“Cherry pistachio,” Maverick said to the dark-haired man that would probably take over the Sentinels if he ever chose to retire. “Make sure you don’t get hung up at Rosco’s tonight.”
“Oh, he’ll get hung up at Rosco’s,” Lucas said, ribbing Jordan though it was clear the other biker didn’t like it. “Felicia is on tonight, and you know how much he likes her.” He singsonged the last two words, and Maverick did his best not to smile.
“And Market Fresh called and said they have extra stuff tonight, because of the case lot sale. Just so you know.”
“Got it, Boss,” Jordan said, turning to Lucas. “Let’s go there first.”
“Right,” Lucas said, pulling his leather gloves back on though they wouldn’t ride their bikes to the grocery stores. “So you can loiter with Felicia while I load up all the dents-and-dings.”
Jordan said something else to him, but Maverick didn’t catch what as they exited the shop at the end of the ice cream counter. Jordan and Lucas had grown up together right there in Forbidden Lake, and the Sentinels Motorcycle Club had saved them. Well, and Jordan’s family had taken in Lucas in a crucial time of his life.
In fact, Maverick had found Lucas on the streets one night as he did the dents-and-dings route as a new member of the club. There were two grocery stores in Forbidden Lake, and they couldn’t sell food that came in cans that were dented or dinged up. A ton of expired or nearly expired fresh food was claimed each day, and Jordan and Lucas would be out picking up the food and then delivering it to the women and children in need for the next few hours.
They’d probably get back around eleven, just in time for the Sentinel weekly church meeting—and the ice cream.
“Did you get the budget done for the new year?” Maverick asked Davis, who served as the Sentinels’ Treasurer.
“Yep,” he said, starting with the caramel by putting a pan on the single burner stove beside the sink. “It’ll be ready for tonight.”
“How do you feel about running tonight?” Maverick asked next. Davis was the quieter of the three men that had just come into the building, and Maverick liked him a lot.
“Me? Jordan’s Vice.”
“I know who Vice is,” Maverick said. “It’s our end-of-year shindig, and so much of it is money-based. I thought maybe you could lead out.”
Davis met Maverick’s eyes, and he saw the trepidation in the other man’s expression. “I can,” he said with confidence.
“Great,” Maverick said, heaving the huge container of ice cream mix up on the machine. “Eleven-thirty. Don’t let it go over an hour.”
“You got it, Boss,” Davis said, returning to his sugar that was starting to melt in the pan.
Maverick had just poured all of the ice cream into the machine to spin and freeze when a sharp, almost tinny sound rang through the front of the shop.
“What the—?”
“Anyone in there?” a woman called, and he realized someone had come to the front door of Ruby’s. He strode out from behind the counter of the ice cream part of the club and went to see who it was.
He opened the door and said, “We’re closed today, ma’am,” before he realized who stood there.
Karly Lydell.
“Karly,” he said, ushering her inside as it had started to rain. He’d left his motorcycle on the side by the steps, and he’d need to move that pretty dang quick. “Come in.”
“Sorry,” she said, blowing on her hands as if she could warm them up that way. “I had a…thing nearby, but my car won’t start. I was—can you fix a car?”
“Honey, I can fix anything,” he said, not quite sure why he felt like he needed to make himself so dang smart for this woman. Maybe because she’d insulted his bike and called it smelly.
Anger flashed in her eyes for a moment, and then it smoothed right away. “Great,” she said. “Could you come look at mine right now?”
“Right now?”
“I need to get home to my daughter.”
Maverick could feel the weight of Davis’s gaze on the back of his head, and he wanted to refuse Karly. Instead, he found himself saying, “Sure, let’s go look at your car right now.”
After all, she had a daughter to get home to.
That was the only reason he was doing this. It wasn’t because she was gorgeous and curvy and smelled like wildflowers, all siren calls to Maverick’s very male side.
“Where’d you park?” he asked, following it with, “And can you ride a motorcycle in that skirt?”
