Free Her Man Advantage by Joanne Rock

off her shoulder as she moved. “It looks like the team bus is ready to go.”
    He pried his eyes from the creamy patch of skin visible at the base of her neck, then shifted the SUV into Reverse to follow his teammates to a nearby airstrip.
    “So what gives?” He felt only a trace of guilt at quizzing her about the movie, knowing she probably wouldn’t have talked to him so freely if they hadn’t been growing closer.
    But he had damn good reasons for wanting to know more and he needed to plow ahead.
    “I think the producers want the sleek look and editing that I can bring to the final product since I’ve been receiving critical notice this year. But they’re maintaining full control of the content to dictate the way I pull it together.”
    He mulled that over as they turned onto the highway for the short trip. “And you agreed because they enticed you with some interesting future project you couldn’t refuse.”
    “A film about the way social media depersonalizes human interaction and becomes a sophisticated medium for cyberbullying.” There was a fierceness in her voice that revealed how much the issue meant to her.
    “So you’re in their pocket.” His sticking close to the director had backfired in a spectacular way.
    For one thing, Jennifer didn’t have the final say on how this documentary turned out. For another, his attraction to her had only put him more directly in front of the camera lens he’d hoped to avoid.
    “I like to think of it as contractually obligated. Besides, maybe it will be easier to take a commercial approach on a topic where I’m not as personally invested.”
    “Yet.” He slowed down for a motorcycle in front of him and then moved into the passing lane. “We’ll make a hockey fan out of you at tonight’s game. I think you’re going to become personally invested in a hurry.”
    As he went to pass the bike, the rider sped up. Not in a mood to play games, Axel eased back into the driving lane. Only then did he notice the leather vest the biker wore. The all-too-familiar insignia of a notorious motorcycle club that had branches on both sides of the Atlantic—Destroyers MC.
    Shit.
    Axel accelerated again, telling himself it was just a coincidence. Had to be. Jen’s film hadn’t even been released yet and he hadn’t done a damn thing to attract the attention of his former gang. Besides, he wasn’t even driving his own car.
    Still, his old club had intelligence connections to rival the State Department. They could have gotten wind of the documentary series long before he had. Reaching to the passenger side, he felt for Jen’s buckle, making sure she was safely strapped in.
    Vaguely, he realized she was still speaking—something about hockey. Too bad his brain had tuned out everything but the rider in front of him. He’d always known they’d let him walk away too easily. That they’d come to collect somehow, someday.
    “Axel?” Jen’s voice finally penetrated the cold fog of anxiety that surrounded him. “Are you okay? The bus is way ahead of us.”
    “Is it?” He remembered that isolating a driver was a precursor to running him off the road.
    Was this rider trying to separate them from the team? From the rest of traffic? Back in Finland, Axel had seen the kind of violence that gang was famous for.
    “There’s the turn for the airport.” Jennifer pointed out the windshield to the left.
    Just as the long-haired giant in Destroyers leathers put on his signal to make the same turn.
    “Damn it.” He stifled other curses—both in English and Finnish—as the rider stayed ahead of them. Then he hit the automatic locks on the doors.
    The private airstrip was on a quiet county road and the team bus was well out of sight.
    “What’s wrong?” Beside him, Jennifer sounded puzzled.
    “The guy in front of us.” Ax wiped a hand along his forehead, realizing he’d broken out in a cold sweat like a rookie goalie in his first shoot-out. “I think he wants to make