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CHAPTER1
Trip
Iwas weightless for a brief moment before gravity caught up to me and my Harley—Lucy—as we plummeted off the cliff and into the Pacific Ocean below. Cold salty water closed over my head as I hit the surface. Looking down, I mournfully watched as Lucy sank into the dark depths below.
My lungs burned, begging for oxygen as I stayed underneath the water until I couldn’t see my bike anymore. When I couldn’t take the tightness in my chest for another second, I kicked to the surface. My clothes and boots were a dragging weight against me, but my strokes were strong. I was grateful for all the shit my Austin MC brothers had given me about not being able to swim. It’d forced me to learn—if for no other reason than to preserve my pride. It had just saved my life.
Drew’s worried face was peering over the cliff. We’d been sent on a mission to take out one of our club’s biggest threats. Eric had been one of the heads of The Texas Syndicate and had come after our Austin Chapter. It’d been a huge mess, but we’d managed to tie up every loose end except him.
Our club had been forced to go legit, and our president had let us make up our own minds about whether we wanted to stay with his chapter, go to another, or go Nomad.
As much as we loved our brothers in Austin, Drew and I had volunteered to take down Eric once and for all. Until we did that, we’d be living the Nomad lifestyle. We weren’t ready to settle down and live a life of rules. We were outlaws at heart and, though Austin would always be home, we needed more. Maybe when Eric was dead, we could figure out what to do with ourselves.
Eric had proven to be smarter than we’d all anticipated. We’d chased him through Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and now here we were in California, a year later. There’d been confrontations as we’d found him, but he always managed to sneak away like the cowardly shit that he was. His hidey holes were numerous and I was beginning to lose my patience.
“Hang on!”
Teeth chattering from the cold water, I looked over toward the sound as shock and hypothermia almost had me submerging underwater. A fucking angel on a surfboard was paddling furiously in my direction.
The beach wasn’t too far away, but the current and waves here at Big Sur were known to be treacherous. Even with my newly acquired swimming skills I’d known it was going to be a trek getting back to land. Especially in my boots and jeans.
She reached me in no time and I took her hand as she helped haul me up onto her board. I slumped over it, trying to catch my breath.
“Thanks.” I eyed her clothes, leggings and an off the shoulder shirt that revealed silky skin. She hadn’t been planning on taking a dip.
“I saw that guy side swipe you. Nearly swallowed my tongue when I saw you go over the guardrail.”
My impending hypothermia was replaced with a growing warmth. My God she really was an angel, jumping in this freezing water for a stranger. Her smile dazzled me. Her blonde hair was wet and streaming down her back. Despite the cold water and the near death experience—not to mention the most heartbreaking thing of all, losing my bike—she was now the center of my entire focus. The fact that she’d just rushed into the ocean to help someone else was baffling to me. Were people really this selfless?
“Good thing I had my very own guardian angel here to rescue me,” I told her with a grin.
She laughed and shook her head. “Definitely not an angel.”
“If not an angel, a siren,” I teased. “But instead of pulling sailors down into the deep, you rescue handsome, charming men in need.”
Her brows shot up, a smile pulling at her lips. “You sure think highly of yourself.”
I shrugged and gave her my best crooked grin. “And why not?”
She laughed and shook her head. “Alright, let’s get back before the surf picks up. This is not a spot you want to be out on a board.”
And yet, here you are.
I shifted and straddled the board behind her. “Lay down. I’ll help paddle.”
She hesitated, but then her pretty brown eyes went to the water behind me. Whatever she saw there had her lying down in a hurry. I laid behind her, my face over her ass and I couldn’t help but smile. It didn’t matter that I was freezing my own ass off, and I could see her shivering as well, she was distracting me from how much my unexpected plunge blew.
Eric was going to pay for running me off the fucking road and destroying my bike, but maybe the day wasn’t a complete loss. At least I wasn’t dead and, as a bonus, I was tucked up behind a gorgeous woman with a phenomenal ass. It was hard to not take a bite. Just a small taste.
Somehow, I knew she wouldn’t appreciate that, and since she’d saved my life, I behaved myself. Between the two of us paddling we managed to make it back to the beach without incident.
Drew was on the sand waiting when we got there and I waved him off. He threw up his hands, as though to ask ‘what the fuck, bro?’
I pointed to my rescuer and waggled my brows.
Shaking his head, Drew started for the stairs that would bring him back up to the road.
“Is that your friend?” she asked.
