Chapter One
Present day...
Hell’s Fire Riders compound...
Kelly Jane Hines Montross smiled as she remembered Shay’s reaction when she told him about the baby.First of all, it hadn't come out the way she’d wanted it to.She had planned a huge surprisebaby revealwith streamers, balloons and everything.Then secondly, he was so stunned she worried that he didn’t want a baby, but she was wrong.Shay wanted one and he had been on cloud nine ever since she told him.
Kelly felt restless tonight and she didn’t know why.Her pregnancy was still early and she barely had any symptoms.No, that wasn’t what bothered her.
Shay still hadn’t come home.It had been two weeks.She’d known that his work would do that when she got involved with him.But damn, she missed him sometimes.Yes, she had plenty to do around the compound.She was a great bike mechanic and with the forty bikes here, something always needed fixing.
She’d been remembering bits and pieces of her past.Of how she met the one man in her life that drove her almost crazy at times but she knew that he was the only man meant for her.Shay wasn’t an easy man to live with but he was hers and she’d told him when they got married, that once the deed was done, that she wouldn’t allow him to leave her.
And Shay had vowed that he never would.
Right now, though, she needed an embrace from her man.A kiss would be the added bonus.And man, could Shay kiss.She slowly shook her head and remembered their veryfirstkiss.
Five months ago...
Kelly smiled at him.“I am honored.According to Pappy, you rarely share any inside info.”
Shrugging, he admitted, “Maybe that’s true.But lying is out for me.Rather than risk the lives of myself and my men as soon as I could, I got into intelligence work, so I didn’t have to lie anymore.I was better working intelligence than undercover anyway.Finding the truth and digging to understand why people did what they did, suited me much better.And I’m a one-woman kind of man.I’ve been looking for you most of my life.Why would I risk you for something else?”
“Then kiss me already,” she ordered.
Shay leaned over the table.She met him halfway and sparks flew when their lips met.Kelly moaned and Shay groaned as his blood felt like it was on fire.
His tongue thrust into her mouth and everything except the two of them faded away.All they could do was feel.Her scent embraced them both.Lavender and leather.Shay finally broke the kiss and it left them both gasping for breath.
“Wow,” she whispered as she trembled visibly.“All of that from just a kiss?”
Shay smiled.“Yeah, all of that from just a kiss.Still want to see where all this goes?”
Kelly nodded.“Heck, yeah.You know what we bikers say.”
Shay paused and studied her face as he waited for this saying with curiosity.
“Ride to live.Live to ride.”
Shay bit at his lip as he hesitated to say, “That is an oxymoron.”
Kelly blinked at him.“I can see this relationship will be totally interesting, to say the least.”
Shay actually let out a boisterous, full laugh, of the likes he hadn’t done in many years.He got to his feet and reached out for her hand.
Kelly put her hand in his and together, they went back to the clubhouse....
Many a night after they made love, they would lie in bed and Shay would ask her about her life before they met.What it was like growing up in Iowa with just her mother.
And she had told him most of her childhood but not everything.There was one part she hadn’t mentioned to him and that part still hurt her heart.A totally unexpected event...a mystery that she never solved.
She walked over to the windows of their house and looked outside into the shadows of the night.Shay would finally be home tomorrow from his latest mission.
But as she stared out into the darkness, she felt something was coming.In the pit of her stomach she knew her past was going to connect and she didn’t know if she was ready for it or not.
She locked the front door and shut off lights as she went through the house.Their house was a lovely place and had turned out beautiful.They were safe here too, as their home was only about 400 feet away from Pappy’s Compound house.Yet, locking up was a habit with her.One she never broke.
Now she glanced out through the kitchen window and saw the patio.She felt an overwhelming urge to sit outside for a bit...maybe it would help to relax her.She went outside and sat down at the table there.Before she left the kitchen she had grabbed a bottle of orange soda.After she sat down, she set her phone on the glass table and opened the bottle.
