Jo had never prayed for her radio to go off, but she did now as the crowd confronted her to see who would win the date with her. Surreptitiously, she used the folds of her dress to shake the radio to make sure it was still working. Any other freaking time, the radio would be blaring at her. Now, when she needed the distraction the most, it remained silent, not providing her with the excuse she needed to flee the embarrassment of being the center of attention.

Lily wasn’t helping either. She had moved away from the stage in what she hoped was an effort to find someone to lend her enough money to win the auction for her as she had promised.

“Three thousand.”

Rider’s bid had the crowd talking excitedly among themselves as Moon countered his bid.

“Thirty-one hundred.”

The torture of listening to the bids had her wanting to put her hands up and stop the auction herself. Only the thought of making a bigger embarrassment of herself than she was doing now stopped her.

“Thirty-five hundred.” Rider’s bid had Jo taking her eyes off Lily and going to his.

Her palms grew clammy with her nerves. The man she was familiar with was gone; it was as if a stranger was staring back her. Her instinct to flee went into overdrive at the unwavering intensity in his gaze. The casual and lanky pose that characterized his familiar, charming appeal was missing, replaced by a predator who was staking his claim for a tasty meal it was about to devour.

She shook her head as if silently denying the thought, and then looked back at him, only to see his gaze become resolute.

Her thoughts frantically raced for a way to escape the ordeal.

“Thirty-six hundred.”

She wanted to look toward Moon at the sound of his uncertainty, knowing from the sound that he was reaching the end of the money he had available. Rider must have realized it, too, moving in for the kill.

“Four thousand.”

Her shoulders slumped when there was no counter from Moon.

“Four thousand dollars,” King repeated Rider’s bid. “Going, going …”

Every second that tried to delay the end of the auction had Jo holding her breath, praying for divine intervention.

“Gone. Congratulations, Rider. Dustin, you’re next. Hop on up.” King waved for Dustin to take the stage.

Jo was so anxious to get off the stage that she moved to the edge without thinking how to get down. Any other time, she would jump down, but fear of falling onto her knees in front of the audience had her hesitating.

Moon’s helping hand appeared in her sight, and she was about to take it when she was lifted off her feet. Her eyes widened on Rider as he lifted her down to the floor, his hands lingering on her waist.

“Thank you.” The ingrained habit taught to her by her mother had her thanking Rider, but it didn’t stop her from pulling away from his lingering touch.

Scanning the crowd for the person she was searching for, she was about to awkwardly make an excuse to disappear from sight when Rider’s words stopped her.

“I’ll pick you up at six tomorrow night for our date.”

Feeling uneasy, she wanted to refuse and tell him hell would freeze over first before she went out on a date with him, but she stopped herself when Willa and Winter’s ecstatic faces came into view as they managed to squish between Knox and Cash.

“Jo, Rider’s bid was more than we expected for the whole auction!” Winter grabbed her hand, pulling her into a tight hug.

Jo remained mute when she found herself turned to Willa, who was so happy she had tears brimming in her eyes.

“I was so worried—we worried—we wouldn’t have enough money to buy the toys, much less make food baskets. Thank you both so much. I can relax for the rest of the auction and enjoy myself.”

Jo felt like a Grinch on Christmas morning at Willa’s heartfelt gratitude.

“I’ll be ready at six, Rider. Willa, have you seen Lily?”

Willa frowned, looking over her shoulder. “She was just here a moment ago. I’m sure she’ll show up in a minute. It’s so crowded that it’s hard to spot her.”

“If you see her, tell her I’m looking for her.” Jo had a few choice words for her when she found her.

Her dark thoughts were interrupted by the clapping of the audience.

“Congratulations, Carly,” King called out as Dustin jumped down from the stage.

Jo lowered her lashes to observe Rider’s reaction to Carly having the winning bid, then wished she hadn’t when she realized his gaze was still fixed on her.

Her nipples tautened under the shimmering ice-pink bodice of her dress.

Pulling her small jacket closed, she took a step back from the heat that was emanating from his body. Fanning her face, she searched fruitlessly through the crowd again.

