Jaci Burton (3 page)

I’ve been out of town the past few years, so that’s why you

didn’t know about me.”

“Real y. Are you joining the Hel raisers for bike week?”

“I am.”

“Have a girl with you?”

“No. I ride solo.”

She grinned. “That’s perfect. My best friend is here and she

doesn’t have anyone to ride with.”

“Uh, I don’t think—”

The woman had been standing behind Bo. With al of

Lacey’s flash and exuberance, he hadn’t even seen her. He

did now as Lacey pul ed her in front.

Wow. To Rick, one woman was just as good as another.

This one was different. She was stunning, with rich black

hair, silvery gray eyes, and a lush body that rocked his dick

into shocked awareness.

And she looked damned familiar.

“Rick, this is my very best friend, Ava.”

This was Ava Vargas? It had to be. She looked a lot like the

picture he’d been given, only the picture must have been a few

years old. This Ava was a hel of a lot sexier now that she was

gift-wrapped in leather.

And she’d just been dropped right into his lap.

A
va sized up the biker she’d just been introduced to. Tal ,

damn fine-looking, with dark hair, dark eyes, in need of a

shave, and looking al too dangerous. Classic biker look in

jeans, chaps, and leather jacket.

Wow. Just . . . wow.

“Hey, Ava.” Rick held out his hand.

Polite, too. She hadn’t expected that. She slid her hand in

his and felt the sizzle of . . . something electric and very warm.

“Nice to meet you, Rick.”

“This is just perfect, isn’t it?” Lacey said, bouncing on the

bal s of her feet. “I was hoping you would find someone to ride

with. With Bo’s cousin here, you have a seat now.”

“Yes. Perfect.” Ava couldn’t help staring at Rick. She

supposed she had these preconceived notions of bikers.

Dirty, scruffy, mean, and scary looking. None of those

characteristics fit Rick. Or, for that matter, Lacey’s boyfriend,

Bo, who was tal , lean, and very attractive. He resembled his

cousin in many ways.

“Hi, Bo,” she said.

“Howdy, Ava. You look great in leather. Glad you decided to

join up with us for bike week.”

Bo was friendly, too, had been since she’d first met him at

one of the bars. Maybe she’d expected something different.

“Let’s take a walk, see what’s up around here tonight,” Bo

said.

He slung his arm around Lacey’s shoulder and off they

went, leaving Ava alone with Rick. And about a hundred other

bikers, who started brushing by them.

Ava had no choice but to slide her gaze over at Rick.

He smirked at her. Could he see right through her as the

fraud she was?

“You look lost.”

She lifted her head, her pulse skittering just looking at him.

“No, real y, I’m fine. I’m sorry about Lacey dumping me on you.

Real y, you’re free to go. You don’t have to babysit me.”

“I’m a lot of things, darlin’, but a babysitter isn’t one of them.

Come on.” He grabbed her hand and they started walking.

Slow.

“Should we catch up to Bo and Lacey?”

“I’m not attached at the hip to my cousin. I’m fine right where

we are.”

Ava supposed she was going to have to be, since Lacey

didn’t seem to be concerned about leaving her with some guy

neither of them knew. And she and Rick had fal en farther back

in the crowd of Hel raisers, so now they were bringing up the

rear. This guy could drag her into an al ey and murder her,

ravage her. She could disappear. Would anyone even notice?

Or care?

Yeah, her imagination was definitely in overdrive, wasn’t it?

Nice.

“You’re sweating.”

She jerked her gaze to him. “What?”

He lifted his arm, showing her where their hands were

linked. “Your palm is sweating.”

She pul ed her hand away and wiped it on her jeans. “Oh.

Sorry.”

Again, that smile of his. The one that said he knew why.

“Are you nervous? I won’t bite, ya know.”

And wasn’t this just the perfect time for her imagination to

conjure him doing just that. Right on the nape of her neck.

While they were in bed. Honestly. She didn’t have vivid

fantasies of men doing wicked things to her. Especial y men

she’d just met. Men she didn’t know at al . That wasn’t where

her mind went. Usual y. But he had that sexy, bad boy look

about him that made her shiver al over. And apparently sweat.

“No, I’m not nervous at al .”

“You’re a terrible liar.”

“Spoken by someone who’s so good at it?”

He winked. “Yes ma’am.”

She laughed, and felt the tension in her body begin to

dissolve.

“So how long have you been with the Hel raisers?”

How was she supposed to answer that? She didn’t want to

appear as if she had no idea what she was doing, even

though she had no idea what she was doing. “Not long.”

“How long have you been riding?”

She looked down the street to see if she could spot Bo and

Lacey. “Oh, not very long.”

“Do you like bikes?”

“I find them fascinating. How long have you been riding?”

“Since I got my driver’s license at sixteen. Before that,

actual y. I rode a bike before I drove a car. I’ve always loved

them.”

Now she focused on Rick. “Real y. Why?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know. Motorcycles were just a part of

what we did back then.”

“We?”

“Bo and me.”

“A family thing, huh?”

“Yeah, I guess you could say that.”

“So everyone in your family had bikes?”

He let out a soft laugh. “No. Just Bo and me.”

“Oh, I see. You two must be close.”

“We were. We got separated for a while.”

“How so?”

“I was out of town the past ten years.”

“Doing what?”

“This and that.”

Vague answers. Things he didn’t want to say. It made her

curious, made her want to know more about him. “You grew up

here?”

“Yes.”

“So you’ve just come back home.”

“Yeah.”

