Rude. Left to my own devices, I called Asher. Again, straight to voice mail. Frustrated that nobody would answer my calls, I group texted them all, asking what the heck they were up to. Nobody texted back.
Jimmy dropped me off at an unmarked warehouse where a man dressed just like me waited. The bikes came to a stop on either side of me, and Cheese and Train dismounted.
“Dylan James?” the man asked, not paying the big, scary bikers any attention.
“That’s me.”
“Can I see some ID?”
Weird. I flashed it for him anyway.
“I’m Sergeant Hernandez. I’ve been sent to brief you on our situation. Please come with me, Ms. James.”
Cheese and Train took up guard by the side of the building. I looked to them for help or advice, but they didn’t say shit. The fact that they were there did make me feel better, though. Sergeant Hernandez opened the door behind him, entering the dimly-lit warehouse and I had to practically run to keep up. I passed a laser tag sign and realized what was up. Someone was playing a game with me, and I was thrilled! I wanted to squeal with delight, but I clamped my mouth closed and paid attention.
“We have a hostage situation,” the sergeant said as we walked past a handful of black dividers. The lighting was awful. Overhead fluorescents were mostly burned out.
“Who’s the hostage?” I asked, playing along.
“We’re not sure, but we were told that you can help us out with this.”
“Okay, what do you need me to do?”
He picked up what appeared to be a bulletproof vest and handed it to me. “Put this on. We’re sending you in on a rescue op.”
That sounded fun. I strapped on the vest and he handed me a laser gun. “Take this. You’ll need to fight your way in. It’s the fourth door on the left, past the dividers. If you hit the back wall, you’ve gone too far. The place is full of hostiles, so shoot anything that moves until you get to that room.”
“Got it.” I checked my weapon and made sure it didn’t have a safety.
Sergeant Hernandez smiled. “I see you’ve done this before?”
Played laser tag? A million times, but it had been a few years, and I was really looking forward to it. I nodded.
He took me to the entrance and patted me on the back. “Your future’s at stake here, Ms. James. Shoot the hostiles and rescue the hostage.”
Sergeant Hernandez was a bit intense, but it only added to the experience. Nodding, I promised to do my best and started slinking forward.
The first hostile was only a few feet from the entrance and standing in plain view. I shot him and jumped behind a divider. I took out two more on my way to the next divider. Three more went down over the next three minutes. I was feeling pretty cocky by the time I rounded the fifth divider and almost ran smack into another hostile. I startled him, and before he could get his gun aimed, I shot. His vest pinged and went dark.
The obstacle course was longer than any I’d ever seen, and it took me almost fifteen minutes before I reached the first door. As soon as I sneaked past it, it opened, and I shot the hostile coming out. A cardboard cutout flew down at me from the ceiling between the second and third doors, but I got a headshot off on it. I was having the time of my life—and getting in a decent workout—by the time I reached the fourth door on the left.
Holding the handle, I put my back against the door and slowly turned the knob. The door creaked open. It reached the halfway point before a body came flying at me. I fired two shots and pushed the dummy aside.
Asher was sitting in a chair in the middle of the room, holding a giant bouquet of tiger lilies, Gerber daisies, and others I didn’t know the names of but loved.
“Are you my prize?” I asked. “Or the hostage? Or another hostile?” I didn’t know what was up, so I didn’t lower my gun.
He set the flowers down on the chair and dropped to one knee. “Actually, I was hoping to be more a fourth option. Like your husband. Marry me, love.” His hand trembled slightly as he pulled a small box out of his pocket and held it out to me.
My heart leapt into my throat. “For real??”
He laughed. “Yes. For real.”
Tears formed in my eyes. I blinked them away and dropped my gun, nodding as I gestured for him to get up.
“This is the part where you say yes,” he said, rising.
“Yes!” It was all I could manage before his lips were on mine and familiar voices cheered in the background. I laughed, and tears ran down my cheeks, as Asher kissed me silly. By the time he finally put me down, Addison and Jake had emerged from their hiding spot behind a corner divider.