“It’s getting stuffy, isn’t it? I’m going to go stand by the door and try to catch a breeze.”

Willa and Winter’s brows rose at her hasty departure.

Rider didn’t move as she tried to move around him, hemmed on each side by Winter, Willa, Rider, Cash, and Knox, she found herself closer to Rider. When the arrogant man bent down, she could have sworn he was sniffing her throat.

Shock held her still. Then she found her hands on his finely textured gray shirt that had been tucked into his black slacks.

“Excuse me.”

“What perfume are you wearing?”

“Rider, it’s your turn. Let’s not keep the ladies waiting.”

King’s announcement over the microphone didn’t deter Rider as his nostrils flared as if he could smell the agitation that was seeping from her body at the unwanted attraction that was assailing her feminine parts.

She could have sworn on a stack of Bibles that she would never, ever be able to respond to any male, much less the boy toy who was an inch away from her. She would rather be tied down on a rack than admit the truth to herself, despite the proof that her panties had grown damp, and the dress she was wearing had begun to feel like an uncomfortable weight that held her in place.

Though Jo knew her judgment of men had been warped since her attack, there was no way she was going to allow herself to become another of Rider’s women.

Using the memory of the night she had been raped to restore her equilibrium, she moved away from the group.

She must have become oxygen deprived. Jo excused herself as she found a lone spot near the doorway to watch the auction. Each time someone entered or exited, the cold air lifted the fog that had surrounded her, reassuring her that she was back on an even knell.

The cold air wasn’t the only thing that brought her to her senses. Watching the bidding war over Rider helped.

The mass of women who had moved closer to the stage had the men forced to the back. Jo didn’t look at the stage, where he was standing, focusing on the women instead. Even the older married women in the congregation were bidding as their husbands grew angry.

“We have an extra seat at our table. Come and join us.”

Jo hadn’t felt Shade’s approach, too intent on the auction. The biker gave her the heebie-jeebies with the purposeful way he was looking at her.

“No, thanks. It will make it easier if I get a call.”

“No one will be calling. Everyone in town is here.” Shade lightly took her elbow. “Lily wants to talk to you, and I would rather you talk to her with me present. She’s looked forward to this auction, and I would hate to see it get ruined because you’re upset with her.”

Jo found herself escorted through the crowd as Shade walked beside her. She had no intention of denying that she was angry with Lily, pregnant or not.

“She convinced me to be in the auction. The only reason I agreed was because she promised to buy me.”

“Your bid exceeded the money Lily had tucked into her purse. If you’re angry, be angry at me. She had asked me to go to the diner to get more cash from the ATM, but it’s out of order. When I got back, your auction was over.”

She found herself maneuvered into sitting next to Lily, and her anger died away at her sheepish expression.

“I’m so sorry …”

Jo didn’t miss Shade’s hardening expression as his wife began her apology.

“It’s fine, Lily. We shouldn’t have made the plan. Besides, how bad could a date with Rider be?” She tried to ease Lily’s guilt. “Let’s look at the bright side; there are going to be a lot of happy children Christmas morning.”

Lily gave her a bright smile that had her forgetting why she was even angry in the first place. It was impossible to be angry with the woman who didn’t have a mean bone in her body. She could understand how Shade had fallen in love with her. Everyone did, and she was no exception.

Lily held a special spot in most of the townspeople’s hearts from the first time Pastor Saul had introduced her to the congregation as a child whom he and his wife had adopted. Since then, she had grown entrenched in their hearts. Jo could count on her fingers the number of people she could consider a truly good person, and Lily was one of them.

On the other hand, Shade wasn’t. She didn’t need to know particulars to form her opinion on that. It was in the vibes he put off. Despite her father’s assurances that he was a fine person, and the loan he had given her for the truck, her instincts screamed to be wary of him.

She had ignored her instincts the night she had been raped. It had been a hard lesson to learn, but she had learned it. She knew Shade had no interest in her as a woman, but her instincts shouted at her that he did have an ulterior motive for extending the credit. The sooner she could pay the loan back, the happier she would be, and would finally stop expecting for the other shoe drop at what his motive was.

