Burnout: A Legal Heat Novella

by Sarah Castille

  Sophie closed her eyes and leaned into his warmth. Despite her misgivings, some part of her trusted Ace. Maybe she was crazy. Because what cop in their right mind trusted a criminal?

  “You don’t get off that easily,” she murmured into his chest. “Just because you show up, throw your weight around, get rid of the competition, play the repentant alpha male card, and say sweet things, you don’t get a free pass.”

  Ace chuckled. “How ’bout a warning? Don’t think I could do time ’cause I didn’t like being away from you, even for a short spell.”

  Sophie mocked a scowl. “If I ever see you with a bunch of women in your lap again—”

  “You won’t.” He cut her off, kissing away the creases on her forehead. “Only woman I want on my lap and by my side is you. Anything you need, anything you want, I’m there for you.”

  “Well, I definitely need help.” Sophie sighed and hugged him tight, soaking in the feeling of having someone to lean on. “You were right about the police not wanting to treat Ryan’s disappearance as a missing persons case. And not just that, my supervisor suspended me for not disclosing my family relationship with him even though I didn’t know he had a criminal record.”

  “I’ll find him for you.”

  “We can find him together. I’m not a police officer anymore, so now I can do what it takes.” Sophie pulled away, and gave him a half smile. “Biker style.”

  “Sophie—”

  “He’s still my brother, Ace. He may have done some bad things, but he’s never been violent, and he’s always watched out for me. If Ryan hadn’t already been in jail when I finally told Jason what happened, I don’t know what he would have done.” Her breath hitched. “I know he would do anything to find me if our roles were reversed. I’ll do no less for him. Even if it means breaking the law.”

  Chapter Eight

  Damn.

  The hint of vulnerability in Sophie’s voice sent Ace’s pulse skyrocketing. He wanted to go down to the station and teach them all a goddamn lesson about the true meaning of justice and then another lesson for breaking Sophie’s faith in the system. Her disillusionment made his heart ache. No way would he let her break the law and throw away her career.

  “Not gonna happen,” he said, his voice gruff. “Any law breaking will be done by me.”

  Although he hated to admit it, she had what it took to be a good cop—a respect for the law, a good heart, and a sense of fair play. If there had been more cops like her when he was growing up, maybe he wouldn’t have chosen the biker life. But every time he’d reached out, he was pushed back into a system. His cries for help were ignored. Abused and alone, he’d quickly learned that there was no point calling 911. Invariably, the police would turn him over to social services, and they, in turn, would send him back to the family that had abused him, or place him with a new foster family often worse than the one he’d been with before. If only one person had listened…

  Sophie pressed her lips together. Ace braced himself for the storm. Already he knew Sophie had a stubborn streak, and it wouldn’t be easy to change her mind. But he was more than up to the task.

  “My decision,” she snapped, and damned if the fire in her eyes didn’t turn him on. He loved her spirit, her strength, her determination to do the right thing regardless of the consequences, but he wasn’t going to let anything hurt her, and he wouldn’t let her hurt herself.

  “I want you to talk to Ice.” He crossed the room and leaned against the wall, putting some distance between them. Just in case.

  “Ice?” Sophie frowned. “Isn’t he the club’s VP?”

  Ace nodded. “He was a Vancouver cop for over fifteen years. He made a decision to quit the police and join the Riders, but not for the reasons you expect.”

  Although he doubted she would understand, he and Ice still believed that the police served a vital and essential function in the city. The system was imperfect, but it worked, and the police needed people like Sophie who believed in the law. Just like they needed people like Ryder, Ice, and Ace who could see the limitations of the system and were there to fill the gaps, when they weren’t doing work for the club. At least that had been the mandate until the Hades brothers had arrived.

  A tense heartbeat passed. Then another. Sophie fidgeted with a picture on her warm maple dresser. Her furniture—a large sleigh bed, nightstand, and dresser—was all rich wood and warm tones, solidly built, with the odd embellishment. Beautiful. Solid. High quality. Full of character. Very Sophie.

