by Harley Wylde
Ranger tightened his hold and took a few steps back, carrying me with him. Torch reached down and hauled LuLu to her feet, then gave her a shove toward her car. “Get gone, girl. I put the word out whores weren’t allowed the next few nights.”
“But I wanted to see your granddaughter,” LuLu said with a whine to her voice. She poked her bottom lip out in an exaggerated pout.
“LuLu, I will kick your whorish ass if you don’t leave,” I said, spitting on the ground at her feet.
Torch sighed and eyed me. “I’ve got it handled, Danica.”
“You and I both know you’ll never hurt her,” I said. “That’s not who you are. You might be the President of this club, but you’re an honorable man, Torch. Always have been, always will be. I, however, have no qualms about knocking her on her ass.”
“Ranger, get her out of here.” Torch gave LuLu another shove. “I’ll handle this one.”
Ranger swung me into his arms and carried me back into the clubhouse. Instead of putting me down once we were inside, he walked straight through the main room and didn’t stop until we reached the end of the hall. The shadows kept us mostly hidden from everyone else. Ranger let me slide down his body, then pressed me against the wall, caging me between his arms.
“So, little firecracker. Which Reaper do you belong to?” he asked.
I lifted my chin. “I don’t belong to anyone.”
His eyes lit up. “Really? Good news for me, then.”
“Why is that?”
“Because no one will object if I do this.” He crowded me, then lowered his head. His lips moved over mine, and when he flicked his tongue across the seam of my lips, I opened and let him in. I’d been kissed before, but never like this. My knees went weak, and it felt like my heart might beat right out of my chest. “Come with me.”
“With you?” I asked. “I don’t understand.”
“I only rode this far with Beast so he’d have some extra protection on the road. I wasn’t planning to stay. I rented a place a few towns over. Come spend the weekend with me.”
I couldn’t remember anyone ever asking me to spend a weekend with them. Then again, most people knew my dad and valued their lives too much to ask such a thing. But Ranger had no idea who I was. It was clear I was family or friend with the Dixie Reapers. Aside from that, I hadn’t told him anything. If my dad heard him ask such a thing, I had a feeling Ranger would be missing a few teeth. Or he might go missing entirely, buried in pieces somewhere out back of the property.
“I’m not sure that’s such a good idea.”
The heavy tread of boots headed our way. The silhouette was enough to tell me it was one of two people. Either Bull or Viking. I wasn’t sure I wanted either of them poking their noses into my business. When Viking stepped into the light, I gave him a slight smile.
“Hey, Viking.”
He stared at me, his gaze missing nothing, then he faced Ranger. “Let her go.”
“She yours?” Ranger asked. “Because she told me she didn’t belong to anyone.”
Viking folded his arms. “She’s Cowboy’s daughter, which makes her property of the Dixie Reapers. Since you aren’t a Reaper, you need to step off.”
Ranger leaned in closer. “That true, little firecracker? You the property of the Dixie Reapers?”
Was I their property? Eh. I never really considered myself as belonging to anyone. I loved my dad, and I had no problems with my mom wearing a property cut, but I wasn’t sure it was the right path for me. Then again, I didn’t know anyone who would go toe-to-toe with my dad, other than another biker. I didn’t have a lot of options unless I wanted to die an old cat lady.
I shrugged a shoulder. “My dad is one of them.”
“Didn’t answer my question. You free to be with whoever you want?” Ranger asked.
“You deaf?” Viking asked.
I sighed and eyed the big guy. “I’m okay, Viking. Really.”
Instead of leaving, he came closer. “Danica, you’ve had a rough day. I don’t want you doing something you’ll regret later. You know you aren’t thinking straight right now.”
I felt Ranger tense and knew he wondered what the hell was going on. I didn’t think the big, tough biker would understand I’d been bawling my eyes out over a horse. The guys here got it because quite a few had seen me compete, and knew I got my love of horses from my parents. My dad had been a champion bronc rider in the rodeos. I couldn’t say I’d inherited the trait from him because he wasn’t my biological father, but he’d been more of a dad to me than the man who’d been my sperm donor. Cowboy, as the Dixie Reapers called him, had been a good role model for both me and my brother.
