Sawyer (Great Wolves Motorcycle Club, #5) (3 page)

I didn’t hear the footsteps but I felt a shift in the space. I was not psychic but I knew a shift had occurred in the cells in my body.

I looked up and there he was.

Sawyer McCall. I had avoided him for six months. Cassidy had been my connection to him. She was his receptionist before she finished school. Since she no longer worked with him, I was able to avoid him.

I had not been able to stop thinking about the moment when I almost gave in to the way I felt.

Damn, if he wasn’t better looking than I remembered. Sawyer McCall was long, muscular, and hard everywhere you looked. Except his eyes.

He had kind, gray eyes that matched the bits of gray at his temples. His hair brushed not quite to his shoulders. He smelled of leather and musk, and the outdoor air, I supposed. Whatever it was, I reacted in a physical way to him. He was at my door before he had said a word.

“Hey stranger,” Sawyer’s voice was deep, almost raspy, as if he had smoked at some point, but didn’t now.

“Sawyer, hello,” I felt my face flush, I was equal parts embarrassed by the memory of our last encounter, and dammit if I wasn’t turned on, too.

This was my office, not his club, and I was in charge. I needed to act like it.

“Can I come in?” He stood in the doorway, like some sort of vampire who needed permission to enter, except he was full of life and energy.

“Of course. Is this a professional call?” Part of me wanted him to say no, that he was there to fuck my brains out, and I needed it. It had been way too long. I tried to shake away the dirty part of my mind, but I could feel his hands on me as if it was yesterday.

“It is. You don’t return my personal calls.” He walked over to the chair across from my desk and sat down on the edge. The office furniture and Sawyer McCall did not mix well.

“I...uh.” My smooth answers were nowhere to be found. He was right. He had called me at least three times and I ignored each one. Fear, responsibility, and comfort kept me away from him.

Sawyer put a hand up to stop my ineptitude. He didn’t want an explanation. It was probably obvious that I was strung as tight as a drum.

“Thanks, I am very crappy at whatever it was that happened that night.” I could feel sweat forming above my lip.

I had thrown caution to the wind at Cassidy’s party in Sawyer’s bar and wound up with my skirt around my waist in the backroom. There was no recovering your dignity after that even though I was primly sitting behind a desk now.

“What happened was I almost won the old lady lottery with you sweetheart, and then you came to your senses.”

I had no response but to put my red face in my hands and my head on the desk.

“Bess?”

“What?”

“Old lady is a compliment. And you don’t have to talk about it but I’ll never forget it.”

I looked up at Sawyer, and there was a sexy twinkle in his eyes and damned if I didn’t want to jump over the desk. He was giving me an out, making me laugh, and cutting through my embarrassment.

I hope he could sense my relief. He was the one making this less awkward. God love him. I cleared my throat and pressed on. Why the heck was he here?

“You said you were here for a professional reason?” I put on my most serious work face and took a deep breath.

“Yes, I want to run something by you. The other night my crew found some disturbing stuff and I wonder if you have a bead on what it could mean.”

Sawyer was all business and for the next few minutes showed me pictures of cots, chains, and ominous looking living quarters.

“Where is this?”

“I’d rather not say, and also, it doesn’t exist anymore.”

“In Grand City?”

“Yes.”

“Do I want to know why it doesn’t exist?”

“Probably not.”

“It’s trafficking.”

“Yes.”

“But you shut it down?”

“Again, you probably shouldn’t know more about any of the details. I wanted to see if you thought trafficking, too.”

“Yes. I am not an expert but I am learning more about it every day in this job. It’s become more and more common in several counties in our state and in Ohio.”

Sawyer shook his head and then pulled out one more picture.

“And one more thing.” The image chilled me to the bone.

“Where was this? You found this with the cots and chains?”

“Yes.” I picked up the photo and stared. It was a stuffed animal. Whoever had been in these chains was also young enough to cling to a stuffed animal.

“Jesus.”

“Can I keep the photos?”

“Sure, if you need to. Like I said, this place is gone, but the people behind it probably aren’t.”

“Thank you for bringing this to me.”

“You were my first call; I thought you’d need to know this was happening in our backyard.”

