Page 21

Ace

Waking Emma up from a nap was becoming my new favorite thing. I spooned her from behind, one hand splayed across her warm belly.

“Mmmmm.” She wriggled around so she was laying on her back. “Thought you had a call to make.”

“Done.” I reached over to leisurely explore her warm lips.

She squirmed against me, wrinkling her nose. “I need a shower.”

“I can help you with that.” I leered suggestively.

A slow smile lit her face as she stretched and ran a hand from my chest down to my cock. “I was hoping you’d say that.”

Almost an hour later, we were dressed and ready to face the rest of the day. “So, what’s happening?”

“We’re waiting for Deuce and Preacher to get back. The plan is to attack their base at dawn.”

“Their base?” She frowned.

“They’re from Atlanta, so they don’t have a clubhouse here.

They’ve established a base of operations that they are working from on the far edge of town.

An old farmstead that’s been vacant for over a decade now.

There’s a lot of cover around it, meaning it won’t be easy for them to defend.

Most of the guys are in the main building.

The barn has half the boards missing and the floor may not be solid enough to hold the weight of a full-grown man. ”

“How do you know all that?” Her brows shot skyward.

I grinned. “Shadow. No such thing as privacy where he’s concerned. Co-opted one of the satellites to spy on the place.”

Emma shook her head. “I’ll keep that in mind. No sex in the woods for you.”

“That was on the table?” I pretended to look surprised.

“Not now it’s not.” She gave me a stern look. “I’m not into exhibitionism.”

“Noted.” I grabbed my pistol and checked the safety before tucking it into the holster at my hip. “You ready?”

“For what?”

“Thought we’d see how well you do with a bigger gun. The twins had you using a twenty-two which is great for target practice, but I’d feel better if you had something along the lines of a thirty-thirty if you I’m not around to protect you.”

She frowned. “A handgun?”

“No.” I shook my head. “Rifle. Handguns are harder to handle and take a lot more practice to get proficient with.”

“Okay.” She didn’t sound too sure about it but took my hand as I headed downstairs to the gun locker.

We referred to it as a locker, but the gun room was actually a reinforced vault with an electronic lock.

I punched in the code to disarm it and stepped inside.

Dropping Emma’s hand, I selected a Winchester thirty-thirty from the rifle rack, along with a box of cartridges.

This model had a magazine in the barrel and held five shots plus one in the chamber.

If she got off that many, anyone on the receiving end would be good and dead.

A quick check assured me it was unloaded, and I handed it to her.

“This is a thirty-thirty?”

“Yes. Big enough to kill a deer, or a person, but not enough punch to bring down a moose or a bear unless you’re a damn good shot and hit it just right.”

“Good to know.” She hefted it, moved it from hand to hand as if assessing the weight and balance. “It’s lighter than it looks.”

I locked the vault behind us, and we headed out to the rifle range. I’d never taught a woman how to handle a gun before, or any newbie for that matter. The twins had done a good job of showing her how to brace her feet, and how to snug the stock up against her shoulder to cushion the kick.

I showed her how to load the magazine, then emptied it so she could try it herself.

“Like this?” She automatically checked to make sure the safety was on, and the gun was empty when I handed it to her. She was going to be a natural.

She looked down at the rifle. “This isn’t a semi-auto kind of gun. How do I get the cartridges from the magazine to the chamber?”

I explained the lever action, making sure to warn her not to get hit by the spent shell being ejected, watching as she chambered the first round.

“Yup. You got it.” Not that I ever wanted her to be in the position to have to use it, but being able to defend herself would make both of us feel better.

I stood behind her as she took a stance and aimed. “Squeeze slowly, don’t jerk the trigger.”

“The twins already told me that.” She placed her finger on the trigger and took the first shot.

“Shit!” She lowered the muzzle toward the ground and shrugged her shoulder. The Winchester had a harder kick to it than the twenty-two she’d been using the day before. “You could have warned me.”

“Sorry.” I stepped up to massage her shoulder. “Didn’t think about it. You snugged it up like a pro.”

She rolled her eyes. “Nice try. You’re going to pay for that later.”

“Hope so.” I grinned at her.

“One track mind!” Stepping back up to the firing line, she readied herself to give it another try. She worked her way through the remaining rounds in the magazine before stepping back.

I was proud of the way she’d handled the changes in her life. They’d come fast and hard, and instead of constantly whining or complaining she just adjusted.

