Snow in Texas (Lean Dogs Legacy #1) (6 page)

              “Your brother?” he guessed.

              “No.
Yours
.”

Ten

Colin

A routine developed: spending the day at Gabe’s, watching over Jenny alongside one of his new Texas brothers. Most often it was Fox, because being in from out of town, he had no local responsibilities. But sometimes it was one of the others. Today it was Talis, the sergeant at arms, and a potted plant would have been better company.

              “So what’s ‘Talis’ mean?” Colin asked, shaking a fat puddle of ketchup from the bottle onto his plate.

              The man across from him folded his beefy arms and gave Colin a disapproving look. “It’s short for Talisman.” He had a
deep
voice.

              Colin grinned. “You somebody’s lucky charm?”

              No answer. Murderous stare.

              “Okaaay….”

              “Don’t mind him,” Candy said jovially, joining them from out of nowhere. He managed to pull out the chair beside Colin and steal a fried drumstick off his plate at the same time, already chewing by the time his ass hit the seat. “Talking ain’t his strong suit.”

              Talis didn’t seem offended by the comment. He didn’t even look like he blinked, actually.

              “He’ll tear your throat right out, though,” Candy went on. He bit into the drumstick again and bits of fried skin rained down onto the table. He turned to Colin. “Tomorrow’s Sunday,” he said as he swallowed.

              Colin edged his plate closer, lest he suffer more food casualties. “Yeah.”

              “Jen doesn’t work on Sundays.”

              “Right.” On instinct, his eyes sought her out. She was standing a few tables away, setting down a customer’s food, jeans molded to her ass in a way that made him want to move around in his chair.

              “I thought we’d see about getting you a bike,” Candy said, pulling his attention back.

              “What?” He felt a fast grab of excitement. He hadn’t grown up thinking much about bikes, but when you were in this club, and spent enough time around them, you started to crave a machine of your own. Right now, a bike would mean his own slice of freedom: alone on the road, wind in his face, nothing but his own thoughts for company. “Really?”

              “Yeah. I know a guy who can cut you a good deal on one.”

              And just like that, his sudden joy sank. He stared down at his plate. “I don’t know that I can…afford…anything.”

              Candy made a considering sound as he chewed. “I ain’t been paying you for this, have I?” He gestured to Gabe’s, the watchdog gig.

              “No.”

              He nodded. “Then don’t worry about affording anything.”

~*~

Candy

“Nobody’s seen him anywhere,” Jinx said. He took a long drag on his smoke and leaned back against the couch cushions. “I checked at his old haunts, talked to his old girls, and he ain’t been seen or heard from.”

              “Tiny miracles,” Candy said with a sigh. In his mind, the best way to keep Riley away from Jen was to keep track of the bastard, and since his release, that had been impossible.

              “You still wanna head over to the Armadillo?”

              Ah, the Armadillo. Good place to have an overpriced drink; good place to find a girl to sit in your lap. Good place to slide into a back booth and get information.

              “Yeah. Lemme check in with Jen first.”

              Jinx nodded and propped his boots on the coffee table, content to wait.

              Jen had headed to the sanctuary almost an hour ago, and he found her in her room, with the door open, in her bathrobe, combing out her hair as she sat on the bed and watched a video on her laptop.

              “Any boys allowed in here?” he asked from the doorway.

              “Certain boys.” She set her brush aside and began separating her wet hair with her fingers, preparatory to braiding it. He’d never been close enough to any woman in his life to predict her little evening routines. He knew his sister’s; maybe that meant he wasn’t a total drifter. “What’s up?”

              “I told Colin I’d take him to find a bike tomorrow morning.”

              Her brows lifted. “Big step. Guess you’re not sending him back to the swamp?” It was hard to tell if there was hope or regret in her voice; either way, there was a spark of interest in her eyes that proved she wasn’t indifferent.

              “Guess not,” Candy agreed. “He’s been doing a good job at Gabe’s? Watching out for you?”

              She looked back at her computer. “Yeah.”

              “No complaints?”

              “None that would matter to you.”

