Dude with a Cool Car

by Siobhan Muir

  But the flashes of dull oxblood red and sickly brown stopped me. He’s hiding something that really pisses him off.

  Disappointment soured my stomach and I pulled back into normal vision. I hadn’t found many humans who had a matching set of colors for me to blend with. They were a rarity and to be treasured. I’d been around a long time, and they were few and far between. But those uneasy colors equated to a warning signal I’d learned the hard way not to ignore.

  I gave him my best polite smile and zipped up my pannier.

  “Nice bike. Harley Road King Special, isn’t it?”

  Damn, his voice sounded like smoky bourbon barbeque, sweet, tangy, and bursting with flavor. Too bad he’s not on my menu.

  “Yeah, a 2017.” I nodded. “You know your bikes.”

  “Yeah, I’ve developed an eye for Harleys lately.” He kept talking to me as he moved to the back of the car to fuel up. “I’m still a fan of the classics, but I’ve always liked the Road Kings. Just started riding?”

  “Nope.” I didn’t want to talk to him more, but I couldn’t get myself to start the engine. “Where’d you get a 1962 Coupe DeVille?”

  What the hell am I doing? I didn’t want to talk to the hot, sexy man who smelled like sandalwood and warm rich leather. It’s going to be fine. I can ride away anytime.

  “I found it in an old junkyard in Mobile, Alabama.” He started the flow of fuel and moved to grab the squeegee. “The frame and the engine were in great condition, but the body needed a lot of work. It was my home project that kept me occupied after my divorce.”

  Maybe it’s the divorce that’s pissing him off. Why did my inner voice sound so hopeful?

  “I’m sorry to hear about the divorce.” And that was my cue to leave.

  He waved it away as he cleaned the windshield. “It’s been a few years now. The car came to me at the right time and I figured it was a sign.”

  “A sign?”

  “Yeah, since we share the same name and all.” He moved closer and held out his hand. “Cooper DeVille, at your service.”

  I laughed, I couldn’t help it, but I took his hand.

  Oh no, it’s not going to be fine.

  Explosive energy zinged between us through the grip of our hands. I wanted him with an intensity I hadn’t felt in, well, ever. I raised my gaze to his and the energy switched on my Karmic Vision™ to show me his aura again. The streaks of anger remained, but they were threaded with lines of silver and brilliant ochre surprise.

  Oh, shit-oh-dear.

  In all my years of living on this plane of existence, I’d learned a thing or two about energy and the colors that when with it. The Goddess had Her plans for everyone and those of us in the plan rarely knew or understood it when it happened to us. But I’d studied enough to know that mates, long-term connections, showed up in metallic colors, particularly silver and gold, depending on the species.

  This man, human despite the colors flowing through his aura like an oil slick, only flashed silver when I touched him. That meant he was my long-term connection. My mate.

  Oh hell no!

  I yanked my hand back and wiped it on my thigh.

  “I gotta go.” I rolled the kickstand up and cranked the starter on my bike. “See you.”

  Now why the hell had I said that? I shook my head and kicked backward to get around the Caddy.

  “No, wait.” He took a few steps after me. “I don’t even know your name.”

  Yes, he does. But I wasn’t sticking around to fill him in on that little chestnut. Panic flared in my gut as he tried to step in front of me, but I maneuvered around him and peeled out of the gas station. I heard him swear behind me but I floored the throttle and headed up the highway. It didn’t matter that I was headed away from the Concrete Angels’ compound. I just needed to get away from Cooper DeVille, my fated mate, and the only human who might really understand who I truly was.

  And that couldn’t happen.

  ****

  Cooper

  “Fuck!”

  I roared the word as I yanked the gas nozzle out of Rosé, grateful I’d used my credit card so I could take off quickly. I hadn’t expected to meet the Concrete Angel goddess I’d seen through my binocs so soon, but I wasn’t about to let the opportunity go to waste. I thought things had been going better than well until panic flashed across her expression and she’d released my hand like it was on fire.

  It kinda was.