“Maybe I need the distraction,” I said.
Viking arched an eyebrow at me, knowing damn well I was still a virgin. Hell, everyone here knew it. As much as I hated to admit it, he was right. I didn’t need to go off with Ranger for a few nights. I’d waited this long, wanting my first time to be special. Besides, if my dad found out Ranger had propositioned me, I had a feeling the club would make sure he never darkened the clubhouse doorstep again. He’d be run out of town within minutes.
“Come on, Danica.” Viking held out his hand. “I’ll sit with you at the bar. I think you need a beer more than you need someone trying to get into your pants.”
I gave Ranger a gentle shove and he released me. Taking Viking’s hand, I let him lead me back into the main area and up to the bar. I took a seat while he got me a cold beer. I felt like I owed Ranger an explanation, but the truth of the matter was that he’d be gone in a minute, and the chance of me seeing him again was slim to none. If he did come back with Beast and Lyssa, it wouldn’t necessarily be during a time I was in town. I traveled a lot, chasing the next rodeo.
“Thanks,” I said, accepting the beer. “For this and also for keeping me from making a mistake.”
“So I’m a mistake?” Ranger asked from behind me.
“She’s not a club whore,” Viking said. “If you only want a good time, you should have stuck with LuLu.”
The tension rolling off the two men told me I needed to defuse the situation before they came to blows. While some girls might get hot over men fighting over them, it wasn’t my thing. And if these two started swinging, then both clubs would get involved and it would become a huge mess. None of us needed that sort of headache.
“You’re staying somewhere for the weekend, then you’re going back home,” I said. “It’s not that you would be a mistake, but I’m not the type to have a weekend fling. I want more than a night or two with someone. Viking was right to remind me of that. I wouldn’t have liked myself very much after you went back home.”
Ranger shoved his hands into his pockets. “I don’t have to take off right this minute. Would you consider going to lunch with me? Maybe spending part of the day just hanging out?”
I turned to face him fully. “Why would you want that?”
“I remember you,” he said. “Saw you in a rodeo down in Atlanta a year ago. Thought you looked pretty great out there.”
I knew which one he was talking about. I’d won the barrel racing event that day and taken home a decent cash prize. It just hadn’t occurred to me any bikers were in the audience. Some of the Reapers had been to a few of my rodeos, the ones near home, but I hadn’t had any other clubs come watch. I hadn’t exactly been watching for anyone since I knew none of my family would be there. Why had the Reckless Kings been in the area? They weren’t even from Georgia.
“You watched me ride?” I asked.
He nodded. “You were on a sorrel.”
I bit my lip, wanting to know how he’d known the color of my horse. It wasn’t something just anyone would know, which meant he’d either spent time around horses, or liked them enough to learn about them. He didn’t seem like the type, but apparently I’d been wrong. “Her name is Sunny.”
“So, want to grab some lunch?” he asked.
I shouldn’t, even if the man did tempt me. He wouldn’t
be staying long, and I wasn’t the one-night stand type. What would be the point in getting to know him better? By his own admission he’d be gone by tonight, off to some cabin somewhere, and there was a chance I wouldn’t see him for years, if ever again. My thoughts must have shown on my face. He held up his hands and took a step back.
“No pressure, Danica. If you don’t want to go, that’s fine. Just say so.”
“It’s not that I don’t want to. You’re leaving tonight, and who knows when we’ll see each other again. I guess I just don’t understand what you’re hoping to get out of this.”
His lips kicked up on one corner. “I get to spend the day with a pretty woman. Who knows… maybe you’ll convince me to cancel my plans and stay until it’s time to head home.”
