Free Tristan (The Kendall Family #1) by Randi Everheart Page A

something. “Should I get it all or just something for today?”
    She looked up at him, then shyly away. “You can stay tonight, but let’s take this one day at a time.”
    “Okay. I can live in the moment, as long as the moment includes you.”
    She turned a little red. “You’re a lot more charming than you used to be.”
    “That’s because I know what I want now.”
    Deciding to quit while he was ahead, he left and went to the back door, but he never made it through because something caught his eyes and stopped him short. Connor’s car stood where he’d left it, right next to his bike, which wasn’t there.
    “Hey, Victoria, my bike is gone.”
    “Stop joking,” she said from the kitchen.
    “I’m serious. I parked right next to it. It’s missing.”
    Victoria came up behind him, giving him a hug and looking out the window. Her smile faded. “Whoa. That’s crazy.”
    “Someone stole my bike.”

Chapter 8 – The Sheriff
    Tristan stared at the spot where his sport bike was supposed to be standing but wasn’t. He didn’t have an attachment to that particular one; as a professional racer, he went through them with some regularity and never got too used to any single motorcycle. This was a street bike, not one tuned for the track, but the reality of the only ride he had available to him being stolen was settling in. He was pissed.
    Still hugging him from behind, her fingers playing with his nipples, Victoria said, “We should call the police.”
    “Yeah. You left the bike in gear, right?”
    “No, in neutral, I think. Easier to start later because I can just stand next to it while it’s warming up.”
    Tristan sighed. Like Victoria, he always stood next to his bike while it was in neutral, and then would start it. While it was running, he’d finish putting on his helmet and gloves before getting on, putting it in gear, and leaving. If the bike was in gear when he started it, he had to hold the clutch in with one hand until he rode away, to keep it from stalling or jumping off the kickstand, preventing him from dealing with the helmet, gloves, or anything else while the bike warmed up.
    He said, “Never leave a bike parked in neutral.”
    “Why not?”
    “Because people can just wheel it away to steal it, without starting it. Even if it is in gear, two big guys can lift a bike into a pickup truck and take off with it, but they’d have to drive back here with the truck, so we might’ve heard them.”
    Her face fell. “Shit. I never thought of that. Why didn’t you tell me?”
    “When would I have had the chance? Why don’t you already know that, anyway?”
    “Nobody told me.”
    “Well, they should’ve. All the more reason you should’ve learned riding from me.” He didn’t mean to sound accusatory but still did.
    “You could’ve told me that all those years ago even without me riding.”
    “You wouldn’t even get on a bike. The idea of telling you how to park one didn’t exactly come up.”
    She laughed. “Okay, okay, so it’s my fault someone stole your bike.”
    “Which you stole first,” he observed wryly.
    She said teasingly, “Yeah, you’re not doing a great job of keeping it safe, you know.”
    Smiling, he let that one pass and pulled out his phone. “Let me call Quinn. I want to give him a heads up.”
    “Hey, Tristan,” said Quinn when he picked up, his voice amused. “I noticed you didn’t come home last night.”
    “Do we have to start there?”
    Quinn laughed. “That’s the best part! I assume you two patched things up?”
    Grinning at Victoria, who could hear every word because the phone’s speaker volume was turned all the way up, Tristan said, “Sort of. We can talk later, but I’m calling now because my bike was stolen from behind her house.”
    “Seriously?” Quinn asked. “What’s with you and this bike being stolen?”
    “The first time didn’t count. This one does.”
    “Call Ryan. He told me something about bikes being stolen around here a