              He chuckled. “Do you like him?”

              She didn’t answer.

              “Jen,” he pressed.

              “I don’t like anyone. You know that.”

              “Right.” He pushed away from the jamb. “I’m heading out. Be back in a bit.”

              “Okay.”

              Just before he walked off, he said, “It’s a shame, though, you not liking anybody, ‘cause he sure as shit likes you.” With that happy bomb to keep her awake long into the night, he walked away with a laugh.

~*~

Colin

Colin woke before dawn, feeling stupid that he was too amped up to sleep, but unable to affect a change. His eyes had snapped open, the word
bike
echoing through his brain. He hadn’t felt this way since the Christmas he’d asked for a BB gun. He’d been eight; he’d gotten a .22 instead.

              When the sky beyond the window began to gray, he rolled out of bed, dressed, and headed outside. By the time the sun was up, he’d washed all the club trucks and was thinking of starting in on the bikes, the sleeves of his hoodie wet to the elbow, boots powder coated in dirt.

              “Damn, son,” Candy said when he walked out and found him. The VP was grinning broadly. “Don’t you make a pretty car wash girl?”

              It was the sort of remark that, had they been on equal footing, would have drawn a “fuck you” in response. But Colin could only grind his teeth and say, “Morning.”

              “Morning,” Candy returned. “Grab your purse, princess, we’re going shopping.”

~*~

Ned, who didn’t offer a last name, was a “collector,” according to Candy. He lived in a trailer in a dirt lot with two thirty-year-old Buicks parked under the adjacent carport. He came out to shake their hands, a white-haired, stoop-shouldered man who was approximately a thousand-years-old.

              “C’mon back,” he told them, and led them around the side of the trailer…

              To a wonderland of shiny steel. A huge metal hangar in back of the trailer housed rows of bikes, a true historical collection. Old Nortons, Indians, and Triumphs. A few army green numbers from the second World War. Several Beamers. And of course, the Harleys: everything from an old Knucklehead without a seat to a late model Night Rod airbrushed with green flames.

              Colin traced a finger down the handlebars of a gorgeous old Bobber.

              Candy came to stand beside him. “You wanna get something you’ll be comfortable on long distance,” he said quietly. “Go see what he’s got down there on that end.”

              When Colin glanced over at him, the man winked.

              Down on the end, a Night Train awaited him. Black, sleek, with minimal chrome. A modern day warhorse, begging to be touched.

              Colin skimmed his hand down the fuel tank and shook his head. “There’s no way you wanna get this for
me
.” When there was no answer, he looked over again.

              Candy studied him with narrowed blue eyes, his gaze hard to read. A measuring look. “Right now, yeah, I think I do. Just don’t make me regret it.”

              Colin swallowed. “I won’t.”

~*~

Jenny

“…he sure as shit likes you
.” The words had chased through her dreams last night. Or maybe they were nightmares.

             
He sure as shit likes you.
She’d known that, yes, but hearing her brother say it made it official in a way she wasn’t ready for.

Not that she cared.

She didn’t care about the fact that her brother was buying Colin a bike. Not at all. She cared about the fact that her brother was going to use a shiny new bike as some sort of incentive to keep Colin hard-nosed on the job.

              The unhappy tension under her skin had nothing to do with the mental image of six-feet-four-inches of Cajun gator hunter on the back of a black Harley. Nope. Not at all. She didn’t get all female and jittery over boys anymore. Especially not younger boys. Especially not…

              “Just shut up,” she told herself, and reached for the next sheet of paper on top of the stack.

              “What was that?” Darla asked.

              Belatedly, she remembered she wasn’t alone, and her face grew hot with embarrassment. “Oh, nothing. Talking to myself again.”

              “Hmm,” Darla said, peering at her own pile of papers over the rims of her reading glasses. “Sometimes that’s the only intelligent conversation a woman can have around here.”

              Jenny smiled. “You know, nobody twists your arm to stay around this testosterone pit.”

              “Nobody twists yours either, sweetheart.”

              “Fair enough.” Jenny sat up from her slouch and took her legs off the arm of the chair, set her boots on the floor. “All the housekeeping stuff looks in order,” she said.

