Text copyright ©2017 Lani Lynn Vale
All Rights Reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author. The only exception is by a reviewer, who may quote short excerpts in a review.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Dedication
This one is dedicated to my concealed handgun teacher, John. He definitely inspired a lot of Tobias’ character for this book.
Acknowledgements
Golden Czermak, my model and the photographer…you, my friend, are a man of many talents! I love this picture, and you! Thank you.
Kellie Montgomery—My editor. Thank you for being so fast and taking time out of your day to edit my baby before we went to Vegas. You’re amazing.
Danielle P.—I don’t know if I could do it without you at this point. You make my babies shine, and I love you for that.
Asli F.—You get my babies when they’re brand new, and treat them as your own. Thank you for loving them as much as I do.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Epilogue
Other titles by Lani Lynn Vale:
The Freebirds
Boomtown
Highway Don’t Care
Another One Bites the Dust
Last Day of My Life
Texas Tornado
I Don’t Dance
The Heroes of The Dixie Wardens MC
Lights To My Siren
Halligan To My Axe
Kevlar To My Vest
Keys To My Cuffs
Life To My Flight
Charge To My Line
Counter To My Intelligence
Right To My Wrong
Code 11- KPD SWAT
Center Mass
Double Tap
Bang Switch
Execution Style
Charlie Foxtrot
Kill Shot
Coup De Grace
The Uncertain Saints
Whiskey Neat
Jack & Coke
Vodka On The Rocks
Bad Apple
Dirty Mother
Rusty Nail
The Kilgore Fire Series
Shock Advised
Flash Point
Oxygen Deprived
Controlled Burn
Put Out
I Like Big Dragons Series
I Like Big Dragons and I Cannot Lie
Dragons Need Love, Too
Oh, My Dragon
The Dixie Warden Rejects
Beard Mode
Fear the Beard
Son of a Beard
I’m Only Here for the Beard
The Beard Made Me Do It
Beard Up
For the Love of Beard
There’s No Crying in Baseball
Pitch Please
The Hail Raisers
Hail No
Go to Hail
Tobias knows that women are a lot of trouble, and one in particular is more trouble than most. Yet even with the knowledge that she’s a pain in the ass, he doesn’t stop himself from doing the one thing he knows that he shouldn’t do—fall in love with her.
It’s supposed to be simple. Get in, get the girl, and get out.
What Tobias isn’t supposed to do is fall for the woman he’s supposed to rescue. But he can’t help being intrigued–and amused–by the defiance rolling off Audrey every time he so much as speaks to her. This fascination only intensifies with every single word from her delectable mouth.
***
It’s been six years since her assault, yet it feels like it happened just yesterday. Audrey’s sick and tired of feeling so useless. She’s had enough of being scared, she doesn’t want to be all alone for the rest of her life. All of that boils down to a woman who’s had enough of not doing anything to reclaim her life.
She’s at a loss as to how to move on, and every attempt she makes results in failure. Just when she’s ready to quit, a sexy biker is there to push her out of her comfort zone.
Under Tobias’ patient guidance, Audrey slowly makes her way back to herself. She lands a job that she adores, and she thinks she’s finally found her place in this world. Most surprisingly, though, she finds herself falling in love with a man that honestly scares her to death.
`
Just when she vows to take that final step that’ll put her past in her past forever, the life she wants to live is yanked away. Leaving her with nothing to pick up the pieces.
Chapter 1
If you pour two beers into one glass and no one sees you, then it’s just one beer.
-Pro tip
Tobias
I shouldn’t be doing this.
I really, really shouldn’t be doing this.
But I was going to do it.
I was doing it even though I knew it was a really bad idea.
I lay there on my back, wondering, yet again, if I should go in there and, again, berating myself for even considering it.
She wouldn’t want me there. Hell, she hasn’t wanted me there for the last eight months, yet I had been. I was that annoying man who followed her around like a goddamned puppy.
But I just couldn’t watch her sit on her ass and hide from life any longer.
I’d let my sister do that. I watched as she withered and died inside, and that was exactly what I was watching happen to Audrey Morrison, my club member’s sister.
It was a little over nine months ago when I first became acquainted with the little she-devil.
And, again, I wasn’t sure why the hell I was here when she wanted absolutely nothing to do with me.
***
Nine months earlier
“Who are you?”
Audrey looked nothing like Ghost, the brother who asked me to get his sister out of a sticky situation involving their parents.
She was wearing Viking-style braids.
