Burnout: A Legal Heat Novella (17 page)
Read Burnout: A Legal Heat Novella Online
Authors: Sarah Castille
After a very emotional reunion, Ace and Sam had been inseparable, although Ace often grumbled about the irony of an outlaw biker now being surrounded by cops.
“Hey, partner. Glad you guys could make it.” Gary handed her a beer. “Did you see my new bike parked outside? I got a Kawasaki Ninja ZX-14 at a sweet price from a dealer out in Surrey.”
“Jesus Christ,” Ace muttered. “You bought a fucking crotch rocket. That’s not a real bike. It’s a toy.”
“Be nice, bro,” Sam warned. “I’ve got the same bike.”
Gary, now used to Ace’s disparaging comments about foreign bikes, just laughed. “The chicks dig it, and in a race between a Harley and my Ninja, guess who’s gonna win?”
“Not the poser on the piece of tin. As soon as I get healed up, I’m gonna buy a V-Rod Muscle. Then I’ll show you how to race in style.”
Warmth flooded through Sophie at the thought of Ace riding again. He had been despondent after giving up his bike, more so than after leaving the club. Neither of them knew at the time Ice had been working behind the scenes to take the last few members of Hades down. Only three months after Ace had left the club, the police had arrested the former Hades members on more than a dozen charges for drug trafficking and weapons offences. Ryder had shut down the club and showed up at their door with Ice, Kickstand, Spook, and Mop in tow. Four hours and two cases of beer later, they had plans in place for a new club with a new set of bylaws. Six men and a dream.
Ace put his arm around Sophie and she looked up and grinned. “I’ll be waiting for you at the finish line. My Harley Street 750 can do zero to sixty in four point six seconds. I tested it out after work.”
His arm tightened around her and his smile faded. “Don’t want you racing your little hoglet, babe. Too dangerous.”
“Seriously?” She pulled away. “You’re the one who told me Harley made bikes for women. You’re the one who dragged me to the bike show and made me sit on it. You took me to the dealer and had me test-drive it. What was I supposed to do when I felt all that power between my thighs?”
Ace bent down and whispered in her ear. “I’ll give you power between your thighs. You just say the word.” He wrapped an arm around her and pulled her close. His cock felt like a steel pipe in his jeans, and Sophie moaned ever so softly.
“You are insatiable.”
“That’s ’cause I found a sweet and sexy cop who needed some biker lovin’.” He lifted her onto the counter and eased himself between her hips. “Except she only wanted one night.”
“Turns out I was wrong about that.” She nuzzled his neck. “One night wasn’t enough.”
“I knew it wouldn’t be enough the first time I laid eyes on you.” Ace wrapped his arms around her and held her tight.
“What else did you know?” She tipped her head back and stared into his eyes, searching into his soul.
He leaned down and kissed her, soft and sweet. “I knew you were going to be mine.”
* * *
Thank you so much for reading
Burnout
. I hope you enjoyed it! Stay up to date on my new releases by signing up for my newsletter at
sarahcastille.com/subscribe
. And don’t forget to check out Ice and Lana’s story in the excerpt from
Barely Undercover
below:
Barely Undercover
Legal Heat Series, Book 2
By: Sarah Castille
Warning: The book contains violence, explicit sex, light bondage, heavy swearing, motorcycle sexy times, badass biker naughty times, and an exceptionally hot hero who will get down and dirty anywhere but under the covers.
EXCERPT from Chapter One
A shiver coursed up Lana’s spine, and she shook her head to loosen her tongue. “I’m meeting someone.”
Rex’s rough, gravelly voice deepened. “Right now, you’re meeting me.” His gaze crawled over her, unleashing a wave of cockroaches under her skin. By the time his eyes returned to her face, a cold, sticky sweat covered her body.
With all the faux bravado she could muster, she gave him a tight smile and took a step back. “And…the meeting is over. Nice to meet you. Goodbye.”
His arm shot out, grabbing her shoulder, holding her in place. “Usually when I see a cop, I get an itch in my trigger finger. I look at you and I get an itch somewhere else. Ditch the boyfriend. One night with me and you’ll forget he exists.”
An itch? She suspected it might have to do more with his extramarital affairs and visits to the Seymour Street brothels than a desire to hump and pump with a curvy redhead in a dirty cop costume. Talk about putting a girl off.
