“I don’t understand,” I whispered. “We hardly know each other.”

“And we won’t get to know each other if we’re out there screwing other people, so I think we’re gonna have to stop doing it. Should be easy enough for you, under the circumstances.”

“So you’re saying you want to be in an exclusive relationship with me? I thought you didn’t do that. What about Heather?”

“Heather is dead. I’m not. Now I’m gonna kiss you and you’re gonna kiss me back. Then I’ll let you go home because it’s important and I respect that. Tomorrow you’ll go get your girl at the airport and I’ll give you the evening together, but come Friday night you’re with me. Havin’ a party out at the Armory and I want you there. You got a problem with any of that?”

I shook my head quickly, relatively certain that “havin’ a problem with that” wasn’t really a solid option at this point.

“Great. Let’s get started.”

Then he kissed me, and not in a laid-back kind of way. His mouth took possession, head slanting as his tongue pushed in. It wasn’t a seductive kiss, or even a comfortable one. Nope, this was his body telling mine we had unfinished business. I didn’t even notice I’d spread my legs for him until he pulled away long enough to slide on a fresh condom. Then he was deep inside, claiming and conquering me yet again.

Turns out you can improve on phenomenal. Go figure.

Half an hour later, when Reese gave me another kiss, it was a quick peck through my van window.

“Sure you don’t want someone keeping an eye on your house? If her daddy’s a mean drunk, might not be a bad idea.”

I shook my head, which jiggled my chest. He’d destroyed my bra, unfortunately—and I was a big enough girl that going bra-less wasn’t the best of options.

“Mel’s spent at least two nights a week at my place for the past three years. Not sure what the long-term plan will be, but I’ll get her set up. Unlike Jessica, she’s got a job and she’s planning to start classes at NIC in August. They’ve got student housing.”

He smiled at me, reaching out and tucking a strand of my bright red hair behind my ear.

“You know, this is sexy as fuck,” he said. “But you were gorgeous as a blonde, too.”

“Thanks,” I whispered. Then I pulled away and turned the key in my ignition.

The starter turned over, but the engine didn’t catch.

I frowned, and tried again. “It’s not starting.”

“Your check engine light is on.”

“I know,” I said absently. I pushed on the gas pedal and tried again. The starter whined in protest. “It goes on and off all the time.”

“Sweetheart, you do realize that when the check engine light comes on, you’re supposed to check the engine, right?”

I shot him the Look of Death, and he laughed.

“Want a ride back to your place?” he asked. “I can figure this out for you, but I’m thinkin’ if you want to be with your girl while she’s all upset, now isn’t the time to start tearing apart your rig.”

I closed my eyes and sighed.

“Thank you,” I said. “That would be great. I can’t believe it’s not working. What am I going to do about picking up Jess tomorrow? Shit, now I’ll have to rent something and it’ll be a fortune and—”

“London. Honey. Settle the fuck down. One of the perks of datin’ a man who owns a repair shop is that shit like this is no longer a crisis. I’ll find something for you to borrow while I take care of it, okay? Now get your ass out of there and over to my bike. I’m takin’ you home.”

He pulled the door open and I stepped out. He held out his hand.

“What?”

“Keys, babe. Gonna need keys if you want me to fix your car.”

“Don’t fix anything without checking with me first,” I said, my voice serious. “If it’s really bad, I may need to go out and find something new. This van is nearly twelve years old, not sure how much life she has left in her.”

“Keys?”

I pulled off the van key, which I kept on a little dealie that snapped off my main keychain for situations exactly like this one.

“Great. Now get your ass on the bike.”

I stepped toward the big Harley, which was black and silver, with the Reapers symbol painted on the gas tank. The seats were black leather, the chrome was shiny, and the whole thing looked ginormous now that I was actually standing right next to it. Hayes handed me a helmet. I studied it, bemused. It’d been a strange day and now it was getting stranger—the president of a motorcycle club was giving me a ride home.

After fucking me.

And he planned to fuck me some more.

Wow.

It took everything I had to bite back a little squee of excitement, because there’s not a woman on earth who doesn’t secretly want to ride off into the sunset with a bad man on a bike … Especially after having excellent sex with that man.

I glanced up at the sky. Sure enough, it was streaked with pinks and blues and gorgeous clouds, glowing as the very last of the day’s sunlight kissed the north Idaho mountains.

“It goes on your head.”

I blinked, confused.

“The helmet,” Reese said, slowly and distinctly. “It goes on your head.”

Then he smiled at me and I think I might have blushed, which is kind of crazy considering I’m thirty-eight and well past the blushing years.

“Where do you go when you drift off like that?” he asked. I laughed and gave a shrug.

“Everywhere, I guess. I’ve always done it. Used to get in big trouble at school for it, because they thought I was ignoring them on purpose. But things just catch my imagination and then I’m off. I’m sorry—I wasn’t trying to be rude.”

“Doesn’t bother me,” he said. “Just curious. Let’s go make sure your girl Mellie is all right. Come mornin’ I’ll get one of the boys to run a car over for you.”

“Thank you,” I said, wondering if any of this was real.

“Just remember, Friday night is mine.”

“Friday night is yours,” I repeated.

Then I climbed on Reese Hayes’s bike, wrapped my arms around him tight, and let him carry me off into the sunset.

It was full dark by the time we reached my place.

I didn’t want to get off the bike and step back into reality … there was something incredibly thrilling and powerful about riding with Reese, and I wanted to enjoy it while I could. Whatever he might have said earlier, I wasn’t exactly holding my breath that this would turn into a real relationship. The odds weren’t in our favor. But until things fell apart, I’d let myself savor the moment—giving up control and trusting him to keep me safe was the most liberating thing I’d done in six years.