Asher slid the most gorgeous old-fashioned engagement ring that I’d ever seen onto my finger and took us all out to celebrate. I’d never been happier in my life.
“I missed you last night,” I said while we waited for our food.
“I wanted to come over, but that first night...you dropped to your knees and I swear I almost asked you to marry me right there and then. I would have been so pissed at myself for ruining the surprise.”
I laughed, my cheeks burning at the memory of that night.
“Wait, what?” Addison asked, butting in. “Dropped to her knees?”
She’d been deep in a conversation with Jake and I didn’t think she’d heard me. “Uh...” Shit! I couldn’t think of a single thing to say.
“Dylan Linn James, you had sex and you didn’t tell me?”
I didn’t answer. Keeping my gaze locked on Asher, as I silently prayed we’d poof to Asher’s house now, so I could avoid this whole conversation. Nothing happened, and the air around us was charged with tension.
“She’s staring at me, isn’t she?” I asked Asher.
Laughing, he nodded.
“Dammit.” Turning, I smiled at my bestie, hoping to derail whatever train of embarrassment was about to come roaring from her mouth.
“You know what, forget it,” Addison said. “You two can get freaky tonight, but tomorrow you have some serious explaining to do, missy. You can tell me all about this on the way to our new job.”
“New job?” Asher and Jake both asked, sounding horrified.
“Yes. One of my cousins is in need of our amazing detective services. We start tomorrow!”
Asher and Jake both groaned.
“What? It’ll be fine,” Addison assured them. “We’ve handled a bucking horse, taken down a corrupt DA, and un-framed Dylan. What could possibly happen that we can’t handle?”
“One of our cousins?” Asher asked.
Addison’s smile faltered. “Point taken. Still, relax, Ashey. We’ve totally got this.”
I smiled up at my crazy bestie, hoping she knew what she was talking about. It could happen, right?
Addison
Three months later...
Jake wrapped an arm around me and pulled me close. “Morning.”
I smiled, biting back a yawn as I scooted my butt back against his erection. “Yes, it is.”
“Don’t get me riled up, woman. We have a shit ton to do today.”
Today was our one-month anniversary. We’d been married in a small ceremony in Newport, Oregon at the aquarium. It was perfect. Only fifteen of our closest friends and family, before a party for six hundred the day after. Then Jake and I headed off to Europe for two weeks of uninterrupted sex and food, before he had to get back to the grind again.
It had been the quickest planning for an event I’d ever done and I’d organized all of it while working. Dylan and I had helped my cousin out of a pretty nasty conspiracy to commit insurance fraud when we uncovered the insurance company was defrauding their clients. And this time, no one got shot at. It was a win-win all around.
The Dogs of Fire and another MC, the Burning Saints, were dealing with the Spiders, managing to get the heat off both me and Dylan. Jake still kept vigil, using his many ‘friends’ to watch out for us when we were working, but so far, they’d kept their distance and I hadn’t had to buy any ‘tails’ dinner. Candy had been fo
und and rescued, but that was all Jake would tell me on the subject, and I decided I’d let the subject drop. Besides, I checked in on her on my own and she was, in fact, safe and sound.
Jake’s phone buzzed on the nightstand. We decided to move into his home and Dylan stayed at my condo until she felt like moving in with Asher wouldn’t send her to hell.
“Don’t answer it,” I demanded. “I need you today.”
He ignored me, reaching for his phone, and smiled. “Hey, Asher.”
I relaxed. It was Jake’s day off, but sometimes his unit felt his day off was only a suggestion.
“Yeah, we’re ready. We’ll meet you there in an hour.”
“Two,” I called out.
“Two,” he confirmed and hung up, rolling me so I was straddling him. “It’s time for me to take care of my wife.”
“Damn straight,” I said, and leaned down to kiss him.
God, I loved this man more than anyone on earth, and although, there were bumps in the road of our love story, I wouldn’t change any of it. Fighting with and for him was my greatest joy.
