AJ and Pax work together as undercover operatives for a government agency of bad-boy bikers known as the Wild Riders. And though they play as hard as they work, both men are looking for the one woman who can tame them…
On vacation, AJ and Pax run into AJ’s high school sweetheart, Teresa. While they’re catching up at Teresa’s bar, a fight erupts between two biker gangs, leaving one man dead and Teresa’s brother wrongly accused of murder. With no proof and Teresa as the only eye witness, the trio points their Harleys toward the annual bike rally in South Dakota in hot pursuit of the real killer…
Her life in jeopardy, AJ and Pax become Teresa’s fierce protectors. But a past trauma keeps Teresa guarded, unable to trust them–until AJ and Pax uncover her secret and vow to do anything to help her heal. And in their arms she discovers a sensual desire that knows no boundaries, a passion strong enough to overcome her tragic past and awaken a force that brings both men to their knees.
Danger may temporarily bind the three together, but it’s their shared passion that will lead them to the ride of their lives: love.
Teresa is a strong, sassy, sexy, bright, and accomplished woman who owns her own biker bar in a community about an hour outside St. Louis, MO. Looking up at two strangers who have just come in, she recognizes AJ, her high school sweetheart and the love of her life. Ten years earlier they were planning a life together and on her 18th birthday were finally going to “be together” for the first time. They had loved each other since they couldn’t remember when, had necked and petted until they knew every inch of one another, and now came the night they had been waiting for. It wasn’t to be. AJ had left an abusive home and was now “earning” a living heisting cars for a local chop shop. He realized that if he really loved Teresa he could never drag her down that road with him. And so he left her, virginity intact.
Now, ten years later, he and his friend and partner Pax are members of a covert government agency known as the Wild Riders and they are on vacation. Why they were here in AJ’s home town was something of a mystery–perhaps to catch a glimpse of Teresa and to renew his friendship with her brother Joey, his childhood best friend. Who knew? What he now knows is that his sweet and innocent love has become a stunning, mature woman whose sensuality calls out to him as well as to his friend Pax.
Teresa’s brother is now the leader of a biker gang known as The Thorns. They want to keep their end of town clean and safe and legal. A rival gang called The Fists has different ideas as they are into everything illegal, especially drugs. Arriving at Teresa’s bar, a group of The Fists, led by their leader instigate a bar fight when almost no one was there. Joey, his “second” Russ, a few members of the Thorns, AJ and Pax were badly outnumbered, and in the midst of the fight, the Fists’ leader was stabbed to death and Joey was accused of the murder.
In the process of seeking the real murderer, Teresa, AJ and Pax become closer and closer, eventually entering into a threesome. This is earth-shaking for Teresa as this is the first time she has been with anyone since being raped five years earlier. The kindness and acceptance of these two guys cuts through her fears, making it possible for her to “feel” like a real woman once again. Their search for clues takes them to Sturgis, So. Dakota during the annual biker rally there. The story gets wilder and darker, full of betrayal, injury, discovery of who it was who raped Teresa, and everything that goes along with law enforcement raids on the bad guys.
As is always the case with Ms Burton, this story is alive with realism. The people are genuine, the interaction between characters is not contrived, the action scenes are believable, and the reader can almost feel a part of the crush of bodies on a bar dance floor, the excitement and traffic on Main Street, Sturgis, the tension of an all-night stake-out, and so on. This is a story of discovery on many levels. Teresa is ready to move on with her life and discovers new inner strengths she had not understood previously. AJ and Pax discover new capacities to let go of their abusive pasts and embrace a future that is incredibly different than they ever expected. It is a story of love overcoming old hurts and new wounds.
I have to admit that I would have never thought that I was a “biker romance” fan at all. But when I first read Burton’s previous Wild Rider stories I became one. That these “bad boys” have had their lives transformed by their association with one another and their leader, “the General,” is redemptive and positive. And it is to Burton’s credit that she has found a creative solution to their early descent into crime and the loss of their potential. Each of these guys knows that their lives have been snatched from a pit of destructive living and thinking.
This is a really great book and one of those romance novels that shouldn’t be missed.
I give it a rating of 5 out of 5.
You can read more from Judith at Dr. J’s Book Place
This book is available from Berkley. You can buy it
here
or
here in e-format.
