Page 9 of My Reluctant Valentine

I study her for a moment, weighing how much to share."My old man had this ranch outside town.Real working ranch, not some hobby farm.Taught me everything, how to ride, rope cattle, and fix engines.Said a man needs to know how to work with his hands."

"Is that what you wanted to do?Run the ranch?"

"Yeah." The admission comes easier than expected."Dad managed both lives well.He worked the land during the day and ran the club at night.But, somehow still made it to every Little League game I had and every school event.That is what taught me a man's word was all he had."

Leslie's hand slides across the table, covering mine.The gesture's so natural I almost miss it.

"What happened?"

"A rival crew moved in. One of the prospects Dad had allowed into the club got trigger-happy, and killed one of theirs in a bar fight." My jaw clenches at the memory."But Dad... He tried handling it right.He offered them compensation, territory adjustments, even offered to have the prospect make it up to them by compensating the guy's family.But they wanted blood."

"They came to the ranch?"

I nod, the smell of hay and gunpowder suddenly fresh in my memory."Six of them. Found Dad in the barn.I was nineteen, just started prospecting." I sigh."I acted on impulse. I couldn't just stand by and watch them hurt my dad.Dad didn't want me with a gun.So, I grabbed whatever I could find, rope, a shovel, and a pitchfork, and attacked.Managed to take down three before--" My free hand clenches."By the time our guys got there, Dad was bleeding out.Last thing he said was he was proud of me."

Her fingers tighten around mine.No empty words, no pitying looks.Just quiet understanding.

"Tank started calling me Ranch after that.Said anyone who could fight off six guys with nothing but ranch tools earned the name." I attempt a smile that probably comes out more like a grimace."Stuck better than some of the other names they tried."

"Thank you," she says softly.

"For what?"

"For telling me. For trusting me with this." Her thumb traces circles on my palm, surprisingly soothing."I know it's not a story you share often."

"Never shared it like this." The admission slips out before I can stop it."Most people hear 'MC president' and think they know everything they need to know."

"I'm learning there's a lot more to you than that, Ace Hunter."

Something in her voice makes me look up.The way she's watching me, like she's seeing past all the barriers I've built, terrifies me.Yet somehow, it's exactly what I need.

"That goes both ways, Leslie James."

Her answering smile hits me right in the chest.I just told this woman more in ten minutes than I've told anyone in years.And what's even more concerning is that I want to tell her more.

"Your turn." I squeeze her hand gently."What happened with Davidson?"

She tenses but doesn't pull away.Instead, she takes a shaky breath like she's gathering courage.

"My mom got diagnosed with stage four Pancreatic Cancer in my first year of teaching." Her voice trembles."We tried Chemo but it didn't help.Not long-term. Everyone told us it was too far gone to do anything, and we'd started believing it too until I found an experimental treatment claiming to have a real shot at saving my mom.But insurance wouldn't cover it.I was drowning in student loans, barely making rent, and watching my mom die by the minute."

Her free hand wraps around her coffee cup like she needs an anchor.I cover it with mine.

"Ian showed up at a fundraiser we held at school, and played the perfect savior.He had overheard my conversation with a friend about my mom's condition and said he had to intervene as he'd lost his own mother to cancer.Said he understood what I was going through." She laughs, but there's no humor in it."We talked a bit, then he offered to cover the full treatment costs for my mom.Said I could pay him back however I could afford, whenever I could manage.I was so desperate I didn't question why a billionaire would help a random teacher."

"The treatment worked?"

"Mom went into remission. I started making payments.I mean, they were small but regular.Then Ian showed up at my apartment one night." She shivers, and I find myself shifting closer."Suddenly, the only payment he'd accept anymore was my body.Then doubled down when I started refusing, saying it had always been the repayment agreement."

My blood boils, but I keep my voice steady."But you never agreed to that."

"I tried everything to make him see reason, offered loans, payment plans, anything.He said he'd 'invested' in me, and now it was time to collect." Tears gather in her eyes."He left that night telling me he'd let me know when the collection period began.

And for the next week or so, I didn't hear from him, so I dismissed it as a drunken episode.But then he started showing up everywhere, my school, mom's appointments, my favorite coffee shop.Sending gifts I never wanted.Then came the messages about other women who hadn't 'seen things his way."

I nod slowly, understanding settling in mygut."So that's what prompted the restrainingorder?"

"I filed it after he cornered me in the school parking lot." Her voicecracks."A week later, his last 'investment'disappeared.No body, no evidence. Just...gone.When I went public with the restraining order, he told me I'd joined a very exclusive list of women who needed to learn theirplace."

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