Ace of Spades by Sandra Owens

2018

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Author:	Sandra Owens
Genre:	Contemporary Romance
File Name:	ace-of-spades-by-sandra-owens.epub
Original Title:	Ace of Spades (Aces & Eights Book 3)
Creator:	Sandra Owens
Language:	en
Identifier:	ISBN:9781503948990
Publisher:	Montlake Romance
Date:	1517846400
File Size:	528572.416

Two FBI agents struggle with desire in the shadow of a killer, in the third installment of Aces & Eights.

Nate Gentry has been a rock for his two younger brothers since the day their mom walked out and left them with their abusive father. Now that they’ve grown up, he’s watched Alex and Court fall in love and settle down. But Nate isn’t made for romance. He keeps his relationships casual. And getting casual with his partner is a fantasy he can’t shake…

Taylor Collins has feelings for Nate, too—and though they run hot, her best friend on the team is strictly off limits. Until a spark in his eyes says, Go for it. But reaching out could prove to be a bad move now that they’re working closer together than ever, and on the most dangerous case of their careers.

An investigation into a brutal series of murders is stirring up bad memories for Taylor, and neither she nor Nate can imagine how close to home it’s going to hit. When it does, Nate will risk everything—including his heart—to keep Taylor safe.

Table of Content

1. Unnamed
2. ALSO BY SANDRA OWENS Aces & Eights Jack of Hearts King of Clubs K2 Team Series Crazy for Her Someone Like Her Falling for Her Lost in Her Only Her Regencies The Duke’s Obsession The Training of a Marquess The Letter
3. Unnamed
4. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, organizations, places, events, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Text copyright © 2018 by Sandra Owens All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher. Published by Montlake Romance, Seattle www.apub.com Amazon, the Amazon logo, and Montlake Romance are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc., or its affiliates. ISBN-13: 9781503948990 ISBN-10: 1503948994 Cover design by Letitia Hasser
5. This book is dedicated to the best cheerleaders in the world, the Sandra’s Book Salon gang. Ladies, your friendship and support, along with the fun we have in our group, means the world to me. You haven’t been at all patient in waiting for Nate’s book, and I love that you’ve been dying to see Nate get his happily ever after. So here you go, my friends. Enjoy!
6. CONTENTS PROLOGUE CHAPTER ONE CHAPTER TWO CHAPTER THREE CHAPTER FOUR CHAPTER FIVE CHAPTER SIX CHAPTER SEVEN CHAPTER EIGHT CHAPTER NINE CHAPTER TEN CHAPTER ELEVEN CHAPTER TWELVE CHAPTER THIRTEEN CHAPTER FOURTEEN CHAPTER FIFTEEN CHAPTER SIXTEEN CHAPTER SEVENTEEN CHAPTER EIGHTEEN CHAPTER NINETEEN CHAPTER TWENTY CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE CHAPTER THIRTY EPILOGUE ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ABOUT THE AUTHOR
7. PROLOGUE “Take us with you, Mama,” Nate Gentry said. She couldn’t just walk away and leave them with the old man. He would blame them when he found her gone, and that meant a beating. She put her hand—rough from hard work—on his cheek. “This is the hardest day of my life. If I take you, he will find us and kill us all. This he has sworn to do if I dared such a thing. There is a reason I must go, but you are strong boys, and you will grow up to be men I can be proud of.” She kissed each of them as tears streamed down her face. “Nathan, you will see that you and your brothers study hard and get good grades. Court, you will help your older brother protect Alex.” She knelt. “My baby. This will be the hardest for you, but be brave and strong for your brothers. Can you do that, Alex?” Seven-year-old Alex burst into tears. Nate fisted his hands, hating that their mother was making his baby brother cry. Even Court’s lips were trembling, but for some reason he refused to look at her. There was
8. CHAPTER ONE Nate Gentry sat in his car, studying the small house on the other side of the street. Harmon Baker had left Ocala, disappearing the same time Nate’s mother had. Back then, it had only reinforced Nate’s belief they’d run away together. Now he questioned his young self’s conclusion, and the time had come to find out the truth. He’d tracked Harmon to this run-down house in Dunnellon, a mere thirty-minute drive from Ocala, where Nate had grown up. When he’d run a search for Harmon Baker, he’d been surprised to learn the man had never married. Was his mother in there? Ever since his middle brother had shared the secret he’d kept since the day their mother had walked away from them, Nate didn’t know what to think anymore. According to Court, their mother had been pregnant and had run away because their bastard of a father had tried to beat the baby out of her. The revelation had shaken Nate to his core. He opened the car door, getting out. Had he been wrong about her all these ye