“Yep.” I started worrying anew about Kirstin, where was she? Was she already mixed up with this? Taken? Or just off with a boyfriend?

“It’s probably just the beginning.” Sawyer said, and I did not want to believe he was right.

S
awyer

My memory of Bess had not done her justice. She was so damned beautiful it stung. I wanted to forget why I was there and inhale her. Convince her to let go of her responsibilities.

We were too much alike though. I wanted to run my hands on those gorgeous legs, drink in the smell at the base of her neck, and carry her home like a caveman. What I did, however, was a very little bit of flirting.

I knew she was embarrassed that she had almost let me have her and now the rubber band had snapped back. She was All Business Bess. It was the kind of business that was not funny in the slightest. After letting her off the hook, we got to the point of my visit.

Maybe with the information I gave her, that something dirty as hell was going on in Grand City, she would be able to alert whatever agencies or authorities needed to know.

Now that I knew it was what it looked like, human trafficking operations were stepping up in Grand City; my methods would be underground and brutal. She did not need to know about that.

I hoped, the legal way could work. I doubted it, but I owed Bess Geary a crack at it. She was a warrior woman for children. That much I knew from Cassidy.

I watched her put the photos I had provided in a file folder.

I noticed her long and graceful fingers. I noticed every small detail about her. She just did it for me, man, and in a way that surprised the hell out of me. I felt my damn jeans tighten.

I did not want to leave just yet; I wanted to memorize more of her details.

It was dark, past seven o’clock, and I was not getting any younger, as the boys in the club pointed out. So, I set myself up for rejection one more time.

“You done for the day?”

“Uh, I should really work on....” Her sentence trailed off, she sucked at lying.

“It’s seven at night. None of your agencies are open. I’ll take you to dinner, or we can go get Henry and then get a bite.” I knew her young son was the most important thing in the world to her. He was a charming kid. I had met him a couple of times thanks to Cassidy Parker, my former receptionist, and Bess’s current brand new caseworker.

Bess Geary had had been skirting the outside of my life and I wanted her in the center. I pushed on.

“Henry’s with his dad.”

I saw a spark in her eye. She felt what I felt but just didn’t want to admit it.

“Come on. It’s just dinner.”

“Not a date. You pay for you; I pay for me.” She was not budging but at least I had her maneuvered toward dinner. I had her out of the office and alone with me.

“You know Pinky’s?”

“I do, best pasta in Grand City,” she replied.

“Damn straight.”

“Meet you there in ten minutes.”

“It’s a,” she almost said date, “Deal, it’s a deal.” I narrowed an eye at her.

“Almost let your Freudian Slip show sweetheart.” I got out of there before she could change her mind.

Pinky’s was just outside of downtown Grand City and the perfect place to eat, talk, and eat some more. I had gotten there first and half-figured she had thought better of it.

“Sawyer! You don’t have the whole crew with you this time?” Davey Pinkel was the owner and Pinky’s was always happy to see the M.C. crew. No one messed with him thanks to the Great Wolves. In exchange, I got the best fucking lasagna in the world.

“I’d like a quiet table.”

“Whatever you say, Prez.”

“And there’s a brunette, Bess Geary, allegedly meeting me here in a bit.”

“I’ll polish the silver.” Pinky gave me a wink, and his hostess showed me to a dark, quiet corner. This dark setting would cause Bess either relief that she would not be recognized, or send her running the other way. Fifty-fifty odds I figured.

When Pinky showed her back, to my surprise, she didn’t bolt; instead, she walked in, long legs, long neck, and class from head to toe. She wore a trench coat that she had cinched at the middle with a belt and looked like an old time movie star. Or a Charlie’s Angel. Who the fuck knew? I just knew I wanted her.

I stood up and she slid into the corner booth with me.

We were as close as we had ever been and I was trying like hell not to run my hand over her legs. Or put a hand on hers.

It was tough not to scare her with the fierce emotion I felt every time I was in a room with her. It was a little insane and sure to make her skittish.

“So, Sawyer McCall. Tell me about yourself.”