  I slid into the driver’s seat and cranked the engine, encouraging the old girl to head out after my goddess. The woman had already disappeared out of sight, but I had this odd sense I could pretty much follow her anywhere if I kept focused long enough. Which was weird as hell, since I didn’t even know her name, but at the moment I wasn’t willing to question it too much.

  I squealed out of the gas station, Rosé’s fins fishtailing, and headed up the road. My goddess wasn’t going to the Concrete Angels’ compound, which I’d expected, but given the panic on her face, maybe she was just running.

  “Sonuvaprick!”

  The swearing didn’t make me feel better. I just wanted to touch her again. Something extraordinary flooded through me when we shook hands and I’d been rocked back on my heels. It felt like a combination of orgasm, contentment, and that nice alcoholic buzz you get after drinking whiskey, and I wanted more of it. Hell, I just wanted to sit next to her, with her pussy on my face, or her mouth on my cock. I wasn’t picky.

  I stared up the winding mountain road and cursed again. Damn, the woman was fast on that bike. If it wasn’t for the unnerving sense of where she’d gone, I probably would’ve lost her in the Rocky Mountain wilderness. But I slowed Rosé down when I hit County Road 162. Where the hell is she going?

  This road went past the Manhattan Cemetery and wound its way toward the Red Feather Lakes. I half expected her to turn off toward the Bellaire Lake picnic site, but my inner sense told me she’d gone farther north and east. I eased Rosé onto a graded dirt road with signs to Molly Lake and drove through the trees until I reached a small parking area past the powerline easement. My mystery goddess rested in the shade of an aspen grove with a scowl on her face.

  I parked the car beside a granite outcrop and turned it off. After the rumble of the road under my tires the silence around the lake was deafening. No one else had picked out this lake for camping or hiking today. It was just the goddess and me.

  Her ferocious scowl didn’t give me a lot of hope for positive interaction, but I was nothing if not dogged. I got out of the car and leaned against the side closest to her.

  “Hi.”

  “What the fuck are you doing here?”

  Not the best start, but better than icy silence.

  “I followed you.”

  “No shit, Sherlock. Why the hell did you do that?”

  I spread my hands and shrugged. “I never got your name.”

  She raised an eyebrow. “You followed me into Bumfuck Nowhere Colorado to get my name after meeting me for all of two minutes? That’s creepy.”

  I wanted to argue that it wasn’t creepy, but it did seem like I’d stalked her. The very thought made my stomach cramp and bile work its way up my throat. I couldn’t help but be drawn to her and ever since I’d taken her hand, I had this buzzing in my head attracting me to her like a compass needle.

  I ran my hand over the back of my neck. “Yeah, I can see your point. But what’s weird is I knew where you were going. Ever since we shook hands, I’ve had this feeling where I can kinda sense you no matter where you are. Well maybe not specifically where you are, but a general direction. Does that make sense?”

  She groaned and dropped her head back, closing her eyes. “You unbelievable bitch!” She opened her eyes and pointed at the clouds in the sky. “You know I don’t have time for this, right? He can’t be my mate!”

  I blinked. Mate? I knew humans were considered mammals, but not that we took mates. Unless she meant in terms of sex and reproduction, which I’d be happy to provide. At leas
t the sex part.

  “Uh, what?”

  “I fucking don’t have time for this. Do you hear me?”

  A rumble of distant thunder flowed across the mountains around us from the building storm clouds and she scowled deeper.

  “It’s not funny.”

  “Who are you talking to?”

  She hissed a breath through her bared teeth and shook her head. “No one. Look, Mr. DeVille—”

  “Coop.”

  She shook her head again. “We can’t do this. It won’t work.”

  “What can’t we do? I just wanted to talk more after you took off. And I wanted to learn your name.” I opened my hands to show my harmlessness. “Look, I didn’t mean to scare you or freak you out. Hell, I’m kinda freaked out that I could sense where you were. We can just sit here and talk. I’ll even stay right here.”

  She narrowed her eyes at me and I realized I’d dropped into the careful tone of voice cops used when trying to calm suspects. Shit, don’t blow it now.

