“Well,” she says after a long moment of silence. “As far as I’m concerned, this changes everything. I might even like you. A little bit.”

She smiles and reaches over to pat me awkwardly on the shoulder.

“Welcome to the family. The morning sickness will pass soon, I promise.”

I pull my knees up and rest my head on them as she goes out the door. After a couple of minutes, I hear a timid knock on the door.

“Lila,” Sam asks. “Are you okay? Can I come in?” He opens the door without waiting for me to answer. He steps inside and kneels down beside me with a worried look on his face. “Sick again?”

I nod.

“Let me help you up and I’ll take you home.”

He lifts me to my feet and slides an arm around my waist.

“Trish told you I was sick?” I ask.

“Yeah, she was worried about you. Considering everything, I think things went pretty well with them, don’t you think?”

He smiles down at me just in time to keep me from slapping him.

“I’m kidding. Don’t worry, they’ll come around.”

I look up at Sam’s handsome face and it helps me to remember why I’m doing this. His family and the MC mean everything to him. I want to be a part of his life too, so if I have to crawl out of this hole I’ve dug on shards of broken glass, I’ll do it.

Sam is worth it and I’m tough.

We’ll get through this together.

Chapter Thirty-One

Sam

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I can’t wait to see Lila. It’s been a week and I’m missing her like crazy. We can’t take any chances with the ATF finding out about us, so we’re sneaking around on the weekends to be together.

I usually arrive at her house in Atlanta after dark and leave before daylight. It sucks, but it’s better than nothing. Knowing that we’ll be together soon keeps us going.

When I’m five minutes away, I call her on my cell phone to tell her I’m almost there. By the time I pull up in front of her house, she’s already out the door and running toward me. I barely have time to take my helmet off before she’s wrapping her arms around my waist. I grab her up in a big bear hug.

“Lila,” I say into her hair. “I’ve missed you so much.” I plant a long, slow kiss on her lips and hug her again. “Being away from you is torture.”

“Tell me about it,” she says. “All night long I reach over for you and you’re not there. I have some good news though. Guess what?”

Lila is bubbling with energy and absolutely glowing.

“What?”

“The morning sickness is finally gone and I feel terrific.”