My heart skipped a beat at his words. I didn’t know why he wanted to get to know me. A man like him could have his pick of women. I wasn’t anything special. The lack of boyfriends was proof enough. I’d been on so few dates, and I didn’t think it was entirely because of who my dad was. Yeah, Cowboy could be intimidating, but not as much as say Torch. The President of the Dixie Reapers was getting up there in years. Didn’t seem to matter. He was still scary as hell.
“All right. I’ll go to lunch with you, and we can see where things go from there,” I agreed. “But I’m not promising more than that.”
He grinned, and my stomach tightened. “I can accept those terms.”
Oh, holy hell. What had I just gotten myself into?
Chapter Two
Ranger
I shouldn’t have been so excited to go to lunch with a woman. Especially after she’d eyed my bike, rolled her eyes, and tossed me the keys to her truck. There wasn’t a damn thing wrong with my Harley Davidson Heritage Classic. I’d had it custom painted a charcoal gray with a tattered American flag on the tank. Being the daughter of a biker, I hadn’t expected her to balk at riding behind me.
Viking had mentioned something about her having a bad day. No better cure than the open road. If lunch went well enough, maybe I could talk her into going for a ride. I hadn’t been lying when I said I’d change my plans for her. If I’d known she would be here, I’d have never made arrangements to stay elsewhere.
“Turn left here,” she said.
I followed her instructions as she guided me to her favorite Mexican restaurant. I found a spot to park not too far from the door and led her inside with my hand at her lower back. She didn’t pull away, so I took it as a good sign. When we stepped up to the hostess stand, the woman eyed the two of us before lifting her chin a bit, putting her nose in the air. It wasn’t the first time it had happened to me, and I knew it wouldn’t be the last. But seeing her do that to Danica? I wanted to tear into the bitch.
“Table for two,” I said.
She looked down at her podium and let out a huff before snatching two menus and walking off. I’d have to have a word with management before we left. I could have ignored her attitude had it just been me, but I wasn’t about to let Danica be treated poorly. She hadn’t done anything wrong.
“Sorry,” Danica murmured.
“For what?” I asked.
She nodded toward the woman who slapped the menus on the table and walked off. “Marisa. She’s hated me for a while now.”
I pulled out Danica’s chair and waited for her to sit before taking the spot across from her. She put her hand up to her hair, smoothing back a few flyaway strands, and cast a nervous look around the restaurant. I hadn’t sensed any danger when we’d walked in, so my guess was she had a few enemies in town, like that Marisa bitch. And I wanted to know why.
I took my seat and folded my arms on top of the table, leaning toward her. “So what’s the deal with her?”
“Her boyfriend asked me out in high school. I told him no, but she didn’t care. Marisa has it in her head that I lured him away or something.”
I arched my eyebrow and looked from her to the Marisa bitch and back again. The woman was still staring at Danica with pure hatred. “Wasn’t high school a while back? Exactly how old are you?”
She smiled a little. “I’m twenty-three. Don’t worry. I’m not jailbait.”
Which meant there was more than a decade difference between us. I knew there was a lot more than that between Beast and Lyssa, and same for Hawk and Hayley. The question was whether or not Danica would have an issue with our age difference. I knew some women preferred guys closer to their age, or even younger. Although, for her to be a cougar, she’d be dating underage boys and I doubted that was her thing. If it were, she wouldn’t be here with me right now.
“I’m thirty-six,” I said, deciding to go ahead and put it out there.
“I figured you were a little older than me, although I’d guessed closer to twenty-seven.” She shrugged. “Doesn’t bother me. You’ve seen the couples in the Dixie Reapers. Most have a decade or two between them.”
One hurdle down. A million more to go.
A server came over to take our order. He stopped about a foot away, glancing from Danica to me. “Do you need more time with the menus or are you ready to order?”
“I think we need another minute, Enrique,” Danica said. “But I’ll take a sweet tea and some cheese dip.”
“And for you?” he asked me.
“Dr. Pepper. Can you bring out salsa when you bring her cheese dip?”
