Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 75862 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 379(@200wpm)___ 303(@250wpm)___ 253(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75862 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 379(@200wpm)___ 303(@250wpm)___ 253(@300wpm)
“Does sound incredible. What makes you want her so badly?”
I shrug.
“Truth, sweetheart.”
Damn. He’s good. It’s as if I’m a book, blown wide open, pages flapping in the breeze, and he can read every single one of them.
“She made me feel some sort of ... spark. Inspiration, maybe. Passion, perhaps. Something. Something I hadn’t felt around music in a long time. She made me want to write songs again, to sing them, to put heart back into them. I’ve lost myself, she made me feel like maybe I could find myself again.”
He stares at me for a moment, then in a husky voice he says, “Then it sounds like she’s worth fighting for.”
I nod. “Try telling my manager that.”
“Maybe instead of telling her, you should show her.”
I glance at him. Why didn’t I think of that? Susan might not want to listen to what I have to say when it comes to Amalie, but if she heard her play, if she heard us play, she might just change his mind.
“I’d say you’re a genius,” I say, my voice soft. “But I don’t know you and so that would be creepy.”
A low chuckle. “There’s somethin’ about you, Scarlett Belle. Somethin’ I feel around you, that makes me feel the same way your friend makes you feel.”
My cheeks get warm and my heart races. I swear little butterflies are dancing in my belly.
“I’m sure a biker like you can find that anywhere, I mean, you’re so free. There are no barriers for you.”
He falls silent for a moment, then says in a low, almost broken tone. “Barriers don’t have to be objects, darlin’. Barriers can be simply your own heart. No matter how far you travel, or how many people you meet, none of it can penetrate if the barrier is around your soul.”
God.
Damn.
My heart clenches.
“Maverick?”
“Hmmm?”
“Can I use that in a song?”
He looks to me. “Whatever you want, darlin’.”
“Maverick?”
He chuckles. “Yeah?”
“Why are you following me?”
He glances at me, his eyes hold mine and I can feel his words, long before they penetrate. “Because your eyes are the same as mine. Your voice speaks the same pain. I’m drawn to you. I don’t know why, but I can’t seem to be able to back off.”
Something warm washes over me. “I don’t mind.”
“No?” he says, one side of his mouth lifting in a smile.
“No. It’s been a long time since I’ve had a friend. So, if you want to follow me and talk to me, I won’t say no. But don’t go coming up with some elaborate plan to kidnap me for money. I might be small, but I can fight. I promise.”
His eyes flash and he laughs, low and deep. “Noted, darlin’. How about we just stick to friends?”
I smile and nod, his eyes drop to my lips again.
“How come you’re not riding with your club? Not that I know much about that, but aren’t you supposed to travel in big groups or something?”
His eyes skitter away and his jaw goes tight. “I’m on my own right now. A nomad, I guess. Needed ... time.”
The way he says that sparks my curiosity. But I don’t know him, and it isn’t my place to ask a perfect stranger to feed me his deepest, darkest secrets. God knows I wouldn’t want to share mine.
“Are you still friends with your club?”
At that, he grins. “Friends. That’s a way I’ve never heard it put.”
I blush. “Well, I don’t really know what exactly you are.”
He keeps the grin. “I’m still part of the club, yeah. I’m just takin’ some time out. No bad blood there. I’ll go home one day.”
“And where is home?” I ask.
“Denver.”
My eyes get big. “Me too.”
His eyes hold mine, and something passes between us.
“Guess we might just be able to be friends after all, hey?”
There goes my heart again.
And my stomach.
And my stupid brain.
This stranger is captivating me. Little by little.
And I know nothing about him.
-5-
MAVERICK
I can’t look away.
I’m trying. Fuck knows I’m trying. But every time my eyes fall on her, sitting on the bench, her soft blond hair blowing in the breeze, her little body shivering from the cold, her cheeks pink ... There is no fucking way I can look away. Shit, I don’t even want to. I could stare at her all day and never get bored, never tire of watching the blood rush to her cheeks when I look at her lips, or listening to the soft sound of her voice, like a damned bell dripping in honey.
“Should get you back home,” I say to her, watching her skin getting bumpy from the cold. “Your manager is probably losing her mind right about now, and I’d imagine she’s gone from sniffer dogs to the entire city looking for you.”
She laughs, soft and sweet, and it rings through the night. “You’re probably right. It wouldn’t surprise me if any moment a team arrived here. She’s probably got some secret tracking device planted on me.”