And waited.
And…
He groaned, grabbing two more chips before the noise had even died down.
Joy and something else filled me. Something warm and vibrant, smooth like homemade caramel and just as sweet. Something that screamed of desire. I blamed the moan—I about flooded my panties at the sound. A thought that made the butterflies in my tummy come back with a vengeance. The words followed.
“Yeah, so the flavors of the slow roasted pork and the sharpness of the cheese balance well with the saltiness of the chips. The Pico is more for texture than anything else because really it can’t stand up to all those other stronger flavor profiles. Some places use a sweeter barbecue sauce, but I prefer a more mellow type of smokiness on the tongue. So yeah, pulled pork nachos. I’d put this on the menu but the roux takes a long time and making the cheese sauce in batches would cause me to have too much waste, plus the pulled pork plates and sandwiches have a really nice margin and the nachos wouldn’t so I just keep those on the menu instead. Though I guess I could do something like this for weekends. Maybe game days or…but no, I don’t have TVs for a sporting event. That won’t work. Maybe something else, though. Or should I add some TVs to the bar area? I could probably do that—only turn them on for specific events or something. But then the guys would want to hang out here, and I’m not up for loggerpalooza in my bar area every weekend.”
Shut up shut up shut up.
I clenched my jaw, my right hand gripping my left as if trying to hold each other in place. The talking, oh my god the talking. I really needed to work on that. To learn to be quieter around him. The man barely said anything at all and I babbled endlessly every time we were in the same room. How could he stand the babbling?
Gage just stood there, though. Chewing slowly. Watching me until he found something to say. “These are the best goddamned nachos I’ve ever had in my life.”
Warmth exploded through my chest, and I grinned. “Yeah?”
He held out the chip to me, raising his eyebrows as if asking permission. I didn’t even have to think or question him. I simply opened my mouth and let him place the food on my tongue. The intimacy of the act, of him feeding me, didn’t hit me until it was too late. We were so close—even with the counter between us—that I could see the bits of dirt on his shirt, the shadows on his face from a hard day’s work. I took in every detail, every nuance. Greedily hoarded them for later when I was alone in my little apartment and wondering what he was doing.
But then I bit down, and it was my turn to groan. The texture of the meat and the chip were a delight, and the slight sweetness of the sauce countered the saltiness of the chip. Heat from the jalapeños gave the bite just enough kick to make it interesting and the cheese sauce had the perfect creaminess to keep everything from being too harsh. Overall, a total win.
“Better than I thought,” I said once I’d swallowed. I looked up to find Gage watching me again, his eyes that same liquid darkness I’d noticed earlier. Burning into me. I could have stared into those inky depths for hours, could have gotten lost in them. Could have begged for him to tell me what that heated look meant because it brought something to life inside of me.
Sadly, I didn’t do any of that.
Shye barreled into the kitchen, a grin on her face and a tray in her hands. “Dessert orders should be starting in the next few minutes, and five guys have asked if you’re coming out to say hi tonight. Young guys. You seem to have a fan club, Miss Katie.” She disappeared into the walk-in freezer, probably to pull the vanilla ice cream for the peach cobbler special. Which reminded me of all the work still to be done.
Spell…broken.
“Duty calls.” I shrugged and nodded toward the plate. “Eat up. I’d hate to have that all go to waste.”
“I wouldn’t waste a bite of your food.” He frowned, his heavy brow falling slightly as he did. “Though I like canned cranberry sauce. I thought only TV chefs attempted homemade.”
“I’ll make you the real stuff.” If he kept looking at me like that, I’d make him an entire Thanksgiving feast just to watch him enjoy it. “Maybe a turkey sandwich special with dressing and cranberry sauce. I’ll buy a can, too. Then you can try them at the same time and taste the difference.”
“That seems like a lot of work.”
I shrugged, knowing it was. Not caring because it meant I could do something for him. “It’d be fun, though.”
Gage quirked another smile my way, setting the butterflies tumbling again. But before he could answer me, the printer began spitting out dessert orders.
He nodded at the whining machine. “What’s for dessert?”