He gave a brief nod and hurried off. The fact Danica knew his name meant she really did love this place. I had to wonder how often she ate here. Did she bring dates here? Come with friends? I wanted to know more about her but didn’t want to grill her with a ton of questions.
“You don’t like cheese?” she asked.
“I do. I love it, in fact. However, my stomach hates me if I eat too much of it. If I were to eat the cheese dip, I’d have to order my food without cheese.”
“That has to suck. We could have gone somewhere else.”
I shook my head. “I’m good. I’ve learned my limits, and as long as I don’t deviate, then I can eat pretty much anywhere.”
I looked over the menu, knowing I needed to figure out what I was eating before our server returned, and since I’d seen him heading our way, I knew my time was up. Danica placed her order first, then I gave our server mine. He set the cheese dip, salsa, and a basket of chips on the table before unloading our drinks. Once he left, I wondered how I was going to get Danica to talk to me. I didn’t want her to feel like she was being interrogated, and yet I needed to know more about her.
“Did you volunteer to come with Beast?” Danica asked.
“Yeah, I did.” She stared at me, and I knew she wanted more than that. I was going to have to confess I always came when he needed an extra man just in the hopes of running into her. “Remember when I said I watched you at a rodeo in Atlanta a year ago?”
“Yeah. I still can’t believe you were there.”
“Well, I’ve come with Beast every trip since then in hopes of running into you. The last time we were here, you were off at a rodeo. This time, I decided not to take the chance and made alternate plans. Of course, it would be the visit where you are home. So here we are.”
Her cheeks flushed pink. “You came here just so you could see me?”
I nodded. “I know we haven’t met before. Maybe it’s weird, and seems a bit stalkerish, but I really wanted a chance to get to know you. Watching you ride that day was amazing. You were so confident, and really damn good. Then you walked through the crowd, a big smile on your face, and I knew I needed to meet you in person.”
“Why didn’t you just come down and say hi then?”
“Didn’t seem like the time. I was dressed the way I am now, at a rodeo of all places. Wasn’t sure you’d want me approaching you.”
She smiled and leaned in closer, dropping her voice. “You may not have noticed, but my dad is a biker. I’m used to men in motorcycle boots and cuts. I wouldn’t have run away if you’d approached me.”
“Did you start riding in rodeos because
of your dad?”
She chewed on her bottom lip, and I wasn’t sure she’d answer for a minute. “Actually, I’ve always loved horses. Cowboy isn’t my biological father. He and my mom got together when I was in middle school. My birth father was a dirty cop who’d been abusing my mom. If she didn’t fall in with his plans, he’d threaten me and my brother. When Cowboy decided to get us out of there, I was more than ready to. He’s the best thing that ever happened to us.”
I blinked, not knowing what to say. Her dad had been a dirty cop? When she said he’d hurt her mom, what exactly had she meant? Slapping her around? Or worse? I wasn’t sure I wanted to know. Cowboy had likely buried the fucker, but if he hadn’t, someone needed to.
“The shorter answer to your question is yes. I started out riding in local horse shows, and when my dad -- Cowboy -- said I had talent, I decided to try hitting the smaller rodeos. It just snowballed from there. Now I love what I do. I’m not in it for the money. Well, not only for the money. I’ve been saving for something, but it’s also a thrill when I’m running barrels. I still live at home with my mom and dad, and Dad takes care of my horses. I honestly don’t have any bills to worry about. The rodeo is my job. I’ve just been putting the money away. No clue what for, but the money will be there when I need it. Maybe I’ll buy a house and finally move out, even if I’m not home all the time.”
“It must be awesome to have such a supportive family,” I said. “I joined the Army right out of high school as an escape from my home life. My parents weren’t abusive or anything. I was just over small-town life, and my family didn’t understand. Worked my way up to being an Army Ranger, hence my road name. I’m afraid the Reckless Kings weren’t too original with that one.”
She smiled and reached over, placing her hand on mine. “I like your road name. Can I ask you something personal?”