Ghost Read online

  I closed the motel’s door behind us, and it had been the first feeling I had that maybe life hadn’t forgotten about me.

  Now, as I headed down the sidewalk to my place, it was hard for me to believe that it had been almost a month since I saw Luna. Touched her. Ran my hands over her body. The phone calls weren’t enough, and the distance between us was too far. I needed to work on a plan to change that. I needed Luna like the air I was taking into my lungs. Second chances were rare, and no way was I going to let mine pass me by.

  By the time I was back inside my place, my body was no longer strained and exhausted, it was exhilarated. With my mind clear, I stripped the sweaty clothes from my body and stepped into the shower.

  Thirty minutes later, I was unlocking the back door to the pawn shop. Been too long since I looked forward to doing a job, instead of just something to keep my mind occupied so I could forget.

  Life was for living, wasn’t it? And somewhere between my last days in the military and now, I seemed to have forgotten that.

  Chapter Two

  Luna

  I thought I’d put one of the worst days of my life behind me for the most part. But I’d been wrong, and I knew it the moment he said my name. Braxton Carver. He’d been a friend, a neighbor, and the first and only man to stomp on my heart. The funny part, he hadn’t even known he’d done it. When I looked up at the six foot five man in front of me that day, I cataloged every visible change in him from the last time I’d seen him. He sported a shaved head, instead of the close-cut military style that had at least shown some of his black hair. But the biggest change in him had been his gray eyes. Where they once shined with warmth, humor, and kindness, they were harder, and the hurt in their depths almost had made me stagger back.

  Today wasn’t the first time I wondered if I would have made the trip with the others to San Jose to pick up Jas if I’d known Brax was going to be one of the men from Black Hawk at the meet. Then again, I hadn’t known he’d become a part of them in the first place.

  When I recognized him, the voices around turned to muffled sounds. I knew Harmony was talking and that she probably wanted to know who and where I knew Brax from, but I wasn’t able to bring myself to answer her. Hell, I hadn’t even protested when Brax grabbed my arm and led me away from the others.

  Probably because I knew Harmony would figure it out. The Lady Riders knew my story. Thanks to one drunken girls’ night and a bottle of Tequila. Lesson learned, and I hadn’t touched Tequila since.

  My initial shock of running into him that day had ended with the click of a motel room door and the sound of a lock being thrown.

  “What the hell are you doing, Brax?” I asked with as much attitude as I could muster.

  “What am I doing? What the hell are you doing with the Ops, Luna? Is that where you’ve been this whole time? Christ, even Stormy hadn’t known where you went. Fuck, we were friends, and you couldn’t be bothered to keep in touch?” Brax demanded, ran his hand over his head, then across the back of his neck. He acted like I owed him an explanation on how I lived my life.

  Then, I hadn’t had to find my attitude. It was there.

  “How are your wife and kid?” I asked with a bite to my tone that even I heard. And at the time, I hadn’t given two shits if the statement was fair or not. Or that Brax had no clue what had happened.

  “Dead.” His single word had me taking a seat on the bed.

  “How? When?” I asked, my voice softer than just seconds ago.

  “Head-on collision the day I landed from a mission. Stormy and BJ were on their way to welcome me home. A drunk changed that. It’s going on a year since it happened.” Brax sat down beside me on the bed and leaned his elbows on his knees and dropped his head.

  “I’m sorry, Brax,” I said, and he nodded, but kept his head bent.

  “Thanks.” It was quiet for a minute until Brax spoke again, “She told me, you know? Everything.”

  “What?” I whispered.

  “Why didn’t you say anything that last day, instead of letting me leave for BUD/S (Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL) school, thinking everything was fine?” After he asked, he turned his face toward me, and the pain in his eyes took my breath.