Rex smiled, all nicotine-stained teeth and ashtray breath. “Yeah. I can see it in your eyes. You know what I’m talking about.”
What did he see exactly? Fear? Disgust? Or her desperate need to find the number for the local STD clinic?
Lana gave him a vacant smile as she considered her options.
Option #1: Find a boyfriend.
Heart thumping, she looked around the bar for a pseudo boyfriend—someone big, strong and sufficiently threatening. No one measured up except…maybe…Master Tony? She raked her eyes over the tall, broad frame of the club’s owner, but when he turned to greet someone at the door, she gave a little sigh. He had been less than pleased the last time she’d sneaked into the club. She doubted he would help her once he discovered she’d sneaked in again.
Option #2: Run.
Excellent option. Lana wrenched herself from Rex’s grasp and took a step toward the door.
Damn.
Three bikers, two wearing the Hades patch, and one so young he had to be a prospect, were making their way through the crowd toward Rex. Blocking her path.
Lana’s pulse pounded in her ears. Rex was bad enough. But four bikers? It was almost like being back in the Wolverines’ clubhouse with Levi all over again.
The tallest of the three had swept back his long, dark hair and tied it at nape of his neck in a ponytail. Dark eyes, olive skin and a broad, hard body to match the strong planes of his striking face. Yum…even though he was a biker.
“Ryder.” Rex shook the hand of Mr. Deep, Dark and Delicious.
Ryder’s gaze flicked to Lana. He tilted his head to the side, giving her first a considered look, and then a sympathetic smile. He turned back to Rex. “I thought we were here for a meeting, not to pick up fender fluff.”
Lana grimaced at the backhanded compliment. She knew the slang. He thought she was pretty. Anything less and she would have been a “fender bunny” or even worse, a “mattress cover.”
Lucky her. Well, at least he hadn’t made fun of her hair. Usually men made some reference to the inferno on her head—Carrots, Ginger Snap, Big Red, Fire Bush, Rusty, Copper Top, Flame Brain, Matchstick Head or her current favorite, Red Zilla.
“You know what they say, ‘red in the head, fire in the bed.’” The second biker, a barrel-chested thick-necked bruiser with crazy dreadlocks, gave her a lascivious wink and an oh-so-enticing crotch grab.
“Good one, Bones.” Rex thumped the thick-necked thug on the back. “I was thinking that myself.”
Lana rolled her eyes. Oh ha-ha-ha. So funny. As if she hadn’t heard that one before. Some day she’d meet a man who could insult her hair with some originality.
“Leave the girl alone. We’ve got a meeting to get underway.” Ryder gave her a wink and stepped to the side, clearing her path to the door.
Rex gripped Lana’s arm just as she took her first step to freedom. “You jealous, Ryder? Been a long time since you had a back warmer.”
“Maybe he’s bent.” The prospect, a blond Adonis who looked like he should be playing high school football instead of pledging to join a biker gang, gave Rex an obsequious smile and was rewarded with a slap to the head.
“You’re an idiot, Kickstand,” Rex growled. “You don’t disrespect a full-patch brother when you don’t even have the right to breathe without his permission.”
Kickstand stumbled into Lana from the force of the blow, knocking her off-balance and out of Rex’s grasp. With incredible dexterity, Kickstand caught her before she fell.
“Sorry,” Kickstand murmured as he helped her balance. “I don’t usually make a habit of knocking down pretty girls just to get their attention. Every time I’m around these guys I do something wrong.”
She gave him a soft, reassuring smile, but her heart went out to him. He was trying so hard to fit in. She’d seen dozens of prospects like him during her time with Levi—young and desperate to be part of what they perceived to be the glamorous word of bikerdom. Very few were accepted and fewer still earned their patch. Kickstand would never make the cut. Too good-looking, too kind-hearted and too eager to please. What the hell was he doing with Hades?
While Rex, Bones and Ryder lamented the lack of good prospects in the biker world, Lana edged her way toward the door, only to be cut off again, this time by a late arrival.
Almost as tall as Rex and Ryder, the new biker was lean, lithe and powerful, with a narrow waist and long, hard thighs. His thick, dark hair just brushed his collar. His eyes were an unusual steel blue.