Chapter Three
Karly looked down at her skirt, also noticing how tight it was around her knees. In her younger years, she would’ve hiked it right up and climbed on the back of whatever it would take to get her where she wanted to go.
“Maybe,” she said uncertainly. She’d already called Serenity to tell her the car wouldn’t start, and Serenity had said it was fine. Navy was eating dinner with her and Liam and Kimmie and Thea, and she could send someone to get Karly.
But she didn’t want to leave her car down at the convenience store. She’d seen the bright red glow of Ruby’s, and she knew they did mechanic work. Now that she was inside the shop, and face-to-face with Maverick Malone, she realized it was a motorcycle mechanic shop.
That certainly hadn’t stopped him from claiming to be able to fix her car. He led her to a side door, where he grabbed a black leather jacket and put it on. Karly almost swooned on the spot—until she reminded herself she wasn’t looking for a date.
She just needed him to look under the hood of her car. Literally.
He pushed through the door and then paused to hold it for her. “Thank you,” she said, already eyeing the motorcycle that sat there. It was a big, beautiful machine, and there was definitely room for a skinny model on the back of it.
But someone with her…more womanly physique probably wasn’t going to fit.
Maverick didn’t seem to think so, because he handed her a helmet and said, “Climb on, beautiful,” as if she rode one of these every day.
She didn’t. In fact, she’d never ridden a motorcycle before.
Beautiful rang through her ears as she strapped the helmet to her head, hiked up her skirt, and swung her leg over the seat. Maverick copied her, minus the skirt-hiking, and she wobbled on the back of the bike with his added weight.
“Whoa,” she said, feeling her whole body start to tip. She grabbed onto his, wrapping her arms around him as far as they would go. He was very real, and very solid, and very warm.
Karly’s female parts started shouting at her about this beautiful man, and she worked to quiet them as he eased the motorcycle to life. The convenience store was only a couple of blocks down the street, but her feet hurt from the heels she’d worn to the wedding.
She’d just needed an escape, just for a few minutes. The day had been so filled with stress, and she wanted grape bubble gum and a huge Diet Coke. She’d gotten both, taking the extra time to come down to the south side of town to the only convenience store that carried the gum she liked.
“That’s it,” she said over the roar of the engine. The motorcycle wasn’t as loud as she’d imagined it might be, so he easily heard her and maneuvered over to her sensible sedan. Derrick had loved this car, and Karly loved Derrick, so she’d kept it after his death.
She and Mia had gone through so much stuff after the funeral, and Karly had reduced her husband’s life to a few boxes that still sat in the corner of her walk-in closet and this car.
“What do you think it is?” she asked as Maverick got off the motorcycle and extended his hand to her to do the same.
“I haven’t looked at it yet.”
She put her hand in his, unsure of how to dismount. He seemed to notice, because he closed the distance between them and lifted her right up and off the bike. “There you go.” He steadied her, his hands on her waist so big and so warm. Once again, Karly didn’t know what to do with the electricity zipping through her.
She looked up at him, and when their eyes
met, she felt like lightning had struck her from the inside out.
“Let’s see what we’ve got,” he said, seemingly undisturbed by the current between them. He opened the driver’s door and popped the hood as it started to rain a little harder. “You can get in the car, Karly.”
She did, mostly because she was already soaked, and she didn’t have the luxury of his warm body to cling to.
A few minutes later, he climbed into the passenger seat. “Bad news,” he said. “I think it’s a combination of things. Your battery is dead, but you’re also out of radiator fluid, your oil’s low, and you only have two spark plugs that work.”
She gaped at him. “You can tell all of that in five minutes?”
He looked at her, an edge in his eye she couldn’t classify. A slip of fear moved through her, but it was the kind she wanted to feel again and again.
Because she felt alive. For the first time since Derrick had died, Karly felt like living.
“Yes,” Maverick said, opening her glove box and pulling out a napkin. He wiped his fingers on it and kept his eyes on the task as he said, “I can take you home, but I only have the bike.”
