Stoking the Embers (New Adult Romantic Suspense): The Complete Series Read Online Free PDF

awkwardness of knowing the ’friend’ at the house was really for me—too much pressure to ‘like’ her, especially from the wife.
    I straddle the Harley, loving the moment when it first comes alive beneath me; the way the engine roars, the sound of power, but best of all... freedom.
    I blow by SaveAll, it can wait, I have some tension to burn off. I resist the urge to look inside its windows. Traffic is light, most of Vegas is sleeping off a hangover or the disappointment of tossing their last coin in a slot.
    Even at forty mph, only the wind keeps the sweat off my brow. It’s been a while since I had the beast on the road, so I turn onto the 215 Freeway for a short little cruise to open the bike up a bit.
    This is the life right here. No commitments, no headaches, just me and the road. Eighty. Eighty-five. Ninety. Miles burn behind me, the lines on the road a blur. As seductive as speed is, I throttle down, drop to seventy and turn onto Green Valley Parkway.
    I need to get back, even though the desert calls to me. I wonder if Stephanie’s even been on the back of a bike, ever roared down an open road. Would she scream like a girl? Or hang on tight and laugh?
    What the fuck am I thinking? I don’t do ‘relationships’. Relationships equal death. I do sex. The end. Stephanie doesn’t seem the type, seems like the kind who clings. Give me a showgirl any day, they know the rules. Hell, they wrote the rules.
    I need to fill up the tank so I pull into the closest station. Hopping off my bike, who do I see? No way. It’s Stephanie, speak of the devil. I almost turn around, not liking how the universe is reading my mind. Then she bends over to straighten her shoe and my dick starts calling the shots.
    “Hi! Stephanie, right?” I ask, trying to act casual when she turns my way. She smiles, that full face grin that makes her look like a little girl.
    “Hi. Yes, Stephanie. Good to see you again, Ken.” She holds up her hands. “I promise to not come within ten feet of you.”
    God, she’s adorable. And she doesn’t even know it. Bet she doesn’t know how perfect her legs are, or how her tits fill out her t-shirt just right. She’s casual, ponytail and sunglasses. I can’t tell about makeup, but I’m guessing she’s bare faced.
    “Sorry I had to run out like that the other day. Duty called and all that.” I walk closer to her. Can’t seem to stop myself. She tightens her right hand on the gas nozzle as the other smoothes back her hair. Good, I’m effecting her.
    “I’m sorry for the mess. I can’t believe that gallon of milk exploded that way. It was like a bomb went off inside it.” We both laugh, it’s an accurate assessment. I shrug it off.
    “I didn’t get a chance to see you after I ran out of the store. I wanted to tell you though, you really did a great job at the accident. You surely saved a couple of lives.”
    She shakes her head. “It feels like a dream now. I can’t believe it really happened.” She bites her lip and pushes her sunglasses to the top of her head. “That was the worst thing I’ve seen in my life, and it didn’t really hit me until after. If I’m honest, it’s still hitting me.”
    “Don’t beat yourself up over it. I remember the first bad wreck I was on. Do you remember the crash on Charleston Blvd a couple of years ago? The one where a guy ran into the bus stop full of people?”
    “Yeah, I remember. Didn’t like four people die?”
    “Yes, including a teenager and an infant with her mother. The mother lived. Must have been horrible to live through that.”
    She says nothing, but the wetness of her eyes says it all.
    “God, I remember that day as if it’s happening right now, on the movie screen of my mind. It was my first fatal, and when my adrenaline stopped, I puked for about twenty minutes. I had nightmares for a few months. You never get used to it, but you have to find a barrier to it. If you don’t, the emotions scar you forever.”
    A silence filled