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Chapter One
Natalie
Letting the amber liquid slide down the back of my throat, I place the empty glass down and turn to scan the crowd. After a long day at work at my new job, I definitely needed a drink, or three.
Ever since I moved from home to be closer to my older sister, Cara, I have been working nonstop. I got a job at Bentley & Channing Law, a well-known law firm with a good reputation, and I’m loving it there, but some of the criminal cases are hard to take home with you at the end of the day.
I grew up in a family that liked to straddle the law a bit. It’s why I went to law school. As a young girl I was very aware that my family was part of a motorcycle club and that their businesses and practices were a bit...shady. I watched as people were injured or went to jail. And despite loving everyone in my family, in the motorcycle club, I vowed never to be like them. So I kept my nose in a book, studied hard, went to college, went to law school and passed the bar. But just because I excel as a lawyer doesn’t mean I don’t get stressed out.
It’s only been a few months, but already I’m getting buried in paperwork by the DA’s office and my caseload is probably the equivalent of a third-year associate.
Hence me sitting here alone to clear my head before I go home to my new apartment. I don’t keep alcohol at my house—but not because I have a problem. Ever since I moved out of my parents’ house, I found coming out to a bar or club if I wanted a drink gives me a reason to be social. I’ve got to meet people somehow. I can’t just rely on my sister and her friends.
As I’m pondering whether I want to order another drink, a large man sits next to me, clad in a leather cut. “Can I buy you a drink?” he asks, in a deep, low tone.
I turn to study him, my gaze starting at his light blond hair and green eyes, and landing on his full lips. He’s handsome enough, and he smells pretty damn good, but he’s not my type. I don’t date bikers. Call it what you will, but it’s just too close to home. I’m not judging anyone, but when you’re raised by a group of men and know the ins and outs of their world, it becomes a hard pass.
Not only that, but I have no interest in men right now. My career is my focus, and I don’t need any handsome distractions. The dating world we live in now just isn’t for me; the person who catches feelings is powerless and ends up getting hurt, and the emotionless one wins the game. Dating is different in this generation, and I’m not here for it. I watched my parents have such a soul-deep love, and while it is something I absolutely want to find eventually, I don’t need the distraction right now.
“Thank you, but no thank you. I can buy my own drink,” I reply, flashing him a sweet smile to soften the blow. “And I’m not looking to be another notch on your belt, so I’m going to have to decline that also.”
He laughs, amusement written all over his handsome face. “How do you know you’re not turning down true love?”
I laugh with him. “’Cause you wouldn’t be trying to pick me up at a bar if it were.”
I forgot to mention that I’m the daughter of the notorious Rake from the Wind Dragons Motorcycle club, and although he has been nothing but loyal and dedicated to my mother, he definitely lived up to his name. Bikers like my father and his friends don’t come to bars to fall in love. They come here to find their nightly hookup.
That’s all this guy wants.
He knows it, and I sure as hell know it, too.
If there’s one thing I know well, it’s bikers.
“No problem. I thought I would try my luck. You have a good night.”
He leaves, and I’m impressed that he took that so well. Some men can’t handle rejection, and can get quite aggressive when faced with it. I appreciate a man who can take no for what it is, a no. On that note, I finish my drink, grab my purse and decide to walk to my apartment, which is just down the road from here, in case I’m over the limit.
I see the blond biker out front, his back against the brick wall of the building, one leg up, cigarette in his mouth. There are two women in front of him, who are obviously interested going by their body language, and I can’t help but smirk as I walk by. He sees it, and winks back at me. In another life, I might have taken him up on it, but not in this one.
On the walk home, I think about the last time I actually had sex. It was about six months ago, not so long for some, I guess, but it feels like a decade for me. I’m a sexual being, but I’m done sleeping with the wrong kind of men. The last guy I had feelings for left me with a bad taste in my mouth, and I don’t need a repeat of that lesson. There were a lot of mixed signals, and it distracted me from important things in my life. He was a walking red flag, yet all I saw was a damn carnival. Probably because he was good in bed, and I let that blind me. He didn’t even tell me his last name and admitted to sleeping with over two hundred women, and yet that still didn’t turn me off. In fact, at the time I saw nothing wrong with it because I was so infatuated with him.
Note to self: Avoid Virgo men. I need to focus on my new job, and stay away from penis and the shit show they can be attached to.
After being surrounded by tattooed, leather-clad men my whole life, I’ve gravitated to the opposite—clean-cut, suits. Professional men. One would think they’d treat women better because they know how to behave in the professional world, but no, they’re all the same. Leather cut or suit and tie, either way, they all think with the head between their legs.
I start thinking about this lawyer at my firm, Cole, who is pretty cute, and we’ve been harmlessly flirty...
All of a sudden a dark shadow jumps right out of the bushes and screams, scaring the shit out of me. My first reaction is to put my fists up in the air, ready to fight, because I’m not going down easily, but then I realize that the dark shadow looks awfully familiar. Long brown hair, a perfectly shaped figure and warm brown eyes smirking back at me.
“What the hell are you doing, Cara?” I growl at my sister, realizing that I’m just passing her house. I was so lost in my thoughts, my head still buzzing from the alcohol; I can’t believe I wasn’t paying attention. My dad would be very angry at me if he found out I was walking in the dark alone and unaware of my surroundings. He raised me better than that.
“Me?” she asks, laughing at my reaction. “What are you doing walking down the street in the night? I went to take the garbage out and saw you walking up the road, so I hid to scare you.”
I roll my eyes, and put down my fists. “I went to have a drink. You’re lucky I didn’t punch you in the face.”
She crosses her arms over her black silk pajama set, not bothered by my threat one bit. “You could have messaged me to pick you up. You drinking alone now?”
I shrug. “I haven’t been keeping alcohol at home. And sometimes I like to wind down after work so I don’t take it home with me.”
