by Avery Gale
Saving Grace
Masters of the Prairie Winds Club
Book Two
by Avery Gale
© Copyright March 2014 JK Publishing, Inc.
ISBN # 9781311636782
All cover art and logo © Copyright March 2014 by JK Publishing, Inc.
All rights reserved.
Edited by Caroline Kirby
Artwork by Jess Buffett
Published by JK Publishing, Inc.
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Dedication
For my cousin, David—whose advice when I first started writing continually reminds me to take a chance, because…“It isn’t any of your business what other people think of you, so go for it. Do whatever you want to do.”
Table of Contents
Dedication
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Epilogue
Books by Avery Gale
Excerpt from Fated Magic
Excerpt from A Place for Her
JK Publishing, Inc. Author List
Prologue
The cool, crisp night air kissed Gracie’s bare shoulders, setting off a wave of shivers as she stood on the sidewalk across the street from the small apartment building where she lived. She watched firefighters drag hoses into the run-down structure and thought back over the past twenty-four hours. How had her life managed to spin so totally out of control in such a short time? She wasn’t sure she’d ever had a day quite like the one she’d just been through, but she was certain she wasn’t up for another one anytime soon.
First the building superintendent for the dilapidated building she was facing had caught her as she was leaving for work to tell her that she was being evicted. He’d explained the entire apartment complex, including the ancient unit she lived in, had been sold and would be razed in less than six weeks. Her tiny apartment wasn’t anything great by any stretch of the imagination, but the little second floor efficiency was the only thing keeping her from living in her damned car. And living in the piece of shit the DMV loosely referred to as a motor vehicle would quickly mean she’d be sleeping on a park bench since the automotive equivalent of the Titanic was sinking quickly. Hell, the last time she’d taken it in to the mechanic down the block from where she worked, he’d suggested euthanasia for road barge because it was on its last leg. Smart ass.
Gracie had moved to Austin ten years ago with her mother and younger brother, Alex. When her mom and Alex moved on to Dallas last year, a studio apartment in a dangerous neighborhood had been the only thing she’d been able to afford. And quite honestly, the idea of looking, yet again, for something in her price range was a daunting task to say the least. Hells bells and hopscotch, just the thought of it left her feeling both physically and emotionally drained.
Gracie usually walked to work, but the conversation with the super had burned up all of the time she’d allowed herself for walking, so she’d opted for the bus. Crap, the damned public transit behemoth that served her neighborhood wasn’t much faster most days. And Gracie hated “wasting” the money to ride in the filthy bus when walking was free. Even though she had a car, she rarely used it because not only was it barely operational, but it had evidently been designed when gas was a dollar a gallon because the thirsty thing’s fuel mileage was barely above the single digits.
Walking everywhere she needed to go was just one of the ways Gracie ordinarily tried to save money any way she could, because watching every penny helped ensure she could still afford to eat at the end of the month. One of the things she’d found she missed the most when her family moved was her mother’s cooking expertise. Lovelle Santos always seemed to be able to create amazing meals from next to nothing. Gracie was convinced that particular gene must skip generations, because she’d certainly missed out. Even her brother, Alex, was a better cook and he couldn’t even hear their mother’s instructions.
Her younger brother had lost his hearing as a toddler and moving to the United States had been particularly challenging for him because reading lips in English was enormously difficult when it was your second language. When Gracie learned through friends that there were several kids in their neighborhood struggling with similar problems, she started volunteering at a nearby community center teaching a class to help Spanish speaking, hearing-impaired children and adults. Her goal had been simple and the work rewarding, she wanted to help them better adapt to their new English speaking environment.
After enduring the bus ride to work, she’d had walked through the front door of the small dress shop where she had been working for the past year and was met by the e
lderly owner’s visibly distraught daughter. Learning that her sweet boss had passed away during the night had been a devastating blow. Gracie was heartbroken to learn she’d just lost a dear, wonderful friend and mentor, as well as her job. The family planned to close the shop by the end of the month, which meant Gracie had three weeks to find a new job and a new apartment. She’d finished out the workday in a fog of grief and disbelief before stumbling home in a virtual stupor.
As she’d neared the building where she lived, Gracie noticed a dark SUV sitting along the street. A new vehicle was so obviously out of place in her tired neighborhood that she had briefly wondered if it belonged to the asshat that had been pestering her friend and neighbor, Tobi Strobel. But, the SUV’s windows were so darkly tinted Gracie couldn’t see who was inside and in her exhaustion she’d let it go. Her hopes to chat with Tobi had been dashed when she discovered her bubbly friend wasn’t home.
Gracie was keeping her fingers crossed that maybe…just maybe, her friend would be interested in looking for a place they could share since they were both about to become homeless. Hell, Tobi’s employment situation wasn’t much better than Gracie’s, but at least she was still employed or had been the last time they’d discussed it. By the time she’d made her way upstairs and into her apartment after checking around quickly with neighbors to see if any had seen Tobi, Gracie had been too exhausted to even think about cooking. She’d opted to change into a pair of short shorts and a barely decent tank top before collapsing in a stupor diagonally across her daybed.
Gracie woke but her brain wasn’t yet fully engaged enough to know what had awakened her, but the pounding on her door and the sirens approaching outside were enough to propel her into action. Before she was fully awake, she found herself standing on the sidewalk in the cool night air looking around at the shell-shocked expressions on the other residents’ faces. No doubt they were also wondering if they’d have anything left when it was all said and done, even though they couldn’t see any flames through the dense smoke. The group she’d been hovering with told her the fire had started in Tobi’s apartment and Gracie had instinctively known it wasn’t an accident. She’d started frantically searching all around the building and then when she hadn’t been able to find her friend in the crowd, she’d gone into a panic.