  But she surprised me by turning to face me completely as she leaned on her bike. “Why do you want to talk?”

  All the usual suave responses disappeared out of my thoughts before I could access them and I sat there scrambling for something to say.

  Because you’re beautiful and hearing your voice turms me on.

  Because I can’t get enough of being near you.

  Because I’m desperate for company and you’re the first person who’s noticed me.

  Oh yeah. All those things didn’t sound stalkerish at all. I damn near choked on my sarcasm. No matter which way I looked at it, following her to get her name was creepy as hell and now I had no idea how to salvage the situation. Way to go, DeVille.

  I honestly didn’t know why I’d needed to follow her. It didn’t make sense. Yes, talking to a member of the Concrete Angels would help my case against Backlog, but that hadn’t been why I’d followed the goddess on a motorcycle. I’d simply needed to know more about her and to be close to her. And that was just fuckin’ weird.

  “You know what? You’re right. This was a stupid idea.” I nodded, self-recrimination and frustration zipping through me. “I’m gonna go. This has bad karma written all over it. Story of my life.”

  I lurched off Rosé and dug my keys out of my front pocket, but her voice stopped me.

  “What did you say?”

  “I said it’s the story of my life.”

  “No.” She shook her head as I paused in the front of Rosé’s hood. “Before that.”

  “What, about karma?”

  She nodded. “Do you believe in karma?”

  “Hell yeah, I believe in karma. What goes around comes around, which is why I’m gonna head on outta here and leave you alone. I’m sorry I scared you.” I resumed my trek to the car’s door and had it opened before she appeared next to me.

  She frowned and bit her bottom lip as if she debated what she wanted to do, but then she laid her hand on top of mine where it gripped the car door. That weird shock of recognition dialed my need to be near her up to about ten thousand and I gritted my teeth to keep from pulling her closer. Just stay still, DeVille. Don’t fuck this up.

  She gasped and swallowed hard but she never released my hand. She met my gaze and shrugged one shoulder. “My name’s Karma.”

  To be honest, it sounded more like a title, but that didn’t make any sense.

  “Seriously? Your folks named you Karma?” So much for the smooth talker. “Sorry, that came out wrong. Hell, I’ve pretty much screwed up this whole conversation. I might as well finish it by telling you your ass looks fat on the bike, and that’ll seal the deal.”

  “My ass looks fat on my bike?”

  “No, it looks awesome, but with my track record so far, that seemed like my next illogical move.” I ran my hand over my face, pretty sure I’d be leaving this place soon.

  Karma threw her head back and laughed, a joyous sound that made my bones melt and my heart leap with delight like a kid on his birthday. Oh man, I thought I knew what I wanted in life, but at that moment, all I wanted to do was make her laugh. Forever. And ever, till death did we part.

  “All right, Coop. I guess we can talk.” She squeezed my hand one last time before releasing me. “Let’s sit on the picnic table by the lake out of the sun.”

  She strode away from me in her ass-hugging jeans and my mouth watered at the curves under the denim. Get your mind off of sex, jackass, or you really will get bad karma. Another naughty voice suggested bad Karma would be hot as hell, but I shook my head and closed Rosé’s door to follow her.

  It gave me a good look at her leather vest, what bikers called their “cuts.” The image in the center showed a gargoyle on a bike with flaming wheels, stone wings trailing behind it. Her name “KARMA” sat above it and the rocker below said “ENFORCER.” Holy shit, this woman could’ve kicked my ass and buried my body without anyone knowing the difference. Maybe I was the lucky one today.

  “I noticed your cut. It doesn’t say “property of” anywhere.” I settled on the picnic table bench across from her.

  “Oh, good, you noticed.” Her voice cracked with sarcasm, but a smile curled her lips.

  I groaned. “Can we just agree that I’m gonna say stupid, sexist, and thoughtless things this whole conversation? That way you don’t have to expect me to have my shit together at all.”

  She laughed again. “Don’t worry about it. Most guys can’t handle a woman being a full member of a biker club, much less the Enforcer. They just see tits and ass and start thinking with the wrong head.” She shrugged. “I expect more.”