“Peach cobbler with homemade vanilla ice cream on top. And I made that cinnamon whipped cream you like so much.”
“Jesus, I could lick up every drop of your cream.” His face suddenly stilled, his eyes darting to mine as if he’d just said something wrong. As if he hadn’t meant for those words to slip out.
Meanwhile I couldn’t stop thinking about all the naughty things his tongue could do to my body. About all the things I could do to his. About running my hands over every inch of him and feeling those thick muscles tense as he came. As he lost all that control he seemed to have.
Focus…gone. Luckily, I wasn’t a stranger to making normal sentences sound naughty. “At least wait until you’ve got my peaches in your mouth first. They’re amazingly sweet.”
His eyes burned into me, making me flush. “I have no doubt about that, princess.” He nodded toward my work area, grabbing his plate and stepping back from the counter. Heading toward the door to the dining room. “You’d better get to work.”
“Right. Yeah. Dessert.”
He grinned again, leaving me even more flustered. “Rex, guard.”
And then he was gone, and I was left with his dog, an uncomfortable empty sensation, and wet panties.
And a lot of orders for peach cobbler a la mode.
The muscle memory of setting up plate after plate of cobbler took hold, the concentration necessary to present dessert properly sweeping over me in a calming wave that knocked out everything else. All that was left in my world—all there was room for in my head—was the food, the flavors, and the pretty, pretty hills of sweetness I needed to build.
And if every dark spot I saw reminded me of Gage’s eyes, well, that was just a coincidence.
A Note From Kristin
In my note at the end of PAYBACK, I mentioned that the character of Alder Kennard screamed when he showed up in my head.
Anabeth Monroe whispered.
It took me two drafts of RETALIATE to get to the point where she was willing to share her story with me. I went through a lot of emotions (and curse words) as I peeled back her layers to figure her out, and then I went through a lot of tears as she finally admitted her loss.
I’ll also say that my editor didn’t like this book when I sent it to her. After much discussion (actually over the phone—that was a first) we figured out the issues and I went back for another round of rewrites. I hope I gave you a story that was worthy of all the time and energy I spent on it and the love of these two characters. Bishop and Anabeth deserved a glorious second chance.
* * *
Gage and Katie are up next, and their book hasn’t been much easier to write than Bishop and Anabeth’s was. I love them, though, and look forward to sharing their story with you in JUSTIFY.
* * *
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Also by Kristin Harte
Justice, Colorado
Where the vigilantes have all the legal authority.
In Justice, Colorado, the Kennards run everything, including the only big business in the area. Their sawmill employs most of the town, and the Kennard brothers live up to a long family history of keeping their neighbors and coworkers safe—until a motorcycle club comes to town and starts causing trouble. Big troub
le.
The kind that ends in funerals.
The kind no law enforcement can help them with.
PAYBACK
RETALIATE
JUSTIFY
Have you met Ellis Leigh?
All the suspense of Kristin Harte but with a paranormal twist.
* * *
Feral Breed Motorcycle Club
Wolf shifters, motorcycles, witches, and a threat lurking in the shadows.
Novels
Claiming His Fate
Claiming His Need
Claiming His Witch
Claiming His Beauty
Claiming His Fire
Claiming His Desire
* * *
Collections
Claiming Their Forever: A Collection of Shorts
The Feral Breed: Volume One
The Feral Breed: Volume Two
The Feral Breed: The Complete Series
* * *
Feral Breed Followings
Stand-alone stories of characters first met in the Feral Breed Motorcycle Club series. Featuring cage fighters, dragon shifters, second chances, and young love.
Claiming His Chance
Claiming His Prize
Claiming Her Heart
* * *
The Gathering Tales
Come and enjoy tales from the biggest shifter event of the year as wolves from around the country fall in lust, in love, and in fate at The Gathering.
Killian and Lyra
Gideon and Kalie
Blasius, Dante, and Moira
Homecoming
Also available in one convenient anthology in both electronic and paperback formats.