“I didn’t hit the bullseye a single time.” She glared at the rifle as if it were somehow to blame.

“You hit the target though, and that’s good enough.

” I dropped an arm around her shoulder and pulled her in close to drop a quick kiss on her lips.

“If you’re shooting at someone, that’s enough to scare them, even if you don’t injure them.

Aim for the chest. It’s your best option.

I want you to keep this rifle by your side while I’m gone.

You take it wherever you go. Always within hand reach. Understand?”

She nodded, a frown marring the perfection of her forehead. “Okay. I will.”

“Promise,” I insisted. “I want you to keep it handy, and have it loaded. These guys are fucking nasty, and I won’t rest easy until I know they’ve been cancelled.”

She nodded, more firmly this time. “I will. I promise.”

The sound of motorcycle engines echoed loudly in the distance, increasing in volume as they roared up the driveway. I cocked my head, and heard the creak of the gate as the prospects opened it to let them enter.

Deuce and Preacher were back. The mission was a go for daybreak.

* * *

Emma

“It’s time.”

Ace wrapped his arms around me, devouring my lips in a kiss that seared me to the very bottom of my soul.

I wanted to hang on to him, keep him with me, tell him not to go.

I’d just found him, just discovered how much I could care about someone if I let myself.

And now he was leaving and might not come back. It wasn’t fair.

I fought back the tears that wanted to spill from my eyes. I had to be brave. For him. Ace. I didn’t want his last sight of me to be a hot mess of tears and red-rimmed eyes.

I let myself melt into the kiss, firmly refusing to dwell on the what ifs. After too short a time, Ace put his hands on my shoulders and lifted his head.

“I will be back. I promise.”

“You can’t promise that.”

“I can. I’ve just found you and nothing is going to keep me away from you.”

I wished I could believe him.

He let me go and slung a leg over his motorcycle.

Lifting his arm, he signaled to the rest of the Riptide gang and a feeling of total loss swept through me as he rode away, his red taillights disappearing into the horizon.

Then, one by one, the rest of the crew roared off down the driveway and out of sight.

Biting my lower lip, I turned to find Jake standing behind me. The sympathy in his eyes was almost my undoing.

“Does it get any easier?”

“Not really.” He shook his head. “But you know they’re doing something important, something not a lot of people are capable of. Because of them, our world is a safer place.”

“I suppose.” I admitted it reluctantly. “Except I want Ace to be safe.”

Jake took a step closer and slung a fatherly arm around my shoulder. “If he hid from danger, if he didn’t do what his conscience told him needed to be done, he wouldn’t be the man you fell in love with, would he?”

“No.” I rested my head on Jake’s shoulder as we wandered back toward the clubhouse. “But he might get killed.”

“I doubt it.” Jake chuckled. “He’s not that easy to kill.”

“Yeah. He told me that already.”

“See. He’s smart too.”

That drew a reluctant smile from me. “I guess he is.”

Jake tousled the hair on the top of my head. “Of course he is. He found you, didn’t he?”

We stepped into the clubhouse, and the smell of freshly brewed coffee wafted out of the kitchen to greet us. Mom must have known we weren’t going to be able to go back to sleep.

“You didn’t come to see the guys off. How come?” I knew she thought of the bikers as her kids in a way.

“Too hard.” Mom shook her head. “If something happens, I want my last sight of that person to be a happy one. Eating. Drinking. Carousing with his buddies. Not heading out to his doom.”

A cold shiver ran down my spine at her words, the sight of Ace leading the string of bikers out of the gate flashing through my mind.

“Here. Drink this.” She handed me a mug of coffee with lots of cream. Just the way I liked it.

“Did you used to watch when Jake left?” I asked.

Mom shook her head. “Jake had already retired when we got together. Didn’t have to worry about that.”

“You would have stared longingly after my awesome ass,” Jake piped up.

“Awesome ass?” Mom rolled her eyes. “You are delusional.”

Jake turned and slapped his butt before sauntering over to the coffee pot and pouring a mug for himself.

I laughed, almost choking on a mouthful of coffee.

Looking fondly at Jake, Mom addressed me in a stage whisper, “His ass is kind of awesome, but don’t tell him I said that. His ego is big enough as it is.”

Jake turned, smirking suggestively before stalking across to Mom and pulling her in to smack a big kiss across her lips.

“Maybe I should leave you two alone.” I forced a smile as I headed for the front door. “I could use a walk to clear my head.”