  “You think I should quit the police and join the Riders?”

  “No, babe. I think you shouldn’t give up on police work. You have a passion for law enforcement. I think they need you. And although Ice made the choice to leave, I think he’ll tell you the same thing.”

  She hesitated, but finally she nodded. “I’ll talk to him.”

  Relieved to be able to put his plan into action, he texted Ice requesting a meeting and asked Ryder to pull together a team. He conveyed their immediate and enthusiastic responses to Sophie, and then he did the hardest thing he’d ever done. Sensing she needed space, he backed off.

  “I’ll get going.” He turned away, although his body ached to hold her, even just to give her comfort after everything she’d been through. “I’ll start making some calls, check with our team on the ground. I’ll pick you up in the morning for the meet with Ice.”

  “It’s late.”

  “Late?”

  “Late for riding back to the clubhouse.”

  He didn’t remember moving. One minute he was reaching for the door. The next he was pressed up against Sophie, pinning her to the wall as he sealed his mouth over hers.

  Although tense at first, she softened and then kissed him back, hot, dark, and demanding.

  “I don’t want to think,” she murmured against his lips. “Just for tonight.” Her hand dropped to cup him through his jeans, leaving him in no doubt what she wanted.

  “Always with the one night.” He palmed her breast through her T-shirt. “One day you’re gonna ask me for more than one night, and you know what I’m gonna say?”

  “What?”

  “Nothing. ’Cause I’ll be kissing you so hard I won’t be able to speak.”

  Unable to withstand the gentle pressure of her hand, he grabbed her wrists, pinning them both at the small of her back. “You rocked my world from the moment you walked into that party. So beautiful. So confident. I tossed that dude across the room, and you didn’t even flinch. I came on to you strong, and you gave it right back. You changed the way I think. You made me want something I never thought I could have. You made me lose control, and I’ll admit I didn’t deal well with that.”

  She leaned up to kiss him, thrusting her tongue into his mouth, as she rolled her hips against him. “I promised myself I wouldn’t get involved with any more controlling, possessive men,” she murmured against his lips. “Had enough of that with the ex. I gave him everything, and he took it all and more.”

  “I’m not him, babe. One thing I would never do is cheat on you. Stability has been hard to come by in my life, but when I find it, I stick like glue. I’ll be with the MC till the day I die.” He released her and tugged open her jeans, then eased them down her legs. But when she reached for her silky red panties, he stayed her hands.

  “Leave them on. Too fucking sexy.” Unable to resist, he slid his hand between her legs to cup her sex, feeling her wetness through the cool, slippery material.

  “You’re so fucking wet for me,” he breathed.

  She bit his lip, drawing blood, and the pleasure-pain almost set him off. “I’ve been thinking about you,” she murmured. “I lay in bed, touching myself, imagining it was your hand squeezing my breasts, your teeth biting my nipples, your fingers sliding around my clit, your cock deep inside me, fucking me hard, making me scream.”

  “Christ, don’t dirty-talk me now,” he growled. “I’ll lose control and I won’t be gentle.” Slow. Try to go slow. But when she slid her thigh bet
ween his legs, rubbing against his hard cock, he almost exploded.

  “Who said I wanted gentle?”

  With a growl, he kicked her feet apart, spreading her legs as he feathered kisses along her jaw and down her neck to the sensitive dip at her shoulder blade. He bit gently, scraping his teeth over her warm skin. Sophie sucked in a sharp breath and arched against him, pressing her breasts against his chest.

  God, he had to see her. All of her. He stripped off her shirt and bra, tossing them on the floor, then cupped one delectable breast, then the other, brushing his thumbs over the taut peaks.

  She gave a sexy rumble and reached down to undo his jeans, then wiggled her fingers inside and closed her warm hand around his shaft. His brain fuzzed with lust, and for a moment, he couldn’t move. When she began to stroke, he stiffened, his need for control surpassing even the primal desire to rock into her grip.

