AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Yes,” he answered shortly.
There was a brief silence. “You’re taking her back to her apartment?”
“Yes. ”
“Why?”
It was all Alex could do to keep from laughing. He could hear the sheer frustration in the other man’s voice, and he sympathized, he really did.
“It just seemed like the neighborly thing to do,” Alex answered. “Is there a problem with it?”
That silence again. He could almost feel Zeke glaring at his back. And he probably was, considering the sheriff’s Tahoe had pulled out behind him after he passed the parking lot.
“No problem,” Zeke finally answered. “Tell her I’ll talk to her soon. ” And the line disconnected.
Alex’s brows arched. Give her a message? Now wasn’t that uncharacteristic of their private sheriff?
He closed the phone and glanced to the backseat where Rogue sat silently, watching him.
“Zeke said to tell you he’ll talk to you later,” he told her. “You two been talking a lot?”
“Or something,” she muttered, turning to stare out the window and keeping her lips pressed together firmly.
Alex grinned, looked at Janey, and wagged his brows. This was very interesting. Zeke had never been known to chase after any woman.
“Wonder why he didn’t call your cell phone?” he mused after a few minutes. “Seems odd he’d call me. ”
“Mine might be turned off,” she answered.
He almost had to bite his lip to keep from laughing. As though that was going to keep Zeke off her ass. She just had no idea. Once a man like Zeke decided what he wanted, nothing would hold him back. And Alex had a feeling Zeke knew exactly what he wanted.
“Why is he following us?” Janey asked then, her voice smooth, and so genuinely curious as she glanced behind them.
“Maybe I have a taillight out,” Alex suggested. “Should I pull over?”
He laughed as Janey pinched his thigh. In the rearview mirror he caught Rogue’s glare.
Whatever was going on, he was sure he’d hear about it soon. Until then, he’d drop his passenger off and head home to be with his own woman. Zeke would learn what Alex already knew. There was nothing as satisfying as holding your own woman in the still of the night and greeting the next day with her. He had confidence in the sheriff’s abilities to figure that out. And if he didn’t, well, Alex just might have to help him along a little.
NINE
Spring was in full flush in the mountains, the trees weregreening out, the evenings were mildly cool, the days pleasant, and the Bar, better known as the biker haven in the Lake Cumberland area, was hopping.
For a Thursday, it was packed. The winter country tunes were replaced by harder, driving music. Leather and denim rubbed shoulder to shoulder, thigh to thigh, and cycles filled the parking lot along with a heavy share of pickups and SUVs.
Dressed in her customary black leather pants and sleeveless vest, a lacy violet camisole peeking over the top, Rogue surveyed the crowd. Four- inch stiletto-heeled boots gave her barely enough height that if she strained, she could almost see over the writhing mass.
Mainstream hard rock and metal was pounding through the PA system, drinks were flowing, bouncers were alert, and Rogue was in her element. She loved the pulse and pound of the music, the laughter, and sometimes, she even enjoyed the fights.
It had been two nights since she had last seen Zeke, and she had used the time to regroup and reassess the damage she had allowed in her life.
Rogue had remade herself after the debacle four years before. She hadn’t let that night destroy her, she hadn’t let it beat her. She was bitter at times, but only because she had once believed that Nadine and Dayle had taken away her chance with the man who fascinated her. She no longer believed that was the truth. There had never been a chance, because Rogue knew, even then, the “good girl” image wouldn’t have changed anything. And in time, she would have matured and stepped out of that more submissive role anyway.
She had moped the past two days. She had pouted. She had even shed a tear or two and watched outside her apartment window as Zeke drove through the parking lot each night before he went off duty. And she had had a spark of realization.
Rogue didn’t hide. She wouldn’t be a closet lover, she wasn’t going to be one of the women Zeke kept hanging on a string, always worrying, always wondering when or if it would be over on any given night. She wasn’t a submissive little lapdog content to wait on the pillows for his attention.
That was her realization. It didn’t change the fact that she still dreamed about him, and it didn’t change the fact that she still woke wet and wild, reaching for him. But there were other things in life to occupy her.