  “Does it really matter, Brax? Any of it?” I stood. I needed to put distance between us. “It was years ago. I had no claim on you, just feelings that I didn’t act on, then it was too late. What was I supposed to do on your last day home on leave? Tell you, ‘Hey, Brax, saw you and Stormy fucking and oh, by the way, I’ve had a crush on you for the past two years and catching the two of you broke my heart.’ Would that have helped in the long run? Would it have stopped you from marrying Stormy when you found out she was pregnant?” I stopped pacing and looked at Brax and ran my hand over my short blond hair. From the look of sadness on his face, I knew I wasn’t going to like his answer, but he wouldn’t have been the Brax I remembered if he had given me the answer I wanted.

  “No, it wouldn’t have stopped me. Even if you had told me your feelings, the results would have still been the same when I found out Stormy was carrying my kid. And yeah, I know you can be an active parent without marriage, but I was raised to take responsibility for my actions. You knew my parents. They were great together. My dad had married my mom after he had done twenty years in the service. I was the late in life baby surprise that happens.” Brax stood and walked until he was in front of me.

  “Stormy told me after we married that you two had a fight over something stupid and she’d known you had feelings for me, so when she ran into me while I was out with some of the guys, she volunteered to drive me home. I told her I was meeting you in the parking lot at the cinema complex. That you and I were going to see a movie for my last night in town and she said she would drive me there and wait with me until you got there. I can give you a hundred lame excuses for fucking her in her car, but like you said, doesn’t really make a difference now, does it?”

  “No, so I don’t understand why you pulled me into this room? It’s all in the past.”

  “Is that why you took off after you graduated high school?”

  I knew I could lie, but what was the use. While each of my friends was finding their men, I often wondered if it was the past that kept me from settling down, instead of jumping beds with the men from the Ops. Not like I did that as often as some of the other single women.

  “When Stormy admitted she was pregnant, I knew I couldn’t be there when you came back to marry her.” Brax frown down at me, and I continued, “We grew up together, Brax. We were friends. I knew you would do right by her and the baby. But I couldn’t be there to watch it. I graduated and took off. Traveled around for about six months, waitressing when I needed to earn some more money before moving on until I ended up in Riverton, Nevada. I took a waitress job in town at a small diner, and it was a place the Ops frequented. I was there about a month, got to know some of the Ops women and they told me I could make a shit ton of money stripping and dancing at Bitches, the Ops’ club, so I did. Before I knew it, I was part of the Ops and have been ever since.” I shrugged.

  “Is that what you’re doing now? Stripping for a bunch of bikers?”

  It was my turn to frown at Brax’s tone. I wouldn’t apologize for anything I chose in my life, not to Brax or anyone else.

  “When I want to, but that isn’t any of your business. Like I said before, I didn’t have a claim on you, and you don’t have one on me. I’m a Lady Rider, I can damn fucking well do exactly what I want. If I want to strip, I strip. If I want to fuck one of the men, I fuck him. I imagine it’s no different with you since you’re part of Black Hawk. I know they have a strip club and you’re a single male. Bet your bed doesn’t stay cold long.” I was being bitchy, and I didn’t give a damn. Being shut in that room with Brax brought feelings back that I had long ago put to rest.

  “Goddammit, Luna—”

  “It is Moon now, Ghost. Isn’t that what they called you?” I interrupted him, and he sneered.

 
; “What. The. Fuck. Ever.” He stepped forward, and I took a step back and hated myself for it. I wasn’t scared of the big man, I never had been.

  “Don’t cop an attitude with me. I don’t have to stand here and put up with shit,” I snapped, turned toward the door, and that was as far as I got before huge hands grabbed my arms. There was no time for me to protest before I was spun around and facing Brax while he held me at arm’s length and looked down at me.

  “No, you don’t, but you’re going to listen anyway. We’ve been friends since I was seven and you were five, living next door to each other. I got used to looking after you, thought of you as a little sister.” I went to jerk out of his hands, because that was just what every woman wanted to hear from a man, but Brax was having none of it. He pulled me into him until I had to bend my head back to look up at him. “Let me finish. Fuck, I don’t remember you being so damn prickly when we were growing up.”