“Welcome home then, Rick.”

He smiled. “Thanks.”

“I’m sure it’s nice to reconnect with your family again.”

“I don’t have family. There’s just Bo.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be.”

She heard the venom in his short, clipped words, wished

she could ask more, but there was a finality in his statement

that told her he wasn’t going to explain further. Any time the

topic of family arose, his chin came up and something in his

eyes went . . . cold. If there was one thing she’d learned in her

studies it was how to read body language.

The Strip was alive tonight, people crowding the sidewalks

on both sides, wanting to see and be seen. She’d heard

about bike week, but never took part, never cared. It wasn’t

her lifestyle. She was always in school, always studying, had

gone from getting her undergraduate degree to her master’s

in social work. And next up would be her doctorate.

But through al of it, there had been Lacey. At least until a

year ago. And without her support system, her best friend, the

last year had been difficult, nearly unbearable.

She hadn’t realized how isolated she’d become until Lacey

was no longer there.

How pathetic. Where had her life gone?

She knew—she didn’t have one. Everything had been about

school for so long she couldn’t remember when it wasn’t. But

now that she had her master’s, she was taking some time off

before she went for her doctorate. What better time to

reconnect with her best friend and make sure al was right with

her?

“So are you from around here, Ava?”

“Yes, I am. I’ve been here my whole life.”

“What do you do?”

And wasn’t that the question of the hour? What did she do,

besides spend her life with her nose buried in a textbook or

her mind engrossed in a lecture? “I just finished up my

master’s in social work.”

Rick stopped, half turned, stared at her. “Social work?”

“Yes. Why?”

He shook his head and started walking again. She ran to

catch up, grabbing his arm to stop him again. “Why did you

give me that look?”

“What look?”

“The one that made me feel like a leper.”

“Did I? Sorry. I didn’t mean to.”

“Do you have a problem with social workers?”

His smirk was his answer. He jammed his hands in his

pockets and started to walk away.

“Rick. Seriously.”

He stopped and turned to her. “Let’s just say that social

workers haven’t always been my al ies.”

“Why?”

He looked up and down the street. “It’s nothing.”

“It’s something.”

He let out a short laugh and his step quickened. “Look, you

don’t know me. I don’t know you. Let’s just have some fun,

okay?”

She linked her arm in his. “Then get to know me. I want to

know more about you.”

He looked down where her hand was resting on his arm.

Yes, it was a pretty bold move. She had no right to ask him

to trust her. He was right. He didn’t know her. And she was just

a recent graduate. What could she do to help him? She didn’t

know his story or what he’d been through.

But she knew pain and resentment when she heard it.

She’d been through plenty of cases in the past few years to

understand how families fel apart, and how children were

often the biggest casualties.

Is that what had happened to Rick? Is that why he’d cal ed

Bo his only family?

She suddenly wanted to know a lot more about Rick

Benetti, and not just because he was a biker, part of this gang,

and a link to some knowledge about Lacey’s current lifestyle.

Rick didn’t know what to make of Ava. What was her purpose

in the Hel raisers? She acted like some shy mouse one

minute, then was bold and confident the next.

And he needed to figure her out, find out the extent of her

involvement with the Hel raisers—who she knew and what she

knew. None of that included her finding out a goddamned

thing about him. That wasn’t part of his assignment.

She was a social worker. Jesus. From the time he was six

years old until the cops arrested him when he was seventeen,

he’d seen plenty of social workers. And not a single damn one

of them had helped him, had cared enough about him to

actual y listen to what he was saying. He was just another

number, another file to pass from one side of their desk to

another, to funnel through the system. They wore this façade of

caring on their faces, but their only function was to operate like

robots and get as many files off their desks as possible. Not

people—not kids who were actual human beings—just files.

Case numbers.

Ava was young and fresh and beautiful. In a few years she

was going to think differently, would be worn out, wrung dry

and numb from a system that would suck the very life out of

her. He’d bet that right now she thought she was going to

singlehandedly save the world.

She could keep thinking that. But it was way too damn late

to save him.

He quickened his pace, forcing her to keep up. They final y

caught up with Bo and Lacey at the head of the pack.

“Hey, there you are,” Bo said. “Thought maybe you two had

hit it off and found some dark al ey to get it on.”

“Wel , the night’s stil young.” Rick put his arm around Ava.

Ava gave a nervous smile. Rick grinned. For some reason he

liked making her uncomfortable. Maybe it would take her mind

off wanting to delve too deeply into his past. Maybe it would

send her running home to her daddy. He liked that idea even

better. It would shorten his assignment so he could get onto a

real case.

“Not much action going on here. I thought we’d take a

desert ride tonight. Maybe have a bonfire over at Joey’s

place.”

Rick nodded at Bo. “Sounds good.” He turned to Ava.

“Ready to ride?”

“Uh, sure.”

They circled around the block and made their way back to

their bikes. Rick pul ed a helmet out of his saddlebag for Ava

and handed it to her. He put his helmet on, climbed on his

Harley, and waited for her.

She stood next to the bike and stared at it, helmet in hand.

“Is there a problem?”

“Uh, no.” She fiddled with the straps of the helmet.

“Ava.”

“Yeah?”

“Have you ever ridden before?”

“Sure. Lots of times.”

“Remember when I told you earlier that you were a terrible

liar?”

“Yes.”

“You’re stil a terrible liar.”

She cocked her head to the side. “How did you know?”

“You don’t know how to put a helmet on.” He got off the bike

and put the helmet on her head and helped her fasten the