“Fuck,” he said, his face crumpling with emotion. He tried to cover it with his hand, and the show of emotion reached into her chest and squeezed her heart. “You saved me,” he said, his voice cracking a little.
Haven smiled, completely overwhelmed by the perfection of the moment. “We saved each other.”
Dare heaved a deep, shaky breath. “You’re pretty fucking awesome. You know that?” he asked.
Her smile slipped into a grin. “I really am.”
He gave a little coughing laugh and groaned at the same time. “Can’t . . . laugh,” he gasped.
“I’m sorry.” She stroked his hair back off his face.
“Don’t ever be sorry for making me happy, Haven. Because you do. Happier than I’ve ever been in my life. I didn’t realize how little I’d been living all these years until you came along. So, yeah, we saved each other. And I just can’t let you go. Not today. Not ever.”
Which was exactly what Haven wanted to hear. “That’s all I need, Dare. You’re all I need. We’ll figure the rest out.”
His fingers toyed clumsily with a long strand of her hair. “Yeah, we fucking will,” he said, strength filtering into his voice. “One day, one night, one ride at a time.”
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The idea for the Raven Riders, a different kind of a motorcycle club with a protective mission at its heart, was inspired by a real-life organization—BACA, Bikers Against Child Abuse (www.bacaworld.org). BACA works with referring agencies to create a safer environment for abused children. Working with state and local officials, BACA members provide emotional support and a physical presence to help children feel safer and shield them and their families from retaliation or intimidation, often for the length of a police investigation and any court proceedings. I admire what they do so much I wanted to pay homage to the spirit of their mission in the Raven Riders.
A book is always the result of a collaboration, which was definitely the case with this one. Thank you to Amanda Bergeron for believing in the Ravens and for offering such thoughtful and insightful editorial guidance on the book. It’s an amazing experience to have an editor really get your voice and vision and characters, all of which has made Amanda a great partner on all eight (!) of the books we’ve now done together. I appreciate that so much.
Thanks also to my agent, Kevan Lyon, who is always such an incredible source of support and encouragement. And thanks to KP Simmon for her positivity, generous spirit, and all the fantastic work she does on all of my books. It’s an invaluable experience to work with such amazing women and have them on your side.
Next I have to thank fellow authors Christi Barth, who read the book right behind me and offered great comments, and Lea Nolan, who helped me out of more than one plotting problem. Their support, friendship, cheerleading, and help mean the world.
My next word of thanks goes to Liz Berry of the 1001 Dark Nights project for helping me kick off this series with my novella Hard As Steel. That opportunity gave me the chance to introduce readers to the Raven Riders world, and I appreciate her innovative, generous, and enthusiastic spirit so much. Thanks, Liz!
As always, I couldn’t finish a single book without the amazing support and help from my family, so thank you to my husband and daughters! Much love to you! And thank you to the Heroes, my street team of awesome, who do so much for me—you guys rock!
Finally, thanks to the readers who allow my characters into their hearts so they can tell their stories again and again. Your support is everything. Ride on, my friends. Ride on.
~LK
Keep reading for an inside look
at the next heart-poundingly sexy novel
in Laura Kaye’s new Raven Riders series,
RIDE ROUGH
Coming Fall 2016 from Avon Books
Maverick Rylan stared at the flower-draped casket and hoped this was the last funeral he and his brothers had to attend for a long damn time. This loss hit him and everyone in the Raven Riders Motorcycle Club particularly hard—because it had happened on their own turf. Inside their own clubhouse. And the victim—prospective member Jeb Fowler—had been too young and too good to get taken out in cold blood.
The proof of Jeb’s goodness was sitting right beside Maverick. Bunny McKeon, Maverick’s mother, whose face still bore the bruises and scratches from where she’d been struck and her mouth duct taped. But she was alive because Jeb had taken the bullet intended for her when a group of lowlife criminals had broken into the clubhouse looking for something—or someone—that wasn’t theirs.