Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 73208 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 366(@200wpm)___ 293(@250wpm)___ 244(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73208 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 366(@200wpm)___ 293(@250wpm)___ 244(@300wpm)
Telling myself it was because I wanted to be sure Briar wasn’t using people that the family protected wasn’t a lie. But I knew I was also worried she was gonna fuck with the wrong man here and get a bullet between her eyes. Why had she had to come here? And to a damn biker bar? Was she asking for more trouble? I wasn’t her keeper, and I hated the fact that I couldn’t seem to shut it off.
“You standing outside my bar, looking at it like you might just burn it down, for a reason?”
Turning, I saw Pepper Abe walking toward me in a pair of tight jeans, boots, and a black halter top. She might look like a pretty picture, but I knew just how lethal she was. She’d been raised around bikers.
“How you doing, Pepper?” I asked, finishing up the cigarette.
She cocked an eyebrow at me. “I’m just fine. Saw you in my security cameras and thought to myself, Looks like Storm Kingston might be lost. This is a long way from Madison.”
I smirked and dropped the butt of my Red before stepping on it. “Or I might just be wanting some of those fried green tomatoes you serve up here.”
She let out an amused laugh. “Bullshit. No man drives over ten hours for tomatoes. But my entertainment now, I can see how she could bring a man that far away from home. What you got going on with Briar? First Huck, now you.”
I rolled my eyes and shook my head. “Not got shit going on with her. Just making sure she’s not causing problems here.”
The corner of Pepper’s mouth lifted, showing a dimple. “Is that so? Well, seeing as she has brought in a crowd every night she’s been here, my sales are up almost forty-five percent, and the tips that these fuckers are dishing out to not only her, but also my servers, I’d say she’s the opposite of trouble.”
Of course she’s got the business up. I’d witnessed her perform. Still burned in my damn head.
“She’s good at what she does. Manipulative, charming. You can’t trust her.”
Pepper visibly tensed. “Sounds like someone is bitter. What, she didn’t fall for your lines? Left town before you got her in your bed?”
Not an image I needed. Briar in my bed was one I’d let myself imagine more than once.
“My pockets aren’t deep enough for her, and I’m not married. I’m not her type.”
Pepper let out a bark of laughter. “Oh, your pockets are deep. Can’t bullshit me on that. With more money and power than any one man needs. But sounds like you’re calling Briar a gold digger, and if that were the case, she’d have latched on to you real damn quick.”
“You don’t know her,” I clipped.
“No. Seems you don’t know her,” she said, then pointed a red fingernail at me. “Stay the fuck out of my bar if you’re going in there to upset my entertainment.”
I should leave. Get back on the road and head north.
“Just stopping by for a drink and food,” I replied.
She looked at me as if she didn’t believe me.
“I swear I’m not here to cause a problem.”
With a rise and fall of her shoulders, she gave me one last once-over. “Fine. Keep it that way. Either go inside or leave. Stop standing outside like some psycho.”
I held up my hands. “Going inside,” I assured her before starting toward the entrance.
She didn’t follow me, and I glanced back to see her walking back around the building, where she’d emerged from.
When I reached the heavy wooden double doors, I pushed the right side open, and before I even stepped inside, I heard her. That voice. She was singing familiar lyrics that I’d never heard a woman sing. She changed the “her” to “he” as her smooth Southern voice, with just the right amount of country twang, sang about whiskey glasses.
The dance floor was covered with couples, tables were full, and the place was fucking packed. My gaze did a quick sweep of the room before they locked on the stage. Briar was grinning at some stupid fucker as she did a slow roll of her hips before moving to the other side as if she owned the room and knew it. From what I could see, she was right. I stood there, unable to take my eyes off her. It had been almost eight months since I’d seen her perform. Just like the first time, I was completely captured and wishing like fuck I weren’t.
“Mr. Kingston?” a female voice said beside me.
“Yeah?” I replied, not taking my eyes off Briar.
“Pepper sent me to show you to a table.”
Of course she had. Probably in the back, behind a wall. I nodded and tore my gaze off Briar for a moment to see a petite blonde with her hair high in a ponytail, wearing the same black crop top Pepper was with the words Paradise Brew stretched over her chest. She did a small pucker with her red-painted lips, and I knew she was trying to draw attention to them.