Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 75450 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 377(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75450 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 377(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
For just a second, there was a tug of familiarity, something toying with the edges of my memory, but it was gone before I could even try to grab a hold of it. Because when my gaze searched her face again, I knew there was no way I’d seen her before. There was no way I wouldn’t remember, wouldn’t have gone and got her name, her number, taken her out.
That kind of beauty didn’t let you just walk past without shooting your shot.
She wasn’t really dressed for a party in black jeans, a black tee, and black sneakers. But I had a cousin who went full-on goth anytime she left her farm. So you just never knew with women.
“Party’s out back, baby,” I said, working up to shoot her the double-dimple smile that never let me down, until I realized she was shaking.
Sure, the guys kept the club at near subzero temperatures, but she’d just come in from outside, and it was hot as balls out there.
“You okay?” I asked.
“I’m looking for Rune,” she said, voice shaking as much as her body, but she was all honey-sweet sounding.
“It’s your lucky day then. You found me.”
This time, the smile started to spread.
Only to falter and fall as her hand shoved into the crossbody bag she had on… and came back out with a gun.
No safety.
Finger already on the trigger.
That shaky fucking finger.
“Whoa,” I said, voice deceptively calm as adrenaline slipped into my bloodstream and coursed down every limb, making my insides jittery and ready to move. My hands rose slightly to my sides, fingers spread, as I wondered just how close I was to one of the guns or knives we kept stashed all around the clubhouse.
Five feet? Six? Too far.
I didn’t believe for a second that this woman knew a damn thing about aim, but this close… it didn’t really matter.
My best bet was to calm her ass down. At least enough for her arms to drop a few inches.
“I don’t think you want to do that,” I said, shaking my head. Everything about her body screamed that this wasn’t like her, that she felt pushed to this.
“You’re wrong,” she said, but her eyes were darting like a squirrel in a roadway.
“Could be,” I agreed, waiting for her to glance back at the noise in the backyard so I could take half a step forward. “Wouldn’t be the first time.” Out front, bikes idled.
Someone was coming.
And if that door burst open, she could panic.
Panic and a shaky trigger finger weren’t a healthy combination. For me. And not for her, either, if someone walked in on her shooting my ass dead.
Over the sounds of the party, I could swear I heard the crunch of footsteps on the front path. Then, with their distinct deep voices, Dezi and Pagan.
Fuck.
I had half a minute to get myself out of this.
Luckily, there was a squeal out back—the blonde hitting the water again, no doubt.
I didn’t stop to think.
I charged forward, grabbed her hand on the gun, twisted both inward and against her own chest as my other arm went around her, crushing her to my chest.
There was a second of struggle.
“Fuckin’ play along,” I hissed as the door flew open.
And there was Dezi, the psychopath, and Perish, the man who could be mistaken for a brick wall in the right light.
“Oh, we interrupting something?” Perish asked, smile devilish.
In my arm, the woman was stiff as a board, too scared even to tremble anymore. Against my arm, I could feel the frantic thud of her heart.
“Nope, nothing to see here,” I said, keeping the woman against me so they wouldn’t see the gun. “You guys here to party?”
“I left my donuts in the glass room,” Dezi said, already making his way toward the basement to get them.
He left Perish, moving from foot to foot.
“You’re here to water the fucking lawn, aren’t you?”
“It’s been hot. Put a lot of work into it. Don’t want it to dry up.”
“Don’t you have a woman at home you’d rather be with?”
“That I do. But—”
“How about I water the lawn?” I asked. “I’m not in a partying mood.”
Perish mulled that. “But don’t overwater it.”
“I won’t. I’ve done it before when you were laid up, remember?”
“True. Alright. You won’t forget?”
“I won’t forget.”
Dezi came running up the stairs, pausing to shoot us all a guilty look. “I’d offer you guys some, but there’s only six left.” Only. A snort of laughter escaped me, despite the woman and her gun still pressed to my chest.
“Enjoy your donuts, man,” I said as he made his way out the door. “I’ll do the lawn in… half an hour. Hour, max.”
Perish slid to the woman, then to me, a wicked smirk tugging at my lips. “Only an hour?”
With that, he was gone too.
I waited, still holding the wannabe shooter, until I heard the bikes rumble to life, then peel away.