Iron Ride Cork-Back Coaster

A single-dad, enemies-to-lovers stand-alone romance from NYT and USA Today bestselling author A.L. Jackson about a jaded club owner and his son’s teacher...

Eden Murphy came into my club looking to make some extra cash.

A girl like her didn't belong in a place like this.

She'd get ripped to shreds.

Most likely by me.

There's nothing but sweetness dripping from her sexy little body, and I'm the monster who's salivating to get a taste.

Trent Lawson is the last man I should want.

Dark.

Dangerous.

So wickedly gorgeous he makes my knees weak.

He's also an arrogant jerk who happens to be my new boss.

When I discover his adorable son is also in my kindergarten class, I know I have to keep my distance.

But neither of us can ignore the attraction that flames.

One glance, and our hearts race.

One touch, and we’re aching for what we can’t have.

One night, and we’re falling fast.

Dragging her into my sordid world is wrong.

It doesn’t matter.

Eden Murphy is mine.

A close proximity, single-parent stand-alone romance from NYT and USA Today bestselling author A.L. Jackson about a woman on the run and the man who will do anything to save her...

Jud Lawson found me stranded in the rain.

Broken down on the side of the road in a deserted neighborhood with my piece of crap car.

I wasn’t looking for a hero, and definitely not one who looks like him.

An obscenely hot, mountain-of-a-man who screams danger.

But I have little choice other than climbing onto the back of his bike.

One look at Salem Aguilar, and I’m hooked.

The girl is devastation wrapped in a black, seductive bow.

A knockout.

A dream.

Turns out, she needs a job, and I need the help.

Now I have a vixen strutting around my shop, and I’m the fool who’s itching to reach out and take what he can’t have.

But neither of us can ignore the burning attraction.

The fire that leads to a kiss.

A kiss that has us falling into my bed.

The connection that has me wanting the one thing I’d never thought I could have again.

Because monsters like me don’t deserve love.

Only Salem has a secret, too.

She’s been running for years, and her past just caught up to us…

An enemies-to-lovers, small-town, second-chance romance from NYT and USA Today bestselling author A.L. Jackson

Logan Lawson won me in a bet.

The second I saw him sitting at the illegal card table, I knew I was in trouble.

Years ago, he sealed my fate and condemned me to a life I didn’t want to lead.

Yet he’s filled with untamed fury and thirsting for vengeance.

Aster Costa is everything I never should have wanted.

The second she showed, I should have gotten up and walked.

But there’s no looking away from the woman who wrecked me.

Worse, I can’t stop myself from plotting to get her back.

I want nothing more than to be free of my chains.

I’m afraid Logan Lawson is the only one who can make that happen.

He might hate me for our past, but now it’s me on my knees begging for help.

Finding each other in the middle of it wasn’t supposed to be part of the bargain.

But once Logan touches me, I’m gone.

A torch is rekindled. A fire is lit.

Aster Costa has always been mine.

And this time, no matter the cost, I won’t give her back…

I should know better than to let Tessa McDaniels pretend to be my fiancée.

I’m a dark, dangerous disaster who leaves destruction in his wake.

But when she offers to pretend to marry me to help me get my kids back, I can’t refuse. They are the one thing I have left to fight for.

Milo Hendricks found me at my lowest.

Battered and broken by my ex with no place to call home. When he insists I stay at his cabin with him, he sparks the feelings I’ve tried to suppress.

He’s only supposed to be my friend, but every time he comes in the room, he makes my knees weak.

This gorgeous, tatted, mountain-of-a-man who’s riddled with secrets.

Tessa is everything I crave but can’t have.

I shouldn’t touch her.

Shouldn’t make it real.

But she’s a red-headed flame I can’t resist, and I can’t help but take her to my bed.

Now we’re falling into an abyss of passion and need.

Loving her is easy.

Only we’re tied in ways we don’t know.

I’ll do anything to protect her, but it’s my past that might destroy her in the end…

It was just before ten when I eased my bike
into the packed parking lot at the front of the club.

Darkness had long descended on the small
city of Redemption Hills, California. The sky above was nothing but a blanket
of black. Against it, the neon lights gleamed and glowed from the two-story
building like beacons of debauchery, flashing over the slew of cars and bikes
lined in a row near the entrance.

I stopped at the front and planted my boots
on the ground so I could roll my bike back. Killing the rumbling engine, I
kicked the stand and swung off. The glow of club lights and the sound of heavy
music seeped through the thick block walls.

