Beyond the Horizon (The Sons of Templar MC Book 4) (30 page)

I smiled shyly at him when I had climbed the small stairs, standing in front of him. His entire body was frozen, and he continued staring at me. I gazed in amazement at the water in his chocolate eyes.

“You take my breath away, flower,” he rasped finally.

I grasped his hands tightly, smiling. “Ditto,” I whispered back.

The man between us smiled warmly, clearing his throat. “Should we begin?” he asked the two of us.

Asher didn’t take his eyes off me. He didn’t look like he was going to say anything; it didn’t look like he could.

So for once, I spoke up. “Yes, I think we should begin,” I responded firmly.

Asher’s hands squeezed mine.

And in a few short minutes, there began the happiest moment of my life. The moment Asher’s lips claimed mine and we were man and wife.

Lucky let out a whoop from beside us, the man who married us jumping in fright.

“Okay, we’re hitched,” he exclaimed, slinging his arms around our shoulders. He glimpsed at me. “You look beautiful darlin’,” he told me, laying a gentle kiss on my cheek. He pulled back. “Now it’s time to party!”

I looked over at Bex, who was wiping her eyes and beaming at me.

“I love you”
I mouthed, not being able to move from Lucky’s firm embrace.

“I love you too,”
she mouthed back.

“No party,” Asher growled.

Lucky stepped back, hand on his heart as if Asher had just thrust a dagger through it.

“No party?” he repeated like a kid getting told he wasn’t allowed dessert. “You get married all cloak and daggers, swear me to secrecy under the penalty of death and now you say no party?”

Asher’s hard gaze didn’t waver. “No party,” he repeated firmly.

I knew why he was saying that. Because of me. Because he knew how I would do being the center of attention at a rowdy party at the clubhouse. I didn’t think it was possible, but I loved him even more in that moment. I knew that club celebrations were part of the lifestyle. They did everything together, as a family. They may have lived a hard life, a misunderstood life, but when it came to celebrating that life, they didn’t screw around. I opened my mouth to speak, but Lucky beat me to it.

“That might be hard considering I didn’t blanch at the death threat uttered to me because I’m as brave as a lion,” he gave me a cheeky grin, “and I love a good party. So there may or may not be a club full of very expectant people waiting back at the clubhouse to toast to Mr. and Mrs. Breslin.” His bravado trailed off toward the end as Mr. Breslin’s glare got more withering.

“For fuck’s—” he grit out.

I put my hand on his arm. “I think what my husband is trying to say, Lucky, is thank you,” I interrupted Asher, feeling a flutter at calling him, my husband.

Lucky grinned. “Awesome.” He gave me a once over. “I’ll take this one in the cage,” he jerked his head to Bex, who stiffened slightly, “and you take your bike.”

I smiled slightly at the fact the dress my mom picked out was suitable for the back of a Harley.

“See you there, kids, don’t take too long.” Lucky winked at us and clutched Bex’s hand, dragging her off while she hissed in his ear.

Asher yanked me flush with his body, stroking my hair. “We don’t have to go, flower,” he began softly.

I put my finger over his lips. “Yeah, we do,” I replied. “That’s your family. My family now, too. I want to,” I told him firmly

He frowned for a moment before his face cleared and he regarded me. “If it gets too much, promise you’ll tell me?” he said firmly.

I kissed him lightly on the mouth. “I promise. But it’s already too much,” I murmured against his mouth. “But that’s a good thing,” I continued.

Asher made a sound in his throat and kissed me, not lightly.

Asher toyed with the simple, yet beautiful square cut vintage diamond on my finger.

“You happy, Mrs. Breslin?” he asked quietly.

I turned my head up to meet his eyes. “Yes,” I replied simply. “I never thought it would be possible to be this happy ever again,” I whispered.

Asher stroked my head. “I didn’t think this kind of happiness even existed, babe. Being able to call you my wife, nothing’s ever tasted sweeter on my tongue, apart from your pussy,” he said in a low voice.

I squirmed, even though we had just thoroughly consummated our marriage, many times. We started in Asher’s small room in the clubhouse. That was after we had a huge and boisterous welcome from a massive, intimidating crowd when we arrived. I’d swallowed the lump in my throat and smiled brightly at them all, taking all the congratulations and gruff well wishes in stride. Asher hadn’t let me go the entire time. Not until Gwen and Amy had both descended on me with tears in their eyes.