  “My baby’s a naughty girl.” He scooped her up and placed her on her hands and knees on the bed, then smoothed his palm over her lush, silken-clad cheeks.

  She looked back over her shoulder and wiggled her ass. “You don’t know how naughty I can be.”

  His groin tightened, and he gritted his teeth as he fought the need to take her now and take her hard.

  “Fuck.” He tore away her panties and cupped her sex, spreading his fingers to ease her legs apart. “That’s it, babe. Open for me.”

  “When you say things like that, you make me so damn hot I want to scream,” she mumbled, but she did as he asked, parting her legs so he could thrust a finger into her silky wetness. He pulled back and eased a second finger inside her, and then a third, stretching her to better accommodate his thickening shaft.

  Her breath came in short pants as he pumped his fingers deep inside her. When she began to rock her hips in time to his rhythm, riding his hand, her moans turning to whimpers, he knew she was ready.

  “Hold on, babe.” He almost didn’t recognize the husky rasp of his voice as he released her to retrieve a condom from his pocket. He quickly stripped off his jeans, gritting his teeth as he rolled the condom over his painfully hard shaft. One more touch and he would be over the edge.

  “Hurry it up or I might get tired of waiting.”

  With a snort, Ace slapped her ass. “I’m running this show.”

  Sophie gasped and then moaned. “More.”

  He mounted the bed and grabbed her hips. Pulling her against him, he slid his cock between her cheeks and down through her folds, dragging the head over her clit. She moaned softly, and he teased her again, knowing as he did he had reached his limit.

  “I’ll be more than pleased to spank you, babe.” He leaned over and pressed his lips to her ear, covering her body with his own. “In fact, I can hardly fucking wait to put you over my knee and punish you for making me think we were done. But right now I got only one thing on my mind.”

  With one deep thrust, he slid into her pussy. So hot. So wet. His cock swelled inside her, and he dug his fingers into her hips and breathed in short pants. But when she shifted her weight to one hand and reached down to touch herself, his pants gave way to a growl.

  “Mine to touch.”

  “So touch.” She looked back over her shoulder and gave him a wicked grin.

  Ace reached over her hip and slicked her moisture up and around her swollen clit. When her groans turned to whimpers, he pressed down on the sensitive nub. Sophie screamed as she climaxed, back arching, fingers digging into the bed, her pussy tightening around his cock.

  Unable to hold back, he thrust deep inside her, riding the waves of her orgasm, feeding on her passion until his balls filled with burning need, tightened. Pressure coiled at the base of his spine, then exploded, and he pumped his release with a guttural groan.

  When he was finally played out, he collapsed on top of her, kissing her neck as he traced lazy circles down her arms to twine his fingers with hers. He inhaled deeply, breathing in her scent of jasmine and flowers and sex. His cock twitched and his groin tightened. Christ, he was almost ready for her again.

  With great reluctance, he pulled away and went to dispose of the condom. When he returned, he stretched out on the bed and pulled her over his chest. Her hair fanned out in a silken wave, softly caressing his abdomen. Christ. Was there anything as sexy as his sweet Sophie, lying languid on top of him, her lips swollen from his kisses, cheeks still flushed from the pleasure he had given her?

  Mine. And this time, he wouldn’t let her go.

  “You’re not bad in bed for a biker,” she murmured, but he heard the teasing note in her voice.

  He stroked his hand up and down her back. “What were you expecting?”

  “More focus on you. Less on me. I’m used to guys who have only one goal in mind. Ryan especially. I don’t know if he was like that with just me, or with his other women.”

  Ace froze, his hand resting on her lower back. “He cheated on you more than once?”

  “I think so.” She sighed. “Actually, I’m pretty sure he did, but I pretended not to know. I loved him. It was hard to believe he didn’t love me, too. Especially when he was so possessive. But I couldn’t pretend any more when I walked into the house early from a shift and found him in our bed with another woman. He apologized. Said it was one-off. He was drunk. Things got out of hand. But I knew then I’d been living a lie, and I couldn’t take it any more.”

