Page 126 of Sweet Temptation

If so, maybe the Sinners were hiding him.

Maybe we’d all just triggered some biker war and Summer was somehow caught up in it.

I’d told her Sanchuk signed the peace bond out of fear of going to prison, but there was more to it than that.

He’ll be instructed on what’s expected of him.

Yeah. I could imagine what that would look like.

Sanchuk was probably far more scared of the Kings, and maybe the Sinners, too, than he was of facing criminal charges. And after receiving “instruction” from Piper or whoever dealt it out, he knew if he disobeyed the restraining order it would be the bikers showing up at his door, not the police.

I knew how these guys operated. Sanchuk would, too. Piper might come across as a reasonable man, but it was dirty as fuck in the streets.

We should’ve let the law handle it.

But then again, if we did… maybe it wouldn’t have been sufficiently handled.

Either way, I was just fucking glad Summer wasn’t in Vancouver when Sanchuk disappeared.

Though he could be anywhere by now. Maybe he followed us here.

Fuck.

I lay in bed, still unable to sleep. I was too disturbed. Pissed that such a fucking lowlife could just walk into Summer’s life and put fear into her.

A knock on my door startled me.

I was on my feet in a second, flicking on a lamp. I yanked the pajama pants from my bag and stepped into them; like I’d told Summer, I didn’t sleep in jammies, but I always brought them when I was on duty overnight, just in case.

I crossed the room, and I heard the soft knock again. Then a voice: “Ronan?”

Summer.

I opened the door after a quick look through the peephole. Summer stood in the hall, alone, hugging herself and looking up at me. She was wearing one of those silk robes of hers and hotel slippers.

“Summer.” I reached for her, catching her arm and tugging her into my room. “You shouldn’t be out of your room without me.” I leaned past her, checking both ways into the silent, empty hall. Then I nudged her deeper into my room and shut the door. “What’s going on?”

“Nothing.” She was still hugging herself, and I could feel her unease. It prickled through me, setting off that twitch at the back of my neck. “I just… didn’t want to be alone.”

I stared at her. Her dark hair was loose, in thick waves around her face. She’d washed off all her makeup, and her naked lips looked soft. Her eyebrows pinched together, and she looked so tense, so… shaken… It unhinged me.

I fucking hated it.

I wanted to take her in my arms, but I just stood there.

“Actually…” she breathed, “I can’t fucking stand being alone right now.”

I found my voice. “Well, next time text me or call me, and I’ll come to you.”

“Okay.”

My heart twitched, like it was struggling to remember how to function, as we stood looking at each other. The spike of adrenaline, and yes, fear, when I heard her voice in the hall, was subsiding, replaced with a different discomfort.

I ran my hand through my hair and wondered how disheveled I looked.

“Shit, it’s been a bad night,” she said softly.

“Yeah.”

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