Riding Steele: Wanted

by Opal Carew

  But when she awoke, it was still early. Only the first hint of sunlight brightened the sky. Steele’s arms were around her and his breathing was deep and even. She lay in the darkness, trying to go back to sleep, but couldn’t. Finally, she slipped from the sleeping bag and the warmth of Steele’s arms, and walked toward the water. Soft moonlight reflected on the water with a luminescent glow. She sat on a rock by the water and stared up at the fading stars.

  “Can’t sleep?”

  She glanced around at the sound of Wild Card’s voice.

  “No, and I don’t know why because I’m really tired,” she said, keeping her voice low so she wouldn’t wake the others.

  He sat down on the big rock beside her. “It’s understandable. You’ve probably never had the police looking for you.” He grinned. “Unless there’s something you’re not telling us.”

  She laughed. “No, this is a first for me. As is riding with a gang of bikers.”

  “And sleeping with the leader.”

  She nodded. “And he keeps saying I’m his woman.” Her gaze darted to Wild Card’s face. She shouldn’t have let that slip out.

  “And that bothers you.”

  She shrugged. “Steele is great, and I really appreciate him looking out for me. But I hardly know him.”

  “You’ll never meet a better man.”

  His frank gaze and the intensity of his words reached inside her and squeezed.

  “Has he told you about his sister?”

  “A little bit. I know she died of a drug overdose.”

  “True.”

  She saw the haunted look in Wild Card’s eyes and realized that it wasn’t just Steele who suffered from the death of the young woman.

  “He was totally devoted to her. He put everything he had into taking care of her,” he continued. “And when she died …”

  He stared down at his hands.

  “He hit the bottle pretty hard, blaming himself for her death. And I made the whole thing worse. Before it happened, I’d been trying to help. Get some money together so the three of us could move away from Chicago. Get a new start somewhere. So I started gambling. Figured I’d hit a big jackpot and save the day.”

  He shrugged. “Of course that didn’t happen. I’d gotten in way over my head and one day, about a month after Chrissy’s death, some guys came by to collect some of my debts. I got beat up pretty bad. When Steele got the story out of me, he insisted I straighten up or he’d beat me to death himself. He stopped getting drunk and threw himself into working and helping me pay off the rest of my debts.”

  He gestured to Steele, still asleep on the ground. “That man always has my back. Same with every one of his crew.” He locked gazes with her. “If you let him, that man will protect you and take care of you to the best of his abilities. And believe me, that’s saying something.”

  She nodded, knowing it was true. And she loved Wild Card’s loyalty to Steele.

  “I’m know you’re right, but … I can’t just give up my life and start riding around from place to place. I need more stability than that. I get that it works for Steele and the rest of you, but it’s just not me.”

  Wild Card nodded and leaned back, then he broke the serious mood with a grin. “I could start to think you don’t like us.”

  She put her hand on his.

  “Of course I like you. All of you.” She squeezed his hand. “And I really appreciate you stepping in when Donovan … you know, in the parking garage.”

  He took her hand in his. “There’s no way I could have done otherwise. I wouldn’t let that jackass hurt you.”

  She smiled tremulously. “I know. And thank you.”

  He kissed her hand. “You’re welcome.”

  Her gaze dropped to their joined hands, and all the tumultuous emotions that had been roiling around inside her swelled to the surface. Tears prickled at her eyes.

  “Oh, Wild Card, what am I going to do? My life is falling apart. The police are after me. My ex-boyfriend wants to hurt me.” And a crazy biker gang leader thought she was his woman.

  And she was starting to believe it.

  He wiped an errant tear from her eye, then pulled her into his arms. “It’s all right, sweetheart. We won’t let anything happen to you.”

  He held her tight for a few moments, then he looked down at her. She met his reassuring gaze.

  “You’re going to be all right.”

  At the warmth in his hazel eyes, and the sincerity in his voice, she believed him.

  Then suddenly Wild Card was jarred away from her. Stunned, she realized Steele had dragged him to his feet.

