“Yeah. Got rangers monitoring her property.”
“Good,” Killian said then added, “Thanks.”
“Yeah, man.”
He started for the door but stopped. “Are there wild turkeys around here?”
“No.”
“So, you’ve never seen one?”
“No. Why you asking?”
“Cedar thought she heard one.”
“I’ll keep an eye out, will tell the rangers to do the same.”
“Appreciate it,” Killian said then walked out.
He drove to the outskirts of town, down the long drive to the house that had several motorcycles parked in front of it. He climbed from the truck, wrote down the license plates then walked to the door and rapped on it.
The man who opened it was easily seven feet tall. “What do ya want?”
“Wanna see your president.”
“Don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Tell him Killian Reid is here.”
The big guy looked at him for a few seconds then closed the door in his face. A few minutes later, the door opened. “This way.”
They’d made themselves at home, sitting around drinking and smoking. Some had women on their laps, and though they looked at ease, he knew every one of them tracked him as he passed.
He was shown to a room. A man stood with his back to him, wearing the Iron Guardian cut. He turned; hard gray eyes looked back, cold calculation behind them. Tattoos covered his arms. He wasn’t surprised he was the president of the MC because the man standing before him looked capable of anything.
“Donnelly’s been talking,” he accused in a raspy voice.
“His concern is Cedar,” Killian countered.
If Killian thought the man would have a reaction to her name, he’d have been disappointed.
“He’s stirring the shit up.”
“He’s making sure your shit doesn’t land on her.”
“It’s not my— I’ve kept that from happening.”
“Yeah, well, when you take twenty million dollars, that shit is bound to keep coming up.”
Surprise flashed across the biker’s expression. “It’s being handled.”
“It’s not your what?” Killian demanded.
Tense silence followed before he shared, “There’s a leak, making some nervous.”
Shit. “Information leak.” Killian guessed correctly. “Someone is tipping off the authorities.”
“Like I said, it’s being handled.”
“Not from where I’m standing,” Killian countered.
“You don’t know shit, not about this or me.”
“I know all I need to know.”
“What the fuck does that mean?”
“You left her to face the loss of her parents alone,” Killian accused, his voice deceivingly low.
There was more than anger in the other man’s tone. “I wasn’t going to pull her down with me.”
“I’ve read your file. A case could have been made for self-defense.”
“Didn’t matter. Kenneth sealed my fate when he made his arrangement. Pulling her into that shit, no fucking way.”
Killian could appreciate that. In his shoes, under those circumstances, he wasn’t sure what he’d have done. But his instinct was to hold on, not to let go. His thoughts went back to the money. “Someone knows you took it, and the way to you is through Cedar. That’s why you’re here.”
“Something like that, but they won’t touch her.”
“No, they won’t.”
A pause before a thread of regret tinted his tone. “She needs closure. We both do. I won’t get another chance.”
As much as he didn’t want this man around Cedar because she’d see him as the man he’d been, not the man he was now, he was right. He’d been sheriff long enough to know a cold-blooded killer when he saw one. It might have been self-defense when he took his father’s life, but that wasn’t the case for the countless deaths that followed, and he was damn sure there were many that followed. As much as it went against everything in him, she needed closure. Even if she hadn’t told him that, the pain buried behind her eyes screamed it. “She’s home.”
“I know.” He clenched his jaw. “It eats me alive...” He inhaled. “I loved her. Never loved anyone before her or after her. She’s my tether to the man I was, that last piece of my humanity.” He leveled those cold eyes on him before he added, “I’ve come to cut that tether.”
Even knowing it needed to be done, it was going to break her heart all over again, but this time, he’d be there to put the pieces back together. “Keep your shit out of my town,” Killian warned.
“Or what?”
“I run those plates outside. I upload the surveillance photos I’ve got of you, so every agency has faces to go with the names, and I’ll leak the info to the Feds, so they can follow the money, just like I did.”
“Who the fuck are you? No small-town sheriff has a reach that long.”
“All you need to know is I’m the fucking law.” Killian turned his back on the man and walked to the door. “And if you have a mind to take me out.” He reached it. “It won’t be as easy as you think.”
He drove to Cedar’s. Found her sitting on her new porch. He climbed from the truck.
“Hey, Sexy. Are you hungry?”
He was. She saw it, too, when her eyes went all soft. He strode to her, grabbed her hand and pulled her inside, down the hall to her bedroom. Kicking the door closed, he grabbed her face and kissed her. Her arms moved around him, pressing herself against him, her tongue warring with his.
He wasn’t gentle when he pulled her tee over her head, unclipped her bra. He yanked his mouth from hers, his focus shifting to her breasts. He cupped one, tongued her nipple, before he drew the tight bud into his mouth.
“Oh god.” She moaned, her hands fisting his shirt.
He turned his attention to her other breast, his hands moved over her body, pushing her sweats down her legs. And then impatient, he lifted her, dropped her on the bed, and yanked them off. Dropping to his knees, pulling her ass to the edge, he finally got his first taste of her.
He groaned when her flavor coated his tongue, and then, greedy for more, he pushed his tongue deep into her.
“Yes!” She moaned, her hips moving to take him deeper. He tongued her clit, pushed two fingers
