by Lane Hart
“Hi,” I say, grinning ear to ear because it’s the first time he’s introduced me as something other than this stepsister.
“Nice to meet you, Zoe,” Roman says with his own grin, getting to his feet just as Charlotte and Tessa come through the open front door with their bags. Roman holds out his arm and Charlotte slips into his side. “And I believe you met my fiancée, Charlotte, last night.”
“Fiancée?” Winston asks with a whistle. “So, you two finally made it official?”
“Yeah, we did, last night,” Roman replies as he smiles down at her. “Life’s too short to not spend it with the one you love.”
“Amen, brother,” Winston agrees, giving my hand a squeeze.
“And now that you’re back, I’m going to get the girls home and finally get some sleep,” Roman explains. “I think your parents are almost ready to head out.”
“Thanks,” Winston says. “But before you go, did you get anything out of Joey last night?”
Roman removes his arm from around Charlotte, then glances at her and Zoe. “I don’t really like talking about this stuff with the ladies around, but I’m too tired to go sneaking off right now,” Roman says as he seems to deflate with a heavy sigh.
“That bad, huh?” Winston says in commiseration. “I’m not looking forward to having a shift with Joey, especially if my partner is Verek.”
“Nah, it’s not that,” Roman says. “Conrad got him talking with some ‘creative persuasion.’ We got some names out of him, but now I’ve got a dilemma. Verek wants to kill Joey outright, and he’s even asking if Tessa can be there!”
“I don’t know how I feel about that,” Winston grumbles.
“That’s not the biggest issue. I don’t trust torture, man, and I don’t trust this Joey character. He could say anything, just to get us to lay off of him for a little while. We’re going to have to follow up on whatever leads he provides to verify the information before we can get rid of him.”
“That’s going to take some time, and we’re going to have to keep up with the little fucker in the meantime,” Winston observes.
“Exactly,” Roman says. “I don’t want to have to keep an eye on this little shit every hour of every day, and I don’t want to have to struggle to keep his ass alive any longer than necessary. It’s a risk, but it’s one we’re going to have to eat for now.”
“At least the boathouse isn’t too far out of the way…” Winston starts, before Tessa appears at the front door.
“Winston, your parents are all packed up and ready to go,” she says. “Oops, sorry to interrupt,” she adds as she sees the men’s bleak expressions.
“No worries,” Roman tells her. “We’re ready to go.”
“It was nice meeting you, Zoe,” Charlotte says, giving me a quick hug, before she walks back toward the car.
“Same,” Tessa says with a wave before the two women get into a car, and Roman climbs onto his motorcycle. With a wave, he wheels his bike around and leads the two women away.
“Dad, Mom? You ready to go home?” Winston asks, taking my hand and pulling me up the steps behind him and into the house.
“Just a second!” Deb calls from the back, leaving us in the living room alone with my dad.
“Morning,” he says, glancing down at our clasped hands.
“I think you and I should probably have a talk,” Winston tells him.
“Nothing to talk about, son,” my dad replies. “At least not when it comes to Zoe.” Smiling at me, he adds, “She’s a grown woman and has been for a long time. I can’t tell her who she should be with. But if I could, and she would actually listen, I would be rooting for you, Winston.”
“You would?” Winston asks in surprise.
“Of course.”
“And why is that?”
“Why not?” my dad responds. “Are you going to try your best to make her happy?”
“Yes.”
“Keep her safe?”
“Absolutely.”
“Be good to her?”
“Always,” Winston tells him.
“Then that’s all I can ask for,” my dad says. “You’re a good man, Winston. Even if you had feelings for Zoe when you two were teenagers, you kept it to yourself and did the right thing.”
“Aside from the night before Zoe left for Paris,” Debra interjects cheerfully, joining us in the living room.
“How did you know about that?” Winston asks her, as surprised as I am.
“Know about what?” Martin asks, looking between us all. “Wait. What the hell happened the night before she left?”
“Ah, nothing,” Deb says, giving us a wink. “I’m sure I was mistaken, right?”
“Right,” I agree, while Winston just shakes his head.
“Let’s go home, shall we?” he suggests.
“Great idea, honey,” Deb says. “The four of us have a lot of catching up to do.”
Epilogue
Winston
* * *
Six months later…
* * *
“Jesus, I can’t fucking believe that Roman tied the knot and Winston’s having a kid,” Cannon says as Leo lines up a row of shot glasses to pour us all one out. “It’s been a crazy ass year.”
“We’re two lucky bastards,” Roman says, as we both pick up a glass and clink them together. “Cheers!”