“I’m a mild-mannered M.C. President, my M.C. runs the Great Wolves Gym, and you’ve also been to
The Wolf Den
. We also do security, for places like this fine establishment.”

“It seems like there’s more to your story. Biker business manager, that’s your deal? It’s a little walk on the mild side.”

“I suppose so. Truth?”

“Sure.”

“I was sent here to clean up Grand City. Great Wolves M.C. has been going legit all across the country. No more drugs, or guns, or well other stuff, we’re all going legit.”

“Sounds like a tough job actually. So are you an outlaw?”

“Depends on the state we’re talking about,” and I gave her a wink so she knew I was only half-serious.

“Here’s the thing change is always tough. If you do not adapt, you do not survive and the Great Wolves M.C. wants to survive. It’s all above board, more or less at all our M.C.s.”

“Darn, I thought I’d increase my cool factor, you’re only part outlaw.”

“I can swear I have a checkered past. That work for you darlin’?”

“It’ll do.” I decided to see if I could turn the tables.

“So here’s what I know about Bess Geary. She’s a good friend, she’s a good mother and a damn good social worker. I also know her lips taste a bit like cherry.” I slid just a hair closer and inhaled her sweet perfume.

I saw a blush creep up from her graceful neck to her cheekbones. I rattled her with just a tiny bit of dirty talk. I wanted to move every part of her. She looked down and ran a finger around the rim of her wine glass. She had been nursing one for the thirty minutes we sat there.

“So, yes on all three, mother, social worker, and I maybe had a cherry cough drop that night.”

“It works for you. So how does a woman as gorgeous, talented and as fruit-flavored remain single?”

“I am shitty, really shitty, at picking husbands, so since my divorce, I’ve focused on Henry and work. More recently, I’ve enjoyed the occasional MMA fight thanks to Cassidy.”

“I keep meaning to thank that girl for that. How is she doing in the new job?”

“Excellent, but maybe too excellent. She would work herself into the ground I think if I didn’t insist she leave and go home to Craddock and Dylan.” Craddock was the Great Wolves Gym success story. He started out with us and was at the top of the fight game. Since Craddock, we had half a dozen big name fighters turn Great Wolves Gyms into a hot commodity wherever we opened.

“I imagine she learned it from you.”

Bess looked me in the eye and smiled. Her warm brown eyes pulled me in. I was mesmerized by the way her lips curled up.

I am one-hundred percent sure that the second before she gave me that smile, I had my heart securely in my chest. In the instant she laid her warmth on me, really aimed it in my direction, and let me know that I caused her smile, my heart was in her hands.

She didn’t know it, but I did. Without a doubt, she had me.

I am sure I was staring. I was dead fucking serious about her.

“What?”

“I’m just wondering how to keep making you smile.”

“How about sharing your lasagna?”

“I can do that. Not liking your pasta?”

“Oh, I love it but yours look good, too.”

I took a chance and put a forkful together. She could have slapped me, waved me off, or told me to fuck off, but she didn’t. She leaned in and wrapped those pretty lips around my fork. I could have pulled her down on the booth and had her right then - it was so damn sexy.

It was as far as she went. She asked me more about my business; I answered and tried to let her know I was mostly a respectable citizen.

She was funny, interesting, and smelled so good. Before we knew it, she had finished a bottle of wine, more or less, and it was getting late.

She looked at her phone and realized the time and her predicament.

“Shit.”

“What?”

“It’s almost eleven!”

“That’s not all that late.”

“For me it is! Drop off for Henry is early tomorrow.”

“Well, then, I guess we’ll have to share food again another night.”

“I, uh, yes, I guess so.”

I put enough cash for the bill and a generous tip on the table then slid out and offered her a hand. She also put money down, not forgetting the idea that this was not a date. Pinkel would be thrilled at that tip.

Bess took my hand and it was the first time we had touched since six months ago. A charge of sexual energy shot from her fingers through mine and I realized I was going to have an uncomfortable and lonely night.

I knew then that I was going to have her, now, tomorrow, next week, whenever. But it was going to happen.

She leaned into me and pressed her soft chest up to mine. Well, what do you know about that? My charm was working on her. Her soft body felt so good that I stifled a groan.