9. CHAPTER TWO The man changing a tire that hadn’t needed changing ducked his head when the car with the female FBI agent inside drove by. He’d parked on the side of the road, far enough away from the crime scene so as not to draw attention. With binoculars, he’d been able to see her up close and personal. She was beautiful, with her sun-kissed blonde hair and pale skin. It had been hard to see the color of her eyes, but he already knew they were blue. His first two angels had been found almost immediately. One by a man needing to make a pit stop and the other by a photographer who’d set out to get pictures of the Everglades and its slithery inhabitants. The man chuckled at thinking how surprised the photographer must have been. When his latest angel’s body hadn’t been found after two days, he’d called in a tip from a burner phone. He’d done his research and knew the FBI would take over with this one. He wasn’t afraid of the FBI. After all, he was smarter than they were. Everything he’d d
10. CHAPTER THREE “No rumblings from any of the biker gangs about this?” Rothmire asked, after they’d taken seats in the conference room. Nate shook his head. “Not even a hint, and I don’t recall her ever making an appearance at Aces and Eights with Ramirez.” Aces & Eights was the biker bar he and his brothers owned. It was also a cover for their covert operations. No one suspected that the owners of a biker bar were FBI agents. Although that might change with Rothmire’s decision to make him the lead on this case. “Well, if she was his”—Taylor made air quotes as her lips curled in distaste—“‘old lady,’ why didn’t he report her missing?” “I’ll see what I can tease out of him next time he comes in,” Nate said. “In the meantime, you and Rand need to pay him a visit. Find out what he has to say about her.” According to the report from the detective on the case, the first prostitute, twenty-seven-year-old Alana Gilmore, had been an on-and-off girlfriend of Hector Ramirez, a.k.a. Stud. A member
11. CHAPTER FOUR After Nate arrived with his brother, he walked over to Taylor. She was standing ramrod straight, and when she glanced at him, he didn’t like the apprehensive look in her eyes. Her gaze skittered away from him, focusing on the building across the street. Stopping next to her, he put a hand on her shoulder. “That building?” He didn’t miss that as she leaned into his touch, the tense muscles under his palm relaxed a little. “Yeah. Peaches was the working name for Linda Harding, and that was what she called home.” She shuddered. “I hate rats. I can remember hearing them scurrying around on the floor at night and being afraid they’d climb in my bed.” So her trepidation was because of childhood memories. Had she lived in places like that? “Hope the thing doesn’t fall down on our heads,” Alex muttered as he and Josh joined them. The place did look like it might fall in on itself at any moment. Why hadn’t the city condemned it and torn it down? At some point in the past, there had
12. CHAPTER FIVE Nate loved Taylor’s foster mother. He didn’t want to think about how Taylor’s life would have turned out without Rosie. He opened his arms for the hug Rosie would give him, whether he liked it or not. He did. “You naughty boy. Avoiding your Rosie,” she said, lifting her hands to their maximum reach to pinch his cheeks. “Never,” he said, meaning it. The woman was a tiny spitfire. The thing he liked the most about her was that she never saw him as a threat. Sometimes—most times—the people he came in contact with shied away. He cultivated a menacing persona, needed to be a mean-assed sonofabitch to keep the biker gangs frequenting Aces & Eights in line. But Rosie? She’d seen through him from day one. He just hoped she never told Taylor he was a softie. Against his will, his gaze slid to Taylor, who was currently on her back on the floor, buried by six giggling girls, ranging in ages from two to nine years old. Girls who would be lost in the system without Taylor and Rosie. Hi
