They lay there breathing heavily for a few moments, and then Ron moved off of her to lay beside her on the bed. He pulled her over against his chest and began to stroke her back with his hand while she lightly stroked his chest.
“So,” she finally said, “were my mother and Geovanni right? Are we made for each other?”
“It would appear that way,” Ron answered as he stroked her breast and lightly tweaked her still-peaked nipple. He chuckled slightly and added, “But one-time, fantastic sex isn’t all there is to a relationship. Mom will eventually sell the store and I will go back to Reno. I may no longer be a Snake, but the wounds the Tiger Snakes left in this town are too deep to heal. I have to leave. I remind too many people of too many things that they need to forget.”
“I could go with you to Reno,” Amanda said quietly. “I take Tommy up there once a month to a support group meeting. I know the doctors up there. If you help me, I could re-establish Tommy up there and get him more of the help he needs.”
“I have to get a new job first,” Ron replied. “That usually isn’t too difficult for someone with my construction skills, but you never know. Some of the companies up there don’t like to hire ex-one-percenters.”
“I know someone who will,” answered Amanda firmly. “He’s in the autism support group Tommy and I attend, and he runs a construction company.”
“How do you know he will hire me?” asked Ron.
“Because Keith is also the President of the Golden Knights. That’s a club made up mainly of former one-percenters. They are still a pretty wild bunch, but they stay within the law—more or less. You would fit right in with his company, and maybe even with the Golden Knights.”
“What turned Keith?”
“His daughter,” answered Amanda. “One day his autistic daughter asked him why he wanted to be so evil. Keith didn’t know how to answer her.”
She pulled herself up slightly so she could face Ron directly. “Sometimes autistic kids can see the truth when regular people can’t. And they aren’t afraid to say it… or scream it… or write it on the wall in big letters… or maybe give it to you in some symbolic form.”
“Like cards?” Ron asked, suddenly grabbing alongside the bed for his shirt.
“What did he give you?” asked Amanda.
“This,” Ron said as he held up the two playing cards. In his hand were the king and queen of hearts.
Amanda laughed. “How did everyone, including my autistic son, see it before we did?”
“Maybe because we were too blinded by the past to see the future,” Ron replied. He reached down alongside the bed and again picked up something in his hands. It was the tattered vest that he wore everywhere except in his mother’s store. He threw it at the wastebasket next to the table. It missed and lay on the floor by the wall. “Close enough,” he said. “Tomorrow,” he continued, “I will take you—and Tommy—over to meet my mom. She isn’t one of Giovanni’s cousins, but is probably related to everyone else in town. Then I’ll call Keith and see if he needs a good carpenter. Mom said there was a promising lead on a buyer for the store. If it works out, we can leave in about a month. In the meantime, we have to figure out some way to explain this to Tommy.”
Amanda laughed and picked up the cards now lying on the bed. She held them up so that Ron could see them clearly. “He knows,” she said. “Somehow, he knew immediately that ‘Mr. Nice Man’ was truly my knight in shining armor.”
“I told you,” Ron said with mock indignation, “I don’t have a mask and…”
“Your lance is in storage in Reno,” She completed for him. Then she laughed again and snuggled back against his chest. “Maybe it’s time to get it out of storage.”
Ron pulled her in tighter to his chest and answered, “Maybe it is. Maybe it is.”
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***
Bianca hated those Merrick boys. She wasn’t alone.
They were nothing but trouble, but no one dared stand up to them. Look at one Merrick cross-eyed and before you knew it you were at war with the whole clan. She kept to herself and bit her tongue when they wrecked her diner on a regular schedule. It was a small price to pay to stay on Merricks’ good side.
Braden Foster never was much good at keeping his opinions to himself.
The leader of a nomadic band of bikers, Braden was accustomed to facing trouble head on, usually with fists. Occasionally with a crowbar. This policy didn’t win him many friends, but it rarely mattered. He never stuck in one place long enough to weather the consequences.
