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Moments later, I felt a surge of heat just as Ace let out a roar, signaling his own release. I arched my back, riding him with eyes closed as I reveled in pure feelings.

I collapsed on top of my burly biker lover, my head resting in the crook of his shoulder.

A thin sheen of sweat covered both of us as our breathing slowly returned to normal.

Warmth and an unfamiliar feeling of belonging washed over me.

Despite everything that had happened, everything that I thought I wanted or didn’t want, this felt so good. So right.

Ace nuzzled the top of my head, skimming the lightest of kisses across my forehead. “This is where you belong, where we belong.” Just as he reached up to brush a stray lock of hair off my face, the sound of shattering glass echoed from the front of the house.

“Now what the fuck?”

* * *

Ace

I knew we should have gone back to the clubhouse. Why had I let Emma talk me out of it? Grabbing my pants, I pulled them on commando style and yanked my cut on over my naked chest as I raced out into the living room.

The front window was destroyed, shards of glass covering the floor, and in the middle of the living room floor sat a flat black box with wires wrapped around it, and an alarm type clock duct taped to it.

Fuck! Fuck! Fuck !

I’d seen enough shit to know what it was. A homemade bomb. The alarm clock would be the timer, since it hadn’t exploded yet. No idea how long before it went off, and I didn’t waste any time trying to find out.

Pivoting sharply, I raced back to the bedroom.

“We need to get the hell out of here. Now!” I grabbed a blanket, wrapped it around a naked, stunned Emma and threw her over my shoulders.

“What the hell?” Emma squirmed against me.

“Bomb. No time.” Pausing to grab my pistol and tuck it into my waistband, I raced to the back door and threw it open.

Hopefully there were no hostiles outside waiting for us to emerge. A quick glance showed me one of the prospects pistol-whipping a guy, who collapsed to the ground unconscious. Hopefully the only one. I raced across the lawn, yelling at the prospects as I went. “Bomb! Get back!”

Tiny left the unconscious perp where he’d landed and raced to intercept me.

“Bomb?”

I nodded, setting Emma on the ground carefully so as not to disturb the blanket. “Someone threw it through the living room window. Didn’t stop to check details. Looked like a timer strapped to a brick of plastic explosive. Don’t know how much time we…”

The rest of my sentence was lost as a spectacular explosion rocked my house. The force of the blast pushed Emma back against me, and I wrapped my arms around her, resting my chin on the top of her head as I watched my house disintegrate.

“Holy shit.” Tiny stared at the wreckage.

“Where’s Thor?” I craned my neck to see if I could spot him.

“He was patrolling the front. Should have been far enough away when the blast went off.” A frown furrowed Tiny’s forehead. “Hopefully he didn’t go inside looking for you when he heard the window break.”

“Fuck.” I didn’t want to let go of Emma. No telling what threats lurked outside the range of sight. “Go check up on him.”

“No need.” Tiny gestured with his chin. “Here he comes.”

Thor limped across the grass in our direction, his figure outlined by the fire slowly engulfing my home. Flames shot out the windows, and thick black smoke curled skyward. Even at this distance I could feel the heat.

A look of total shock covered Emma’s face, and she clung to me like a drowning victim clinging to a life raft. I tucked her against me, pulling the blanket up snug to her chin.

Sirens sounded in the distance, the pitch increasing as they got closer. Emma didn’t need to be caught up in this mess.

“Can you get her to the clubhouse?” I glanced over at Thor. “I don’t want her to have to deal with the authorities when they start in on the questioning. You know they’re going to make assumptions when they realize it’s my place.”

Thor straightened, nodding in the affirmative. “Sure thing, Prez. I came on my bike, but it got toasted in the blast. I’ll get one of the other prospects to bring in a cage.”

I smoothed Emma’s rumpled hair back from her forehead. The shock was clear on her face as she looked up at me. “I want you to go with Thor. He’ll take you to the clubhouse and I’ll meet you there as soon as I deal with this. You okay with that?”

“Don’t I have to stay and talk to the cops when they get here?”

I shook my head. “Not a good idea. As far as the authorities are concerned, I was home alone when this happened. You’ve got enough to deal with right now.”

“Are you sure?” She looked doubtful. “I don’t want you getting into more trouble for me.”

“I’m sure.” I glanced down the road. The sounds of the fire trucks were getting louder, but they weren’t in sight yet.

“Trust me, you don’t want the authorities to link you to this.

As soon as they realize it’s my place, they’ll likely put it down as some kind of biker turf war.

Probably won’t even bother to investigate it. ”

Emma tilted her head, and I dropped a swift hard kiss on her lips before releasing her.