13. CHAPTER SIX “What did that bag do to make you want to kill it?” Nate kept punching the heavy bag. Maybe if he ignored his annoying baby brother, Alex would go away. “What’s got your panties in a twist?” Apparently not. “Go find someone else to bother.” He punched his way to the opposite side of the bag, out of sight of Alex. He’d been at it for a little over an hour. Doing his best to kill the bag, as Alex put it, usually worked to calm him down, but not so much this time. The thought of Taylor standing on a street corner waiting for a psycho to pick her up made him crazy. Yes, she was highly trained, and yes, she’d be armed, and yes, a team would be watching over her from various places, but all those yesses could go screw themselves. As soon as he could think rationally again, he’d make a list of all the reasons it was a bad idea. She was a smart woman and would agree. “It’s Taylor, isn’t it?” Alex said, poking his head around the bag. “You should just admit you’re hot for her and st
14. CHAPTER SEVEN “He claims he hasn’t seen her for three or four months,” Taylor said. “When we told him she was dead, his reaction seemed legit. He was shocked, and then his eyes teared up.” Josh shrugged. “I’m leaning toward believing him.” Nate hadn’t thought Hector Ramirez was their killer. Not that the man would hesitate to kill someone who did him wrong—even if he only thought they had—but he was a look-you-in-the-face-while-he-put-a-bullet-between-your-eyes type. He glanced around the conference-room table where he, Taylor, Alex, Rand, Josh, and Rothmire were seated. The team assigned to this case was, in his opinion, the best of the best. The only one missing was Court. Besides being a wizard on a computer, he also had a talent for seeing patterns. Court and his bride would be back home Sunday night, and as soon as he was available, Nate would get him started on doing his magic. Alex’s strength was his ability to understand a killer’s mind. His baby brother felt things too hard. N
15. CHAPTER EIGHT Tonight belonged to the Cubanos Motorcycle Club. Nate sat at the Aces & Eights bar, nursing a beer while listening to the rumble of a few dozen bikes pulling into the parking lot. He hoped Hector Ramirez was with them. As he waited for them to come in, he read the text from Taylor for about the tenth time. Alex invited me to go riding with you guys on Sunday. Sounds like fun. What time should I come over? Damn his matchmaking brother for sticking his nose where it didn’t belong. Unless it was raining or too cold, every Sunday he, his brothers, and their wives would ride somewhere for lunch. Court and Lauren wouldn’t be home until Sunday evening, so Nate hadn’t planned to go, giving Alex and Madison a day alone. Taylor had hinted in the past that she’d love to go with them sometime, but he’d never invited her. There wasn’t any question in his mind that he’d like having her ride behind him too much. Better to just avoid the temptation. Now Alex had gone and taken that decis
16. CHAPTER NINE Whoa! Nate stopped in his tracks, his gaze traveling over Taylor. She stood next to his bike, talking to Madison and Alex. Because she hadn’t noticed him, he took the time to appreciate how sexy she looked in a pair of white jeans that hugged her hips and long legs before disappearing into a pair of mid-calf-length red boots. His eyes roamed back up her body to the red silk camisole, the length of which stopped about an inch above the waist of her low-riding jeans, showing a tantalizing hint of skin. And was that silver flash a belly ring? He’d always thought her sexy, even in her plain blouses, loose black pants, and sensible shoes, but eff him. This Taylor was mouthwateringly hot, and his mouth was definitely watering. She held a plastic cup containing her favorite drink, an iced mocha coffee piled high with whipped cream. Arousal stirred as he watched her suck on the straw, which sent his mind straight into the gutter. He very much feared he was going to spend an extrem
17. CHAPTER TEN “I talked to Rothmire this morning,” Taylor said. “As soon as we get a better idea of who we’re looking for, I’ll be going undercover. We need to get some kind of description of our man and one of his car, otherwise it’s a no-go.” Nate squeezed his fingers around the pen in his hand. His team, with the addition of Court—back from his honeymoon, looking tanned and absurdly happy—sat around the conference-room table early Monday morning. The day after his first and last date with Taylor. She glanced at his hand. “You’re going to break that in half if you squeeze it any harder.” He’d like to break Rothmire in half for agreeing to the undercover plan, but at least the boss had qualified his approval. “Alex and Josh will be out on the streets tonight, looking for any witnesses who might have seen someone suspicious or a description of a car that caught their attention.” Alex was decent at disguising himself, and since the case against Madison’s uncle was closed, he was getting a
