Prologue
“Harder, Lucky, harder.” Jenna’s hands gripped his ass, pulling him against her more tightly.
Lucky hoped the kitchen table he was fucking her on held up to the strain of the hard thrusts he was driving into Jenna’s clenching pussy. As he stood, watching his cock delve into her, her hips arched to take him deeper while he held on to the edge of the table to keep it from scooting across the floor. Then her hands fell to the side, nearly knocking a dessert plate off the table.
Why did women always try to cook and bake for him? Whenever he went anywhere, women were always attempting to show off their cooking skills. All but one—Willa.
Her name flashing through his mind nearly sucked the life out of his dick before another image materialized—her curvy body underneath his on the table instead of Jenna.
Lucky watched as Jenna ran a finger through the vanilla icing, lifting it to her peaked nipple.
“Help yourself,” she teased.
Lucky bent over her, licking at the frosting until it melted against her flesh.
“Delicious,” he said, licking the last dollop away before straightening.
He felt his cock jerk as he came in the condom he insisted he wore with Jenna or any woman when he fucked them.
“Better than Willa’s frosting?”
Lucky leaned over her again, licking her nipple. “Much better.”
“The next time she brings a cake to a church dinner, I can tell her you said my frosting was better,” Jenna gloated.
Lucky felt his dick go limp at her words while his temper soared. He circled his hand around her throat, gripping it tightly enough to get his message across without inflicting any actual pain. “You won’t open your fucking mouth to her if you expect to see me again. You get me?”
Jenna’s eyes widened. “Yes, Lucky.”
Lucky released her, moving away. He angrily took off the condom, throwing it into the trashcan before shoving his dick back into his jeans and zipping them closed.
Jenna shakily sat up on the table, holding her throat. “Shit, Lucky, I was only kidding.”
“Don’t act like I hurt you. I’ve held you tighter when you’re coming,” he snapped.
Jenna climbed off the table and picked up her shorts and top. “I didn’t expect you to get so fucking pissed off at a joke. Why do you care what Willa thinks?” Her eyes narrowed on him.
“I don’t give a fuck what anyone thinks about me, but I do care when someone deliberately tries to hurt someone else. The better question is why do you want to hurt Willa?”
“It was only a fucking joke!”
Lucky stared back at her, knowing the woman was lying.
“Whatever problem you have with Willa, leave me out of it. I won’t be happy if you drag me into the middle of it.”
“How can I put you in the middle unless there’s something between you and Willa?”
“The only thing between me and Willa is that I used to be her pastor.” Lucky gave her a hard look. “Let’s get one thing straight, Jenna; there’s nothing between me and Willa. She would tell you herself she doesn’t even consider me a friend. There’s also nothing going on between you and me other than when I want an easy lay,” he said crudely.
Jenna’s face whitened at his blunt words. “I thought you’ve been coming around a lot lately—”
“I’ve been coming around because I like what you’ve been giving me. When I get tired of it, I’ll quit coming around. Don’t make more out of it than there is … You’ll be disappointed.”
“I need to get cleaned up for work.” Jenna started to move past him, but Lucky caught her arm.
“I don’t want to hurt you, Jenna, but I’m not going to tell you there’s something going on between us when there isn’t.”
Jenna gave an abrupt nod. “Don’t worry, Lucky. I got the message,” she snapped, jerking away then turning to go toward her bedroom.
Lucky sighed when he heard the bedroom door slam shut. Then he went to the front door.
He had made no promises to Jenna. She had built more between them in her own mind than there was to the reality of them fucking.
Lucky walked down the sidewalk of Jenna’s house to his motorcycle, seeing Willa standing in the side yard with the children she had been fostering since their parents’ deaths.
Lucky refused to acknowledge the discomfort he felt from her seeing him. He had seen her earlier when she had gone inside her house as he’d parked his bike in Jenna’s driveway, and he had sensed her eyes on him. Giving her a casual wave, he had still gone inside Jenna’s house.
The shy woman always turned a bright red when she saw him, and she avoided catching his gaze, as if she had convinced herself that, if she didn’t look at him, she would miraculously become invisible.
“What the fuck!” Lucky came to a stop when he drew closer to his bike. Someone had spray-painted ‘Blasphemer’ across it in bold red, and anger scored his soul at the insult.
Lucky had lived the last few years undercover as a pastor in Treepoint, Kentucky, and one of the things he had looked forward to while he had tried to bust an inter-state drug trafficking ring had been his motorcycle.
When he looked up, he saw Willa staring at him furtively.
“Did you see who did this?” Lucky heard the accusation in his own voice, but it was too late to regain his temper as Willa paled. He was having a shit time with women so far today.
Willa walked toward him, the five children following behind her.
