The Biker’s Secret Girlfriend
Forbidden Lake Romance, Book 6
Elana Johnson
Contents
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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
Sneak Peek! BURN Chapter One
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Chapter One
Karly Lydell woke to the sound of her baby crying, something that had happened a lot over the past couple of days. Navy had started having night terrors about a week ago, and Karly’s patience was stretched as thin as her energy.
But there was no one else to get up and go help the child. So she hauled herself out of bed, out the door and across the hall to Navy’s room. “Hey, baby,” she cooed in the happiest voice she could muster at five-fifteen a.m.
Everything was still dark outside the window, because it was only three days after Christmas, and the sun didn’t shine for long in Michigan in December.
“Navy-bear,” she said, gently reaching over the crib and lifting her daughter into her arms. The girl’s eyes opened, but she wasn’t all the way awake yet. Karly knew, because she’d read a ton of articles on children and night terrors over the past seven days.
Navy gave one more wail, and Karly held her against her shoulder, shushing her. “Hey, girl,” she said. “Wake up for Mommy, okay?”
Navy’s cry tapered off, and Karly bounced her as she moved over to the rocking chair. She sat and held Navy in front of her so she could see her daughter’s face. “Hey, sweetie.”
A light moved through Navy’s eyes, and Karly smiled at her. “Ma-ma.”
Karly turned her around and let the girl cuddle into her. She rocked and closed her eyes and hummed a lullaby her mom had sung for her.
“Aunt Mia is getting married today,” she told Navy. “So we get to wear the fancy dresses, and Mommy’s going to do your hair so pretty.” She pressed a kiss to her daughter’s head.
“And you’re one now. One whole year from today, you were born.” Mia had been so worried about having her wedding on the same day as Navy’s birthday, but Karly was secretly glad. She didn’t need a big party for her daughter, and everything her mother did was oversized. The woman didn’t know the meaning of simple, and she certainly didn’t understand that Karly didn’t want any attention on her.
Not since Derrick’s accident and subsequent death, that was. Before that, she arrived late to family parties just so everyone would see her, welcome her, talk to her.
Now, she just wanted to fade into the background, let Navy have fun with her aunts and uncles, and eat another chocolate chip cookie.
Not too many today, she told herself. In the year since she’d delivered her baby and then gone back to work full-time at the family orchards, she’d had a very hard time losing the baby weight.
With her fortieth birthday just around the corner, she’d decided she didn’t care. She wasn’t dating anyway and didn’t want another husband. As she rocked in the early morning hours with her daughter, she allowed the ache for Derrick to overtake her, something she normally held back really well.
But today would be very, very hard without him. He couldn’t kiss their little girl and tell her happy birthday. He couldn’t smile at Mia and her rock star almost-husband and say how perfect they were for each other, then press his lips to Karly’s forehead and say, “Just like us.”
She’d loved him so much, and she missed him every single day. Some days were worse than others, of course, and she sensed today would be miserable.
“Please help me,” she whispered into Navy’s hair, and then she let herself doze a little bit before Mia and Sami would be coming to take Navy so Karly could get her hair and makeup done for the wedding.
Sure enough, her sisters found her still snoozing in the nursery with the baby, and she opened her eyes when Sami said, “Are you sure? Let’s let her sleep.”
“I’m awake,” Karly said, cracking open her eyes. Mia and Sami stood in the doorway, both of them looking at her with a mixture of concern and love in their faces. “Someone take Navy.” She jostled the little girl, and Sami rushed forward to take her.
“Serenity will be here in a minute,” Mia said. “Do you want to shower?”
Navy yawned, and all three of them paused to look at the darling girl. Karly felt such a rush of love for her that she leaned over and said, “Be good, Navy-bear. I’m going to go shower.”
She bustled off, knowing she was supposed to be showered, teeth brushed, and in her underwear and slip before Serenity arrived with the makeup kit.
When she finally made it into her bedroom in the get-up she was supposed to be in, she was twenty minutes late. “I’m so sorry,” she said, glancing around at the clean counter. She was usually never late. And she’d never left dishes out overnight before Derrick had died.
Now, she seemed to be perpetually fifteen minutes late, and she did dishes when she got to them.
“Someone did my dishes.” Embarrassment squirreled through her as Serenity smiled at her.
“Liam pays me to do it,” she said. “It’s a hard habit to break.”
“He still pays you?” Mia asked, patting the bottom of Serenity and Liam’s little girl, Thea.
“No,” Serenity said, ducking her head. “I just meant it was my job for like thirteen years, so it’s a habit.” She tossed the washcloth back in the sink. “So, are you ready?”
“So ready,” Karly said. She sat in the appointed chair and watched her two sisters play with the new babies in the Addler family while Serenity curled her hair. Then she closed her eyes while her sister-in-law did her makeup.