“Cheers!” I toss the liquor down my throat, then search the crowd at the clubhouse to find my woman. Zoe’s lounging on one of the leather sofas with her hands clasped on top of her growing bump, laughing while talking to the girls. She looks happy, as she usually does lately, which makes me so ecstatic, I can’t stop smiling.
“Pussy whipped motherfuckers,” Marcus grumbles. “And I still can’t believe you got your sister pregnant!”
“Stepsister,” I correct him. “And I would do it again too.”
“How come you’re not freaking out about being a daddy?” Leo asks from behind the bar.
“Because I wanted a kid. Not to mention that knocking Zoe up means she can’t leave me again or do any more nude shoots.”
Conrad chuckles. “Looks like it worked.”
“Oh yeah. I’m a fucking genius,” I brag. “I waited ten years to be with her. There’s no way I’m letting her go again. And the best part about her being pregnant? She’s horny all the time and no rubbers are needed. I slide right in, anywhere, anytime.”
“TMI, man.” Roman shakes his head. “But, um, I do need to go find my wife and see if she needs any help getting out of her dress,” he says, to which we all cheer him on.
Zoe
* * *
“So, how have you been feeling?” Tessa asks, as the girls sit around, gossiping at Roman and Charlotte’s wedding reception. They had just tied the knot in a quick ceremony at the magistrate’s office. And while I’ve tried to keep quiet and not talk about the baby on Charlotte’s day, I get the feeling Tessa needs to talk about something, anything, else.
“I’ve been feeling great,” I tell her. “Baby girl has started kicking hard enough for Winston to feel it, which is so amazing!”
“He’s a proud daddy already,” Charlotte says. “Roman says all he talks about is you and the baby.”
“Yeah, he’s sweet,” I tell them as I lock eyes with my man across the clubhouse and give him a smile. “And I still let him think he knocked me up on purpose so I would stick around.”
“He didn’t?” Tessa asks.
“God, no. I wasn’t going anywhere,” I explain. “And I knew I was already pregnant when he started ‘forgetting condoms’ when we would fool around in the garage. So, I just waited a few weeks to tell him, to let him think it was all his fault when really, he got me pregnant weeks before. You remember the night the Kings went on their mission? My beautiful, sexy man has no clue how due dates work.”
“And how have your parents been with everything?” Charlotte asks. “They taking it well?”
“They’re both excited and can’t wait to have a gran
dbaby. Although, they do want us to start planning our wedding ASAP, since it’s taboo enough that my stepbrother knocked me up,” I joke, just as Roman and Winston start over.
Coming up behind me on the sofa, Winston leans over and gives my belly a rub. “How are my girls doing?” He’s been so sweet and attentive these past few months, waiting on me hand and foot every second of the day, making sure I’m comfortable. I wouldn’t trade our life together for anything.
“Couldn’t be better,” I assure him. Tilting my head, I give him a kiss on his lips, which he returns with a slip of his tongue that has my libido going from cool as a cucumber to overheating in a matter of seconds.
“Are you sure about that?” Winston asks with a knowing smirk. Leaning down to my ear, he places a kiss against it and then whispers, “I bet I could make you feel even better.”
“You always do,” I tell him honestly. “Which is why I love you.”
* * *
The End
Verek (Book 3)
Contents
Synopsis
Prologue
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
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Epilogue
Coming Soon
Also by Lane Hart and D.B. West
About the Authors
Copyright
This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogue were created from the authors’ imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual people or events is coincidental.
The authors acknowledge the copyrighted and trademarked status of various products within this work of fiction.
© 2020 Editor's Choice Publishing
All Rights Reserved.
Only Amazon has permission from the publisher to sell and distribute this title.
This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Editor’s Choice Publishing
P.O. Box 10024
Greensboro, NC 27404
* * *
Edited by One Love Editing
Cover by Marianne Nowicki of www.PremadeEbookCoverShop.com
* * *
WARNING: THIS BOOK IS NOT SUITABLE FOR ANYONE UNDER 18. IT CONTAINS SEXUALLY AND PHYSICALLY VIOLENT SCENES THAT MAY BE A TRIGGER FOR SOME INDIVIDUALS.
Synopsis
Verek Rhodes is playboy royalty in South Carolina. As a member of the Savage Kings MC and the manager of a nightclub, women were easy come easy go in his life, until he met Tessa.
* * *
Tessa Singleton was getting ready to marry the man of her dreams before her entire world came crashing down. She’s spent the past few months in therapy, trying to heal her emotional wounds.
* * *
The one ray of light in her bleak world is Verek. Being with the easygoing biker keeps Tessa distracted from the darkness.