“Is something wrong …?” Her words trailed off as her eyes caught sight of his bike.
“We just came outside. Chrissy and Caroline saw a stray cat when they were playing outside earlier. They wanted to feed it…”
Lucky’s eyes went to the tabby cat at the side of Willa’s house that was contentedly eating tuna from a can. Then he studied the children. “Are you sure you didn’t hear or see anything?”
“Jenna’s house is closer to your bike. It would be easily seen from her living room window. If you didn’t see anything, why would we?” Willa said.
Lucky’s face turned red in embarrassment and anger at her logic. “Because I’m not the one who’s constantly looking out the window.”
Once again, Willa was the one turning bright red. “I’ll go get something to clean the paint off.”
&nbs
p; She hurried inside her house, leaving him alone with five kids staring at him with varying expressions—from the overtly hostile glares of the two older girls to the three younger ones scowling at him.
“We didn’t see who touched your bike,” Leanne stated, staring him directly in the eyes.
Lucky knew the children fairly well from when he had been undercover as pastor. Leanne and Sissy were sisters; their mother Georgia had been a member of his congregation who had recently been killed when she was incarcerated for setting a fire in The Last Rider’s clubhouse. Shade and his wife Lily could have easily died if not for the precautions that Viper, the club president, had taken.
“I just asked if anyone had seen anything, Leanne. Maybe one of you put the other up to doing it?”
A firestorm was unleashed at his words.
“We don’t put each other up to doing stuff that will get us in trouble!” Sissy snapped. The oldest girl, at seventeen, had been hit the hardest by her mother’s death.
Lucky guiltily admitted to himself that he was wrong. This wasn’t a prank a kid would play.
“What does the word mean?” Charlie, the eight-year-old, questioned as he held his younger sister Caroline’s hand while his other sister, Chrissy, stared at him, sucking her thumb.
The three younger children Willa was fostering were Lewis’s, Georgia’s brother, who had also been raising his nieces after her death. Lewis had been determined to marry Willa to help care for his large family. The sick bastard had gotten his wish; he just wasn’t around to benefit from it. Willa had shot and killed him when he had come to her house in a rage and attacked not only her but also Rachel, who had tried to help her.
“It means that Pastor Dean isn’t acting like a pastor anymore.” Sissy smirked at him.
Lucky knew her age and recent difficulties were responsible for her attitude, but it didn’t keep him from snarling back at her. “You have a problem with me, Sissy?”
“I have a problem with you treating Willa the way you just did.”
“Willa needs to learn to take up for herself. She doesn’t need another person taking up for her. Certainly not a seventeen-year-old.”
Caroline’s foot kicked out, striking him in the leg.
“Stop it!” Lucky had long since lost control of the embarrassing situation.
He noticed Shade was parking his bike on the street as Willa rushed out of the house. Great, all he needed was an audience to his embarrassment.
“You a-hole!” Sissy yelled.
“Sissy!” Willa moved between Lucky and the girl, handing Lucky a towel and a plastic bottle.
“What am I supposed to do with this?” Lucky snapped, staring at the items in his hand.
“I thought you could use them to clean it off.” Willa pointed at his bike.
Shade got off his bike, moving to Lucky’s motorcycle, while Willa grabbed the items back from Lucky’s hands.
“I’ll clean it for you.” Willa was about to spray the words with the cleaning solution when Shade stopped her.
“What happened?”
“Lucky thinks one of the children or I did this while he was inside Jenna’s house. I told him they didn’t, that they were playing in the backyard, but he doesn’t believe me.” Willa’s lashes blinked furiously, trying to hold back the tears brimming in her eyes.
Lucky was now flushing a guilty shade of red as Shade stared back at him angrily.
“I didn’t say they did. They”—Lucky pointed at Charlie and Sissy—“were both out front when I came outside, and Willa was going inside her house when I got here two hours ago. I was just trying to ask if they had seen who did it.”
“That wasn’t the way it sounded to me,” Willa said.
“Then I’m sorry.” Lucky pointed at his bike. “I was just angry when I saw that. Maybe I overreacted.”
Willa ignored his apology, again moving to clean the word written across the entire frame of Lucky’s bike.
“Don’t touch it, Willa.” Shade stopped her. “I’m going to call Knox and get him to come take pictures and see if he can find any prints.”
A frightened look came to her eyes as she stared at the children behind his back. “That’s not necessary. I can pay for the damages.”
“Why would you pay for something you’re not responsible for?” Lucky snapped.
Willa always worried about others more than herself.
“I don’t want you thinking we did it. There’s no need for a police report.”