I watched as Thor led her away in the opposite direction.

Even if his bike had survived the blast, he’d have to call for someone to bring a cage.

No way she’d to be able to ride on the back of his bike wearing nothing but a blanket.

Suited me just fine. The uncivilized caveman part of me didn’t like the thought of my Emma riding on the back of another man’s bike, her arms wrapped around his waist and her legs spread wide against him.

Thor led her around the corner onto the side street. Smart guy, making sure she was out of sight of any incoming authorities before he called for a cage. I made a mental note to look into letting him patch in soon.

With Emma safely taken care of, I turned my attention back to my house.

By now, the flames were shooting out the roof and one side had collapsed into itself.

There must have been some fucking high-powered accelerant in that bomb for the structure to be fully engulfed so quickly.

My guess was they’d hoped to catch me asleep.

If the initial blast didn’t kill me, I would have been overcome with smoke before I regained consciousness.

Too bad for them, I’d been awake and alert. If I hadn’t been intent on making love to Emma, both of us would be dead by now.

The fire truck careened around the corner and screeched to a halt in front of the house. Firemen poured off it and stopped to stare at the blazing inferno. One of them raced over to me. “Anyone in there?” he asked without taking his eyes off the blaze.

I shook my head. “No. I live alone.” I gestured at Tiny. “My buddy and I were in the backyard when the bomb went off. Just shooting the shit. Lucky timing we weren’t inside.”

“Good.” He nodded. “Looks like an unstable structure. Since we don’t have to worry about anyone inside, I’m going to have the guys establish a perimeter and take steps to contain the fire to the one structure.

Stay put. I’ll talk to you once we have it secured.

” With that, he started yelling directions to his crew, who hooked up hoses to the nearby hydrant and began to soak the adjoining structures before directing their efforts to outside of the house.

Given the way the roof was sagging, and the fact that they knew the place was empty, I doubted they would attempt to enter.

Luckily, I didn’t have much that I’d worry about losing.

My most prized possession was my motorcycle that I’d restored by hand, but since I’d used the truck for my date with Emma, the bike was safely stowed at the clubhouse.

The truck was insured, as was the house.

I had no emotional attachments to either.

I stepped back to let the firemen work, waiting to answer the inevitable questions once they had the blaze under control and felt the area was safe.

I watched as the fire crew worked to minimize the damage.

By the time an hour had passed, they had contained the fire to my property and were mopping it up.

Not much left to mop up though. The building had collapsed completely in on itself.

A smoldering pile of ashes surrounded the brick chimney which was all that was left standing.

These guys played for keeps, and it was sheer dumb luck that Emma and I were safe.

“Mr. Maclean? “

I turned to see the same fireman I’d talked to earlier. “Yeah?”

“I’m Chief Placket. Sorry about your home.” The chief rubbed an ash covered hand across his forehead, leaving a black streak. “There was nothing we could do to save it. The structure was already fully engulfed when we arrived.”

I nodded curtly. “I know. But thanks. At least you managed to keep the neighbors’ places from going up too.”

“Any idea what started the blaze?” He squinted. Probably already had a good idea.

“Someone threw a bomb through the front window.” I shrugged. “We heard the glass break, but the place exploded before I had time to see what the fuck was going on. The house went up like a torch within minutes.”

The chief nodded slowly. “Sounds consistent with how fast things went. That makes it arson. The police are going to want to talk to you. Any idea who is responsible?”

“Could be several people. Comes with the territory some days.” I turned so my cut was visible. “Some people just don’t like bikers.”

“True.” He glanced at his watch. “It’s late, and the arson experts are probably all home with their families.

I’m going to make sure all the hot spots are out, and as long as you promise not to take off, you can go down to the police station in the morning and fill out a report.

I’ll send in a summary later tonight, so they know what to expect. That work for you?”

“Sounds like a plan. Thanks.”

The chief shook my hand before heading back to his crew, directing them to water down the few hot spots still smoldering.

I pulled my cell phone out and called the clubhouse to have one of the prospects come pick me up. No way in hell was I going to ride bitch on Tiny’s bike.

As if he could read my mind, Tiny pulled up beside me. He eyed up the pile of rubble, shaking his head. “Fuck.”

“Yeah.”

“Same guys that did the murder in the park?”

“Yeah.”

“We voting on war?”

I regarded him soberly. “Yeah. Soon as I get back to the clubhouse, church. Time to clean this shit out of our town.”

Tiny nodded and kicked his bike into gear. “See you back at the clubhouse, Prez.”