* * *
Her fiancé, Paul, on the other hand, doesn’t have a clue how broken she remains. He probably never will as Tessa can’t find the courage to open up to him.
* * *
Eventually, Tessa will have to face her past and make a decision about who she wants to be with.
* * *
Will she choose the man she once loved or the one who saved her from her nightmares?
Prologue
Verek Rhodes
* * *
Staring out at the sea of bodies filling up the entire second story of the oceanfront club, I feel like a goddamn king.
Around here, I am considered royalty.
Ever since I patched into the Savage Kings MC three years ago, I’ve had it made. I’m the manager of Fluid, our MC’s very own nightclub, one of the most popular tourist attractions for single women in Myrtle Beach. And since the women flock to get a look at us bikers in an attempt to fulfill some Sons of Anarchy fantasy, all the local bachelors and the ones just passing through show up to try and find one of the rowdy, leftover ladies to take home.
It’s no secret that the members of the MC always get their pick of the litter. Every night is like shopping for a new car to take out for a spin. Each woman is different, with only one thing in common – they all want to fuck.
Tonight, I’ve got my eye on a cherry-red Corvette in a shiny green dress. The gorgeous redhead came in with a group of women, one of whom went straight for Roman, our club’s president like she was on a mission while the rest of the girls sit back on the sofas in the VIP section, sipping martinis or whatever fruity drink floats their boat.
Popping a fresh stick of peppermint gum in my mouth, I head over to introduce myself, making eye contact with Cherry the entire way. She eyes me up and down like I’m a Popsicle she’s dying to lick, refusing to glance away. I’m close enough to read her bright red lips when they clearly say to her friends, “Oh wow! Speaking of Big Dick Energy…” almost making me laugh out loud before the bouncer quickly removes the rope to let me through to the velvet plush sofas reserved for the best girls so that the other random dickheads looking to score will know they’re off-limits.
“Hello, ladies,” I say as I approach, flashing them all a smile before my eyes are drawn back to Cherry. No wonder she practically glows – her skin is a flawless ivory, as perfect as a porcelain doll’s. “You must be pretty damn important to one of the Kings if you’re sitting in here tonight.”
“Roman invited us,” Cherry answers. “Well, he invited our friend Charlotte and indulged the rest of us,” she adds, making the other women laugh.
“I’ll have to thank him later,” I tell her as I stroll over and take a seat on the arm of the sofa next to her, close enough to smell her warm vanilla scent. “What’s your name?” I ask since I’m guessing it’s something better than Cherry.
“Tessa,” she looks up and tells me. “And this is Sydney, Bev, and Ruth.”
“Nice to meet you ladies,” I reply even though I barely acknowledge the other women sitting around her. It’s impossible to look away from the radiant goddess who makes me want to get on my knees and worship her.
“I’m Verek, the one in charge here, so you ladies let me know if there’s anything I can do for you,” I say to Tessa.
“Will you dance with me?” she quickly asks. Tossing the rest of her girly drink down, she sets the glass on the table in front of her and then gets to her feet to turn to face me expectantly, her tiny matching green purse slung across the front of her body.
“Anything but that,” I tell her with a wince.
“Oh, come on!” Tessa exclaims, slapping the outside of my knee playfully. “You can’t be that bad if you work in a nightclub!”
For a second, I almost turn her down. The Kings aren’t known for their dancing abilities, myself included. But her gorgeous face looks so hopeful, and her beautiful green eyes are twinkling like emeralds under the strobe lights. That’s the moment I know for certain that I couldn’t refuse her anything.
“All right, sweetheart,” I concede. “It’s your pretty little feet that’ll get stomped.”
Giggling, she says, “I’ll take my chances.”
Reaching for her hand, I lead her to the dance fl
oor as the other women cheer her on, wondering how many songs I’ll have to endure before I can take her home with me.
Tessa Singleton
* * *
“What did you say your name was again?” I yell to the tall, bronze-haired biker. He is somehow making the leather cut and run-of-the-mill blue jeans look incredibly yummy as he leads me to the dance floor, an upbeat song with lots of bass blaring through the club’s speakers.
Glancing over his shoulders that are twice as wide as the rest of him, he says, “Verek,” with his teeth biting into his lip with the beginning of the word, which can only be a V sound. A hint of sweet peppermint follows the word, and until this moment I had no idea it was such an aphrodisiac.
“So like Eric with a V?” I say when he finally comes to a stop and faces me.
“That’s right,” he answers with a sexy, dimpled grin. Leaning forward to get closer to my ear like he’s letting me in on a secret, he says, “My dad wanted me to be unique, to always stand out. What he didn’t consider is that I would have to spend my entire life spelling my name out for people everywhere I go.”