  “Keep your fucking hands off my woman.” Then Steele’s hard fist connected with Wild Card’s jaw, knocking him to the ground.

  “Steele, I wasn’t—” Wild Card stammered.

  “Shut the fuck up.”

  Laurie lurched to her feet. “Steele, what are you doing?” she demanded.

  He turned to her, his eyes flashing. “No one touches my woman.”

  Her stomach tightened and anger welled up in her. “I’m not your woman!”

  This was crazy. His protectiveness had turned to possessiveness, which didn’t even make any sense given that he’d happily shared her with Wild Card and the others only hours ago.

  He glared at her with an angry, possessive look in his eyes—the same one she’d seen in Donovan’s too many times—and her anger turned to fear. She jerked back a step.

  The storm in his eyes froze for a brief moment while her heart pounded several beats, then he scowled and turned on his heel and strode away. The others were all awake now, watching what was playing out between them. Steele mounted his bike and the engine roared to life, then he sped off down the road and disappeared through the trees.

  *

  Laurie’s heart still pounded as she helped the others gather up their things and pack them up.

  “Are we really going to leave without Steele?” Laurie asked as they finished up.

  “When Steele’s in a mood, he could be gone for hours,” Shock said. “He knows we won’t wait for him.”

  “But … how will we find him?”

  Raven patted her arm. “Don’t worry. He’ll find us.”

  Shock handed Laurie a helmet he produced from his bike storage.

  “You’d better ride with me,” Rip said.

  Laurie glanced at Raven in surprise, and she nodded.

  “I’m the only man here he will believe won’t steal you,” Rip explained with a shrug.

  Raven smiled and patted Laurie’s arm. “And if he does worry about it, I’ll set him straight.”

  Raven walked with Laurie to Rip’s big bike.

  “I just don’t understand why he got so upset.” Laurie felt sick at the memory of Steele’s powerful fist connecting with Wild Card’s face. “Even if we were doing something, which we weren’t, after yesterday …” She stared at Raven, bewildered.

  “I know.” Raven nodded and took the helmet from Laurie’s hands, then slid it on Laurie’s head. Raven smiled as she fastened the helmet for her, like a sister taking care of her own. “He’s a guy and they have a strange way of viewing the world sometimes. Rip doesn’t mind if I go one-on-one with the others, but that’s because he knows I’m well and truly his.” She finished doing up the helmet strap and patted Laurie’s shoulder. “Steele is unsure of you.” Her smile faded a little. “And I assume he has reason to be. You don’t really want to ride with us, do you?”

  “It’s not that. I like all of you, but this life … it’s not for me.”

  “Are you sure?” Raven asked.

  Laurie nodded. “I moved around a lot as a kid and that was hard on me. Every time I made friends, I was torn away to a new place. Then when my parents died …” She drew in a deep breath, fighting back the remembered pain. “I’ve always wanted a stable place to live. Somewhere to call home. I have that now. My own place. I need that.” She shrugged. “And … I don’t even know Steele. Not really.”

 
And what had just happened with Wild Card proved that.

  “We’ve got to get moving,” Rip said as he mounted the bike.

  Laurie climbed on the bike behind Rip and slid her arms around his big torso, feeling awkward and self-conscious. It was crazy because this man had driven his cock into her yesterday and sent her into a screaming orgasm, yet she felt awkward sitting on the back of his bike pressed close to him.

  Raven climbed on with Wild Card and all the bikes roared to life. Laurie tightened her hold on Rip and the bike lurched forward. Soon they were on the open road, the wind streaming across her face.

  *

  Steele sped along the road, adrenaline blazing through him. He took comfort in the feel of the bike beneath him and the miles blurring by.

  Fuck, he couldn’t believe he had actually hit Wild Card. It was inexcusable to do that to one of his own men. One of his brothers. But the fury at seeing the intimacy between him and Laurie had torn through him, ripping away every shred of common sense.

  All he’d known was, he couldn’t allow Wild Card to touch her.