18. CHAPTER ELEVEN Nate was nervous as hell, which was stupid. Taylor was his best friend. He’d spent more hours with her than he could count, so why was his heart beating as if it might go into cardiac arrest as he walked up to her door? He hadn’t lied when he said he’d never been on a date. No proms or school dances, as there had never been extra money for nice clothes and other date-related expenses. Then he’d held down two part-time jobs through college, and what spare time he had was dedicated to studying and raising his brothers. Sometimes he’d been jealous of his classmates when hearing them talk of their dates for football games or other school events, but he’d shaken the envy off by burying his nose deeper into his textbooks. After graduating, he’d managed to achieve his goal, landing a job with the FBI. His experience with women consisted of hooking up for a few hours of pleasure. Now here was Taylor, shaking up his world. He wasn’t sure how he felt about that. A part of him was
19. CHAPTER TWELVE “I see the wheels spinning,” Nate said. “Stop thinking.” He backed Taylor up to the wall, cradled her cheeks with his hands, and lowered his mouth to hers, nibbling his way across her lips. They were delicious lips, full, soft, and sweet tasting. He might never get his fill of her. On the ride back, he’d come to his senses, but now he’d lost them again. This was not a good idea. A relationship wasn’t in the cards. The rage burning deep inside of him was his alone to bear. Although he’d learned to control it, it was always there, threatening to erupt under the right—or, more accurately, wrong—circumstances. If he doubted that could happen, he only had to remind himself that he’d once almost killed his father. He would have if Court hadn’t pulled him off the bastard. But he wanted her, apparently too much, since it didn’t appear he was going to do the right thing and walk away. She’d said she wouldn’t let whatever happened between them ruin their friendship, and he was goi
20. CHAPTER THIRTEEN Nate wanted to punch something. The rage that lived inside him burned hot, threatening to consume him. From the moment he’d seen that Polaroid, it had been bubbling like molten lava, ready to spew. He walked away, not wanting to give Taylor even a glimpse of what he was capable of. On the pretense of getting a glass of water, he sought calm. Using a trick that sometimes worked, he imagined the rage was a ball of fire in his stomach. Then he visualized it traveling up, past his chest and into his throat. He opened his mouth, giving it an escape hatch. He let out a sharp breath, and the fire with it, and then took several calming breaths. Once he was sure he was in control again, he drank the water. At the sound of her footsteps coming up behind him, he inhaled one more deep breath before facing her. “Please, Nate. Don’t do this.” She steepled her hands, touching her fingers to her lips as if begging him. He leaned back on the counter, and as much as he wanted to give he
21. CHAPTER FOURTEEN Nate hated how Taylor had closed in on herself, hated even more that he was the cause. Her face was a blank page, not a hint of emotion showing. But she’d let the situation affect her judgment, and he couldn’t allow that to pass. This would have been easier to deal with before last night. Now all he wanted to do was drag her onto his lap and hold her close, giving her whatever she wanted. There was a wall between them that had never existed before, and that was his greatest regret. He’d lost his best friend. Although too late in coming where she was concerned, lesson learned. Never let his desires come before the job. She was a fellow agent, and he should have never given into temptation. It might be different if something could come of it, but he had nothing to offer her, even though the idea of a life with her sent a longing through his heart that he was having trouble ignoring. “Tell me something,” he said. “And be honest. If you were the lead on an investigation an
22. CHAPTER FIFTEEN Nate eyed the two men from K2 Special Services. They were big and intimidating. The dudes were going to scare the hell out of the girls. After introducing Jamie Turner and Ryan O’Connor, Rothmire had left for a meeting, leaving Nate alone with them while they waited for Taylor and Rosie to arrive. “Did my boss tell you that you’ll be babysitting six girls, ages two to nine?” “Yeah. Scariest assignment ever,” the green-eyed one said. “You’re O’Connor?” Nate asked the man sporting a grin. “Yeah, but the team calls me Doc.” He pointed a thumb at his friend. “We call him Saint, and trust me when I say the moniker suits.” “Just try not to scare the hell out of the girls, okay?” The one called Saint cracked a smile. “We’re teddy bears at heart.” “You should know that these girls come from homes where they were either neglected or abused. They’re afraid of men.” Both men frowned. “Don’t like hearing that,” Doc said. “No one will hurt them under our care, I promise you.” “If I