They started at the side of each temple, wrapping around her head over her ears before disappearing into a messy bun that was situated on the top of her head.
She had brown hair with copper highlights, and her eyes…my God, there were no words to describe them.
They were the same color as her brother’s—a deep olive green—but on her face, they looked absolutely captivating.
Those eyes, though…they were shrewd. Calculating. Watchful.
I had a feeling that they didn’t miss a single thing.
“I’m Fender.”
She stared at me. “I’m not expecting a Fender.”
She tried to slam the door in my face, and I caught it with the tip of my steel-toed boot.
“My club brothers call me Fender. My actual name is Tobias.”
She glared down at my boot, then back up at me.
“You should’ve star
ted with that,” she informed me. “What do you want?”
I gritted my teeth.
She was like a rabid badger.
“I’m here to bring you to Gho…uh, Mina,” I answered.
She caught the slip, but chose not to say anything.
“How much am I allowed to bring?” she asked.
I looked at the house beyond her and found nearly the entire place packed.
What my attention focused on, however, were the stacks of suitcases.
“I can probably fit all of your suitcases in my truck,” I said. “But the rest of it is going to have to wait until I have more time and help.”
She pinched her lips closed, and then shrugged. “We’ll get it done before we leave. I don’t trust anyone with my stuff.”
She threw the door open wide and headed deeper into the house.
While her back was turned, I chose to study her body.
She was definitely sexy. But she gave off an unmistakable ‘don’t fuck with me’ vibe, and I could practically see the anger coming off of her at being stuck with me. I got the distinct impression that it was more than that, though. I got the feeling that she didn’t want anyone getting close to her.
She was five foot even at most, with the type of body that my mother referred to as ‘baby haver.’ Or women who were made to have babies.
Curvy hips that could carry and birth a baby, large breasts that could definitely sustain a child, and shapely thighs made for a child to sit and cuddle on.
My mother was a pediatric nurse and a doula, or a birthing coach, who had helped hundreds of women deliver their babies over the last thirty years. She knew her stuff, and this was one of the things I’d heard her talk about constantly.
My father, brothers and I had dealt with a lot of baby talk over the course of our lives, and now that one of my brothers was an OB/GYN, and a few of my brothers had children, I heard more than I wanted to hear about it.
“Are you going to help me with these bags, or are you going to watch while I get all of them myself?”
I looked up to find Audrey loaded down with bags. The only thing remaining was a small backpack on the floor.
I walked forward and retrieved it. “You look like you have it.”
She huffed in annoyance.
“You’re such a typical asshole man.”
And then she walked out of the house without a backwards glance.
I started to chuckle as I followed her out.
Passing her, I walked to the truck and opened the door, tossing the backpack on the back seat before walking to the tailgate and lowering it.
The moment she reached me and dropped the suitcases, I picked up the bags with ease, placing them in the bed of my truck before flipping the tailgate closed.
“You made that look easy,” she huffed. “Take me to get some more boxes.”
“Yes, ma’am,” I said, glancing quickly around to ascertain that we were alone.
She sighed. “Thanks.”
It was the longest two days I’d ever experienced.
On the plus side, we got all her crap packed and moved. The downside? I lost my heart.
***
I, Tobias Roscoe Hail, known as Fender to my fellow asshole club members, was a dumbass.
Getting out of my truck, I walked to the front door with hurried steps.
I didn’t even get a knock in before the door was wrenched open and Audrey was staring at me with an accusing glare on her face. “What are you doing here?”
I held my grin in check. If she saw it, she’d narrow those fucking eyes and then my dick would start to fill with blood.
There was just something about the woman’s anger that really got my crank turning.
“I’m here to ask if you wanted to go to a concealed carry class,” I said by way of explanation.
Her mouth pursed. “Why would I want to do that?”
I didn’t answer with the obvious, ‘you are a scared rabbit who won’t even leave your brother’s house’, but chose to say, “You need to learn to protect yourself,” instead. “And I’m holding the class.”
She grunted. “How much does it cost?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know. I think it’s free.”
It wasn’t free. I’d already paid for her, in a way. Technically, as an instructor, I wasn’t allowed to hold ‘free’ classes.
But she didn’t need to know that I shelled out a hundred bucks to hold her spot. That was my next argument I would try if she said no. But she surprised me by nodding. “Okay.”
Too easy.
Way too easy.
But I’d take it.
“Do you have a gun?” I asked.
