people bully us either.

Stone turns, hands clenched to fists at his sides. Nostrils flaring, he focuses on all of us, and some of the unease lifts from him when his gray-blue eyes settle on me.

“I’m impressed,” Cole states.

Stone growls. “Fuck you.”

Undeterred, Cole keeps speaking. “I wasn’t sure you had it in you, but that’s exactly the type of person Dakota needs in her corner for life.” His discerning stare passes over all of us, lingering on Wyatt, Lucas, and Stone. He nods as if he’s just accepted something. “The hunk of junk?”

Stone’s still too busy trying to wrangle his emotions in, so I inform him, “We found the inscription.”

The gangster smiles—a true, genuine one that lifts the darkness from his face. “That’s great, Dakota. I’m happy for you.”

He pulls Ninja and the new guard to the side, leaving us alone. We walk into our house, and Wyatt sets the box on the coffee table. I wrap my arms around Stone’s stiff form from behind. “Thank you,” I tell him. His corded muscles pull tight until he realizes it’s me.

Turning, he grips my hips. “I told you I’m making a life with you, and I won’t let him take our home away from us.”

I peer into his eyes, and it’s as if he knows how important this house is to me without me ever having said a word. I don’t think it’s only me either. Wyatt and Lucas are looking around as if they could’ve lost something extraordinary. Our relationship began here. They wormed themselves into my heart surrounded by these walls. We worked toward a common goal, and somewhere along the way, I found where I was supposed to be.

“Lucas,” Stone whispers as he cups my chin. “Lock the door. I’m going to sit Dakota on the bar, in our house, and we can take turns eating her perfect pussy. I don’t think Cole wants to walk in on that.”

Wyatt smirks like the devil himself. He and Stone undress me while Lucas locks the door, effectively making Cole wait this out as their tongues tease me into submission more than once. More than afewtimes, actually.

Then, when I can’t even stand on my own two legs, Lucas lifts me from the island, wrapping me up like I’m the historical relic, and we hide the evening away in Stone’s room, sharing our love with each other in our house, under our roof. Together.

* * *

It turns out,we do our best treasure planning naked. At some point, Stone leaves to get the maps from his hiking pack. He brings them to his room and spreads them out on the floor while we gather around.

It’s obvious we have to go up the valley next and follow the trail that slithers between upside-down V’s that most definitely symbolize mountains. The squares and X’s are the only characters we have yet to figure out. Maybe they’re entrances to mines? Maybe they’re other landmarks but we won’t know that until we look for ourselves?

Knowing we’re on the right track makes me itch to leave and figure it all out.

“We still don’t know the scale.” With those few words, Stone brings me back to reality. Kneeling in his boxer-briefs, he’s damn near delectable. Part of me wants to crawl over him again, forget about the treasure, and focus on something Icanfind right now: Another orgasm at his hands. That journey is quicker and much more enjoyable.

Lucas elbows me. “Down, Wild Girl. We need to recover from earlier.”

“Speak for yourself,” Wyatt gibes.

The look he gives me has me squeezing my legs together, but… “Lucas is right. This is important.” I stare back at the map because that’s the only safe focus right now. “One thing we haven’t talked about is how Lance is going to retaliate since we didn’t leave the house.”

Stone finally glances up. “With an ex-military team at his disposal, it won’t be pretty.”

“You should make sure your mom is safe.” I still don’t particularly care for the woman, but she is the mother of one of the men I love.

“I have her in a safe house being watched 24/7.”

“And you have the money for that?” I bite my lip, not positive he’ll be honest with me. We got investors for the treasure, but that doesn’t mean we have money for his mom’s surveillance. That isn’t treasure related at all.

Often, I’ve lamented growing up with no money. I was always constantly reminded that I was the poor girl, and that feeling is coming back to me with a vengeance now—like a noose around my throat, tightening and tightening.

I used to think Stone was invincible because he had money at his disposal, but I don’t know if that’s the case anymore.

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