She’d always worked in the family orchards and resort, doing accounting, but her role had been very part-time before Derrick’s death. She could take the time to shower, shave, put every hair in place, and put on false eyelashes before she went in for a few hours.
Karly loved girly things from nail polish to lotions to lipsticks. But since her husband’s death, she was lucky if she showed up at work with two of the same shoe on. Navy came with her three days a week, and that required a big bag of baby supplies, toys, and clothes. Serenity watched her the other two days of the week, but Thea was only two months old, and Karly still felt bad about leaving Navy with Serenity.
After all, she knew how tired she’d been with a new baby at only two months. The same exhaustion plagued her now.
“Your turn, Sami,” Serenity finally said, and Sami got up from the couch where she’d been watching Navy put together a wooden puzzle.
“Go get your dress on,” Sami said, pointing to the garment bags on the back of the couch. Karly didn’t want to squeeze herself into the mint monstrosity, but she did, because all of her sisters had weathered her horrible bridesmaids dresses too.
And Mia had done a great job with the dresses. Karly simply didn’t want to wear one today. Did
n’t want to walk down the aisle as part of the bridal party. Didn’t want to get her picture taken.
But she would. And she’d smile through it all, because this was her little sister, and it was her wedding day.
Hours later, with all the women properly curled and glossed and straps tucked, the wedding was very near. Karly had sent Navy in with her mother, who sat on the front row with Nana and Pops, her parents from Goderich, Canada. Karly’s paternal grandparents still lived on the lane in the orchard, and they’d be on the front row too.
She wasn’t sure what was taking so long behind the closed doors, and her anxiety for this event and day to be over started skyrocketing.
“Do you know who Mia paired me with?” she asked Allegra, who was seriously so beautiful and blonde, she didn’t seem real. And she and Phoenix had been married for six months now, and she always glowed with happiness.
Karly actually envied her sometimes, because she seemed to have to work, and claw, and bite for every ounce of joy she felt.
“Uh, let me go see.” Allegra flashed a smile at her and walked away, the light green dress on her frame much more flattering. She returned quickly and said, “Maverick Malone. He’s one of Declan’s groomsmen.”
The name tickled something in the back of Karly’s mind, but she didn’t know what. The last year had been trying to say the least, and there were some things she simply couldn’t remember. It seemed like her life existed in layers of gray, and she couldn’t put them together into a whole picture sometimes.
“He’s the tall, handsome one over there,” Allegra said, twisting to her right. “Talking to Jon.”
Karly followed her gaze and saw the muscular man. He wasn’t wearing a tuxedo like her brothers, but a pair of pressed black slacks and a white shirt with the customary purple tie. He had shaggy, dark blond hair, and he must’ve been able to sense her watchful eye, because he looked in her direction.
She spun away, feeling foolish and out of sorts. “He has tattoos all over his arms,” she hissed to Allegra. “He’s one of those meatheads from the biker gang.”
“I think it’s a club,” Allegra said. “And I’ve heard they do good things in the community.” She shrugged. “Hey, he might give you a ride on his bike.”
“I don’t want a ride on his ridiculous bike,” Karly said. “It’s too loud, and I bet it stinks.” She wasn’t a fan of motorcycles, thank you very much. They seemed like personal death traps to her.
“Places, everyone,” the wedding planner called, and Karly got shuffled around while everyone got in line. They all seemed to know exactly where and how to line up, but she’d missed that memo.
She’d probably gotten it, but her brain could only hold so much information at once. She turned, stumbling into a very solid chest, and a pair of warm hands gripped her elbows, steadying her.
“Sorry,” she mumbled, looking up into the brightest, bluest eyes she’d ever seen. Maverick had some seriously handsome genes in his family, because dang. He was gorgeous. He looked at her evenly, not an ounce of emotion in his eyes whatsoever.
“You’re Karly, right?” he asked, and a voice like that could paint pictures.
Karly had started taking a watercolor class over the summer, so she should know. She imagined his voice to be embodied with blues, and purples, and greens. Something soothing and cool and relaxing.
“Yes,” she managed to say.
“Great,” he said. “I’m your escort.”
He wished he was, but Karly didn’t say that. She just cocked her eyebrows and laced her arm through his offered elbow.
The line in front of them started to move, and he leaned down, his whispered tone twice as sexy as his regular speaking voice. “And honey, it’s called a motorcycle. Not a bike.”
“I—”
“I’ll take you for a ride anytime.” He faced the front of the line as they moved, and Karly put her plastic smile on her face, hoping that Maverick would keep her upright, because her legs felt like they were now made of gelatin.
Chapter Two
Maverick Malone hated weddings. He hated monkey suits, and pretending like he cared to socialize, and listening to grown women talk about his motorcycle club like he was a child.
