Page 140 of Break Away

Natasha nodded. “All right, good. Your daddy’s talking about a poker game in an hour, and I gotta know what I’m working with.”

“Tasha, you don’t play cards and tonight isn’t the time to start,” Leon said.

Natasha winked at me and turned to her husband. “Maybe I’m playin’ so I can make sure this girl gets a leg up on the chip count.”

Leon closed his eyes and shook his head. “All right, baby. You want another drink?”

“Sure, but bring our girl back something too, please.”

“If we’re not careful, your mom is gonna take Gizmo away from us,” Rafferty said, pulling off his motorcycle boots.

“Seeing as we’ve known each other our whole lives, you’d think I’d remember this, but have you ever had a puppy?” I asked, toeing off my sneakers.

He yanked his shirt over his head. I never got tired of admiring his many tattoos - especially the Riot patch on his back. He unbuttoned his jeans. “No, we adopted adult dogs from the Humane Society. Mom told me when I was older that Dad had no patience for the puppy phase. That’s why I askedyourparents to keep the puppy during the graduation ceremony.”

I stalked to him and traced a finger over the capital letter a on his chest. “Are you working tomorrow?”

With two fingers to my chin, he tipped my face up toward his. “That’s the beauty of being a business owner. I set the schedule, baby. I’m not scheduled to be anywhere for eight days.”

My head reared back. “That’s over a week.”

He grinned. “Yeah, partly because I’m between reno jobs, but mainly because I’m taking you on a vacation.”

Not long after Rafferty earned his patch, he’d approached the club about investing in his business. He put together a full business plan that he’d have taken to a bank on the off-chance the brothers shot him down, and offered the club a percentage of his profit. After a few rounds of tweaks, they struck an agreement, and Rafferty had been running R & R General Contracting for the past year and a half.

“You’re taking me on a vacation?”

“Yep. We’re gettin’ on my bike, and we’re riding to Key West.”

“Awesome,” I breathed.

“Damn right. Me, you, and all your skimpy bikinis. I can’t fuckin’ wait.”

I brushed his lips with mine. “That sounds like heaven.”

“As long as we’re together, Lex, everyday will be just like heaven.”