  “Fuck you, Brax. Let me go.” I refused to listen to anything more that proved my feelings for him were stupid and those of a naïve young girl. I was far from that girl.

  “Yeah, like I haven’t thought of that a few hundred times over the years. I can tell by your expression that shocks the hell out of you and has left you speechless. Let’s see if I can stun you a little more. Like I was saying, I thought of you as a little sister until you hit puberty, then that went out the window right fucking quick. I will thank you for the patience you taught me because every time I was around you, all I wanted to do was strip you down. Lun...Moon, it was like I went to bed one night and you were my pal, the next day you had curves and breasts, which to a sixteen-year-old boy is everything good in the world.”

  I hadn’t thought I could laugh, but I did because Brax had closed his eyes and his face had looked pained. When he opened his eyes back up, they were filled with want and desire for me. My stomach tightened then and now with just the thought of him. I’d wondered briefly how the hell I had ever put the man out of my head for a minute over the years. He’d meant everything to me back then. Maybe too much.

  “I wouldn’t risk our friendship because, Moon, I don’t think I could have lived with myself, but if I would have known that staying away from you was going to cost me years without yo—”

  “Brax,” I whispered when he stopped before finishing the sentence.

  “Sorry, I can’t say that because if I had gone after you, I wouldn’t have had BJ, my son. I would never wish him away, not even for time with you, Moon. Stormy and I had a rocky start, but I grew to love her, she was the mother of my child. I mourned the loss of them, but the hardest part for me was wondering if I didn’t love her enough and that’s why she and BJ were taken away from me. It took me a while to realize that was just stupidity on my part, and my brothers,” Brax pointed to the door in the direction of the men outside, “they helped more than I can ever repay. There is nothing I can say to change the fact Stormy and I...well, I’d been drinking with the guys and feeling a little sorry for myself because I was heading back out the next morning. Wishing you had graduated already so I could talk you into going back with me. I fucked up bad. I didn’t want Stormy then, I wanted you. After I left, I’d plan to finish BUD/S school and my basic parachute jumping course and come back for you and tell you my feelings. That plan died when Stormy called me a month later and said she was pregnant. You were gone when I came back to marry her.” Brax stopped to take a deep breath, and I laid my head on his chest.

  “I’ve lost enough, team members, my parents, my son. I’m sorry too that you lost your mom. But when you stepped in front of me in the parking lot, the first thing I thought was there is my best friend, then I remembered you took off and why. It still didn’t keep me from getting pissed off.” Brax let go of me, and I took a step back, then looked up at him.

  “What is wrong with the women at Black Hawk?” I asked.

  “Nothing. What the fuck does that have to do with anything?” Brax asked and frowned.

  “I think there is. Blind and stupid come to mind if not one of those women figured out a fucking teddy bear is in that big ass body of yours.” I didn’t give Brax a chance to reply, I raised my arms and grabbed his face with my hands and brought it down to mine. When our lips touched, I felt the change in Brax. I didn’t hold my control long either. After he devoured my mouth, he pulled back slightly.

  “No, they just weren’t you,” Brax said and captured my mouth again. I opened, and he took. I gave, and he took more.

  Brax’s big hands pulled my top up, and he only broke the kiss to pull it over my head. He tossed it. My bra was next, then my breasts spilled into his hands, and he groaned into my mouth, and I whimpered into his.

  Lost, I thought, in him.

  We moved in a frenzy as clothes were removed and then naked we fell on the bed with me on top. Brax touched me everywhere, and it still wasn’t enough. I could feel his hardened length pressed against my center, and I needed the connection. Wanted it more than my next breath.

  I pushed off Brax’s chest and rose to my knees and straddled him. As I watched his gray eyes darken, I wrapped my hand around his cock and moved it to my entrance. When I had his cock lined up, I sank down and took him inside me. I felt the burn as his size stretched me to the point of pain, but after I let myself adjust, I began to move, and the pain was replaced with pure pleasure.

  “Goddamn, I’m not going to last. You’re so wet and tight, and you feel so fucking good,” Brax gritted out between his teeth, and I picked up the pace.

