Taming Blaze Read online

  being one of his enemies.

  The fact that I’d been unable to get much reliable information about him made me more unsettled. Whispered rumors weren’t a good sign. This was a guy I wasn't sure about dealing with already, and now I'd gone and bedded his daughter. If a guy like this found out...I didn’t want to think about what he would do to me or to the club. Or to her.

  Dani was angry with me. She had every right to be. Her father had dropped this bomb on her, and here I was, the one taking her here against her will. But she had to understand I was just doing my job. It wasn’t like I had run off with her on my bike the night we screwed and taken her up here to the cabin. Although I had to admit, the thought of doing that wasn’t completely unappealing.

  No, this girl is off limits. I needed to remember that if I wanted to survive- and if I wanted her to survive. Her father was dangerous.

  Then Dani looked at me with those big eyes, and I melted inside. Shit, this was going to be hard.

  “This is the safe house?” Dani asked.

  I nodded. “It’s my place.” Say something snide, I thought. Something about this shitty little cabin. Something I can hate you for saying. I felt vulnerable bringing her here and showing her the house. It was personal, and it felt too much like letting her into a part of myself I was sure she didn’t belong. She was from a different world, one that had no place in it for me. This cabin was mine, the only place where I could be away from all the other dirty shit in my life. Letting her intrude on this might be a huge mistake.

  “It’s really quiet up here,” she said, looking around.

  “It’s why I like it.” I didn’t just like it- I loved it. There was no one around, not for miles. I had saved for years to buy my patch of dirt up here in the middle of nowhere. The nearest neighbor was ten miles away. Almost all of this was forest. The road that ran through here was a dirt one, and there was no internet, no cable, no cell phone connectivity. It was away from the tourist crap, and that made it perfect for me.

  “Listen to that,” Dani said.

  “What?” I looked over my shoulder. I’d been careful about checking for a tail on the way up here. I thought I’d spotted one when we left Guillermo’s place, but I couldn’t be sure. The car had disappeared before we got too far, and I was confident we hadn’t been made coming up here.

  “There’s nothing,” she said. “Absolutely nothing. It’s completely still. No honking, no traffic.”

  “Yeah, just the sounds of birds and the wind rustling through the trees. It’s why I love it here.”

  “So, this is yours?” Dani ran her hands along the porch railing. “It’s a real log cabin.”

  “It is. Built it myself.” In fact, I had spent two years constructing this place, little by little.

  “No white picket fence?” She smiled, for the first time since we’d met again, and I felt my heart melt. God, this girl was going to break me.

  “Not yet.”

  Dani touched the rocking chair on the porch and set it in motion. I couldn't stop myself from picturing her sitting in it, reading a book or drinking her coffee.

  “So you really built all of this yourself?”

  “Yeah,” I said. “Built it by hand.” I was unable to keep the pride out of my voice. This house was my baby. At the same time, I was waiting for her to say something snide or condescending about my little cabin. After all, my cabin wasn’t exactly in the same zip code as her father’s multi-million dollar home. Hell, it wasn’t on the same fucking continent as what she was used to. What was I thinking, bringing her here?

  “You built this completely by yourself?”

  “Not totally,” I said. “I had to hire out a couple of things I couldn’t figure out how to do.” I had sourced as much as I could from the land, taught myself construction along the way. The few things I hadn’t been able to do, I’d contracted out, but I was careful about it. I’d paid cash, paid for confidentiality. You couldn’t be too careful.

  “So you’re a biker and a carpenter.” Was that a compliment? I wasn't sure how to take it.

  I shrugged. “I figure, there are some things in life you should know how to do for yourself.” I loved my club, but growing up the way I did, you learned real quick that backup plans were a necessity if you wanted to survive. This place was my backup plan. If shit went wrong, I could always bail and come here. I didn’t have to rely on anyone else.

  “This isn’t a safe house, is it?” Dani asked.

  “No,” I said. “The club thinks I’m bringing you to one of our places. So does your father.”

  “So no one knows I’m here with you.”

  “No.” The way she said it made me feel like some kind of creep. “I thought it was safer this way, better that I’m the only one who knows where you are.”

  “Great,” she said. “I don’t know if I feel safe or scared you’re going to chop me up in pieces and bury me in the backyard.”

  “I’d never chop you up into pieces. It’s easier to get rid of a body whole. There’s a lake nearby. I’d just dump you in it.” I grinned.

  “Great.” She turned away, her voice flat, and I felt the tension between us again. So much for trying to add a little humor to the situation. All business, that’s what I needed to be.

  “Come on. I’ll show you around.” I escorted her inside, my eyes never leaving her as she walked around, silently surveying the place. This was a girl used to the best of everything, and here she was, examining my things, evaluating this part of me I had not shown anyone. I didn’t want her judging me.

  Dani put her palm flat against the stone on the fireplace, and I remembered the way she had put her palm against my chest, the heat from her hand warming me. No, get her out of your head. I cleared my throat. “It’s stone from the riverbed,” I said, before she asked. “There’s a creek that runs back behind the house.”

  “It’s beautiful,” she said. “The whole place is gorgeous, Blaze.” She looked up at the ceiling, at the beams that ran the length. It took me forever to figure out how to put those in. “You’re really talented,” she said, and I felt warmth run through my chest at her words, then a flash of anger at myself for the reaction. I needed to not give a shit what she thought, even if it was positive.

  “Thanks.” I walked into the kitchen. I needed a beer. Dani followed me, still poking around.

  “Did you do all this yourself, too?” She touched the granite counter, her eyes wide. "If you ever decide not to be a criminal, you could totally be a carpenter.”

  If I ever decided not to be a criminal. There is was, the condescension I was waiting for. She was exactly what I’d figured her for, a spoiled little princess who was slumming it by screwing the dirty biker. I pulled out a beer and opened it, consciously not offering her anything. “Thanks for the career advice.”

  Her expression said she knew she’d overstepped her bounds. “I’m just saying, if you went legitimate.”

  “Noted. Thanks for your opinion.” I walked down the hall toward the bedroom and she trailed behind me.

  “So what’s the plan here?” she asked.

  "We lay low and wait to hear from Mad Dog."

  “Who’s Mad Dog?”

  “The club president,” I said. “The other guy with me at your father’s house.”

  "Do I even need to ask if we have cell reception or anything?"

  "You can ask. The answer is no. Everything is cut off."

  "Awesome. So basically I'm stuck here with you and no entertainment."

  "Yep." The way she said it made it sound like the worst thing in the world. She was making it easier and easier to dislike her. I should be grateful for that. At least there would be no temptation to fuck her again.

  “Great. So is this my bedroom or are you going to suggest sharing the bed?”

  It sounded snide, the way she put it. It was a huge mistake bringing her here. Obviously, I wasn’t going to share the bed with her. I wasn’t a total douchebag. Just because I’d screwed her back t