AJ Read online

  She stopped taking photos then and looked at him. “That’s sad. I always wished I had a brother or sister. My dad was an only child but my mother has four siblings and between them they have seventeen kids. I loved holidays when I was little and I was always so jealous of my cousins that they had each other. I don’t know what happened between you and your sister, but I think maybe the old man gave you some sound advice. But, that’s just my opinion. What restaurant?”

  “Likan, downtown.”

  “Oh! I love that place.” Ama had told her the word likan meant sweet, tasty, or palatable and she had thought it fitting for what she’d had there that night. Everything was delicious. “I think I actually met your sister. This beautiful woman greets the guests as they come in, and she said she was one of the owners. Is her name Yanaha?”

  “Yeah, that’s her. She was born three months early at only 2.4 pounds. My father and mother said she was a fighter from the start so they named her Brave.”

  “That’s awesome. I know it’s impossible to tell from a five-minute conversation, but she seemed very nice.”

  He smiled. “She is very nice. I’m just not as brave as she is.” He laughed then and said, “I’ll go see her soon. Let’s talk more about you.”

  The walk around the zoo took them a few hours. They stopped a lot for Jolene to take photos and she was both surprised and delighted to find how easy she could talk to him. She told him about her father and working with him on his fishing boat when she was younger. She’d taken some of her first photos out on the Mississippi River and along the coast of Mexico and she had won several awards for them at the children’s art show in New Orleans. AJ opened up more as the day went on and he talked a lot about his dad. Jolene could tell how much he loved and respected his father and she also suspected that was what was keeping him running the construction company that he felt was choking him. She had conflicting feelings about all his talk about freedom. She loved the feeling of being free and she could totally understand seeking it, but she really liked AJ too and her mind was already going to when she’d ever get to see him again once they both left Phoenix.

  It was while they were having lunch that something her own father told her came to her mind. He used to say people wasted too much time on the future and the past and in doing so, they often completely missed the present. She decided then that she was going to just concentrate on that day. She was having so much fun with AJ, she didn’t want to ruin it by overthinking things.

  As they were leaving the zoo AJ looked up at the dark clouds in the sky and then stopped and looked at her and said, “Have you had the pleasure of experiencing one of our crazy monsoons?” Jolene knew that monsoon season ran from mid-June to mid-September in the US and that Arizona was one of the frequently affected states, but she had yet to experience one.

  She loved rain so she smiled and said, “No, but I hope they have one before I leave.” AJ pointed up at the clouds hanging low over one of the tall red mountains in the distance and said:

  “I should probably check the weather on my phone to be sure, but that looks like one stirring up to me.”

  Jolene felt a trickle of excitement, but then suddenly remembered how they’d gotten there and that it was over a four-hour drive back to Phoenix. The smile fell from her face as AJ took out his phone and pulled up the weather. She’d loved the ride there, but she wasn’t sure about a four-hour ride back in heavy rain. “What does it say?” she asked AJ.

  He looked up at her and with a questioning look and a little smile he said, “That maybe we should get a hotel room and wait it out?”

  She didn’t know what to say. Was he just trying to get her into a hotel room? Did she care? She laughed at that question. She wasn’t in the habit of having sex on the first date, but it had been a while for her, and AJ was so sexy and she really liked him. She’d promised herself not to overthink things...and they had established that they were both “legal” earlier...

  “You think that’s best?”

  “I know it sounds like the worst pickup line ever, but I’m kind of new to this Harley thing and I couldn’t live with myself if anything happened to you because of me.” He showed her the phone. The rain was supposed to start within the next hour and there was a little banner that warned of hazardous winds. She felt guilty, or maybe just silly for thinking he was just trying to get her into bed.

  Smiling, and hoping he hadn’t been able to read her thoughts she said, “I didn’t think you were trying to ‘pick me up,’” she lied. “I think you’re right, better safe than sorry. I don’t have anything I have to be back for tonight. I’ll just call Ama so she doesn’t worry.”