  But now he was haunted by the stricken look of horror in Laurie’s eyes. The fear he’d seen in those blue depths had speared through his heart.

  At that moment, she had been afraid of him, and he found that thought unbearable.

  Fuck, he would never hurt her. How could she believe otherwise?

  But he knew why. The answer was all too clear. It was all because of that bastard she’d been with before.

  His heart ached at the thought that she might never come to fully trust Steele.

  He’d been an idiot to slug Wild Card—it had been inexcusable. Wild Card was loyal. He would never steal anything of Steele’s. But common sense and logic had fled when he’d seen Laurie in his arms, her blue eyes soft and misty as she’d gazed up at him. In that moment, she had looked open and vulnerable to Wild Card, as if she would share her deepest secrets with him, and a wild, uncontrollable jealousy had flared through Steele.

  Fuck, he was his own worst enemy sometimes. If Laurie now feared him just like she feared that Blake bastard, how would he ever recover her trust?

  How would he ever convince her to stay with him?

  Because he would be lost without her.

  He’d never allowed himself a real relationship with a woman. When he’d lived with his sister Chrissy, he’d been focused on her welfare. And he wouldn’t have brought a woman around the apartment with her there anyway. Then after she’d died … he’d erected barriers. He hadn’t wanted to open his heart to someone and risk that kind of pain again. But Laurie had caught him off guard. Protecting her had opened him up to that kind of concern again. He liked caring about her. Being open to her.

  She was like a potent drug. Now that she was in his system, he would never give her up.

  His gut clenched. In that way, was he really any different than her ex?

  *

  Laurie dipped her fry in the pool of ketchup on her hamburger wrapper and took a bite. Normally, she didn’t eat French fries, but nothing about her life was normal now, so why should her eating habits be? A little indulgence couldn’t hurt.

  “Don’t worry,” Raven said, eyeing her over her own burger. “We’ll catch up with Steele and you two will sort things out.”

  Laurie pursed her lips as Rip set down his tray of food and sat down beside Raven at the outdoor tables at the fast food restaurant. Wild Card sat beside Laurie and the other men settled at the table beside them.

  “How did you two get your food so fast?” Wild Card asked.

  Shock laughed. “All they had to do was bat their eyelashes and the lineup parted.”

  Raven grinned. “Or maybe it was my badass attitude.”

  Shock snorted. “Honey, your ass is a lot of things, but bad ain’t one of them.”

  Rip laughed. “I actually think that guy let you in so he could stare at your sexy little asses while you ordered.”

  Laurie’s cheeks flushed at the comment. The two men who had let them go ahead in the restaurant lineup had shown a keen interest in their backsides. And when Raven had slipped off her black leather jacket while the clerk had pulled together their food order, Laurie had glanced around and noticed that the men’s hot stares had settled on Raven’s T-shirt, specifically where it stretched tight across her generous bosom.

  “Rip, you don’t mind when men stare at Raven that way?” Laurie asked.

  Rip shrugged. “She’s a beautiful woman. If I got bent out of shape every time a man admired her, I’d be a mess.” He pointed a fry at her. “But if a guy touches her, I’d flatten him on the spot.”

  “Except for the five men you ride with.”

  “That’s right. Do you really think that’s so strange? Especially now that you’ve experienced it yourself.”

  She sighed. “It’s just that, with what happened this morning, maybe it’s not as simple as you all seem to think. Clearly, Steele isn’t as comfortable with sharing as he thought.”

  “There are reasons,” Rip said. “Ones that are up to him to share, or not.”

  “Okay, but let me ask you this. If a new man joined the gang, you’d be okay with him having sex with Raven?”

  Rip’s lips compressed. “No one new’s joining the club.”

  “We’d have to know a guy really well … totally trust him,” Dom said, “before we’d let him in. He would have had to prove himself.”

  “So you wouldn’t let me in?” Laurie glanced around.

  “Of course we’d let you in.”

  Laurie raised an eyebrow. “Why? How have I proven myself?”