23. CHAPTER SIXTEEN “What?” Nate shifted his gaze to his brother. “Where the hell’s your mind?” Court sighed. “You haven’t heard a word I said.” His mind was on Taylor. Where else would it be after having her stare into his eyes, asking if she was allowed to notice them? After experiencing his first-ever streak of jealousy—an emotion he’d never expected to feel in his lifetime—because she apparently had it in her to appreciate a man, or men in this case, who wasn’t him. They were surrounded daily by men, other agents, and she’d never once indicated that she thought their eyes were sexy. Court snapped his fingers in front of Nate’s face. “Yo, dude, what’s wrong with you? You’re spacey. You’re never spacey.” “You think my eyes are sexy?” Hell! Did that really come out of his mouth? “You say one word right now, I’m going to put you on your ass.” His douchebag brother’s lips twitched, then furiously twitched. Then laughter burst out of his mouth. He laughed so hard that his face turned red and
24. CHAPTER SEVENTEEN “I’ll do it.” Nate had known she would, but he didn’t like it. He’d argued with Pauline when she’d suggested it. He also didn’t like the dread he saw in Taylor’s eyes. “Why don’t you think about it overnight before making a decision?” “No. I need to do this.” She came back to the sofa. “The sooner the better.” “I’ll set it up.” “Will you come with me?” “Of course.” There was no way he’d let her go through that alone. Surprising him, she stretched out her legs, resting her feet on this thigh. “Looking for a foot rub, tiger?” She smiled. “That would be nice.” The tension that had existed between them the past several days had eased in the last few minutes, but there was more they had to talk about. What he had to say would probably put them back on edge, and he almost let it go. He didn’t want to be at odds with her, but he owed it to her to tell her why they couldn’t be anything more than friends. “I missed that, you know.” “What’s that?” He stroked his thumb along the
25. CHAPTER EIGHTEEN Nate covered Taylor’s mouth with his before she could ask any more questions. He was venturing into foreign territory with this woman, and it scared the living hell out of him. He never saw the same woman twice, or never had before Taylor. What was he supposed to do with this need to be with her? She took his breath away, and he didn’t know what to do with that either. She arched her body when he kissed his way down to her belly and then lower. Bewitched by everything about her, he stopped thinking. He loved the sounds she made, her sighs and moans and gasps. Yet, as he’d learned the first time they’d made love, she climaxed quietly, nothing more than an exhale of breath, and a shudder that traveled through her body like the wave of an ocean. “You’re so sexy when you come,” he said, crawling up her body. He grabbed a condom, ripping it open. She gave him a dreamy smile, her blue eyes soft and not quite focused. “But let’s see if I can make you scream.” His name. That w
26. CHAPTER NINETEEN “I’m not crying.” Nate lifted her chin, peering at her red-rimmed eyes. “You were. Why?” He’d been ten minutes away from their field office when Alex had called, telling him that Taylor had freaked out over some flowers. At first, he’d thought his brother was pulling his chain. Taylor wasn’t a woman who would lose it over flowers. “What happened, Taylor?” he asked when she pulled her face away from his hand, taking a step back. Pink stained her cheeks, and knowing her, she was embarrassed. “Talk to me.” “I don’t know, okay? The flowers triggered a reaction, but I don’t know why.” She crossed her arms over her chest. “Don’t you have someplace else to be besides the ladies’ room?” Yeah, he supposed he shouldn’t be in here, but he wasn’t leaving until he got to the bottom of why a vase of flowers had freaked her out. “You’re upset because they came from our killer?” That much he did know, since he’d read and taken a picture of the card that came with them before they were