  “Fucking bastard.”

  Sophie laughed. “I think I called him that. And all sorts of other things I would be ashamed to repeat. But I was angry with myself as much as him. Love makes you blind. It also makes you want to be blind. You want to keep that happy feeling no matter the cost. And I couldn’t accept that the man I had loved for so long wasn’t everything I had imagined him to be. By the time it was over, I’d lost my self-esteem and my faith in my ability to make good choices. Jason was out here in Vancouver. My dad had died from a heart attack. My mom was too busy with work to listen. My friends…well, they never stopped telling me to leave him. At one point I tried to avoid them so I didn’t have to hear it anymore. In a way it was liberating when he brought that woman home. I lost the blinders that day. Love isn’t all it is held out to be.”

  “So, one night at a time?” He wanted more, but he understood why he would have to take it slow. Hell, he’d better take it slow. He’d fallen too hard, too fast, and he was still scrambling to make sense of what was going on.

  “One night at a time.”

  He wrapped his arms around her and held her tight. After what had happened between them, it wasn’t going to be easy to convince her he was nothing like Jason, or that not all relationships went wrong. But this time he wasn’t going anywhere. This time, he knew he was exactly where he wanted to be.

  * * *

  “This is Ryder.”

  Sophie gripped Ryder’s hand and stared at the breathtakingly handsome Rogue Riders president standing beside Ace. Not what she had expected of an outlaw. Taller than Ace by a good two inches, he had sable-brown eyes flecked with gold, olive skin, and a broad, hard body to match the strong planes of his striking face. Although Ace’s strength rippled beneath his T-shirt and snaked down his arms, Ryder commanded the room through the force of his presence alone.

  “So this is the cop who wants to be an outlaw.” Ryder studied her as if he could see through to her soul and snorted a laugh. “All I see is a cop.” Turning, he reached for the door. “Keep me updated, but I don’t think we’ll be needing a new old lady patch any time soon.”

  “This is Ice,” Ace said after Ryder closed the door.

  Sophie shook Ice’s hand. Despite the warmth in the clubhouse, a shiver ran down her spine when he caught her gaze with his cold blue eyes. Hands down, he was the most terrifying man she’d ever met. The harsh planes of his jaw coupled with jagged scars following his cheekbones and those hard, piercing eyes rendered her almost unable to speak.

  “Heard you were quitting the police,” Ice said.

  “They quit me. Actually, they
suspended me because of my brother, and pretty much refused to help me find him except as a person of interest in various crimes. And since I am going to do what it takes to find him, I suppose, in a roundabout way, the answer to your question is yes.” She twisted her bracelet round and round her wrist, fingering the stones in an almost frantic attempt to slow her racing heart. Although she was prepared to leave law enforcement, her heart ached at the thought of turning in her badge permanently. She loved police work. Ever since a policeman had helped her as child when she’d been lost in a shopping mall, she’d wanted to wear a uniform. Sophie loved rules and order. She’d been the kid who volunteered to be a crossing guard and student constable. She’d sat in police cars at summer fairs and been first in line for police station tours. And she wanted to help people, the way that policeman had helped her.

  Ace gave her hand a sympathetic squeeze, and Sophie pulled away. Despite another heated night together and Ace’s admission he was looking for more, she didn’t want anyone thinking that she and Ace were anything other than…what? What were they? Acquaintances? Friends? Maybe they were friends with benefits. She’d never had a friend with benefits, but with her life in turmoil, she didn’t want to open herself up for more hurt. The concept seemed to fit. Friendship and sex but no emotional ties. What could be easier than that?

  Ice gave a derisory snort. “So you’re walking away from something you love ’cause the police are following the same rules you’re out there busting your ass every day to enforce? Is the problem that you don’t believe in the system or that you don’t believe in yourself?”

  She bristled at his abrupt, indelicate question and his abrasive manner, trying to process everything he had said, starting with sentence number one. “I didn’t tell you I love it.”

  “You didn’t have to.”