Page 25 of Lockout

There was no doubt that at some point, a horde of muscled bikers had entered my apartment—not for my benefit—and hauled their respective women back home in their beefcake arms. I grinned at the thought. Who would have thought that men like this would have brought us together and made us all a family?

I would have taken one look at these guys a few years ago and assumed that at some point I would be representingthem for one reason or another. I would’ve been wrong on multiple fronts. One, they weren’t common criminals. I wouldn’t be representing them for DUI’s or bar fights, they were more vigilantes than anything. Sure, they broke the law, but they did it to help others. I had so much respect for them because of that. And the other way I would’ve been wrong was because they weren’t sloppy enough to get caught. Lock had them running like a well-oiled machine.

It would take a lot for them to end up in prison. And I would do my best to make sure thatneverhappened. These men were like dark avenging angels. I could see in my mind the face Lockout would make if I ever uttered those words out loud. He wouldn’t be flattered by that description, but it was so true. They helped people who needed it. People who couldn’t be helped by the police for one reason or another. They kept Tucson a safer place.

Sitting up in bed, I looked around at my tangled sheets and sighed. I was in a t-shirt and panties. Which meant that Smoke hadn’t put me to bed, otherwise I’d have just been dumped on top of the covers in what I’d been wearing.

I crawled out, taking my time to make sure my brain didn’t leak out of my ears, and pulled on a pair of leggings. I didn’t bother to do anything with my bed head, other than run my fingers through my hair a couple of times. There was no way I could deal with a brush, pony tail, or bun this morning. I hoped the others weren’t feeling as shitty as I was. They’d been kind enough to ply me with copious amounts of wine, Chinese food, and chocolate. They didn’t deserve this fresh hell.

Padding down the stairs in my socks, I took the turn down the hallway and opened Lock’s office without knocking. I wouldn’t normally be so rude, but just the thought of rapping on the wood set my teeth on edge. I gave him a wan smile as Iwalked across the room and sat in the chair across his desk. I pulled my feet underneath me and got comfortable.

His gorgeous hazel eyes were studying me and I knew he wasn’t missing a single detail. Not that I knew exactly what he was cataloging away in his brain. But it was something.

“Good morning.”

“Is it?” I countered, wincing a little as my voice came out scratchy.

He chuckled and the sound didn’t annoy me nearly as much as it should since he was laughing at my misfortune. Sure, I’d done it to myself. Well, with a little help from my friends. But that didn’t change the fact that he was amused at my current state.

“I take it you girls had fun last night?”

I nodded and scratched at my arm. “Did you put me to bed last night?”

“Yeah,” he said, sounding hesitant. “Didn’t want to leave you sleeping like that on the floor. I figured you’d end up feeling even worse this morning.”

“My back thanks you,” I said with a wry smile. “And so do I. If it had been Smoke that had undressed me, we were going to have a problem.”

“He’d have a lot of problems if he undressed you,” Lock muttered.

“What?” I asked, even though I’d heard him. I wanted to see if he’d repeat it. Instead, a slow, devious smile spread over his face, making my heart stall out in my chest. It really wasn’t fair that he was so damn handsome.

“I like your panties.”

Blinking at him, I opened my mouth to speak, but no words came out. What was a girl supposed to say to that? Also…what did that even mean?

“I think I like you being speechless, too,” he added, tilting his head to the side as he continued to study me.

Heat crept up my neck and over my cheeks. “I’m not even sure what you mean,” I managed to sputter out.

He arched a brow at me. “Choose your own adventure?”

I gasped out loud, eyes widening. I hadn’t even remembered that I’d changed into more comfortable underwear once I got out of my lawyer clothes. The Cheshire Cat grin on the front of them was super cute and the phrase on the butt of the panties had made me laugh and buy them immediately. No one but Dani had ever seen them before though. “Oh my-”

Pointing my finger at him, I growled, “Don’t even say another word.” Because he’d opened his mouth to do just that and who the hell knew what was going to come out of it? I wasn’t up to the task of seducing him today. I was barely up to the task of being awake. Though maybe I needed to wear the panties again if he really did like them that much.

His lips twitched upward almost into a smile. “How are you feeling?” When I narrowed my eyes at him, because it was obvious I felt like hell, he added, “About yesterday.”

I sighed as the reminder sank in. I’d quit my job. Quit the task force. “I’m unemployed,” I said in disbelief. I shook my head. “I haven’t been unemployed since I took senior year off to focus on graduating.”

“Rare that a kid will start working at fourteen,” he said, leaning back in his chair.

“I wanted to save up for a car. Mom and Dad could have bought it, but I wanted to-” I paused, my eyes darting up to him. “Wait a minute. How did you know I got a job at fourteen?”

“Dani must have mentioned it,” he said, voice smooth and even.

He was lying to me. I was very good at spotting when someone was lying. It helped me a lot in my profession. “Lock. Did you have Riptide do a background check on me?”

He shrugged those massive shoulders. But his eyes remained steady and passive on mine. He wasn’t fooling me.

---