Tripwire

TRIPWIRE CATHLEEN COLE FRANK JENSEN C&J NOVELS LLC Copyright © 2022 by Cathleen Cole All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Names, characters, and places are products of the author’s imagination. Publisher: C&J Novels LLC Cover designed by: Kari March Designs TRIGGER WARNINGS This book is meant for readers 18+. Some content may be unsuitable for some readers. For a full list of warnings, please visit https://www.cathleencolenovels.com/tropes-warnings Once there, swipe to find the series and book you’re looking for. BLURB She risked her life to save his. Now he can’t let her go… Tripwire I’m untethered. Alone. Nomad. It’s necessary as I hunt down a dangerous enemy of my MC, nothing but the wind in my face and my bike underneath me. No one else will suffer on my watch—none except those who deserve it. But one afternoon changes everything, and if it wasn’t for the sinfully beautiful siren paddling toward me on a surfboard, I’d be lost to a watery grave. On dry land, my mission takes a back seat to my fascination with the girl who’s got saltwater in her veins. I need her to trust me if this is going to work. But if I can’t take out the threat, trusting me might be the last thing she does… Marina It was a no-brainer diving into the ocean to save a drowning biker. If only I’d known how that one act would turn my life upside down. See, it turns out that the gorgeous man is reckless, too. He’s trouble with a capital T. Everything girls are warned to avoid. But I can’t seem to walk away. Not when he’s a mystery I’m desperate to solve. What chased him off that cliff? And if I hand him my heart, will there be anything left when he’s finished with me? CHAPTER 1 Trip I was weightless for a brief moment before gravity caught up to me and my Harley—Lucy—as we plummeted off the cliff and into the Pacific Ocean below. Cold salty water closed over my head as I hit the surface. Looking down, I mournfully watched as Lucy sank into the dark depths below. My lungs burned, begging for oxygen as I stayed underneath the water until I couldn’t see my bike anymore. When I couldn’t take the tightness in my chest for another second, I kicked to the surface. My clothes and boots were a dragging weight against me, but my strokes were strong. I was grateful for all the shit my Austin MC brothers had given me about not being able to swim. It’d forced me to learn—if for no other reason than to preserve my pride. It had just saved my life. Drew’s worried face was peering over the cliff. We’d been sent on a mission to take out one of our club’s biggest threats. Eric had been one of the heads of The Texas Syndicate and had come after our Austin Chapter. It’d been a huge mess, but we’d managed to tie up every loose end except him. Our club had been forced to go legit, and our president had let us make up our own minds about whether we wanted to stay with his chapter, go to another, or go Nomad. As much as we loved our brothers in Austin, Drew and I had volunteered to take down Eric once and for all. Until we did that, we’d be living the Nomad lifestyle. We weren’t ready to settle down and live a life of rules. We were outlaws at heart and, though Austin would always be home, we needed more. Maybe when Eric was dead, we could figure out what to do with ourselves. Eric had proven to be smarter than we’d all anticipated. We’d chased him through Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and now here we were in California, a year later. There’d been confrontations as we’d found him, but he always managed to sneak away like the cowardly shit that he was. His hidey holes were numerous and I was beginning to lose my patience. “Hang on!” Teeth chattering from the cold water, I looked over toward the sound as shock and hypothermia almost had me submerging underwater. A fucking angel on a surfboard was paddling furiously in my direction. The beach wasn’t too far away, but the current and waves here at Big Sur were known to be treacherous. Even with my newly acquired swimming skills I’d known it was going to be a trek getting back to land. Especially in my boots and jeans. She reached me in no time and I took her hand as she helped haul me up onto her board. I slumped over it, trying to catch my breath. “Thanks.” I eyed her clothes, leggings and an off the shoulder shirt that revealed silky skin. She hadn’t been planning on taking a dip. “I saw that guy side swipe you. Nearly swallowed my tongue when I saw you go over the guardrail.” My impending hypothermia was replaced with a growing warmth. My God she really was an angel, jumping in this freezing water for a stranger. Her smile dazzled me. Her blonde hair was wet and streaming down her back. Despite the cold water and the near death experience—not to mention the most heartbreaking thing of all, losing my bike—she was now the center of my entire focus. The fact that she’d just rushed into the ocean to help someone else was baffling to me. Were people really this selfless? “Good thing I had my very own guardian angel here to rescue me,” I told her with a grin. She laughed and shook her head. “Definitely not an angel.” “If not an angel, a siren,”