“I’ll take care of it,” Lucky said as the front door of Jenna’s house opened and she walked out, dressed in her uniform of a short, black skirt and a red, silky blouse. She used to work at Mick’s until King’s new restaurant opened, and then she had been hired to work there. He wished she didn’t have to leave for work; he didn’t need her putting her two cents in to make Willa feel even worse.
“I thought you left,” Jenna said, coming to Lucky’s side and placing an arm around his waist.
“I was side-tracked,” Lucky replied without moving away. He had already put her in her place before he had left her house. However, if Evie was right about Willa having a thing for him, then it was kinder to let her know she wasn’t his type by showing who was.
That plan kind of backfired, though, and Lucky cursed himself when a hurt look flashed briefly across Willa’s face.
“Who…?” Jenna finally noticed the bike sitting in her driveway then looked accusingly at the children. “You fucking brats. You need to have the—”
“Shut up, Jenna!” Lucky interrupted. “They didn’t do it.”
“Then who?” Her eyes went to Willa. “You jealous bitch.” Her hand flew out, smacking Willa across the face before Lucky or Shade could stop her.
Willa cried out, her hand going to her cheek. Lucky grabbed Jenna back while Shade stepped forward, fury storming through his eyes at Jenna’s unnecessary violence toward Willa.
“Go to work, Jenna. I’ll deal with you later,” Lucky said harshly.
Jenna paled as Lucky let go of her roughly, causing her to stumble. Nodding her head, she went to her car and got inside, but not without shooting a retributive look toward Willa as she drove away.
“If she touches Willa again, we’re going to have a problem,” Shade warned. “She’s a friend of Lily’s.”
Lucky didn’t need Shade’s warning; he planned to deal with Jenna himself when she got off work.
“I’ll talk to her tonight,” Lucky promised before reaching out to pry Willa’s hand away from her face, but Willa jerked away from his touch.
“Since you don’t want my help cleaning the paint off, there’s no need for us to be here. Shade, go ahead and call Knox. I’ll talk to him when he comes. Let’s go, kids.” Willa bustled the kids inside her house, the flaming red handprint on her cheek standing out starkly.
Lucky winced at the sound of her front door closing. Any other woman would have slammed it shut, yet the quiet sound of the door closing was a testament to the embarrassment the woman had just suffered. Not only did he feel like an ass, but Shade had been there to witness the fuck-up.
“Don’t say a fucking thing,” Lucky warned between clenched teeth.
Shade remained silent as he took out his phone, calling Knox and asking him to come to Jenna’s house.
Willa was hurt, Shade was pissed off, and his bike was going to have to be repainted. His afternoon fuck session with Jenna hadn’t been worth any of the hassle.
As soon as he hung up, he told Lucky, “I have to get back to the hospital.” Then he slid the phone back into his pocket and nodded at Willa’s house where the two older girls were staring out the curtained windows. “You going to send Knox over there?”
“No, they didn’t see anything. If they had, they would have said something.”
“They didn’t do it. Whoever trashed mine and Razer’s bikes did this.”
“I figured that out too late. I let my temper get away from
me when I saw that word,” Lucky confessed. When Shade didn’t say anything, Lucky added, “I’ll stop by in a day or two to apologize since I don’t think she wants to hear anything I have to say right now.”
“I don’t think that woman wants to ever see you again, much less hear anything you have to say,” Shade said wryly.
“I won’t be getting a cupcake from her anytime soon; that’s for sure,” Lucky agreed glumly.
“I’ve had Jenna’s pussy and Willa’s cupcakes. I know which one I would’ve chosen, but you were never the smartest brother in the club.”
Lucky had to silently agree with him, even if he hated it when the fucker was right.
Chapter 1
“May I get you something to drink?” Willa jumped at Rachel’s voice behind her.
“No, thanks.” Willa turned to face the woman who had talked her into coming to Lily’s baby shower despite her intention to stay away.
Willa felt an unwanted flash of envy at Rachel’s red hair. Her hand unwittingly went to her own lackluster brown hair to make sure it was still in a neat knot at the nape of her neck, wishing belatedly that she had left it loose.
“The cake is beautiful, Willa. You outdid yourself.”
Willa smiled, blushing. She had taken extra time to make the cake special for Lily who was being released from the hospital after being kidnapped by her adoptive father. The State Police had led a search for several days to find the town’s former pastor before releasing a statement that they had found evidence that Saul Cornett had managed to escape the country.
Not only had Lily and her husband Shade had to deal with her kidnapping, but their home had been wrecked by a storm that had swept through the town. The baby shower today was to replace the items that had been destroyed.
Willa had never been in The Last Riders’ clubhouse before. She had somehow expected broken-down furniture and beer cans sitting around; instead, it was clean and furnished with leather furniture that actually looked very comfortable. There was a bar at one end of the room and a pool table with several other tables with chairs positioned around the room.