Soothing His Madness (18 page)

He opened the door
to Lee and Kurt standing in the hallway. "Yeah, son?"

"We're
home." Lee peeked around Slade's hip. "I'm hungry."

"Go wash up,
and I'll order pizza." Taylor stood, tightening her robe.

Kurt slugged his
brother before pulling him down the hallway. Slade turned back to Taylor.
"You ready for family night?"

She walked over and
stood in front of him, stretching on her toes to give him a kiss.
"Absolutely."

He watched her sway
her ass down the hallway and disappear into the bathroom. He stood staring at the
changes in his life. The new bed, a bathroom made especially for him, his kids
happy, and he went to sleep with the taste of his woman on his tongue every
damn night. He couldn't imagine living any other way.

The End

Author Bio

Top Selling Romance Author, Debra Kayn, lives with her
family at the foot of the Bitterroot Mountains in beautiful Idaho. She enjoys
riding motorcycles, playing tennis, fishing, and driving the men crazy in the
garage.

Her love of family ties and laughter makes her a
natural to write heartwarming contemporary stories to the delight of her
readers. Oh, let's cut to the chase. She loves to write about 
REAL
MEN 
and the 
WOMEN
 who love them.

When Debra was nineteen years old, a man kissed her
without introducing himself. When they finally came up for air, the first words
out of his mouth were…will you have my babies? Considering Debra's weakness for
a sexy, badass man, who is strong enough to survive her attitude, she said yes.
A quick wedding at the House of Amour and four babies later, she's living her
own romance book.

Website:
www.debrakayn.com

Twitter:
www.twitter.com/DebraKayn

Facebook:
www.facebook.com/DebraKaynFanPage

Debra Kayn's Backlist

Breathing His Air – Bantorus Motorcycle Club

Aching To Exhale – Lagsturns Motorcycle Club

Archer, A Hard Body Novel, book 1

Weston, A Hard Body Novel, book 2

Biker Babe in Black, The Chromes and Wheels Gang, book 1

Ride Free, The Chromes and Wheels Gang, book 2

Healing Trace

Wildly, Playing For Hearts, book 1

Seductively, Playing For Hearts, book 2

Conveniently, Playing For Hearts, book 3

Secretly, Playing For Hearts, book 4

Surprisingly, Playing For Hearts, book 5 (releases April 2014)

Chantilly's Cowboy, The Sisters of McDougal Ranch, book 1

Val's Rancher, The Sisters of McDougal Ranch, book 2

Margot's Lawman, The Sisters of McDougal Ranch, book 3

Florentine's Hero, The Sisters of McDougal Ranch, book 4

Suite Cowboy

Homemade Hijinks

Resurrecting Charlie's Girl

Betraying the Prince

Love Rescued Me

Double Agent

Where There's Smoke

Sneak Peek at Chapter One –
Aching To Exhale

Chapter One

Close to twenty
motorcycles, parked in one perfect line, took up the sidewalk outside High and
Dry Lounge. Crystal Rose hesitated for a heartbeat before continuing to walk
through the parking lot. The eleven months since losing Raul Sanchez and the
Lagsturns Motorcycle Club had reduced her to paranoia.

Every biker driving by
left her weak. Men of Latino descent caused her to take a second look, half
hoping it was Raul, and panic at the thought it could be him.

It was never him.

Crystal hurried through
the double doors into work. She'd stayed too long in one place for her comfort.
That had to be the reason why her legs shook and her nerves were raw and on
edge. She hefted her bag over her shoulder. In two more weeks, she'd have
enough money to move on.

"Crystal, you're
late." Dean, her boss, hurried out from behind the bar and pushed her
through the lounge toward the back dressing room.

"I'm twenty
minutes early." She glanced behind her as she walked. "I took the
number three bus to make sure I arrived before my first set."

"I switched your
schedule with Ella. Her kid's sick and she's not going to make it in to open
the show. I would've called, but you haven't left a phone number in the
office." Dean planted his hand on her back and catapulted her through the
swinging door to the dressing room. "You've got five minutes to get on
stage and make the men happy."

"Shit," she
mumbled, throwing her bag down.

She stripped out of her
old baggy Jimmy Hendrix T-shirt and black yoga pants she'd bought at Goodwill
when she'd arrived in Palm Springs. Staying in the rough part of town forced
her to take precautions with her appearance. She dumbed down her style to make
sure no one followed her to the job or back to the motel after work. Dancing
for money was a filthy job, but she was good at what she did.

In a desperate need to
hide against the reality of her life, she stood in front of the mirror, applied
heavy black eyeliner, and sprayed her hair out so far from her head Whitesnake
would hire her over Tawny Kitaen for their next video. Then she dressed in her
skimpy two-piece, deep purple colored bikini she'd altered with silver sequins
and black tassels.

Five minutes later, she
sauntered out onto the unlit stage. She looked below the dim lounge lights at
the men crowding the stage, and raised her gaze to the darkened shadows
standing in the back. Everything appeared normal, if not a bit quieter than
usual for a Saturday night.

Grabbing the pole, she
waited for the lights operator to put the spotlight on her. Prepared for the
onslaught of blindness, she swung into her routine with practiced ease. Her
show was simple, really.

She pretended she was
alone. The pole was Raul. He'd often stand in the middle of the room at the
club and let her dance circles around him. Too tough, too smooth, too guarded
to let himself have fun in front of the other bikers, but there was always
something about the way he watched her when she danced for him that told her he
enjoyed what she was doing.