  “Alright then,” he said. “It looks like we have an hour or two before the storm hits. You want to drive a little bit and see what we find?” There was a motel right next to the zoo, an economy one, but that was all Jolene was really going to be able to afford. She didn’t want to be argumentative or pushy, though, so she said:

  “Sure.” They got back on the bike and Jolene found herself enjoying hugging up to AJ so much that she almost hoped he changed his mind and drove them back to Phoenix. She was enjoying the feel of him so much in fact that she didn’t even realize he’d gone toward New Mexico rather than Phoenix when they left the zoo. Soft drops of rain had started falling just about the time he got off the highway near Gallup and pulled into the parking lot of a beautiful, scenic....and very expensive-looking resort. AJ pulled toward the valet area and stopped the bike. Taking off his helmet he said:

  “How does this one look?”

  Jolene laughed, nervously. It looked like it would cost her two weeks’ worth of her budget. “Um...really nice, but...um...”

  He smiled. “I’m buying.”

  “Oh no, I can pay my part,” she said.

  “Nope. I drove by all those two-star motels because I didn’t want you to have to spend our first date huddled in a room eating takeout. This place has a four-star restaurant, an indoor pool and sauna, a gift shop where we can get some clothes since neither of us packed a bag...”

  “AJ, that’s all really nice, but it’s a bit much.”

  He got off the bike so he didn’t have to look at her over his shoulder and said, “Look at it this way, please. You’re leaving soon. I have to go back to Tempe and reality soon. I’m not sure when we’ll see each other again and I really like you. We’ve both done a lot of talking today about freedom and spontaneity. Let me put my money where our mouths are,” he said with a grin and a wink. “Believe me, I can afford it and it won’t even make a dent.”

  Jolene was still thinking of protesting. It all seemed too much...but then AJ did something crazy, or sexy, or sweet...she wasn’t sure what to call it. He took her chin in his hands again and brought his face down to hers. He swiped his lips across hers, very slowly, and it made her body convulse. With his face still only a millimeter from her face he said, “Please, let me do this. I’m not being a perv. I’ll get you your own room.” She was still shuddering as she tried to speak. She wasn’t sure she wanted her own room, but she was sure she wanted to spend more time with him, and she wanted to taste more of his lips.

  “Okay,” she said, sounding breathless. He smiled and she wondered if he knew how sexy he was. Of course he did. He had to. She just wasn’t sure what he saw in her...but today, she wasn’t going to question it either.

  10

  Phoenix, Arizona

  Beck was going out of her mind with boredom by the time she heard Jace’s Harley coming up the driveway. She loved the idea of having their baby and she wanted it to be healthy, but if she had to spend the next seven months sitting in that house, she would lose her mind. Jace had called her before he left California that morning and told her to get the guestroom ready because they were going to have company. He didn’t tell her who it was but all she hoped was that they were deaf or at least hard of hearing. She was horny as hell for her man and she didn’t want to have to be quiet about it.

  When the sound
s of the engines got closer she ran out on the porch. She could see Jace’s shadow, big and muscular on the back of his hog...and she wanted to run out there to him and fuck him on the spot. She was smiling as he pulled up in front of the house. She could see Vic’s bike in her peripheral vision but she wasn’t looking at anything but Jace. As soon as he shut off the bike, she was off the porch and in his arms. Jace pulled her up into a hot kiss and for a second she almost forgot that Vic was sitting there watching. It was Jace who broke the kiss and slid her down to her feet. He looked over at Vic then and said, “Beck, this is Madison.”

  Madison? What the fuck? She whipped her head around and saw a tiny little woman...girl, really...step off the back of Vic’s bike. The girl pulled off her helmet, revealing long brown hair and a huge pair of eyes that made her look like one of those nocturnal animals in the reptile house at the zoo, Beck thought. “Hey,” Beck managed. What the hell was Jace thinking, bringing a woman home to live with them? Was he starting to collect club girls since the clubhouse was almost finished?

  “Hey,” the girl said.

  “This is my old lady, Beck,” Jace told the girl. He climbed off his bike and Vic dug the girl’s backpack out of the luggage rack. Climbing off his bike, Vic handed the girl a duffle bag and she slung it over her shoulder. Jace told him, “You can take off, Vic. Thanks. I’ll figure out a time and call church in the morning and we’ll talk to the guys about what’s going on.”