“Not many women would complain about having to go on a date with Rider.”

Jo winced that Viper had overheard her choice of words to Lily. As the president of The Last Riders, she expected him to be angry. That he wasn’t showed in the lopsided grin he gave her.

“I’m not like most women.” Jo refused to be embarrassed or pretend she hadn’t meant her words.

“Don’t worry; he’ll probably spend most of the time eating. He has a bottomless pit for a stomach.” Winter had everyone sitting at the table agreeing.

“Order the meat lovers platter and a trio of desserts on King’s menu, and Rider will fall asleep before you can drive him home,” Willa laughingly suggested.

“Or order the special at the Pink Slipper and swing by the Donut Hut. They always put him in a sugar coma.”

Jo didn’t know the name of the woman who had offered the last suggestion. She had seen her in town occasionally, either in the diner or riding on the back of one of The Last Riders’ motorcycles. Either the dark-haired woman had never been in an accident, or her car had never needed a tow, or her only form of transportation was with one of the bikers.

Carly, who was walking past their table on the way to the restroom, paused, standing over the seated woman. “Jewell, I expected you to be front and center to win Rider’s date.”

The diner’s waitress’s snide attitude had the others at the table stiffening, except the woman whose identity Jo was wondering about.

“Why pay for something I can have for free?” Jewell leaned sideways, draping a graceful arm over the back of her chair, lifting her chin to stare straight back at Carly.

Carly looked like she was about to rip every strand of hair out of Jewell’s head. Her lips tightened so much Jo could practically hear her teeth grinding.

“Going, going … gone!” King’s voice over the loudspeaker broke the tense moment. “Congratulations, Aly. Moon, you’re next.”

“Looks like we lost out.” Carly shrugged, moving away toward the restrooms.

The brewing catfight between the two women never materialized.

Jewell turned forward in her seat and began speaking to Diamond as if the brief exchange had never happened.

The encounter between Jewell and Carly only reinforced Jo’s opinion of Rider, as well as the throng of women who trailed after him to the table she was sitting at.

When he went to take an empty chair from another table to move to the one his friends were sitting at, Jo stood.

“Take mine. I want to congratulate Aly.”

Jo disappeared into the crowd before anyone could stop her.

Aly was flushed with her success. The elegant woman dressed in a sophisticated dress of black velvet looked as excited as if she had won the Heisman trophy.

“Congratulations.” Jo tried to keep from being squished between the Porters and the Hayes as King began the auction for Jessie Hayes.

“For a while there, I thought I was going to have to take a bank loan to win,” Aly gushed.

Lily and Willa had been fanning themselves with the flyers when they had heard the amount of the winning bid. Aly’s four-thousand five hundred-dollar bid had exceeded hers. For that, Jo was grateful. If the bids of the night remained high, then no one in town would be discussing the high bid Rider had made for her.

“I wanted to thank you for this afternoon. I appreciate you letting me use your discount.”

“No problem. Anytime. Seems like we’re both going out with the same man.”

“Yes, it does.”

“We’ll have to see which one of us can convince him into another date.”

Jo’s lips quirked. “That’s going to be a no-brainer. I’m hoping he can convince you to stay in town so you won’t be so anxious to leave after the holidays,” she said sincerely.

A curious expression crossed Aly’s face. It seemed like she was about to say something until Shade came up to them to tell Aly that Lily wanted to talk to her.

A crimson flush heightened the color on Aly’s cheeks.

“I’ll talk to you later, Jo.” The woman went toward the table she had just left as if the hounds of hell were after her.

Jo gave Shade a curious look, sure he had something to do with the terrified expression Aly had veiled when her gaze had swung from Shade’s to Jo’s. Why would Aly be frightened of Shade?

That fortified her resolve to remain detached from anything to do with The Last Riders. She needed to remember that any friendship between her and Rachel and Lily would have set limits she wouldn’t broach. The two women would remain loyal to their husbands, despite any friendship they had with her.

“Your message has been received. You can relax now.” It took all her courage not to back down when Shade’s brows lowered.