He was forty-two-years-old, and he’d been the leader of the Sentinels for a decade. True, not everyone got the opportunity to take over a club as renowned as the Sentinels at such a young age, but he’d joined as a prospect the moment he’d turned eighteen.
His dad had been a Sentinel before the divorce, and Mav had grown up wanting nothing more. His father had left the club and the state after the divorce, leaving Mav with his little brother and a step-dad who liked to hit more than talk.
After another divorce, his mom and brother still lived in Forbidden Lake, and Mav had taken over the club after the last leader, Conrad Blickenstaff, had decided sixty was old enough to retire. He was still a member in good standing, and he often came to Sentinel church meetings—or just to hang around the biker bar in the back of the mechanic shop.
By the time he’d watched one of his good friends say I do and Maverick could loosen his tie, he felt choked to death. He pulled up to the shop, which boasted a huge red sign that spelled out RUBY’S in giant letters, his tie completely gone now. He’d draped it over the handlebars, but he hadn’t cared when it blew away.
He had no need for ties anyway. “Church” was just a term they used for their club meetings. He didn’t actually go to a house of worship, where one might need a tie.
He went up the metal steps, his boots making loud noises against them. Behind the triple-locked door, King started barking like Maverick was a serial killer about to enter.
As soon as he got the door open and went in, the German shepherd stopped barking and came toward him, his doggy face so happy to see Maverick.
“Hey, bud,” he said. “Did anyone stop by?”
Someone was always stopping by Ruby’s, though he’d told everyone about the wedding today. The whole blasted town knew about it. The Addler’s were practically Forbidden Lake royalty, and he couldn’t believe he’d walked down the aisle in the wedding party with one of them.
Karly hadn’t been super happy about it, but he hadn’t lied when he’d said he’d take her for a ride anytime. She was gorgeous, with miles of tan skin, and dark hair that held the right amount of wave, and those legs that seemed to go on and on and on…
Maverick curbed his thoughts. He wasn’t interested in Karly Addler Lydell. Oh, no, he was not. She had a kid, for one. And for two, she was a princess while he was the riffraff hanging around outside the palace, hoping to pick up a crumb or a piece of her trash.
He disliked the negative thoughts, and he pushed them away. He did good things here at Ruby’s, and right now, he was going to start on a new batch of cherry pistachio ice cream, a recipe he’d been trying to perfect for a month now.
The boys would be around the shop tonight, as always, and he liked to have the biker bar stocked and ready for meetings.
Maverick set a pot of coffee on and bent to feed King for the night. “It looked like it might snow tonight,” he said. But he’d just bundle up, put the coat on his dog, and take him for the midnight walk they went on every night.
He couldn’t help yawning as he started measuring cream and sugar. The wedding had been at two o’clock in the afternoon, and for him to be up and showered and pressed into slacks by then had been a miracle.
Maverick didn’t normally go to bed until three or four in the morning, and he rarely left the apartment above the mechanic bays and custom bike shop before two o’clock. That was breakfast time, and he loved riding through the afternoon to the little coffee shop over in Williamsburg that served the brew in dozens of flavors.
Not that Maverick wanted chocolate or coconut in his coffee. Straight up black for him, but he loved the liquid caffeine at Let’s Get Caffeinated, and the ride there and back always helped him clear his head.
He’d barely taken the new ice cream bas
e down to the machine in the biker bar when pounding sounded on the back door. His adrenaline spiked, and King barked, and Maverick left the huge container of unspun ice cream on the counter to go see who it was.
He was expecting to find Jordan Waterhouse, Lucas Miner, Davis Feriman standing there—and he did. “Boys,” he said, because they all were several years younger than him. Not everyone in the club was, but a slight majority.
“Jordan says Green Bay is going to take the SuperBowl,” Lucas said as he came in. “And I told him we don’t watch football.”
Davis set his helmet on the shelf as he came in. “Boss,” he said, real serious, as always. Maverick appreciated the predictability of his friends and fellow Sentinels.
“Keys are on the hooks, boys,” he said. “List is in the shared doc.”
Jordan and Lucas continued to argue about approved activities for a biker gang, while Davis stepped into the biker bar and started opening the long row of ice cream freezers. “We don’t have mint chocolate chip?”
“It got delayed,” Maverick said. “There’s cookies and cream.”
Davis made a face and turned to start putting out the cones and toppings for the bar. It was still early in the evening, and things didn’t really start hopping at Ruby’s until ten or eleven. But Davis was real serious about the biker bar, and he made the caramel sauce from scratch every evening.
Jordan stepped over to the counter and asked, “What’s the flavor of the night?”
“Cherry pistachio,” Maverick said to the dark-haired man that would probably take over the Sentinels if he ever chose to retire. “Make sure you don’t get hung up at Rosco’s tonight.”
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