              “Kitchen stuff too.” Darla sat back and pushed her glasses up. “You know, if we got us a crew of Lean Bitches like they’ve got in Tennessee, we wouldn’t have to do so much.”

              Jenny snorted. “Oh, they might cook and clean. We’d still be going over the books.”

              “Too true.”

              They had been camped out in the small clubhouse office for the past hour, running through the months’ invoices and bank statements. Candy had returned home to Texas suspicious and untrusting, and he always wanted someone with skin in the game to be in charge of the accounts. He would review what they’d just done, and file it away in the big spiral notebooks lined up on the shelves behind the desk.

              “I don’t know about you,” Darla said, “but I need a slice of that chocolate pound cake I made earlier.”

              “That sounds like a fabulous idea.”

              She heard bikes coming onto the property as they walked to the kitchen, and a little prickling of awareness crawled up the back of her neck. Not that she cared about who might be arriving on a new bike. Nope. Not her.

              “They’re back from Ned’s I hear,” Darla said as she pulled the lid off the cake plate.

              “Someone went to Ned’s?”

              Darla gave her an
oh please
look. “Honey, don’t even pretend.”

              “I don’t know what you mean.”

              “Uh-huh.”

              She had a forkful of cake poised in front of her mouth when Colin burst into the kitchen, grinning like a kid.

              “Well hey there, Colin,” Darla greeted. “Did Ned get you all set up?”

              He spared her a fast look. “Yes, ma’am.” Then his gaze pinged back to Jenny.

              There was no denying it; he was staring right at her, and the exuberance in his face, shining in his eyes, caused her throat to tighten.
No
, she thought quietly.
Please don’t direct anything like that my way. I won’t be able to defend against it.

              “You gotta come see it,” he told her. “It’s fucking sweet.”

             
No
, the voice said again.
You take too many steps, and then you’re running, and you’ll never stop until it’s too late, and you’re bleeding on the floor…

              But she set her fork down and got to her feet as if in a dream sequence. “Okay,” she said. “Let’s go see it.”

Eleven

Colin

She was impressed, he could tell. The Night Train was a slick piece of machinery, mean in all the right places, simple where it counted. Jenny paced around it, studying with a critical eye. She didn’t have that glassy, disinterested look of a woman playing to his ego. No, she liked the bike for exactly what it was, and not because a man rode it.

              “Pretty,” she finally said, and glanced up to meet his eyes. Hers were an almost translucent blue in the sunlight. “How’s she ride?”

              He almost said something wildly inappropriate in response.
Almost
. Instead, he said, “You wanna find out?”

              Total shutdown. Her eyes closed up and she took a step back.

              Colin clenched his teeth together. He’d thought things were better, that she was less frightened, more trusting. She didn’t hate him – he’d thought. So why did she keep throwing up these roadblocks? What the hell?

              She glanced toward the clubhouse where her brother had disappeared a few moments before. Candy had bragged on the bike a minute, kissed his sister on top of the head, then headed inside, leaving them alone. If that didn’t feel like brotherly approval, Colin didn’t know what would.

              But here they were again, Jenny withdrawing.

              He liked her, damn it. She was hot, and he wanted to peel those tight jeans off of her, yes, but he was building a genuine affection for her too, and he wanted her to come around. Wanted her to like him too, if he was honest.

              “Jenny,” he said, kindly but firmly. “Do you wanna go for a ride?”

              Her head swiveled back, eyes still uncertain, but sparking with something promising.

              He gave her his best grin. “I’m gonna bet, you having a Lean Dog for a brother, that you like riding. Am I right?”

              “I love it,” she admitted.

              “Come on then. One quick ride, so you can tell me if I got a lemon bike or not. I promise I’ll keep my hands to myself.” He showed her his empty palms then tucked his hands in his pockets to demonstrate.

              She debated a long moment, staring at the toes of her boots – rich brown today, with pale stitching. Finally, she nodded. “Let me grab my helmet.”