I lit a smoke and strode for the entrance,
my boots crunching on the loose gravel as I went.

“Mr. Lawson.” Kult dipped his head as I
approached.

Awareness rustled through the bodies
standing at the door to get inside as I advanced on the crowd.

“Kult,” I returned as I came up beside him.

“How are you tonight, Sir?”

“Still breathing.”

He chuckled. “All we can ask for, isn’t
it?”

Kult was a bouncer who’d been working for
me for the last four years. Intimidating as fuck. Loyal to the bone. Exactly
what was required.

Stamping out my cigarette with the toe of
my boot, I scanned the scene. “All quiet tonight?”

“So far, Sir,” Kult responded, his burly
frame forever on guard.

“Way I like it,” I said, gaze sweeping the
faces of those who’d turned to stare at me. Like every person there had taken
note of my presence. Every eye compelled to look my direction.

My father had always said respect wasn’t
earned, it was taken.

You had to own it.

Possess it.

As much as I’d despised the pig, he’d at
least had that one thing right.

Proof of it was in the way every person had
shifted. Now on edge. A shot of self-preservation injected into their
bloodstreams.

Like they’d felt the rumble of the earth
vibrating beneath the approach of my bike.

Felt the shift in the sordid, stagnant air.

I always found it ironic that they all
seemed desperate for the promise made by the blue neon sign hanging from the
front of the building.

Absolution.

Absolution from whatever sins they were
running from.

Absolution from any choices they might make
that night.

Absolution from feeling anything at all
except for pleasure.

Still, they gaped at me like even in the
midst of their thirst for indulgence, they felt wickedness in their presence.

They wouldn’t be wrong.

“At capacity?” I asked. There were at least
twenty people in line, but I made it a habit to know everything going down in
my club.

“Yes, Sir, since about nine.”

“Good.”

“Always is.” He cracked a bearded grin.

I lifted my chin in parting before I wound
behind him so I could slip through the double doors and into the dingy glow of
the bar. Music blared through the speakers and reverberated along the floors.
It set up the vibe in anticipation of the band that would be taking the stage in
about an hour.

Absolution was this cross between luxe and
dive.

Fuckin’ kick-ass bands and the best drinks
in the small, trendy mountain city that was tucked in the most northeastern
corner of California.

A biker bar that had the rest of Redemption
Hills flocking in droves for a chance to dip their toes into the danger they
could feel seeping from the walls and still be able to walk away from it in the
morning without feeling an ounce of guilt.

I edged deeper into the belly of my bar.

Place I’d built from the ground up with a
little help from my brothers.

My attention swept the enormous room. The lights
hanging from the cavernous ceiling were dimmed. Mood rowdy.

The bottom floor was surrounded by booths
that lined the walls, tables and couches in the open space, and the stage and
dance floor were to the far right.

The upper floor was home to pool tables and
a second bar, and it wrapped around like a horseshoe, creating a balcony that
was open in the middle to give a view of the stage.

I headed for the long matte black bar that
ran the far wall on the main floor.

The floating shelves on the back wall were
welded steel and glass, the rows of bottles running top to bottom cast in a
glow of blue neon lights.

I wound through the couples snuggled on the
couches and a few groups of college boys who were clearly out looking for a
taste of the wild side.

Sage was behind the bar. He lifted his chin
in welcome when he saw me coming. His dark tattoos looked like seething demons
writhing across his even darker skin. Dude looked about as menacing as they
came except for the grin that cracked his face.

“Yo, Trent. About time you decided to show
your lazy ass.”

He was all cocky smiles as he poured me my
regular. I slipped onto the stool in front of him, and he slid the glass my
direction.

I took it with a scoff, taking a sip of the
scotch and letting it soothe the disorder I couldn’t keep from raging inside.
Way it always did. Begging to break loose.

“You gonna write me up for being late?” I
razzed, quirking a brow.

Asshole loved acting the boss.

Considering he kept this place running when
I wasn’t around, he might as well be.

Sage laughed a sound that was pure pity. “That
would be a hard pass. Hard enough cleaning up your messes around here. You
really gonna ask me to take on more?”

I tipped my glass his direction. “Only one
I trust to do it.”

“Guess I need to start slacking then,
yeah?” he taunted with a grin.

“Hell, no. Place would be in shambles
without you. How is it looking tonight, anyway?”

