Free Grounds for Divorce by Helena Maeve Page A

heart attack.”
    Booker laughed into the kiss, pulling back to flip the bird. Despite the leather and the scars, the not-so-hidden bulge of concealed firearms, Kayla felt teased rather than threatened. Booker’s presence beside her had something to do with that, no doubt, but Booker had chosen her .
    Just like Zach had picked Lou.
    “You go on,” Kayla whispered, smoothing a hand down his flank. “Got some unfinished business I need to take care of.”
    Booker tracked her gaze to the red-eyed blonde in the corner. “You sure?”
    “I’m her boss now, right?” Or she soon would be. The sooner Lou was dealt with, the better.
    Lou glanced up when Kayla’s shadow landed over her, expression shifting from confusion to wariness in an instant.
    “Outside.” Kayla bit out. “Now.”
    The clubhouse door muffled the wolf whistles and meowing noises that echoed from within.
    Lou rounded on her with hands clenched in the fabric of her baggy shirt. “I’m sorry. Kay, I’m so sorry—”
    A raised hand halted the mea culpas. Kayla breathed in the burnt-rubber smell of the parking lot, the arid heat. “I’m guessing Zach didn’t force himself on you.”
    Reluctantly, Lou shook her head. Good . Honesty alone could help her now.
    “When did it start?” Kayla pressed.
    “A few weeks ago.”
    So when you were telling me to leave him, you were just looking out for your own interests, huh?
    Resentment simmered in Kayla’s breast. “Are you in love with him?”
    “No!” Lou’s eyes were wide, her headshake vigorous. “God, no. It was a mistake. He came on to me and I didn’t want to turn him down— ”
    “He should’ve known better.” Work wasn’t easy to come by in Hackby. Lou was right to worry about her job. Zach would’ve fired her out of wounded pride.
    Kayla was tempted to do it out of sheer spite.
    She shifted her weight, looking down the row of Harleys. “There’s going to be some changes at the Grounds . New management, more hands-on oversight… I’ll let you stay on, but I need to know that this won’t happen again.”
    Lou nodded fiercely. “I swear it.”
    “Good.”
    They had been friends once—or close enough—but now all Kayla could think of was that she’d been lied to. She spun on her heel, eager to forget.
    “Hey, Kay?” Lou smiled ruefully. “You throw a pretty good punch.”
    The slam of the clubhouse door was all the answer Kayla had for her.
     
    * * * *
     
    In the sullen light of a reading lamp, Booker slowly peeled off his shirt. “So she’s staying on. You sure that’s wise?”
    No. “She hasn’t done anything I haven’t.”
    “Fair enough.” Booker lowered his jeans down his hips and kicked them off. His cock was visible through his boxers, a hard bulge that nearly bulldozed Kayla’s lingering pique.
    “You okay with that?” she snapped. “Knowing I screwed your brothers…”
    “What, all of ’em?”
    Kayla shot him an icy glare. Really?
    “Look,” Booker sighed, “you can’t rewrite your past. They know I’ll break their hands if they touch you now that you’re mine.”
    “Oh, is that what I am?”
    “Smartest girl in—”
    “Shut up.”
    Booker’s gaze darkened, eyes narrowing dangerously. “What did you say to me?” When his voice got low and gravelly like that, Kayla wondered if she shouldn’t retreat. Apologize. Booker backed her against the door, his body a broad, brawny obstacle in her path. He looked dangerous.
    He was.
    They run guns, blow… Zach’s vitriol rang in her ears.
    So what?
    “I said,” Kayla gritted out. “Shut. Up.”
    Booker snagged a hand in her hair and pulled her to him in a kiss so harsh that Kayla felt it all the way in the back of her skull. Their teeth clicked, grazing lips and tongues, raking flesh. He held her still when she made to adjust the angle, intent on plundering her mouth whether she liked it or not.
    It was a heady notion, a powerful aphrodisiac. Booker seized the straps of her tank top and bra and