That was before he came to the aid of a pretty lady restaurateur.
He figured he’d at least earned a cup of coffee for his trouble, but when he stepped between the Merrick boys and Bianca’s diner, he lit a spark that threatened to burn the whole town to ashes. It was up to him to put it out.
Bianca knew a gathering storm when she saw one.
But which was more frightening: the storm between Braden and the Merricks, or the one brewing in her heart for a man arguably more dangerous than the Merricks themselves?
***
Hannah Kent never thought she'd ever get caught up in a brooding biker turf war
Hannah Kent is a barista working to pay off her student loans while looking for a long term job. Everything about her life is routine, day in and day out, until a man barges into the coffee shop with a stab wound.
After a fight gone wrong with a rival MC, Will Grims is able to get away and escapes from his pursuers by ducking into a coffee shop only to find himself face to face with a bewildered young woman.
Everything about this man screams danger and risk, and yet Hannah couldn't tear herself away. When he begs her not to call the cops, more red flags go up yet somehow, Hannah knows it's smarter to listen and obey.
In a single instant, her whole life is about to be turned upside down and nothing will be the same. Hannah must trust Will if she wants to escape the wrath of the men chasing him.
***
Hilary Rinds is caught in a bind.
Her publisher has been on her case about finishing up her current project but the words seem to be just out of reach. Searching for inspiration, Hilary walks into a biker bar with the hopes of finding the spark of inspiration she needs.
Thomas Baker is looking for a spark of his own.
But for Thomas Baker the moment he sees Hilary walk in he has his sights set on her. The current President of the Harlequins Motorcycle Club, Thomas is used to being on top and getting what he wants. When it comes to Hilary, he expects things to be no different.
Hilary is about to get more than what she bargained for.
An unintended gaze puts Hillary at the center of attention in a rough around the edges biker bar. At any moment something could go terribly wrong, yet the man in front of her is exactly what she needs to get her creative juices flowing, among other things. But how much of her story will be fiction and how much will be fact?
***
The night is dark and some secrets are best kept in that darkness. Eve Baker is a librarian at the public library in the center of town. She has often walked home alone in the dark, but this particular night she feels a presence behind her.
Nicholas Verner is older than the town he occupies. A vampire from the Old World, he came across the sea for a new chance, just as everyone else. Now a successful underworld dealer and President of the Undying Brotherhood motorcycle club, Nicholas still can’t deny his craving for blood, as much as he tries to.
One dark and moonless night, he goes on the hunt again and finds himself following behind a scent he's smelled only in his dreams--a scent of something much more than just a meal.
***
She’s no stranger to tattoos and tanned bodies but this one sets her on fire…
Brady Long has everything broad about him – broad shoulders, broad chest – and now the broadest tattoo in
town.
As an assistant at the tattoo shop, Miranda Brest sees many hunks every day. Sometimes she does the tattoo sketch on them, touching and feeling… Brady is but unreachable...
... Until one look that tells her she’d see his brand new tattoo up close… that his tanned skin and toned muscles would be hers – even if for just one night…
***
Politics, punks, and princesses aren't supposed to mix.
As the mayor’s daughter, Vera Malone is treated like a princess--a woman without need. But her father's fierce protectiveness drives away any boy she has ever shown interest in, for fear of the reputation it would have on his political career.
Then along comes Daniel Kenan, a rising member of the Black Phoenix Motorcycle club. He is everything that Vera’s father despises and fears: a reckless and carefree hooligan with a knack for bending if not breaking rules outright.
When Vera is unwittingly saved by Daniel from an attempted robbery, she finds herself falling for the devilishly charming bad boy and his alluring world of risk and freedom. Even though every cell of her body knows that Daniel is someone she can never have in her life on account of her father, Vera is determined to see just how long she has to enjoy this wild and forbidden ride.
Hard Ride Home (Tiger Snakes Motorcycle Club) Page 3