She could almost feel
the soft denim of his worn jeans in her mind. She hooked her calf around the
pole. The warmth of his body, rock solid, standing there, soaking her all in.
She let her head fall back as her hair swept the floor. How many times had he
whispered
'mi vida'
with his silver tongue, knowing it made her wet for
him?

Her circular momentum
stopped and she straddled the pole. She reached above her and pulled herself
against the apparatus. Hand over hand, the pole warmed to the touch by the
lights shining on her gave the illusion it was alive. Raul always put up with a
lot from her, but the moment she finished dancing, he'd hook her neck and pull
her in for a kiss.

God, the man could
kiss. He made love with his tongue, caressing her soul, and she was powerless
to deny him anything he wanted. She turned and leaned her back against her
prop, reached above her, and slid into a squat.

The music quickened,
and she grasped the pole with both hands, took two running steps, and held
herself horizontal to the floor as she descended. Around and around, until her
foot skimmed the floor and the lights went out. She lay there, dizzy.

She should've eaten
today.

She pushed herself off
the floor and straightened. Three steps toward the back of the stage, she ran
into a solid wall. She braced her hands against the barrier and clutched
leather. She inhaled. Sweet mint and leather with a hint of tobacco curled her
toes.

Adrenaline flooded her
veins, fear stole her breath, and despite her fight or flight response, her
fingers sprawled against his chest, grabbing as much of him as she could before
she escaped. She pushed. "Let me go."

"Not this time.
Scream or fight me and every man in here will wish he hadn't come
tonight." Raul slipped her hand into his, holding her solidly in place and
led her off the stage.

She tugged on her arm
to get away, but he never budged and he wasn't letting go. A scream built in
her chest, but stayed locked inside of her. For how much she feared being in
the hands of the Lagsturns MC again, she couldn't make herself bring trouble
down on Raul's head.

Outside in the parking
lot, she jerked her hand out of his grasp and faced him under the glow of the
streetlight. The only man who could cause her heart to stop beating stood in
front of her, his eyes blacker than death. Her chest tightened, making her ache
to exhale. Raul Sanchez's appearance back into her life meant trouble wasn't
far behind.

Confident, on the verge
of cocky, Raul rocked back on the heels of his biker boots, slipped his fingers
into the pockets of his faded black Levi's and gazed at her intently, waiting
her out. She dropped her gaze to his chest. A white T-shirt with the arms cut
off to fit his muscular frame—he hated the tightness across his shoulders—and
the Lagsturns' cut proved she wasn't dreaming. She swallowed in distress, but
the way her stomach tightened at seeing him called her a liar for being afraid.

His Latino charm and
drop dead sexy good looks made her a devote believer in what could only be
described as her cult-ish love for him. Her breath hitched in her chest and her
tongue stuck to the roof of her mouth.

She soaked in the man
who'd owned her for nine months, treated her better than he did his Harley
Davidson, showed her the world from his eyes, and set her body on fire—in the
best possible way.

Then he'd changed.

"Are you
done?" He lifted his brow.

She straightened her
back and crossed her arms, suddenly aware she only had on three triangles of purple
material and sequins, and he'd caught her ogling him. "I have two more
shows."

"That's not what
I'm talking about and you know it." He stepped forward and lowered his
voice. "I can make you come with me or you can relive old times and climb
onto the back of my bike, plaster yourself against my body, and love doing
it."

She shivered
remembering how much she enjoyed riding with him and going by the upward curl
of his lip, he knew what she was thinking. She planted both of her hands on his
chest and shoved. "I'm not going anywhere with you. I need to work."

Instead of letting her
leave, he dipped and grabbed her around her thighs, throwing her over his
shoulders. Disoriented and upside down, she grabbed on to the back of his jeans
and kicked her feet. "Damn you, put me down."

He slapped her ass. She
screamed, hating the way the desire to escape him fled. Each step away from the
lounge marked by an exhale pushed out of her body as she bounced on his
shoulder.

Raul stopped and heaved
her off his shoulder and into his arms, letting her slowly slide along his rock
hard body until she stood on solid ground again. She held on to him as the
world righted itself and she was no longer dizzy.

Her reflection shone in
his dark obsidian colored eyes. She looked away out of guilt.

In the past, she'd
begged, bargained, used, lied to earn her way back into Raul's good graces, and
failed miserably. In her desperation to save their relationship, she'd made a
fool of herself and found herself escorted onto a bus heading out of town and
fearing for her life.

That fear kept her from
returning to Southern Oregon, home to the Lagsturns Motorcycle Club. Back to
the one man she loved.

Not that she regretted
her time with him, never that. She'd go back in a heartbeat if it was safe to
stay with him. It was the guilt of keeping secrets from Raul that she
regretted. She wasn't good enough for a man like Raul Sanchez, and she'd never
be able to tell him what forced her into hiding from the world.

Raul hooked her neck,
bringing her attention back to him. "I'm going to get on my bike, and
you're going to climb on behind me."

That's when the truth
hit her upside the head. Whatever Raul asked her to do, she'd do her best to
make sure she made him happy. Because in her heart, she could never tell him
no…and that was part of their problem.

She swallowed hard,
glancing down the line of riders waiting for her to follow their president's
orders. God, she missed them. "Fine. Let me get my clothes and bag
first."

He walked over to his
bike, opened his saddlebag, and tossed her a pair of jeans and his leather
coat. "There's no time. We need to roll."

She shoved her legs in
his jeans and held the waist. He helped her on the back of his bike. Before she
could question him, he sped off into the night. She wrapped her arms around his
waist and closed her eyes. For now, she'd take what she could from him. When he
calmed down and allowed her to talk, she'd ask him to let her go, for both
their sakes.

—Available at all
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