“It’s a thirty-minute ride,” she said. “In the rain.”
“I live above the shop,” he said. “You can stay with me until the rain calms down. I heard it’s supposed to dry up in a couple of hours.”
Her mouth dropped open. “Stay with you?” She couldn’t stay with him, even if she wanted to. Which she didn’t. Even as she told herself that, she knew she was lying. Of course she wanted to stay with this very handsome man, get to know him better, and maybe find out if he could possibly be interested in a widow, a single mom, and a woman who drove a car that was almost out of oil.
“My place is huge,” he said. “It’s the entire upper level of the shop. Loads of space. Plenty of privacy. No one would even know you’re there.”
“Why would they? You’re closed, right?”
“We have our meeting tonight,” he said coolly, his face never giving anything away. “There’ll be about thirty guys here about ten or eleven.”
Surprise lifted Karly’s eyebrows. “I go to bed by eight, most of the time.”
That got Maverick to smile. “My place is well-insulated. We’re not usually rowdy.” He glanced at her again. “You tell me what you want to do. You could call someone to come get you. I know you’ve got your daughter to take care of.”
She did have Navy, though Serenity and Liam would probably keep her tonight if necessary. Problem was, it wasn’t necessary. Not entirely.
Karly wanted to stay with Maverick, if only to learn a bit more about him. He was so unlike her—and Derrick—that she found him mysterious and exciting.
“Let me call my sister-in-law,” she said. He started to get out of the car, and Karly didn’t stop him. She dialed Serenity and almost whispered, “If I left Navy there for the night, would that be okay?”
“Are you okay?” Serenity asked. “Where are you? Let Liam come get you.”
“I’m going to stay with a friend in town,” she said, hoping she wouldn’t have to explain much.
“Who?” Serenity asked. “Why can’t they just bring you home?”
“There’s only a motorcycle for transportation,” she said. “And it’s pouring.” And Maverick was standing out in the drenching rain. “Please, Serenity,” she added. “I’ll tell you everything later, okay?”
“Karly….”
“I’m fine,” she said. “Navy can sleep in whatever. There should be enough diapers to last until morning.” Guilt tripped through her, but she pushed it back. She loved being Navy’s mother, but she could have one night to herself.
She’d left Navy with her parents overnight before. And tonight, she wanted to find out what the gorgeous Maverick did at his biker club meetings.
“All right,” Serenity said. “But you call me the moment you need anything.”
“I will. Thanks.” Karly hung up and got out of the car. Maverick looked at her, the collar of that jacket flipped up in such a sexy way, Karly almost lost her balance again.
She approached him, the rain saturating her face and hair it fell so fast. “I can stay with you,” she said. “I can’t make you drive me an hour out to the orchards and back.”
“All right,” he said as if he’d known all along that she’d accept his offer. “Let’s get back to the shop then. This rain is wicked.”
* * *
An hour later, Karly stepped out of the fanciest shower she’d ever used and grabbed the fluffy yellow towel Maverick had handed to her. He wasn’t in the apartment, she’d made sure of that before she’d stripped out of her soaking wet clothes and stepped into the hot shower.
Maverick had left some clothes for her, but they were way too big and smelled way too much like fresh cotton and the hint of grease. She put them on anyway, because she didn’t have another choice.
Her clothes tumbled in the dryer, and Maverick had left a piece of paper on the kitchen counter with his number on it. He’d already shown her where the bedroom was, but Karly didn’t head toward it.
She opened his fridge to see what a man like Maverick stocked, expecting to see some moldy food, maybe some beer, possibly an expired gallon of milk.
She wasn’t expecting to find a head of lettuce, creamers in a variety of flavors, heavy cream, not expired milk, and an assortment of meats and cheeses.
“Are you hungry?” he asked from behind her, and she yelped as she jumped away from the puzzling fridge, with its assortment of fresh vegetables and meat.
“No, I’m…fine.”