~*~

She felt good behind him, her legs jacked up so her feet could rest on the pegs, breasts cushioned against his back, arms tight around his waist. Her feelings about him notwithstanding, she knew she had to hold on, and she did tightly, letting her weight shift naturally with his as he turned out of the clubhouse parking lot and headed up the street.

              A gorgeous, cloudless day, the sun hot and the air dry, smelling of desert things. The wind scraped at his face. He felt little wisps of her long blonde hair that were swept forward and tickled at the backs of his ears.

              How different it was, riding with a passenger. Alone, there was a sense of weightless freedom. With a woman behind him, he felt this heavy responsibility…but a certain security too. A warm presence against his spine, keeping him company in the lonely bubble that existed on the road, where a man and his bike became something entirely apart from the world around them.

              They’d gone about five miles when Jenny tapped his shoulder and then pointed off to a side street that was rearing up on the right.

              Colin turned down it, slowing and then gunning the throttle again, the Night Train leaping with a growl. It was a narrow, twisty street, which he hadn’t been expecting. They plunged down a sudden hill that made his stomach drop and thick pale rocks crowded up toward the edge of the pavement, jagged, striated formations that cast shadows on the asphalt.

              Jenny tapped him on the shoulder again. “Pull over here!” she shouted above the wind.

              He did, finding a flat place in the lee of a truck-sized boulder.

              Jenny hopped off the bike in one elegant spring, like she’d been doing it all her life.

              “Something the matter?” he asked.

              “No.” She took off her helmet and shook out her hair, heavy tresses glimmering like water. “Just wanted to check something.” She turned and stepped over a clump of scrubby bushes, heading around behind the rock.

              Colin followed, not half as graceful.

              Jenny stood on the far side of the rock, hands on her hips, squinting at the uneven expanse of stone just in front of her nose.

              “What?” he asked, drawing up beside her.

              “I don’t – ah, there it is.” She lifted a finger and pointed at a spot on the boulder. “Right here.”

              Nearly weathered away by time and the elements were a series of symbols chiseled into the rock by something crude and makeshift. They were letters:

Derek was here

Lean Dogs Rule

Jenny turned a smile toward him. “My brother was eight when he did that. He used a screwdriver and a big rock as a hammer.”

              “Derek. You mean Candyman’s not the name his mama gave him?” He laughed and delighted in the way she rolled her eyes and elbowed him in the ribs. It was like she’d forgotten that they were on wary footing. The bike ride seemed to have loosened her up.

              “Did anybody tell you why he’s called Candy?” she asked.

              “No. Care to shed some light?”

              “Hmm. I don’t think that’s my story to tell.”

              Colin huffed a breath and feigned dramatic frustration. “You and your secret stories, woman. You act like I’m five. I can handle a whole helluva lot, you know.”

              “I know,” she said in a light, teasing voice. She turned and put her back to the rock, braced a boot back against it. “Mr. Gator Hunter.” She grinned. “Do you guys really haul them up by hand and shoot them in the head?”

              “Absolutely, baby. Come to the swamp sometime and I’ll show you how.” He gave her the grin again, this time rewarded by a widening of her own smile.

              “How barbaric.”

              “You know men. We’re all cavemen, basically. Good beer, good sandwich, good fuck – and we’re good to go.”

              “Charming. It’s a miracle we can ever resist any of you.”

              “Isn’t it?”

              He couldn’t believe this was the same woman from a half hour ago. If someone had told him she’d be teasing and flirting with him, he wouldn’t have believed it. But now he was getting all kinds of signals, from the way her chest was sticking out to the way her blue gaze was fixed on his mouth.

              “Hey, thanks for the ride,” she said, suddenly soft and vulnerable. “I’d forgotten how fun it is.”

              He had to be careful – oh so careful – or she’d spook and go bolting. So with deliberate care he lifted an arm and braced a hand on the warm rock beside her head. Her eyes flicked over to look at it, but otherwise she didn’t react. Then he leaned in closer, until his shadow covered her. “Is that the only fun thing you forgot?” he asked, and the question came out more gentle and less suggestive than he’d intended.