  Raven smiled. “Oh, hon, by the way you make Steele feel. That man’s clearly in love with you.” She reached out and took Laurie’s hand. “We’re all hoping you’ll wind up joining us, because we love Steele.”

  Rip smiled. “And, Laurie, let me assure you, emphatically, that even as a new member of the crew, if you want to have sex with Raven,” his eyes glittered, “I absolutely approve.”

  Raven laughed as she released Laurie’s hand, but the lingering feeling of her warm touch sent a shiver through Laurie. She knew all men fantasized about watching two women have sex, but … was he actually serious?

  As Laurie took a sip of her drink, she was highly aware of the men staring at her speculatively.

  Rip took a sip of his soda, then reached into his jeans pocket and pulled out his cell phone. Raven had told Laurie that there was one cell phone in the group. Generally, they didn’t care about communicating with people outside the crew, but having one just made sense.

  She wished that Steele had been carrying the phone. Then they could have contacted him. As Rip checked his messages and texts, she hoped there was one from Steele.

  Rip held the phone to his ear and listened, and his gaze shifted to Laurie, a serious expression on his face. Laurie’s stomach clenched.

  Was it bad news? Had something happened to Steele? Or did he just not want her around anymore?

  Rip put down the phone. “That was Killer. He said that if you bring in the necklace, your ex will drop the charges.”

  Laurie locked gazes with Rip, hope flaring through her. Could it really be that easy? Drop off the necklace and she would be free? She’d get her life back?

  “But he says the offer ends at ten o’clock tonight.”

  “That’s crazy. We’ll never get back to Marin Falls in time,” Raven exclaimed.

  “We might have if I’d checked messages sooner.” Rip frowned. “It’s been sitting on the phone since yesterday.”

  Raven stroked his sleeve. “Don’t blame yourself. The guy had to know it would take time for Killer to get in touch with you. He’s playing mind games.”

  Rip dialed the phone. “Killer? Yeah, I got the message. Look, there’s no way we can get back there by the deadline.” Rip glanced at Laurie. “Yeah?”

  The conversation went on and Rip mentioned the small town they’d passed through a couple of hours ago. After a few minutes, he e
nded the call.

  “Killer thinks he can work something out. He’s going to call us back.”

  “Could he be doing this to keep us here?” Laurie asked, anxiety quivering through her. “Now that he knows where we are, he could be sending someone to pick me up.”

  “I trust Killer with my life,” Rip said. “And yours.”

  Laurie nodded. The phone rang and Rip picked it up.

  “Yeah.” His gaze locked on Laurie. “Really? But that’s gotta be a five-hour ride from here.” His hands clenched into fists. “Yeah, I get it. His terms.” He listened for a while, clearly getting detailed instructions from his friend. “Okay. I’ll make sure I get her there in time.”

  He stuffed his phone into his jeans pocket and turned to Laurie.

  “Okay, we’ll have to boot it to get there in time. Laurie, you have to take the necklace to an Officer Parker, someone Killer knows and trusts. Your ex says if Parker confirms he has the necklace by ten p.m., he’ll drop the charges. And if we don’t make it, he’ll prosecute and demand the maximum sentence.”

  Laurie’s chest constricted. And with his connections and money, he’d get what he wanted.

  “Don’t look so worried, Laurie. If we leave now, we should be able to make it with time to spare.”

  Raven stood up and pulled on her jacket.

  “Laurie, where’s the necklace now?” Rip asked.

  Laurie’s gaze darted to his, and her stomach tightened. “I … gave it to Steele.”

  Also by Opal Carew

  Bliss

  Forbidden Heat

  Secret Ties

  Six

  Blush

  Swing

  Twin Fantasies

  Pleasure Bound

  Total Abandon

  Secret Weapon

  Insatiable

  Illicit

  His to Command

  His to Possess

  His to Claim

  About the Author

  Opal Carew is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of fifteen previous erotic romances for St. Martin’s Press. To learn more, visit her on the Web at www.opalcarew.com.