* * *
Asher
They say during certain important moments of your life, time seems to stop. I never understood what that meant until I paced the end of the Nita Lake Lodge Bridge in Whistler, BC. Jake waited on my right, and a local pastor stood on my left. The covered, enclosed bridge protected us from the freezing December weather while the glass sides revealed giant snowflakes falling around us. The view from the bridge was rumored to be stunning, but snowfall and fog had restricted visibility since our arrival yesterday, and we couldn’t see shit.
However, I could see my breath. Despite the fact I’d paired my warm wool suit with a thick wool overcoat and gloves, I felt like I had to keep moving so I didn’t freeze in place. Jake blew into his gloved hands and rubbed them together while the pastor, who seemed to be in his element, just waited patiently.
The wedding planner had warned us that we were crazy to hold a wedding on the bridge in the middle of December, but Dylan didn’t want an orthodox venue any more than she wanted a crowd. We’d decided on a private destination to keep the guest list non-existent. We’d planned to hold the ceremony in the lodge, but she’d taken one look at the covered space and fell in love. Dylan rarely asked for anything, and I’d be dammed if I denied her this. Still, as my fingers and toes started losing feeling, I couldn’t help but wonder if that wedding planner was right about our lack of sanity.
The woman at the other end of the bridge gestured wildly. Her name was Marjorie, and we were paying her to stand out in the cold with us and make sure everything went off without a hitch.
“That’s my cue,” Jake said, shifting. “You sure you’re ready for this, man?”
Dylan and I had been engaged for three months, and while that might seem short to some, it was three months too long for me. I was over the stolen after-work moments and late-night dates, shuffling shit from her space to mine and back again. I wanted nothing more than to come home to her every night and wake up beside her every morning.
I nodded. “Been waiting a long ass time for this.”
Chuckling, Jake strode down the bridge to the frantically waving Marjorie. She hit a button, and music started playing from the speakers. Jake ducked around the corner, only to return with my sister.
Addison wore a long lavender dress with a grey faux fur shawl. I knew the fur was faux, because Dylan had long-since opened our eyes to the inhumane acts of the fur trade, much to our mother’s chagrin. Which pretty much explained my parents’ absence on the most important day of my life. They hadn’t been invited. Neither had Dylan’s dad. Of course, he was currently serving seven years in the state pen for aggravated theft in the first degree, but that was beside the point.
As Dylan had said, we didn’t need anyone else there.
Jake and Addison only had eyes for each other as they walked up the aisle. He deposited her to the side of the preacher, kissing her cheek before retaking his place beside me. The moment they were settled, the music changed.
Dylan appeared at the bridge entrance and time stopped.
She wore a long white off-the shoulder gown with long sleeves and a white faux fur shawl. Her long red hair was up in some kind of complicated braid that gave her a regal look and stole my breath away. Snow fell behind her, a few flakes drifting into the shelter to land on her hair and kiss her bare shoulders. Her gaze met mine, and a smile curved her lips.
My vision blurred, and I saw more. Dylan tied up in our bed, me teasing her as she begged me to make her come. Dylan’s belly round with our first child, patting the bump protectively as she smiled at me. Dylan in the kitchen, baking cookies with our children, flour dusting her nose and cheeks as peals of laughter drifted around me. Dylan hanging Christmas stockings and decorating the tree, turning our home into the kind of cozy winter wonderland I dreamed of as a kid.
I would spend the rest of my life with this woman, and there wasn’t anything in the world I wanted more.
My vision cleared and time resumed. Dylan’s chest rose and fell with a huff. She squared her shoulders and began her march, staring at me the entire time. Her eyes glistened with unshed tears and sparkled with joy, and the nearer she came, the faster she walked. Apparently I wasn’t the only one beyond ready to take the plunge.
Nobody walked her down the aisle, but Marjorie followed with her phone held high. If I’d been able to pull my gaze from my bride and look at the screen, I would have seen Dylan’s grandma’s face staring back at me. Grateful to finally be free of the DA so she and Dakota could plan their own wedding, Brandy had practically begged Dylan to let her help by Skyping in her grandmother for the ceremony.