  Beck cocked an eyebrow and wondered when he was going to talk to his old lady about it. She could see Vic looking at her out of the corner of his eye. She shot him a glare and he looked away and said, “Okay, boss. See you tomorrow.” He nodded at the girl and then Beck. Beck continued to glare at him. She knew this was not his fault, Jace was the boss...but the truth be told Beck was horny and she didn’t want to be mad at Jace. Vic started his bike and Jace said:

  “Should we go inside?”

  Beck turned the glare on him then and again glanced at Madison. The girl looked tired and a little bedraggled, but she didn’t look worried about invading another woman’s space at all and that pissed Beck off a little bit. Jace put his hand on the small of Beck’s back and steered her up on the porch and into the house and Madison followed, clutching her bag like all her worldly possessions were in there and she was afraid someone was going to take it. Once they were inside Jace told her, “Madison, go ahead and have a seat. I know you have to be hungry. I’ll go see what we’ve got...”

  “There’s fried chicken and potatoes on the stove,” Beck interrupted. She looked at the girl and said, “Help yourself, we’ll be there in a minute.” At least the little brunette was smart enough to follow directions. She took the duffle bag with her and went into the kitchen. Once the door closed behind her Beck looked at her old man and said, “You’re picking up stray women now?”

  Jace chuckled. “No, baby. I don’t have a death wish. I just thought it would be better to tell you what’s going on in person.” Beck waited half a beat and when he didn’t go on she said:

  “Well then?”

  “She’s Hawk’s kid.”

  Beck frowned. “Hawk? As in Southside Skulls, ugly, mean, old Hawk?”

  Jace chuckled and said, “Yeah, but let’s not describe him like that in front of her. I think she actually likes him.”

  “She likes him? Is there something wrong with her...in the head? Nobody likes Hawk.”

  “Sit down, baby.” Beck didn’t want to sit down. She wanted to throw Hawk’s offspring out into the desert with the rest of the nocturnal animals and make love to her old man. But she sat, sighed, and folded her arms. Jace sat down next to her and started talking. She could tell he was telling her the abbreviated version and when he finished he said, “I wanted to call and tell you and have you run it by the guys so no one was caught off guard...but they’re playing this close to the chest and Wolf doesn’t want this talked about over the phone at all...”

  “How long will she be here?”

  Jace shook his head. “I don’t know, baby. But I promise, I’ll ask AJ to get busy on one of those guestrooms in the clubhouse first thing in the morning. She won’t be here in our house for long, okay?”

  Beck rolled her eyes and sighed. She knew Jace couldn’t have refused to do this and she could tell that he wasn’t all that happy about any of it either. “Okay,” she said. “But, I’m horny.”

  He laughed. “And what else is new?”

  “Shut up. I don’t want to be quiet. I haven’t had you in days.”

  “How’s our baby?”

  Beck put her hands on her belly. “She’s perfect.”

  “She?”

  “Whatever. The baby is fine. Your old lady is horny.”

  “How about we get her settled and go out to the clubhouse? We’ll christen the bar.”

  “Mm, that’s almost worth having another woman staying in my house. How old is she, anyway? She looks about twelve.”

  “She’s twenty-three,” he said. “I don’t think she’ll be any trouble. She did her best to kick our asses when we grabbed her, but that was before she realized who we were. Wolf says she hasn’t given them any trouble since she’s been at his club.”

  “Wouldn’t it make more sense to leave her in California?” Beck asked. “I mean, they tracked her to Arizona in the first place, don’t you think they’ll look for her here first?”

  “I hope not,” Jace said. “Wolf had her call Hawk before we left his club. She told him she was going down south to Los Angeles. He’s pretty sure Garibaldi is listening in on Boston’s end and that’s how they tracked her to Havasu in the first place.”

  “Well shit. You’ve worked so hard to keep the bullshit off our property. I’d hate for this crap to blow it.”