“I can’t believe you got married,” Gwen squealed when she let me go.

“And that you didn’t tell us,” Amy added with a grin. “Good call. Biker weddings are the hardest things to plan, trust me,” she said seriously, looking over to her husband with a small grin.

“I can’t believe you got married,” Gwen repeated.

Amy gave her a look. “Are your batteries malfunctioning?” she asked. “We got that memo. Plus, the dress is divine.” She touched the fabric. “You are divine. Asher’s right to lock this down. You’re stunning, honey, though we knew that already.”

I smiled shyly. “Thanks,” I replied.

Gwen beamed. “And you’re moving back to Amber, which means you can come back to the store,” she managed to get to complete sentences. “After the honeymoon,” she added hastily.

I laughed. “We don’t get much of a honeymoon. I’ve got class on Monday.”

Amy waggled her eyebrows. “You’ll be surprised what your hubby can fit into two days.”

I reddened slightly, my stomach tightening in expectation. It was like I was a virgin all over again. As if Asher had telepathic powers, I felt his hands on my waist, and he pulled me back into a firm chest.

“Excuse me, ladies,” he murmured. “I’m going to have to steal my wife away.”

Amy winked at him. “Yeah, you do.”

Gwen blew me a kiss as Asher dragged me through the bodies and directed me to a familiar room.

He closed the door, the party a dull rumble in the background.

“I know it’s not hearts and flowers or glamorous,” he explained, grasping my hips, “but this is where you gave me the greatest gift I’ve ever received. Where I fell in love with my shy and beautiful little flower. I wanted our first time as husband as wife to be here,” he murmured against my mouth, his hand snaking up the skirt of my dress.

I sucked in a breath when his finger danced at the edge of my panties. “It’s perfect,” I replied throatily.

He smiled against my mouth. “You’re perfect,” he countered. His mouth covered mine at the same moment his finger entered me, and I gasped into his mouth.

The kiss that had started reverent and gentle turned frantic. I was suddenly desperate for him, to get him inside me. Asher seemed to feel the same as his finger left me and my panties came off in a rip. His mouth plundered my mouth while he lifted me, pressing me against the door. I wrapped my legs around his hips and clawed at his back.

“This isn’t going to be gentle, flower,” Asher growled against my mouth.

“Good,” I replied, breathless. “I don’t need gentle. I need real. I need you. I need us,” I pleaded.

Seconds after the words left my mouth Asher plunged inside me, rough, hard and amazing. His forehead rested against mine, and he pumped into me mercilessly. I took every inch he gave me, ecstasy overwhelming every inch of me.

“It’s just us. You and me, babe,” Asher grunted out. “Forever.”

I cried out as he brought me to the edge of the precipice. “Forever,” I repeated.

After he had rocked my world and cleaned himself from me tenderly, Asher straightened, a strange look on his face.

“I meant to show you this before, but I didn’t realize how much of a sex demon my little wife was,” he teased lightly, though his eyes were hesitant.

I grinned at him lazily. “Show me what?”

He stared at me a moment longer before unbuttoning the collar of his shirt. I gasped when he unveiled his chest.

My fingers trailed around the edge of the red skin of his pec. Tears blurred my vision as I stared at the skin covering his heart. At the fresh tattoo. It was beautiful. A watercolor lily that dripped with every color of the rainbow, my name scrawled underneath it. I remember the words he had uttered in this very room, almost four years ago.

“Tattoos are for life, apart from the club, I’ve never loved anything that much to commit to a lifelong reminder of it on my body.”

I looked closer and the breath got caught in my lungs. I tore my gaze up from his chest.

“Is this?” I choked out.

Asher’s eyes softened. “Yeah, babe, saw it when I was in her studio,” he told me gently

A single tear trailed down my cheek, and I moved my attention back to his chest. To the flower that my mom had painted. The one that was mounted on a wall in her studio.

“You’re my muse, baby girl. My beautiful Lily. The thing that lights up my life,” Mom had told me when I was twelve, right after we moved to Amber. It was the first thing she painted.

