The cold had been getting to him lately. I must be getting soft, Shade thought wryly to himself. He would have to remedy that soon; he couldn’t afford to be soft.
Protecting Lily kept him on his toes. He had never known a woman who managed to always be in the wrong place at the wrong time as often as her. She needed his skills and strength to keep her safe, and keeping Lily safe was his number one priority. Without her, he didn’t want to think what life would be like for him or others who would be unlucky enough to be near.
He stomped the snow off his boots before going inside the small office building. It was late enough that there wouldn’t be anyone to see him enter.
Making his way to the office of Knox’s wife, he bent over the lock, taking a few minutes to open the door. Then, sliding inside, he made his way into her private office and went to the window which gave him the view he had come to observe.
As he watched Brooke lay her son down in his crib to sleep, in hindsight, Shade thought he should have known Lily would change his life. It had taken two women to satisfy him the night after seeing her for the first time and then hours before he could purge her from his mind enough to sleep. And that had only been the beginning.
Standing in the darkness, staring at the church across the street, his mind played back over the series of events that had led him to that place in time…
Chapter 1
“What are you staring at?” Razer asked, turning away from the sheriff who was pretending he didn’t know them while inspecting their motorcycles.
Shade nodded toward the two women standing on the sidewalk across the street. His dick grew hard while staring at the young woman delicately eating an ice cream cone, imagining her tongue flicking against his cock as she sucked on him.
A low whistle had Shade glancing at Razer, who was staring as avidly as he was.
A reaction he had never had before flooded through his bloodstream. At first, he didn’t recognize it, but the longer Razer stared, the feeling became stronger.
Possession.
Shade managed to gather control long enough to notice the details of the woman who had stopped his breath. Her long, black hair fell in waves down her back, almost touching the curve of her ass. She was tall and slim, which was different from the women he usually fucked. He liked curvier women. They didn’t break as easily from his demands. He also preferred large breasts, which the woman seemed to have from what he could tell under her loose dress. What held his attention, though, were the violet eyes which seemed to hold a wealth of pain he wanted to soothe away.
“Damn, I need to take that ice cream away and give her something better to lick,” Razer hissed in a lust-thickened voice.
Shade stared at him sharply, about to slam his fist into his face.
“Wonder if that blond hair is real or if she dyes it?”
Shade’s fury evaporated at his question. He had barely noticed the blond. The women were complete opposites—one as fair as the other was dark.
“Those two are hands-off.” The sheriff’s quiet remark drew his attention. “That’s Beth and Lily Cornett.”
Shade’s stomach sank. They were the women responsible for them being in Treepoint, Kentucky. When Cash, a brother from The Last Riders, had asked Shade’s father to check on the women, it had led to the club taking an interest in the town. Then he had learned the innocuous town was a vital part of a highly sophisticated system of drug trafficking, and Viper, their club president, had sent his brother Gavin in to set up a factory, which they would use as a front to establish themselves in community. At the same time that was going down, Lucky had been instructed to go undercover with the ATF, further increasing their odds of stopping the drugs flowing through the town. The result had been something none of them had anticipated.
Gavin had been murdered.
The Last Riders moved into the large home, and Viper was determined to find his brother’s killer. Each of the brothers had his role to play in the small community until Viper had the information he wanted, one being the secrecy of Shade’s relationship with his father, who happened to be the sheriff.
Shade saw the blond glancing furtively at Razer, but the dark-haired one never looked in his direction.
“Which is the one with dark hair?” Shade didn’t take his eyes off her.
“Lily, and she’s too young for you. She’s only seventeen.”
Shade didn’t do kids. He forced his gaze away, not looking back at the young woman again despite the constant pull he felt.
They followed the sheriff into his office for their new motorcycle licenses while Shade reminded himself she was too fucking young to deal with a man of his experience and desires. By the time he came back outside, the two women were gone.
Razer climbed onto his bike, not looking any happier than him.
“Which one did you have your eye on?” Razer asked casually.