When he turned off the Harley, I couldn’t seem to make my hands let go of him. This didn’t seem to bother Reese. He caught them in his own and pulled me tighter against his back. I smelled the leather and felt his strength between my legs. Surreal.

Then he let go.

I climbed off the bike and back into reality. The porch light came on and the front door opened to reveal Mellie. She stopped dead when she saw Reese, and her jaw actually dropped.

Fair enough.

Last time she’d seen me, I’d been dating a deputy sheriff. Now I’d come home with an outlaw biker, and I’d be willing to bet that anyone seeing us would know we’d been together. There was an intimacy between us that hadn’t been there before. I felt it in the way he put his hand on my back protectively, and the way I found myself leaning toward him.

Oh, and it probably didn’t help that I’d lost my bra—the night air was cool enough to nip me out in a big way.

Mellie had always been shy, so I was surprised when she stepped off the porch and started walking across the lawn. The kid must’ve been even more upset than she sounded on the phone. I’d just started toward her when a horrific burst of sound and heat and light exploded out of the house. Reese tackled me to the ground, covering me with his body.

Everything fell perfectly, utterly silent.

What the hell had happened?

Reese lay on top of me for long seconds. I couldn’t hear his voice but I felt the vibrations of his yelling through his body. Why couldn’t I hear him? After an eternity, he rolled off me and I looked up to find an inferno where my house had been, flames licking up toward the sky.

I realized my house had exploded.

My house had fucking exploded!

An instant later I remembered how close Melanie had been when it went up, and my heart stopped.

“Mellie!” I yelled, grabbing Reese’s arm, jerking him toward me. “We have to find Mellie!”

He yelled something back at me, but I couldn’t tell what it was. Then he was on his feet, running across the lawn. I staggered upward, trying to figure out what the hell was happening. Neighbors were pouring out into the street all around us. Slowly sounds took shape—mostly an unpleasant ringing—and I realized the force of the explosion had temporarily deafened me.

Reese was a dark silhouette against the fire, searching through the debris. He stopped suddenly, and I saw him lift Mel’s still form, carrying her toward me. Then he was laying her in the grass and noises started filling my ears again. I fell to my knees next to her body.

Oh God. Mellie …

She looked dead.

“I’m calling nine one one!” someone yelled behind us, startling me. I was still stunned—I couldn’t seem to think. I needed to check her pulse, make sure she was breathing. Old training kicked in, and I could have cried in gratitude for the CPR classes I’d taken over the years. I found her pulse. Weak, but definitely present. Then I leaned my face into her mouth and nose, praying I’d feel her breathe against my skin.

Air tickled my cheek.

“She’s alive,” I whispered. Tears rolled down my face.

“Thank fuck for that,” Reese muttered, pulling me into his arms as one of my neighbors knelt next to Melanie, covering her with a blanket. The wall of safety came crashing down around me and I started to shake.

My house was gone. I’d almost lost Melanie … What the hell could possibly explain this?

The wailing howls of emergency vehicles filled the air. I heard a car screech to a stop, and out of the corner of my eye I vaguely noticed that a man in a sheriff’s uniform had stepped out, speaking into his shoulder radio urgently.

Then a fire engine rumbled down the street. Firefighters ran past me, dragging their hoses with them, and EMTs swarmed Mellie’s still form.

To my relief they weren’t doing anything that looked serious and scary like you see on TV—no chest compressions or IVs or shocking her with shiny paddles. Instead they monitored her vitals, voices calm as they methodically got a neck brace on her before rolling her onto a backboard. Seconds later they lifted the entire apparatus—backboard and all—onto the rolling gurney and started back toward their vehicle.

“That board won’t do much good if you already paralyzed her. Should’ve left her where you found her,” I heard a familiar voice say. I looked up to find Nate standing over me, his voice full of venom. I pulled away from Reese and stood slowly. Nate reached a hand down to help me, but Reese caught my arm.

“Stay the fuck away from my woman,” he growled. Nate’s eyes went wide.

“Guess that cunt’s not made of gold after all?” he commented. Reese lunged toward him and without thinking I jumped between the two men.

“I don’t have time for this,” I shouted, staring them down like two little boys who needed a time-out. “I need to check on Mel. Reese had to get her away from the fire, Nate. If you’d been here, you’d have done the same thing. She was practically on top of it. And Reese? What happened between me and Nate is between me and Nate. I’m a big girl and I can fight my own battles. I’m going to follow Mel to the hospital, and you better fucking behave yourselves because I’m not in the mood.”

Both men gaped at me. I didn’t care—these weren’t normal times and I could give a fuck about their little pissing match. I decided to ignore them and follow Melanie.

“Is she all right?” I asked the EMT, who was busy securing the gurney in the ambulance. She glanced over at me but didn’t miss a beat.

“Dunno,” she said. “They’ll check her head at the hospital. Looks like she hit something hard. You have any idea what happened here?”

“None,” I said, my voice grim. “But we’re really damned lucky to be alive. She was just coming out of the house when it exploded.”

“Definitely lucky,” she said. None of this added up.

“Houses don’t just explode. Do they?” I didn’t realize I’d asked the question out loud until the woman answered me.

“I’ve seen stranger things,” the EMT said. “Are you a family member? We’re headed toward Kootenai. There’s another bus coming, they’ll be able to check you out—she’s higher priority and we need to get her in. I’m going to close the doors now. Step back, please.”

“I’ll meet you there,” I said anxiously. I turned to find Nate and Reese still in their standoff, staring each other down in the flickering light of the flames. My neighbor, Danica, walked up to me and wordlessly wrapped a blanket around my shoulders.

“You okay?” she asked. “Can I do anything?”

“Can you give me a ride to the hospital?” I asked, the words broken by a sudden, harsh cough. “I need to make sure Melanie is okay.”