  My back arched as Ghost squeezed and tweaked my nipples. When he moved one hand down, thrust his hips up to meet my downward motion, and pinched my clit, I exploded. I threw my head back, and the scream that echoed in the room was followed by a groan. I felt his cock swell, then the warmth of his release filled me.

  I collapsed on Ghost’s chest, and he wrapped his arms around me. Right as I snuggled into him and was ready to drop off to sleep, it hit me, and my eyes flew open.

  “Oh my God, we didn’t use a condom!”

  “Yeah, worst day ever my ass!” I said and leaned over the toilet for round two. My stomach was tightening for a whole different reason this time, and I wasn’t quite sure how I felt about it.

  Chapter Three

  Ghost

  “Damn, you started early.”

  I tightened the last anchor to the wall before I turned and looked at Roscoe as he walked in the back door of the pawn shop.

  I glanced at my watch, “It’s almost ten.”

  “Yeah, and by the looks, you’re almost done, which means you were in here at the butt crack of dawn. You need a woman, then your ass wouldn’t be so anxious to get out of bed in the mornings.”

  “Some of us aren’t lucky enough to snag a woman like Sue.”

  “Damn straight. I’m a lucky bastard and ain’t ashamed to admit it neither.”

  “Probably good since Sue doesn’t strike me as the type to let you forget it, Roscoe.”

  Roscoe chuckled, “Nah, she definitely ain’t. The woman has never been one to hold back on words or a good cast iron skillet if the need calls.” Roscoe then moved to grab the board I had leaned against the wall. I bent and lifted the bottom, and with his help, we placed it on the anchors and slid it into place.

  “Keeps you in line with the skillet, does she?” I chuckled as we placed another board.

  “Ah, no need for her to threaten me. I’m an agreeable sort. Especially when it comes to getting laid regularly.”

  “I could’ve gone the rest of my life without that knowledge,” I groaned, and Roscoe laughed.

  “That’s what’s wrong with young people. Ya think you’ve got the corner on warming the sheets.”

  Christ, at that point I had no desire to get into a discussion on geriatric sex. I picked up the electric screwdriver and the screws and began fastening the shelves to the anchors, but even the noise wasn’t enough to keep Roscoe quiet.

  “When ya find the one woman who will put up sorry ass and acc
ept everything about you, you make sure to hold on. That’s why I’m moving in with Sue. After I lost my wife, I’d pretty much accepted I wouldn’t find another woman that would even come close. Known Sue a long time. Wolf was a good man and husband to her, and I don’t think she was looking for a replacement either, but fate is a funny thing. Second chances don’t come around as often as folks think. Sure, you might find someone you’re comfortable with, but to find everything in another person that fits you, not too common. Just ‘cause the love might be different, doesn’t mean it’s wrong. Anyway, the cabin’s almost empty now. Only got a few things left there. You should ask Prez if you can move in.”

  “What would I need all that space for? It’s just me.” I placed another screw on the shelf and out of the corner of my eye, Rosco shook his head.

  “Young folks,” I heard him mumble before he turned and walked out of the storeroom into the main part of the shop.

  “Jesus, for a bunch of bikers, everyone sure is gossipy,” I said out loud to the empty room, finished the last shelf, and placed the tools back in the box. When my phone vibrated, I pulled it out of my pocket and slid my thumb across the screen before I lifted it to my ear.

  “Yo.”

  “Your phone skills are exemplary, brother,” Flirt said, then chuckled.

  “Caller ID, dickhead. Not like I didn’t know it was you. What’s up?” I asked.

  “Now is that how to talk to an officer of the club? You always have had a problem with authority figures.”

  “Oh, that is rich, brother. Besides, after you slept with someone a few hundred times, shouldn’t you be more relaxed with them?”

  When no response came from Flirt, I laughed.

  “Holy shit, Brax, did you crack a joke?”

  “What can I say, I’m one fucking happy guy.”