  “Me too. We’ll just have to be extra careful. She’s agreed to changing up her look, maybe cutting her hair short and going blonde or something. We’ll get her some contact lenses and Hunter already has a guy waiting on her new ID and social, all that stuff. We just have to keep an eye on her until all this settles down and Garibaldi finds some new shit to step in. I’ll talk to Tommy tomorrow too. Wolf said Rock was supposed to talk to him about her working at the museum, in the garden.”

  “Is it okay if I go to bed?” Beck looked up and the girl was standing in the doorway between the kitchen and living room. She hadn’t even heard her come back in. She didn’t like someone sneaking around their house. At least when Bubba stayed with them, his bulk alerted them to when he was coming.

  Beck looked at Jace and he said, “You want to show her the guestroom, baby? I’m just going to grab a beer and then you can show me what you were talking about...that thing out in the clubhouse?”

  Beck chuckled. Her big, sweet man was good at a lot of things, but he was a terrible liar, at least on the spur of the moment. “Sure.” She cocked her head at Madison and the girl followed her down the hall. Beck showed her the bedroom and bathroom and then said, “Make yourself at home, but remember, calling your father or anyone else without permission from Jace could get us all killed.”

  Madison’s eyes looked far away for a few seconds and Beck thought about how badly it must suck to have to hide out like this, especially for such a young woman, and she actually felt bad for her. Madison finally nodded and said, “Yeah, I figured that out the hard way.” As Beck left the room she wondered what the girl meant by that, but as soon as she saw Jace waiting for her with a beer in his hand, everything but him, and their date with the new oak bar in the clubhouse, was forgotten.

  Beck pushed Jace up against the oak bar in the clubhouse fifteen minutes later and said, “Did you notice her nipples?”

  Jace had just brought his beer to his lips. He pulled it away and, genuinely confused, said, “Whose nipples?”

  “How many girls did you bring home tonight?”

  Cocking an eyebrow he said, “You’re talking about Madison? No, baby, I didn’t...”

  “They were hard as rocks, and they look really big...t
hey were pressing right up against that shirt she was wearing. I’m not sure how you missed it.”

  “Um...are you trying to turn me on or am I in trouble? I can’t really tell...” Sometimes Beck liked to play sex games, fantasy. She never really wanted to include anyone else, but sometimes she talked about it and as hard as she made Jace’s cock on her own, the fantasies made him throb and ache even more. A lot of it was just how sexy she sounded while she described whatever it was. The sound of her voice made everything in his life better and brighter. Beck smiled and he knew then she was playing one of her sexy games.

  “I know you had to notice them. I’m not even into women and they kind of turned me on.” Jace felt his already hardening cock twitch in his jeans.

  “Would you suck on a woman’s nipples for me, baby?”

  Beck took the beer from his hand and set it aside, then standing on her toes she let her mouth hover right over his and she said, “I’d do anything for you.” Jace pulled her up tight and covered her mouth with his, letting his tongue delve into it, sliding it against hers, tasting her...God, he loved how she tasted. He also loved how she felt and now that she was pregnant, her breasts were even fuller than usual and she was pressing them against him and he could feel her hard nipples even through his t-shirt. As they kissed, she slid her hand down and pulled her shirt up, taking her bra up with it. She pulled out of the kiss and put her hand on the back of his neck and said, “Show me how, baby. Show me how you’d suck those tits.” Jace didn’t need to think about another woman. His woman turned him on like no one ever had. But he played along, lowering his head to her chest and then looking up at her as he slid his tongue across one of her hard nipples.

  “I’d lick it first, baby, like this.” Beck moaned and he moved over and licked the other one. She grabbed his hair then and Jace opened his mouth and took the entire nipple in between his lips.

  “Show me,” she whispered. Jace clamped down on her breast and began to suck, using his tongue as he did to continue flicking her hard nipple back and forth as he sucked. Beck had her back arched and she was pulling hard at his hair. He kept it long on purpose because he loved that feeling, her hands in it, guiding his head where she wanted it. He loved making her feel good and just then, in between her sexy talk, her sighs and moans told him that was exactly what he was doing.