27. CHAPTER TWENTY Taylor hadn’t taken two steps inside Nate’s condo when he had her up against the wall, his body pressed hard on hers. “Is this what you want?” he said, staring down at her. “Yes, but I don’t want to think. About anything.” She brushed her thumb over his bottom lip. “Tonight, I’m at your mercy. I want it down and dirty, hot and hard.” “Mother of God, woman, you’re killing me.” His mouth took hers in a crushing kiss. It was impossible to think when he was devouring her as if she were the air he needed to breathe. A kiss so demanding that there wasn’t room in her mind for anything else but him and his mouth. He put his hand on her neck, splaying his fingers, holding her in place. His other hand drifted down to her hip, and he splayed his fingers there, too. All too soon, he stepped back, leaving her gasping for air. “Take off your jacket, Taylor.” She slipped it over her shoulders, letting it fall to the floor. His gaze went to her shoulder holster. “I never did get to see
28. CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE Taylor paused at the hospital-room door. Nate was braced against the wall, his eyes closed. Her mouth went dry. He was so beautiful that looking at him was sometimes painful because he would never belong to her. His eyes opened, his gaze landing on her. Awareness simmered through her blood as he focused on her. She could almost feel his fingers on her, his rough voice commanding her to come. Desire pulsed low in her stomach. She glanced over to see the cop watching her with appreciation in his eyes. “Let’s go,” Nate said, pushing away from the wall while giving the cop a hard stare. He put his hand on her lower back as they walked toward the elevator. She forced herself not to lean into the warmth of his palm. She was still unsettled by their conversation in the car and needed time to think. Although she hadn’t intended to start a conversation about exclusivity, it had been his comment that was playing havoc with her mind. I don’t bring women to my home hadn’t been a
29. CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO The minute Taylor settled into a lounge chair, joining Lauren and Madison on the balcony, a black cat jumped onto her lap. “Well, hello. Who are you?” “That’s Hemingway,” Madison said. “He spends his day mostly sleeping in our bookstore window, then comes home with us at the end of the day.” “He alternates nights with us.” Lauren reached over to rub the cat behind his ears. “Tonight’s my night to have him.” Madison filled a glass with wine and handed it to Taylor. “It’s so weird. He actually knows his routine. If it’s his night with me, he follows me off the elevator when we reach the eighth floor. When it’s Lauren’s turn to have him, he waits for the door to open on the ninth floor.” “You’re a very smart kitty,” Taylor said, rubbing him behind the ears the way Lauren had, getting a loud purr from the cat. She’d love to have a cat, but couldn’t bear to leave an animal alone as much as she’d have to. Hemingway made three circles, then curled up on her lap. After the p
30. CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE The address was a small ranch-style house in North Miami. Their backup team evacuated the residences on both sides of their target house and had secured the premises. “No one will blame you if you sit this one out,” Nate said quietly at her side. Taylor bit back her first retort. He wasn’t saying she wasn’t capable of being a part of this operation. “I’m good.” She’d had to fight to be in on the arrest, arguing that after what their perp had put her through, she had a right to be here. Nate had seemed to understand that, and after getting a nod from Rothmire, he’d agreed. And considering the whole team was here, she didn’t doubt they were all keeping an eye on her. “Then let’s do this.” Court and Alex were stationed at the back to make sure Tompkins didn’t try to run. She, Nate, and Rand approached the door. They split up, Rand on one side, her and Nate on the other. Nate fisted his hand and banged on the door. “FBI. Open up!” When there was no response, he banged
31. CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR Taylor stared into the monitor, right into Tompkins’s eyes. “I’ll always hate you for making me do this.” Smoke and mirrors. It had to work. She removed her gun from its holster, lifted it, met Nate’s steady gaze for a moment—seeing nothing but trust in them—then focused on the sliver of space he’d created between his right arm and his side. She pulled the trigger. He jerked as he slapped his hand to his chest. Red spread across his chest, splatters of red dotted his neck, and her knees almost gave out when he grunted, crumbling to the floor. It’s only ketchup. Just ketchup. With her gun still in her hand, she walked out of the room as Rand rushed in. She glanced back to see him kneeling next to Nate. “Christ, he’s dead,” Rand said. Even though she knew he wasn’t, hearing him say that about Nate made her want to vomit. In the hallway, she stopped in front of Alex. “Cameras out here?” she whispered. “No.” “Give me your knife,” she said, knowing the Gentry brothers al
32. CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE Nate took Taylor to her apartment. She’d fallen asleep within minutes of putting on her seatbelt. He was used to late hours, but three in the morning was way past her bedtime. She’d been magnificent tonight, but that hadn’t surprised him. She trained as hard as any of them and was as lethal. He figured his brain was warped for thinking that was pretty damn hot. They had some talking to do, but not tonight. She didn’t wake up when they arrived at her place. He grabbed her purse and eased out of the car. As he walked to her door, he took her keys out. After dropping the purse and keys on her kitchen counter, he returned to the car and scooped her into his arms. She mumbled something unintelligible, then snuggled her face into his neck. On reentering the apartment, he kicked the door closed. In her bedroom, he eased her onto the mattress, holding her up in a sitting position as he dropped to his knees in front of her. “Wake up, Taylor.” She blinked her eyes, then kept
33. CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX “I warned you that if you stole one more beer, you’d regret it.” Nate stood toe-to-toe with Dirty Dan. Nate was ready to hurt someone, and Dirty Dan would do just fine. Dirty Dan smirked. “Like I never heard that from you before, but you’re all bark. I don’t think you have the balls to take me on.” He guzzled the rest of the stolen beer, then smacked his lips as he reached across the bar and refilled the mug. Rage filled Nate’s brain. He saw nothing but the asshole he was going to beat to a pulp. That’s right. Beat the shit out of him, boy, his father’s voice said in his head. Nate’s heart stopped, or at least it felt like it did. He wasn’t his fucking father. He stumbled back, and as he became aware of his surroundings again, he saw his brothers watching him, concern on their faces. Like a drunken man, he lurched away, heading for the office. “Knew you didn’t have the balls,” Dirty Dan called after him. Dirty Dan was wrong. He had the balls, he just chose not to use
34. CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN Once again, Nate sat in his car outside of the run-down house in Dunnellon. This was it, the day he’d get his answers. As he walked up to the door, he couldn’t decide if he hoped his mother was in that house or not. Before he could knock, the door opened, and Nate recognized Harmon Baker. The years hadn’t been kind to him. Dressed in stained overalls, a good twenty pounds underweight, and with a gray beard that looked like it needed a wash, the man Nate remembered being kind to them narrowed his eyes. “I wondered how long it’d take ya to come with yer questions,” he said in greeting as he came out onto the porch. “Expected ya years ago. Which Gentry brother are ya? Never could get ya boys straight in my head.” So Harmon remembered them. “I’m Nate, the oldest one.” He held out his hand to the old man. “The one got beat on the most,” Harmon said, shaking Nate’s hand. “Yer pa weren’t a good man.” Nate couldn’t argue with that. He eyed the door that had been left open
35. CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT Nate could breathe again. He’d never thought he would tell a woman he loved her, and when he finally had, her first word had been crap as coffee had dripped down her chin. About the time he’d decided to leave—to retreat and regroup—she’d started laughing and had insanely said that she couldn’t say the words back in a stained T-shirt. So instead of temporarily walking out—temporarily, because there was no way he was going to give up on her now that she owned his heart—he found himself laughing with her as she led him to her bedroom. “Oh, my flowers. I need them.” When she tried to return to the living room, he tugged on her hand. “Go on. I’ll get them.” He liked that she wanted them with her. At the florist shop, he’d considered roses again, but he’d done those already. And then he’d spied the wildflowers in a mason jar, and they’d seemed to be something she’d like. Halfway to her house, he’d had second thoughts, questioning his decision not to go with something fan
36. CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE “It’s time for you boys to turn over Aces and Eights. With all that’s gone down with each of you, your faces are becoming too well known. You’ll still own the bar on paper, but no one will know that.” When Rothmire had mentioned a few weeks ago that he wanted to talk to them about something, Nate had assumed a new case was on the burner. He glanced at his brothers, seeing the same shock on their faces that he was sure was on his. Yet, as he let the idea sink in, he found that he had no desire to protest. A month ago, he would have fought tooth and nail against letting go of Aces & Eights. But that was before Taylor. And as his eyes shifted between his brothers’, he knew they were thinking the same thing. It would mean nights at home with their wives, or in his case, his girlfriend. Taylor had been living with him for two weeks now, and he’d never been happier. There wasn’t an inch of his condo that hadn’t been christened by the two of them. And now they were startin
37. CHAPTER THIRTY “So you get to sleep with the boss,” Madison said, her amused eyes on Taylor. Taylor grinned. “Oh, yeah.” As the newly promoted special agent in charge of the Miami field office, Nate was now her boss. “And let me tell you, my boss is a very talented man.” She winked. God, was he ever! The man’s mouth—not to mention other parts of his body—was so, so very talented. Lauren laughed. “And so is his new intelligence analyst.” “Saying the same about his special agent in charge of investigations,” Madison said, a dreamy smile on her face. His brothers had been happy with their new assignments, Court as an intelligence analyst and Alex supervising their operations. Taylor thought it was a brilliant move on Nate’s part, but then she might be a bit prejudiced where her man was concerned. With Rothmire’s transfer to a troubled field office in the Midwest happening in three weeks, Nate had been offered his job. They’d talked late into the night about it. At first, he hadn’t been th
38. EPILOGUE She’d found them! Kinsey Landon held her mother’s letter in her hand. She’d read it a hundred times or more in the past year, ever since learning she had brothers. Three of them, to be exact. “Alex, Court, and Nate,” she murmured, testing their names on her tongue for what was probably the hundredth time. It was strange that she knew about them, but they didn’t have a clue of her existence. The surprise was that they were the owners of a biker bar. That didn’t sound like men she’d want to know. But they were her brothers. Since finding them, she’d researched bikers, learning there were two kinds. The men and women—doctors, lawyers, businesspeople—who rode mostly on the weekends were one kind. Then there were the clubs, what the bikers referred to as the one-percenters. They were the outlaws of the motorcycle world, men who called their wives and girlfriends their “old ladies.” She snorted. Seriously? The Hell’s Angels came to mind, along with what little she’d heard of them—no
39. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Where to start? I’ve written enough acknowledgements that you’d think it would get easier. It doesn’t. With each book, there are more readers, friends, authors, and so on to thank. And with each book, I find myself more grateful for the support and encouragement given me. I keep expecting to wake up and discover that this wonderful journey I’m on is all a dream. I sure hope it’s not. First, I have an amazing family. Thank you, Jim, for your unwavering support and belief in me. Also, I really appreciate that you eat burnt dinners without complaint when I’m on deadline. Even better are all the dinners you cook for me. You will always be my hero. Love you! Since my first book was published in 2013, I’ve become friends with so many readers throughout the world, and I’m so in awe of that. I love our online chats about everything under the sun, but especially about books. I wish I could thank each one of you in person for loving my books. And to those who take the time to pos
40. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Photo © 2015 Cat Ford-Coates Bestselling, award-winning author Sandra Owens lives in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. Her family and friends often question her sanity but have ceased being surprised by what she might get up to next. She’s jumped out of a plane, flown in an aerobatic plane while the pilot performed death-defying stunts, gotten into laser-gun fights in Air Combat, and ridden a Harley motorcycle for years. She regrets nothing. Sandra is a Romance Writers of America Honor Roll member and a 2013 Golden Heart Finalist for her contemporary romance Crazy for Her. In addition to her contemporary romantic-suspense novels, she writes Regency stories. You can connect with Sandra through her website, www.sandra-owens.com, or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/SandraOwensAuthor.