The Gathering Tales
* * *
The Devil’s Dires
There’s no escaping a Dire Wolf on the hunt…
Savage Surrender
Savage Sanctuary
Savage Seduction
Savage Silence
Savage Sacrifice
Savage Security (Coming Spring of 2018)
Savage Salvation (Coming Fall of 2018)
* * *
Motor City Alien Mail Order Brides
Where the men aren’t human and the women are uninformed.
Cutlass
Hudson
Maverick
* * *
Stand-Alone Romance
Bearly Dreaming: A Southern Shifters Worlds Novella
Masterson: A Vampire Sons Story
* * *
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Don’t forget London Hale
Filthy, taboo, smart erotic romance is what you get when Ellis Leigh/Kristin Harte and Brighton Walsh team up. Are you ready for a little extra heat?
* * *
The first three books in the Temperance Falls series feature taboo relationships and May-December romances. After all, it’s summer on the island, and these couples are out to get a little sweaty.
Daddy’s Best Friend
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The DILF
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Nanny With Benefits
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* * *
The second trilogy in the Temperance Falls series feature taboo relationships of a different sort. On the island, the business of selling sex in all its forms is thriving, and our couples give a whole new meaning to opposites attract.
Sinner (formerly Sinful Temptation)
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Cuffed (formerly Sinful Attraction)
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Talk Dirty To Me (Sinful Distraction)
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* * *
The brewery duet features two of our favorite businessmen on Temperance Falls. One has been waiting for the right time to make his move, the other gets blindsided by the woman of his dreams. Together, they’re brewing trouble along with their amazing craft beers.
Friends to Lovers Romance
Reunion
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One Night Stand to More Romance
Tapping That Asset
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* * *
Outside of our miniseries titles, we also have single-title romances based on Temperance Falls to fulfill your needs.
* * *
Teacher/Student Romance
Seducing His Student
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* * *
Stepbrother’s Baby Romance
Knocking Her Up
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* * *
Billionaire Boss Romance
Bedding The Billionaire
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Acknowledgments
I finished final edits on this book while staying at a million-dollar loft in Chicago with some priceless friends. To all my BGW girls…thank you. For the laughs, the support, the kind words, the face masks, the treats, the coffee runs, and the love you share with me. Will Smith said to surround yourself with people who fan your flames instead of smothering them. Burn bright, ladies.
With every book, Lisa Hollett with Silently Correcting Your Grammar has to balance making sure my words are ready for the shelf and keeping me from crying over a shitty draft. It’s a rough job, and I’m always so very grateful that she invests the time with me. Thank you, friend. Enjoy some crackers out of your beetle kill pine bowl.
Franci Neill read this book to help me find those final mistakes every manuscript has while on a cruise in way warmer weather than I suffered through while writing it. Thanks for taking Anabeth and Bishop along to paradise!
Finally, and most importantly, to my girls. May your hearts be filled with love, your life filled with laughs, and your arms filled with hugs. I love you both without end.
About the Author
Kristin Harte started off as a chemistry major in college but somehow ended up writing romances featuring ex-military heroes and the women who knock them to their knees…literally and figuratively. She likes drinking in the shade, snuggling under a warm blanket on a cold evening, and researching how to blow things up. Her children know nothing of what she writes, and her husband just hopes he’s not at their Chicago-ish home the day the government shows up to confront Kristin about her Google search history.
When not writing good men doing bad things, Kristin can be found writing paranormal romance as Ellis Leigh or co-writing naughty novellas as London Hale.
* * *
www.kristinharte.com
[email protected]
Retaliate: A Vigilante Justice Novel
Copyright © 2017 by Kristin Harte
* * *
Paperback ISBN: 978-1-944336-49-3
EBook ISBN: 978-1-944336-50-9
All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the author or publisher except for the use of brief quotations in critical articles or reviews.
This is a work of fiction. Names, places, businesses, characters and incidents are
either the product of the author's imagination or are used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, actual events or locales is purely coincidental.
Edited by Silently Correcting Your Grammar, LLC
Cover by Jay Aheer of Simply Defined Art
For inquiries, contact [email protected]
Contents
RETALIATE
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Retaliate Page 21
