His expression darkened. And yet for all her anger she couldn’t stop looking at him. Staring at the changes in him, the lines around his eyes and mouth, the shadows that flickered through his gaze. He looked harder than he had. Meaner. As if time had tempered him like a blade, honing his edge.
An old fascination stirred. She gave it a mental kick. Hard. No, not again. She wasn’t falling down that slope again. She’d cried all the tears she’d had in the world over two men: her father and Leon fucking Delacroix. She was done crying.
“Didn’t Pete tell you why we left? I asked him to fill you in.”
“Yeah, he filled me in. He told me you had to go out of town and that you wouldn’t be back. Ever. Right after he told me he was dying of terminal cancer. Nice timing. I’m sure he appreciated it too.”
Leon’s gaze was darker than the night outside. A muscle jumped in the side of his jaw. “I heard he passed. I’m sorry.”
“Oh, you’re sorry? You’re sorry?” Her voice had risen. Jesus, she needed to get a handle on herself. Her father had died eight years ago and the pain had faded. At least, she thought the pain had faded.
And he must have noticed because he said, “Hey, Ally,” and put out a hand to touch her shoulder.
She avoided the hand. “I’m not Ally, Leon. Not to you. Not anymore. And spare me your ‘I’m sorry.’ I don’t want to hear it now.”
His frown deepened. “Okay, okay. I get it. But let me at least buy you a beer and we can talk about—”
“We are not going to be talking about anything. Because I am getting out of here.” She drained the rest of her beer, then pushed herself away from the bar. Only to find six foot four of hard, muscular male between her and escape. “What the hell?”
There was darkness in his eyes. And intent. Same old Leon. He’d always hated being told no. “At least let me tell you why I had to go.”
“I don’t fucking think so. Maybe if you’d had the decency to tell me yourself ten years ago, it might have been a different story. But you didn’t. Now get out of my damn way—I have things to do.”
Leon didn’t move. He had his enforcer face on. The one that told you that you were in deep shit and there was no escape. He’d put the fear of God into many men, but never her. Because she’d known him since he was sixteen years old. And though he’d done violence to others, she knew he’d never hurt her.
Not until he took off out of your life without even a goodbye.
Yeah. Until that.
She crossed her arms, stared up at him. “What? You’re going to stop me from leaving, big man?”
“Sure. Why not?”
Alice stepped forward, getting right up into his space. And it wasn’t until she had that she realized what a damn stupid mistake it was. Because she remembered this, the hard warmth of his body and the scent of him, soap and leather and something else she could never identify. A warm, woody smell that was all Leon.
She’d used to daydream for hours about him. About his arms around her and his mouth on hers. First, chaste little kisses and then, as she’d gotten older and learned what it was that men and women did together in the privacy of their bedrooms, not so chaste.
It made her heart beat faster, desire turn over inside her. A desire she thought she’d crushed ten years earlier.
Jesus, what a joke. She owned a garage, spent her days fixing bikes and interacting with more muscle-bound guys than graced a Hollywood movie studio, and yet none of them had ever turned her on as instantly as Leon had.
His features were like granite as he stared down at her, immovable as a mountain.
“Get out of the way.”
“So that’s it? That’s all I get? You won’t even sit down and listen to what I have to say? What happened to loyalty?”
“Loyalty? To you?”
“To the Deacons.”
And for the first time she noticed he was wearing his cut over his T-shirt, the leather vest with the MC patch on the back. God, she remembered it. Her father had one just the same, with the skull on the back. That patch used to cast such a shadow over Bourbon Street…
But no, that shadow was gone. And so, too, was any feeling she had for the man standing in front of her. She had a new family now. And a new loyalty.
“The Deacons? Christ, the Deacons don’t own this quarter anymore, in case you hadn’t noticed.”
His jaw was tight, anger glinting in the depths of his dark eyes. “I don’t think so. Why do you think I’m here? We’ve come to take back what’s ours.”
“Yeah, well, that doesn’t include me. So get the hell out of my way.”
Still he didn’t move. “You’re a Deacon, too, Alice. Or have you forgotten?”
“That’s the thing. I’m not a Deacon anymore.” She jerked up the left sleeve of her T-shirt and exposed the tattoo she’d gotten five years ago on the anniversary of her father’s death. Claiming a new family. “I’m a Ministry girl now.”
The Editor’s Corner
As the seasonal colors change with the leaves on the trees, so does our lineup of new Loveswept romances…and we’re sure you’ll love them all!
Adore MC romances? You’ll love Rachael Johns’s, Fire Me Up. Sports fans won’t want to miss New York Times bestselling author Sawyer Bennett’s Cold Fury Hockey series continuing with Ryker and debut author Sophia Henry introduces her Pilot’s Hockey series with Delayed Penalty. Then it’s off the ice with Samantha Kane’s new NFL title, Broken Play. Baseball fans everywhere will want the next in the Boys of Summer series by Katie Rose, The Heat of the Moment, while readers who devour MMA stories will go for Loveswept debut author Sarah Robinson’s Breaking a Legend. And if your taste for fighters is not squelched just yet, Raven by Suzanne Ashley has a twist that will shock you and yet melt your heart—prepare yourself for an emotional ride.
For those sports enthusiasts who take to the slopes, Extreme Risk’s next installment, Slashed, by New York Times bestselling author Tracy Wolff is here! Fabulously fun and flirty author Cassie Mae begins a new series, All About Love, that will have you laughing out loud, then sniffling, maybe both at the same time with the first book, Doing It for Love. Lastly, a sexy regency historical novella from Lavinia Kent, part of her Bound and Determined series, Sarah’s Surrender.
All affordably priced and found wherever eBooks are sold, Loveswepts are stories you’ll always remember and that can be easily stored on your digital shelves to be read over and over again. Until next time…
Happy Romance!
Gina Wachtel
Associate Publisher
Love stories you’ll never forget
By authors you’ll always remember
eOriginal Romance from Random House
www.readloveswept.com
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