  “More?”

  “Yeah, I expect you to see me as a person. I’ve definitely earned it.”

  I frowned. “How else would I see you?”

  She tilted her head. “As something pretty to look at, as something to fuck, the usual.” She shrugged again. “I’m giving you a chance to be something other than typical.”

  Oh hell, this was a minefield. She was pretty, beautiful in fact. And yeah, I wanted to fuck her. Check that, I wanted to get intimate with her in hot and sweaty ways. But what I’d seen of her and just knowing she wore the title of Enforcer made me see her as more than just a pretty face.

  Yeah, but how many guys see the tits first and dismiss her until she shoves a gun up their asses?

  I nodded. “I can’t guarantee I’ll be anything other than typical, but I already see you as a person, even if I was crazy stupid about how I tracked you down.” I rubbed the back of my neck. “Sorry about that. I don’t have a clue how I knew where to find you. I just did.”

  Karma sighed and grimaced. “Don’t worry about it. It’s probably gonna be that way for a while. So what did you want talk to me about?”

  “Uh…” My well-rehearsed cover story slid right out of my thoughts. Where the hell is the cool and suave Marshal? “You know, I totally lost my train of thought. Must’ve derailed in Denver.”

  “Alrighty then.” She nodded and turned back to her bike. “I’ll see you around.”

  “Wait!” Shit, was she leaving? Get it together, Coop! “How ’bout we head to the Shambala Center? They have a nice little coffee shop there that serves what they call magical teas.” I spread my hands when she raised an eyebrow. “What do you say? Safe place, public venue. I promise to be a gentleman.”

  She snorted and shook her head. “If I wanted a gentleman, I wouldn’t have stuck around here with you.” She shrugged at my raised eyebrows. “I don’t know how I know that, I just do.”

  “It’s that thing about trusting your gut, right?”

  She nodded and I nodded back.

  “Yeah, me too. So Karma, can I treat you to a magical tea and pastries that taste remarkably like they’re made with twigs and sawdust? Or should we hang out here?”

  “I think we should stay here. I mean, twigs and sawdust usually light my fire, but I’m trying to watch my figure.” She winked and I laughed, real delight washing through me.

  She
wants to hang out and talk to me!

  I hadn’t heard that voice in a while. The inner nerdy teenaged boy who never got the pretty girls to notice him. I’d grown up since then, and matured. My body had filled out and I had a decent physique, but that teenaged boy still did the happy-dance when the ladies noticed.

  Now don’t blow it with her.

  Easier said than done.

  Chapter Three

  Karma

  Cooper DeVille was my true mate. How the hell had that happened? I was Karma, the energy of ‘what goes around comes around’ in physical form. How the hell could I have a mate? I hadn’t existed in physical form one hundred years ago. I had no idea how Loki pulled it off, but he harnessed my energy and gave me a body. We figured out together that staying in this form required life year payments. Fortunately, there were several beings who wanted retribution done quickly, and I’d gotten used to being here and “living.”

  But that didn’t explain how I could have an actual fated mate.

  I liked his laugh, though, and wanted to hear it a lot more often. Karma can be funny. Sometimes. And his laugh did funny things to my insides.

  “Okay, so you followed me out here, derailed your train of thought, and you know about the magical teas at the Shambala Center. What brings you out here to the Rockies?”

  He gave me a half-smile. “Camping, actually. I took some time off to get back to nature. I used to hike all the time in college, but once I started working for real, I stopped having time to do anything fun.”

  “What do you do for work?”

  “I’m an investigator.”

  “Like a P.I.?” I raised my brows. “I thought that had a lot of downtime.”

  “Not when you want the pay the bills.” He snorted. “Lately it’s been full time, all the time. So I decided to take a break. Search for hidden trails and secret waterfalls rather than someone’s cheating spouse or runaway siblings.”

  “Yeah, that would drive me insane.” Though part of what he did was my doing. If he caught the adulterers or thieves, that belonged to my purview. “Are you based here in Colorado, or really getting away?”