“I don’t know what you mean.”

“I’m not an idiot, Shade. Why didn’t you want me talking to Aly?”

“I merely repeated Lily’s message. Don’t read more into it than there was.”

“Lily is pregnant, not helpless. Does everyone jump when you ask them to?”

“Usually. Don’t assume an ulterior motive when there isn’t one. I didn’t assume anything when you left the table when Rider arrived.”

Shade had more than his fair share of arrogance. All The Last Riders did.

Jo dropped the subject. As long as he didn’t expect her to jump through hoops to keep him happy for the loan he had given her, she would leave Aly’s reaction alone. She didn’t want Shade delving into her reaction to Rider’s appearance.

“I need to get back to Lily. Enjoy your date with Rider tomorrow.” His parting shot had her fighting back a nasty reply.

Finding a quiet spot in the back corner of the bar where she could watch the rest of the auction without having to talk to anyone, she mentally distanced herself until she could leave.

Ordering a cup of coffee from the bartender, she sipped it as the auction moved toward the desserts.

She couldn’t help laughing when she saw Moon triumphantly lift Willa’s candy container over his head as the crowd gathered, jokingly asking for a piece.

Rubbing the back of her neck at the sensation of being watched, she looked around. The auction over, music began to play over the loudspeaker, and couples began to fill the lounge area to dance.

Jo told herself now that the auction was over, she would wait a couple minutes before calling it a night.

Still looking around at all the activity, she was able to see clearly into the next room when Knox swung Diamond around. Rider was standing at the entrance of the bar, blocking any chance of her leaving without speaking to him.

She swallowed compulsively at the tight ball of fear lodged in her throat. His posture and determined gaze had her looking over her shoulder, sure another woman had been the cause of his close scrutiny. When she found no one behind her, Jo paid for her coffee, slipped from the stool, and used the dancing couples as camouflage to navigate across the dance floor.

Trying to look over Viper’s broad shoulders and Winter’s head, she saw Rider was no longer standing in the doorway. Instead of being relieved, she became even more high-strung about his whereabouts.

She stayed at the fringe of the dance floor, hoping the couples would obscure her position. She clutched her purse and radio tighter, feeling ridiculous for playing cat and mouse with a man who was putting off the signal she had misinterpreted as him having found a juicy mouse he had every intention of devouring it if it came close enough.

“That’s not going to happen,” Jo muttered under her breath, searching the bar area for another exit. How could there not be another exit?

Her instincts were screaming for her to run.

Turning in a half circle, she spotted him on the other side of the dance floor, talking to Cash and Rachel, his arms held loosely by his sides.

Jo wasn’t fooled. His taut body could easily outrun her to the doorway, which his posture promised he would do if she tried to escape.

Licking her dry lips, she took a step back and bumped into a couple about to enter the dance floor. Her lips parted to mumble an apology, but it went unspoken at Curt’s sudden, hostile appearance. He was with Carly.

She was already ill at ease with the large crowd, Rider’s strange behavior, and now faced with the man she detested with a hatred that had festered for years. Her breath grew ragged.

She shakily brought her hand up to her throat, trying to draw a deep breath.

“Are you okay, Jo?” Carly reached out, touching her arm.

Jo pulled away from her touch, needing to get away from Curt’s close proximity. Her breaths grew shallower as her lungs fought for oxygen, and she blinked back black dots as her knees started to buckle.

A firm hand surrounded her waist, tugging her into a hard body. Her fingers splayed across a muscular chest.

“Excuse us. Jo promised me this dance.”

Jo numbly followed Rider as one of his hands surrounded hers that was holding the clutch and the radio, keeping them from falling to the floor as they moved to the soft music.

She didn’t know what was worse: the monster behind her, or the predator whose arms she found herself trapped in.

Hysterically, she thought of the old saying Trapped between a rock and a hard place.

The monster behind her could be taken down. His burly body was more fat than muscle. The same couldn’t be said for Rider. He had won the chase of cat and mouse.

The hard place she had futility sought not to end up in was exactly where Rider wanted her. Right in his arms.