When she’d found a young firefighter putting equipment back into one of the trucks, Gracie had badgered him until she’d actually begun to worry that he might summon one of the police officers on the scene to detain her. But he’d been understanding and kind as he had pulled her to the side and quietly assured her that they hadn’t found anyone in the badly damaged apartment. She had sagged with relief and thanked him before quietly slipping around the building hoping to make her way back inside. Gracie had been trying to process everything that had happened when she noticed a tall, blonde god speaking to the building super in the narrow breezeway along the back of the building. Everything about him sent sparks racing up and then back down her spine until they felt like they were reaching out and touching every part of her. His face looked like it had been chiseled by some Renaissance master and his voice was so deep the vibrations of his words echoed straight to her sex.
But when Gracie realized Mr. Tall Blonde and Incredible was asking questions about Tobi and the fire in her apartment, she stormed up to stand directly in front of him. He towered over her but she didn’t let that fact hold back the flood of pent-up emotion that resulted in a tongue lashing he probably hadn’t deserved. Every frustration she’d buried during her “Day from Hell” bubbled to the surface like molten lava and erupted like Mount Vesuvius.
She fired questions at him like a machine gun and crowded into his personal space until he’d finally wrapped his large hand around her wrist so she would stop shaking her finger at him. His crystal blue eyes had been almost dancing with mirth at her challenge and suddenly she was swamped by the realization he was even better looking up close. His skin was tanned and the soft wrinkles at the corners of his eyes and mouth gave her the impression of a man who smiled easily and often. His hair was a sandy sun-bleached blonde that was slightly shaggy and made him look like a bit of a rebel.
When she had finally paused to take a breath and her mind registered that he’d restrained her she’d felt a split second of fear race through her like lightning. But it had only taken her mind an instant to realize his expression held heat rather than anger, and her fear was replaced by a sense of longing that she couldn’t begin to explain. She’d instinctively fallen silent and dropped her eyes.
*****
Micah had known immediately that the little spitfire currently shaking her finger at him was Tobi’s friend the building super had mentioned. She’d battered him with questions without taking a breath until he’d started to wonder if she was ever going to run out of steam. Gracie Santos was obviously concerned about her friend and he admired her loyalty. But his instincts told him there was also something else going on with her as well. Her reaction was out of proportion to the conversation she’d overheard and he wondered what exactly had fueled her outburst. When she finally took a breath and realized he was holding her wrist loosely shackled in his hand, he’d seen a brief flicker of something too close to fear for his comfort move through her dark gray eyes. Before he could fully register the emotion and let go, it was gone and she lowered her eyes to the ground submissively. Now isn’t that interesting.
He didn’t release her wrist, and felt her heart rate accelerate under his fingertips as they pressed softly against her pulse point. “Look at me, Grace.” Micah deliberately used the more formal version of her name to set himself apart from the other people in her life, deliberately trying to insure she remembered him. He studied her as she slowly raised her eyes to meet his. Her pupils seemed to dilate as he watched arousal banish the uncertainty in her expression. It was obvious the zing of electricity he’d felt when his calloused fingers had first brushed over her smooth skin had not been his imagination, nor did it appear to be one-sided. The tip of her pink tongue darted out to paint her rose-colored lips, making them shine even in the dimly lit hall. It had taken every bit of the control he had learned as a Dom to not push her against the wall in the small alcove behind where they stood and plunder her bow-shaped mouth. The short Daisy Duke shorts she was wearing displayed shapely, tanned legs he had no trouble imagining wrapped around his waist as she rode his rigid length. And her tank top was nearly transparent it was so worn. Obviously she had been reluctant to part with it, either it was comfortable or because she couldn’t afford to. Either way, he was grateful because the view was a feast of pure visual sin.
She had listened quietly as he’d calmly explained that Tobi was fine. He’d also sworn to her that he and his friends planned to make sure she stayed that way. Since the fire had been quickly contained the damage had been limited to the living room, but the rest of the apartment had suffered a significant amount of smoke damage. Since the door was on the floor in pieces, there wasn’t any way to secure the apartment, so he’d decided to salvage what little there was left. When he had explained that he’d be packing up her friend’s belongings and taking them to her at Prairie Winds, she had volunteered to help. Micah had been grateful for her offer for several reasons. First of all, he was sure Gracie would be familiar with the lay out of the tiny apartment and would know where to find the most important items quickly. It would also give him a chance to ask her more about the man she had mentioned during her tirade who was causing problems for Tobi at work. But most importantly, it gave him a chance to spend more time with the tiny Latino beauty. And each passing moment had further convinced him that she might well be the woman he and his best friend, Jax McDonald, had dreamed of finding and sharing.
Micah sent Gracie into Tobi’s bathroom to pack up anything she thought her friend might need for a few days stay at Prairie Winds. He had asked her to leave her phone with him so he could add updated contact information for Tobi and she’d readily complied. After Gracie had briefl
y explained about Tobi’s co-worker, Micah had quickly called back to Prairie Winds to direct his security team to pick up Tobi’s phone and disable the GPS location tracking. He had programmed his number into Gracie’s phone and then quickly dialed his own phone so he’d have her number as well. He’d pointed out his number to her and asked her to call him if she had any questions or concerns.
Standing close, he’d said, “I’m worried that when Feldman realizes Tobi isn’t here, he’ll pressure you for information about her location.” He noticed the almost imperceptible clenching of her jaw muscles. He lifted her chin forcing her to meet his gaze and asked, “Has he ever been a problem for you, Grace?” This time the fear flashing in her eyes was easy to read and he’d known immediately that she was already afraid of the man who had likely set tonight’s blaze.