              She took a quick breath, eyes widening. “You want me.” Not a question.

              “A whole helluva lot.”

              “There’s plenty of club girls. Look at you. You could have any of them.”

              He breathed a laugh. “Look at me? Is that a compliment?”

              “Why me?” she asked, some of the sharpness returning to her voice, the defensive edge creeping back.

              “Because you’re making me work for it,” he said, honestly, “and at this point, I gotta know if it’s worth it.”

              She stared up at him, unblinking.

              “You know I won’t hurt you, right?” Not physically, anyway.

              “I know men say a lot of things they don’t mean.”

              “So do women,” he shot back, voice not unkind. “Do you hear me feeding you a bunch of pretty bullshit?”

              “No.” She glanced away, glanced back…and that was when he saw it in her face for the first time. The desire. And there was nothing subtle about it; the sudden flush of her cheeks, the glazed look of her eyes. She was starving. “I think you’re one big mistake.”

              “Have been since conception. Tell me something I don’t know.”

              She didn’t, but her eyes went back to his mouth again.

              And she met him halfway when he leaned in and kissed her, stretching up on her toes, pressing her lips to his.

              It was a jolt. A sudden rippling awareness that moved through him on a hot wave. He wondered if she felt it too, because she didn’t move. They froze, suspended, captivated by that first forbidden taste.

              Then he opened his lips against hers, asked for a little more.

              She slipped both arms around his neck and pulled him down to her, mouth opening for his tongue on a deep, wordless sound.

              Colin had never put much stock in kissing; it was just a means to the ultimate end, something he had to do to get what he really wanted. But this kiss was shocking and molten hot, and he worked it. Tasted her deeply.

              Her hands shoved into his short hair, fingertips pressing at his skull. She was a wild thing in his arms, shivering with want. Her hands couldn’t keep still, traveled back down his neck, kneaded at the hard muscles roped over his shoulders.

              She didn’t protest when he put his hands on her waist and lifted her, hoisted her up against the rock. Quite the opposite – she wrapped her legs around his waist, gripped him hard, pulling his hips into hers. She bit at his lip. Ground against his erection.

              “Shit,” Colin said against her mouth. “Shit, baby, you’re…” She was going to get the best of him if he didn’t level the playing field.

              With her legs locked tight on his hips, his hands were free to roam. He reached up under her t-shirt, found the slick satin of her bra and the full shapes of her breasts beneath. She filled his palms, nipples hard nubs through the fabric.

              Jenny pulled back from the kiss with a ragged murmur, her eyes coming to his face. She stared at him as he squeezed her breasts, leaned into his touch –

              His cellphone rang.

              They both froze.

              The phone’s ringtone was shrill and insistent.

              “Fuck,” Colin breathed, trying to step back from the edge, his heart racing.

              “It’s Candy,” Jenny said, and the only consolation was the heavy disappointment in her voice. “You’re a prospect. You have to answer.”

              “Goddamn it.” He pulled his hands from her shirt, lowered her slowly to the ground. She wobbled a step, had to catch herself against the rock with an unsteady hand. Colin thought his own knees might give way.

              He answered the phone with a snarl. “What?”

              “Damn,” Candy’s voice said on the other end. “Is that how you always greet your superiors?”

              Colin took another deep breath and willed himself to calm. “No. Sorry.”

              Jenny was straightening her shirt, looking at the ground and not at him, still trembling. Shit, he’d gone too fast. The moment was totally shattered, and he had no idea if there was a chance of regaining it again at some point in the future.

              “What’s up?” he asked Candy, and couldn’t keep the displeasure from his voice.

              “There’s a situation,” the VP said. “Get Jenny back here, ASAP.”

              “Right.”

              When he hung up, her head lifted, and her face was totally composed now, all traces of passion gone. “Everything okay?”

              “No,” he said, feeling selfish and grim. “Not really.”

              She stared at him a moment, beautiful, but distant again.

              Only now the pull was worse, because he knew what she tasted like.

              “But Jen?” he said. “I answered my own question just now. It’s worth it. Absolutely.”