Page 35

“I wanted her to stop interfering with my time with Lili. I got no problem with Lili having a future stepdad, but Natalie doesn’t get to replace me. She lies to Lili, tells her I’m too busy to spend time with her. I can only imagine what she’ll tell Lili about tonight. I talked to Lili this morning, promised her a cheese pizza, and that she could practice her ballet tonight at the MC. She loves being at the club.”

The bartender approached. “Can I get you another beer?”

“No thanks,” he said. “But can you put her order on my check? And I’ll take a to-go box.”

There were only a couple slices missing from both pizzas. The bartender nodded and stepped away.

Brett focused on me again. “You can take mine too since it’s your favorite.”

I shook my head. “You take both. Maybe your friends at the club will be hungry.”

“Not likely. Friday nights are kind of a big deal. Lots of food, parking lot full of Harleys, and a clubhouse full of bikers and their families.”

“Lili talks about someone named Romeo. I told her about Shakespeare.”

“I hear about Romeo all the time, too.” He laughed. “They got something special. Lili has friends at the MC, and her ballet teacher is a good friend’s old lady.” He checked his phone and finished off the glass of beer. “I’m supposed to be at the MC.” He pulled out a bank card and handed it to the bartender.

“Can I take you home?”

His smile had an answering heat slipping beneath my skin and sending a tingle into my breasts. I crossed my legs to keep the twitch between my thighs from becoming a needy ache. Because one time with Brett hadn’t been smart. I’d had a dangerous taste of temptation, and now, my mind was spinning with more bad ideas.

“You want to go home with me?” His voice was low and gravelly and full of sexual promise.

“Not my home,” I clarified. “If that’s what you’re thinking. You’ve had a couple beers. You shouldn’t ride.”

“Thanks for worrying.” He grazed my cheek with his knuckles. “I’ll take the ride home.” Once the bill was settled, Brett grabbed the leftover pizza. His hand rested on my lower back as we weaved through the tables. Before leaving, he stopped at the server station.

Once he’d informed them he’d be leaving his bike overnight in the lot, they gave him a special tag for the dashboard. I wasn’t sure where the dash was on a motorcycle, but when we left the restaurant, he stuffed it behind the windscreen of his motorcycle.

“Any more trouble with the car?” Brett asked as I unlocked the doors. He stood outside the open passenger door and grabbed the stack of folders from the seat.

“Sorry.” I reached over and cleared my legal paperwork from the seat and tossed it in the back along with my jacket. “You can put those in the back.”

He set the folders with the others and climbed in. “Want to talk about it?”

He’d clearly seen one or more of the summonses or the complaint petition, my lawyer’s legal headings, handwritten notes, and folders labels with assets, expenses, death documents, and insurance policies. It was all the paperwork he’d seen scattered across my dining room table at home.

I shook my head. “I don’t even want to think about it.”

He had the pizza box on his lap, relaxed in the seat, and widened his thighs to make room for his long legs in my compact car. “I’d be happy to distract you.”

I snorted but couldn’t curb the smile on my face.

“Don’t deny it,” he said. “We’re both remembering Tuesday night.”

Rather than confirm his assumptions, I asked, “Where am I going?”

He gave me directions to the motorcycle club. We rode in silence for a few minutes, both of us, I’m sure, running back Tuesday night again and again.

“What’s it like?” I asked, breaking the silence. “Your motorcycle club?”

“Hellers aren’t an outlaw club. It’s guys who love bikes and being part of a brotherhood. Not saying shit doesn’t go sideways sometimes.” He glanced over at me. “And I’m not saying that shit hasn’t gone down in the past.” He ran his thumb over the outseam of his jeans. “Shit I’m not proud of. But I left that life behind.”

“How long ago?” Because skeletons had a way of not staying buried.

“About a year ago. Take a right here.”

“At the church?”