Maverick gave her a look like he knew she’d been spying on him. “There’s soda in the mini fridge in your bedroom,” he said. “I noticed you didn’t bring yours over.” Nothing seemed to ruffle him, and Karly felt flustered from head to toe.
Her hair was still damp, and she felt underdressed and almost naked before him.
“Nice wedding today, wasn’t it?” he asked, and Karly blinked at him.
“Yes,” she said. “Mia and Declan are very lucky.”
He cocked one eyebrow at her, and she wished she didn’t like it so much. “I was going to say happy, but I guess lucky works.” He shrugged and stepped over to the fridge and put his hand on the door handle. “You can eat anything you find,” he said. “Don’t be worried about that.”
“Do you cook?” she asked. Blurted, really.
“Yeah, a little,” he said. “I’m single, and I live alone, and a man has to eat.”
“What do you make?”
“Coffee,” he said. “And ice cream.”
Karly smiled, sucking back in the scoff. “Those aren’t meals, Maverick.” Saying his name felt a bit foreign against her lips, but also really good too. She’d been dead inside for so long, she wasn’t even sure if she knew how to flirt.
Immediate guilt flooded her. She shouldn’t even be flirting with this man.
“Fine,” he said his lips finally twitching the tiniest bit. “I like omelets and sandwiches.”
“Oh, I like omelets too.”
They both smiled then, as if they’d both realized simultaneously that they had something in common. One little thing.
But to Karly, it felt like a huge milestone had just been met, and she quickly tucked her hair, said, “Thanks, Maverick,” and started down the hall toward the bedroom where he’d laid out her clothes.
“Night,” he said behind her, and Karly almost scampered into the room, locking the door behind her.
Her pulse pounded in her neck, and as she pressed her back to the solid door, a smile stole across her face.
“It’s just a warm place to stay the night,” she told herself as she climbed into a bed that probably hadn’t been used in a while. “That’s all.”
If only she believed herself.
Chapter Four
Maverick hung around the back of the shop, the scent of grease and hot metal hanging in the air. Sentinel meetings always took place in th
e room in the far corner of the building, behind closed and locked doors.
When he’d built this place, he’d made sure there were “offices” along the back wall of the mechanic bays, as the Friday night meetings were the lifeblood of their club. Davis ran the meeting spectacularly, and while he wasn’t Vice, Maverick wondered if he could take over the club one day.
The rest of the patches seemed to listen to him, and he wasn’t afraid in front of the group. After he talked about all the financial stuff for the coming year, he called on Jordan to give a report about the dents-and-dings program they did, and then their Sergeant at Arms, Gerald Mortensen, stood up and started talking about their club’s rules.
Gerald was in his fifties and not to be trifled with. He’d acted as the Sergeant at Arms for five years, and Maverick trusted the man with his life. He trusted all of the Sentinels with his life. They were his brothers, his lifeline, his family.
“We don’t disrupt the peace,” Gerald said. “A couple of new prospects were out on the empty roads between here and Williamsburg a few nights ago.” He surveyed the crowd, and he had a special way of making everyone feel like they were the ones who’d done something wrong.
Maverick leaned against the wall in the back, knowing exactly who he was talking about. A couple of twenty-somethings eager for a place in the club. For their patches. For the acceptance they hadn’t earned yet.
“Sentinels don’t do that,” Gerald said. “We have tattoos, and motorcycles, and leather jackets. Wear bandanas if you want, and name your dogs Hellion, for all I care. But don’t be joyriding in the middle of the night and waking up the good folks of Forbidden Lake.” He glared around at everyone again, and Maverick almost started laughing. Of course, his face stayed absolutely still, as he was the leader and he couldn’t be smiling while his enforcement officer lectured the group.
“I’ll let Lucas talk about the rides now,” Gerald said, sitting down.
Lucas got up and talked about the upcoming events the club had. They did a ride for the Valentine’s Day Parade in town, usually just to show the public that they weren’t dangerous, despite their hard appearance.
Making A Move (Rebels 0f Forbidden Lake Book 6) Page 2