A familiar steel blue. Her heart stuttered in her chest.
James?
No, it couldn’t be.
She blinked her eyes. Once. Twice. Was it him? Two years had passed since she’d last seen Heartless Bastard. The man in front of her had the same physique, strong nose and chiseled jaw. But the James she knew had kept his hair military short and would have been appalled to sport a five o’clock shadow, much less three days’ worth of stubble over his unyielding chin. James was a cop through and through. No way would he ever join Hades.
As if sensing her perusal, he frowned. “Take off the glasses.” The velvet rasp of his deep baritone voice sent tiny quivers of need straight to her core.
Heart pounding, she took a step back and inadvertently hit Rex’s chest. “Take them off, pet,” Rex snapped. “Ice isn’t a man who asks twice.”
Ice.
He had a road name, and from the mini salivating puppies on the front of his jacket, he was full patch. He was no prospect, like Kickstand, currying favor in the hopes of being allowed to join the club. He was a fully initiated member of Hades.
Swallowing hard, Lana removed her glasses and stared down at the fishnet stockings peeking out of her boots like a hundred crisscrossing lines of black gunpowder. One of the garters was still loose, leaving her even more exposed—as if that was possible—to the explosive heat of his gaze.
“Look at me,” Ice demanded. His rich, husky voice rolled through her, stirring longings she had hidden away in the darkest recesses of her memory. Heat settled at the juncture of her thighs, her nipples tightened and her mouth went dry.
Disconcerted by her body’s responses and unable to meet his gaze, she looked away.
Ice cupped her jaw and firmly turned her face toward him, pulling her away from Rex. Her gaze locked with eyes now as deep blue as the ocean. Commanding, captivating eyes. Framed by thick lashes. But it wasn’t his eyes that finally sparked her recognition; it was the aura of pure power that hit her like the painful thud of her heart when she had realized he was never coming back.
He stroked his thumb over the apple of her cheek, the gesture at once comforting and familiar. A tangled web of emotions swept through her body like a firestorm. The world fell away.
James.
Heartless Bastard.
Lana swallowed hard and fought the warring urges to kiss him and slap him across the face.
For a split second, his breathing hitched and his eyes widened. He glanced over at Rex and back to her. His expression shifted from curious to considering, and she caught a gleam in his eyes. Calculating. Determined.
Did he recognize her? Two years ago she had been twenty pounds heavier, her pale complexion marked with freckles and her curly hair just brushing the top of her shoulders. Two years ago she had been stupid and naive, thinking she had found a man she could actually trust—someone who would never hurt her.
Now she knew better. And that kind of knowledge changed a girl. Made her immune to a Heartless Bastard’s bone-melting cheek stroking and irresistible charms.
She slapped his hand away and, boy, did it feel good.
“Roxie.” His sharp tone snapped her out of her reverie, but not as much as his warm hand clasping her own. “What the hell are you doing here, dressed like that? I almost didn’t recognize you.”
Want to read the rest?
Barely Undercover
is available in all e-book formats, paperback and digital audio. And if you’re looking for more sexy bikers, try the
Sinner’s Tribe Motorcycle Club
series.
Legal Heat Series (Erotic Romantic Suspense)
Burnout
Sinner’s Tribe Motorcycle Club Series (Contemporary Romance)
Redemption Series (Erotic Romance)
Fighting Attraction (coming soon)
Club Excelsior Series (Erotic Romance)
Anthologies
After graduating from law school,
New York Times
and
USA Today
bestselling author, Sarah Castille, practiced law on the West Coast and then with one of the world’s largest law firms in London, England for many years. She obtained a Masters degree in law and traveled extensively before returning to Canada where she began writing novels about hot, sexy alpha males and the women who tame them. After her first book, Legal Heat, won prizes in nine Romance Writers’ Association chapter contests, Sarah decided to take a break from the practice of law to pursue a writing career.
Sarah writes erotic and contemporary romance and romantic suspense for St. Martin’s Press, Sourcebooks Casablanca and Samhain Publishing. Her books have been listed as Publisher’s Weekly’s Top Ten Picks and Best Summer Reads, Amazon’s Best Romance Books of the Year, and have appeared at #1 on Amazon’s Erotic Romance bestseller lists, as well as being selected as “Must Read Erotic Romance of the Year.”