“You look amazing,” I said when Dylan came to a stop beside me.
She gave me a shy smile, ducking. “Thanks. You too.”
My body had gone numb from the cold, but the preacher must have been freezing his ass off, because he wasted no time. Passages were read, vows were exchanged, and before I knew it, Dylan and I were saying “I do” and it was time to kiss the bride.
I grabbed onto my beautiful wife and dipped her, earning a chorus of laughter from our small gathering, before giving her the least PG kiss I could get away with in front of a pastor. When I finally let her up for air, everyone cheered, and then we ran inside to get warm by the fireplace.
We were greeted and congratulated by the staff with glasses of champagne. Jake and Addison did a combined toast that managed to be both humorous and endearing. The ladies hugged and wiped their eyes as Marjorie handed me the phone. I gave her a questioning look, and she said, “She asked for you.”
“Hi,” I said, realizing I didn’t even know Dylan’s grandmother’s name.
“Grandma,” she provided. “You’re family now, Asher. Family calls me Grandma.”
It made me feel good to know at least one member of our families accepted our marriage. Smiling, I replied, “Thank you. Grandma.”
“Just you remember what I said. I’m not gonna live forever, and I’d like to see Dylan pop out at least one curtain climber before I fall prey to the long dirt nap.”
“Ohmigod, Grandma. We just got married,” Dylan said, tucking herself against my side to see the phone. “Can you not embarrass me, please?”
“The good Lord invented procreation. Ain’t nothing embarrassing about it. In fact, it’s quite enjoyable if you do it right.”
“Jesus,” Dylan swore.
Knowing I needed to step in before the conversation got out of control, I tugged Dylan closer and settled my hand over her flat stomach. “I’ll get right on that, Grandma,” I promised.
“Which means we have to hang up now. Bye Grandma,” Dylan said, clicking off the phone. “My God. I don’t know if it was a favor or the cruelest punishment ever for Brandy to teach Grandma the wonders of Skype.”
I drained the last of my champagne and set the glass down, turning to face Dylan. Her cheeks and nose were pink from the cold (or maybe
from the alcohol), and little wisps of hair had fallen lose from her braid. She looked stunning. I hooked my finger beneath her chin and gently raised it up to look at me. “What do you say, Mrs. Allen? You wanna head upstairs and try to make a baby?” I asked. “Grandma’s not getting any younger.”
She grinned at me. “I’m still on the pill, but I’d be down for a practice round or six.”
I returned her grin. “Deal.”
Abandoning Addison and Jake to their own devices, I took hold of my bride’s hand and we made a run for the elevator.
2018 Piper Davenport – 3nd Edition
Copyright © 2018 by Piper Davenport
All rights reserved.
Danielle Harris is the daughter of an overprotective police chief and has led a sheltered life. As a kindergarten teacher, she’s as far removed from the world of Harleys and bikers as you could get, but when she’s rescued by the sexy and dangerous Austin Carver, her life is changed forever.
Although Austin ‘Booker’ Carver is enamored by the innocent Dani, he tries to keep the police chief’s daughter at arm’s length. But when a threat is made from an unexpected source, he finds himself falling hard and fast for the only woman who can tame his wild heart.
Will Booker be able to find the source of the threat before it’s too late?
Will Dani finally give her heart to a man who’s everything she’s been warned about?
Danielle
I STARED DOWN at my dashboard console and willed the check engine light to stop the infernal red glow. How I got where I was, I had no freaking clue, which meant I had no freaking clue how to find the freeway entrance to get home. “You are an idiot, Dani,” I whispered out loud.
As if on a mission from the devil, my nineteen ninety-nine Honda shuddered, then backfired, slowing to a crawl as I inched forward down a non-descript side street. Why Portland didn’t have better signage was beyond me.
I jumped as my cell phone pealed in the silence of the car. Without looking at the screen, because really, I was trying not to end up dead in some obscure place I’d never been before, I flipped it open. “Hello,” I whispered.
Asher Page 19