“Do you like it?” he asked, a strange kind of uncertainty in his voice.

“Like it?” I repeated. My eyes met his once more. “There aren’t words to describe how much this means to me. How perfect this is,” I whispered. “This is the greatest thing anyone’s ever done for me.”

Asher smiled and wiped away my tear with his thumb. “Get used to this feeling, Lily. This is what you deserve. What I’m gonna give you,” he promised.

After today, I found myself believing him. Believing the worst might be behind me. And that we might ride away into the horizon to something better.

Hours later, we lay in bed in a beautiful room in
“The Cottage.”
It had been a surprise wedding gift from Mia and Bull. Mia, Bull’s wife managed it. I had the pleasure of meeting both her and her daughter Lexie a few months ago, and though they had been through drama that dwarfed mine, they were happy. Bull’s demons were gone and I was hopeful mine were going too.

We could hear the waves crashing through the French doors that opened onto a sea view balcony, the salt air clinging to our bodies. I didn’t even appreciate the beautiful surroundings. I was too busy being ravaged by my husband.

We had lain in beautiful silence, letting the sound of the waves wash over us. Asher’s hand trailed my back lazily.

“You got classes on Monday?” he asked quietly.

I didn’t move my head from his chest. “Yeah,” I sighed, not wanting to think about the work awaiting me.

“I don’t want to rush you, but have you thought about where you want to live?” he probed softly. “If you don’t want to be at your mom’s, we got options. Apart from shit for my bike, I don’t live an extravagant lifestyle, I’ve got a nest egg. A significant one. Enough to get us a house….” he paused. “I haven’t used it ‘cause I’ve never had a home, not since Benjamin. The place I grew up in was four walls that held pain, memories that were tainted with my father’s whiskey stained imprint.” He pushed the hair from my head. “The club was my home. I didn’t want four walls of my own until I was sure I wanted to share those walls with someone. Make memories with,” he stated.

I kissed his chest, his words making my heart soar and bleed at the same time. My neck craned so I could look at my husband.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered. “That you don’t have a place to remember him … Benjamin.”

He smiled a sad smile. “I do, babe,” he replied softly. He moved my hand and placed it lightly over the tattoo on his chest. “Right here, I got the memories I need.” He let that sink in a moment, the beauty of his sentiment, of his pain etching into my soul. “I don’t want to rush you, but you’re not going back to your apartment, and I’m not too crash hot on sharing our matrimonial bliss with my brothers,” he joked lightly.

He had already
“talked”
my landlord out of letting us out of our lease, and we were in the process of moving all of our things to Mom’s.

I regarded his tattoo, trailing my fingers around the red edges of healing skin. Asher was silent, giving me the time he knew I needed to think. I chewed over his words, what he said about Benjamin, about memories, about a home. When I thought of home, I thought of Mom’s little cottage by the sea. Of the heavily decorated rooms. The vibrancy that hit you the moment you walked through the door. The vibrancy that hit me when I walked in there for the first time since losing her. That’s what made it hard. Impossible. My house was missing the thing that made it a home. My mom.

But when I thought about home I also thought of Asher. He was my home.

“What do you want?” I asked finally. Asher hadn’t ever had a home, he deserved a choice.

His hands tightened around me. “I’ve got what I want, Lily, right here in my hands. I’ve got my wife. I’ve got my bike, my club, everything else is a bonus,” he declared.

I moved up on an elbow. “In that order?” I teased.

A grin tickled the corner of his attractive mouth. “You’re always first, Lily. It’s always you and me before anything out there.”

We stared at each other a moment. “Every memory I have of that house is full of happiness. Until three years ago. Then it all turned dark,” I spoke quietly, fighting the prickling of grief in my throat. “I don’t want it to end dark. I want our lives to color it again.”

Asher took me into his arms so I lay completely on top of him. He kissed my nose lightly.

“Then that’s what we’ll do, flower. Color your world so you don’t even want to remember what the darkness even looks like,” he promised.

And his promise held true. For a time.

Two Months Later

“You’ll do great,” Asher told me kissing me firmly.

I kissed him back distractedly trying to remember the correct terms and procedures for someone suffering a heart attack. My mind drew a blank. I was so screwed.