She tilted her head like I’d just asked her a question in a foreign language.
Sure, I knew other languages, but I didn’t ask her anything too crazy.
“You’re serious?” she asked me.
I nodded once.
She shrugged.
I faltered. “Have you ever shot a gun?”
She shrugged again.
I started to get a bad feeling about this.
“Come on,” I gestured. “Make sure you bring your ID.”
She did, picking up a purse that looked like it was five sizes too big for her body.
“You got a jacket?”
She stopped, turned around, and grabbed a large, puffy, pink monstrosity.
I held my tongue.
“Where is this at?” she asked.
I gestured to my truck. “My place.”
Her brows rose. “You bring people to your house to teach them to shoot stuff?”
I nodded. “Yeah.”
She pursed her lips.
“Who are you?”
I grinned.
“Let’s go,” I said, conveniently not answering her.
Chapter 2
Never give up on your dreams, you stupid crybaby pussy.
- Words of wisdom from your best friend
Tobias
I was in a truck. With the one woman who I just couldn’t tell whether she hated me or liked me.
I was taking her to my house.
I was practically forcing her to go to a concealed handgun class because I thought she needed it.
I was stupid.
Sighing as I took the last turn into my driveway, I paused long enough to allow the gate to open, and then motored through it.
I chanced a look in Audrey’s direction, grinning inwardly when her eyes were glued to the huge Longhorns that we were passing.
“You have huge cows with massive horns in your driveway,” she pointed out.
I snorted.
“I do. They do what they want,” I said. “Good thing about living out in the country is that I can maneuver around them.”
I did just that, veering off the gravel driveway to the grass to go around one.
“This is a nice place you have here,” she said. “And a big house.”
It was.
I’d come into some money when I was twenty-one, and I’d spent every single penny buying the ninety-two acres that my house now sat on. Over the last ten years, I’d made it mine, and everything I’d ever wanted was now on it.
A two-story farmhouse with four bedrooms, three baths, and a game room. A large equipment shed for my tractors and equipment. A stable for my horses.
“Thank you,” I said. “I like it.”
She gave me a look that I couldn’t decipher.
“I’ve never owned a house,” she murmured. “I was to the point when I was thinking about getting one when Tunnel moved me here.”
I nodded.
What went unsaid was the fact that her parents were practically forcing her to move with them, and Tunnel, or Ghost as I called him, had stepped in, using his muscle, to ensure that she didn’t have to.
She’d then moved in with her brother, and she hadn’t moved out in the nine months that she’d bee
n in Mooresville.
“Didn’t you live by yourself when you were in Louisiana?” I asked.
She shook her head. “No. I had two roommates. Both nurses. We all worked opposite shifts, so we hardly ever saw each other, but it was nice knowing someone was there.”
I thought about Amy, my sister, and felt my stomach start to form into a tight knot.
“My sister was a nurse,” I said. “Pediatric unit.”
Her eyes went to me.
“Was?”
It was asked so softly that I had to strain to hear her.
But I did.
I nodded. “She died a while back.”
She killed herself, I thought to myself, but I’m not telling you that part. If you knew, then you’d pity me, and I’d be reminded of what a fucking failure I was at life.
“Did she work here?” she asked.
I nodded. “Yeah. Tommy Tom actually got her the job.”
Tommy Tom was a fellow member of The Dixie Wardens MC, and a doctor at the hospital.
“I’ll bet she loved it there. I used to want to go into that area, too.”
“But not anymore?” I asked, pulling the truck in beside another vehicle that I assumed belonged to one of my buddies who was helping me put on the class.
I usually had a lot of help on the range on test days. Watching inexperienced people with loaded guns was enough to get my heart palpitating. Having extra eyes on the gun-toting men and women was key to not getting shot.
“No, not anymore,” Audrey confirmed. “I’m not even sure I want to be a nurse at this point. I’m only doing it now because it’s what brings in the money.”
I looked at her.
“Why?”
She looked away and changed the subject.
“I don’t want kids,” she blurted.
My brows rose.
“I don’t either,” I said. “Nothing against them, but I don’t want any of my own. They’re too hard—too demanding. I…” I shook my head. “Just no.”
I put the truck into park and got out, nodding my head at my brother who I could see talking to another guy, whom I assumed was a class attendee.
“You ready?”
She nodded. “As ready as I’ll ever be.”
Thirty minutes later, I was talking about where guns were and were not allowed to be taken, when Audrey raised her hand.
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