He dried his hands on a towel. Sage was my
general manager, but the dude loved playing bartender. It put him front and
center. Where he could always keep an eye and an ear open. Be in the middle of
the mix. Blending in so the rest of the staff thought of him as one of their
own and let down their guard.

He always knew when something shady was
going down before anyone else.

Plus, he actually fuckin’ liked people, so
that was a thing.

“All’s good. Deliveries are complete and
accounted for. Safes are full. Numbers are on your desk. Band is in the back
ready to roll. All staff showed except for Laila. Shocker. Speaking of, there
is someone waiting on you for an interview. She refused to leave until she saw
you, if you want to know what you’re up against.”

His brown eyes played as he cracked a smirk
and gestured toward one of the booths running the left wall.

I let my attention wander there, to the
blonde who was sitting tucked in the booth sipping a Coke, looking so out of
place I could actually feel her discomfort all the way from where I was
sitting.

Frown taking hold, I swiveled my attention
back to Sage. “Are you kidding me? Who let her in?”

Fighting laughter, he shrugged. “I did.”

Annoyance left me on a sigh. “Should only
take a glance from you to know she doesn’t belong.”

Hell, she looked like raw meat set out for
wolves to devour. Weak and ripe for the kill. Girl would get torn to shreds in
a place like this.

Fact my dick jumped at the sight of her was
evidence enough.

“Besides, interviews are by appointment
only,” I added like he didn’t know the routine.

Sage lifted his hands to the side. “Hey,
man, don’t blame me. She sat there all pretty like in that booth and ordered
herself a drink. Paying customer and all. Of course, she’s been sitting there
since three, refusing to leave until she got to talk to the one in
charge, you know, since the bossman didn’t show for her interview that
had been scheduled for that time.”

“Shit,” I grumbled, scrubbing a hand over my
face. “Totally let it slip.”

Sage arched a sarcastic brow. “Really?”

“You could have handled it.”

“Went out there, and she flashed me a winning
smile and said please. What’s a gentleman to do? Besides, don’t want that
position, remember?”

Gentleman?

I scoffed and stood. “Fine. I’ll get rid of
her.”

I swiped my drink from the bar and started
her direction.

Girl sat facing out, her attention flitting
all over the place. Anxiety ripped from her and sent little shockwaves
pulsating through the air.

This tingly, nervous
energy that blistered and blew.

Inhaling
deep, I pinned on my most indifferent expression because fuck…I could scent it
like prey.

Goodness.

Vulnerability.

I
should send Kult over to toss her because I had the sense that I should tuck
tail and head the other direction. Stay as fucking far away from this girl as possible.

Knew
better than getting twisted in something like that. When a bad idea presented
itself? I usually found myself standing in front of it like I was on the
goddamn welcome committee.

And
there I was. Hit with an urge that had me itching to take a closer look. A
feeling I hadn’t felt in a long, long time.

To
dip my dirty fingers into something pure. Like maybe it could offer a second’s
reprieve from who I was.

But
did I stop?

Nah.

I was
drawn.

Moving
closer.

Thing
was, didn’t think I’d ever seen anyone so uniquely plain or indecently stunning
before.

Her nose was probably a little too big and
the contours of her face a little too sharp for her to fit into that perfect
formula for beauty. Thick, blonde hair was parted in the middle, and it was
curled in these fat waves that rolled over her shoulders, like the style hailed
from another day.

Her chin was shaped like a heart and her
mouth was a tiny pink bow written in an innocence so sweet I had to think there
was a chance it’d never been devoured before.

Came to the quick conclusion it was the sum
of them that made her striking.

This stoic sort of beauty that could bring
a wicked man to his knees.

She felt me coming the way everyone else
did. A frisson slaked through the air as I made my way to her. She looked up.
Eyes the color of November took me in. A kaleidoscope of browns and greens,
yellows and reds. Fallen leaves that sparked and shimmered beneath the muted
light and sent another shiver racing for my dick.

Her stare ran down my body like she was
cataloguing everything she could about me.

First and foremost, fear.

Danger.

Distrust.

Good girl.

Problem was the way something else struck
in the space between us. Something palpable yet imperceptible.

I saw the evidence of it prickle across the
surface of her flesh.

Chills that ran wild.

Motherfuck.

She brought her shoulders up high like she
could protect herself from it, all while lifting her chin in a show of
confidence that made a smirk tick up at the corner of my mouth.

Nothing but a ferocious little kitten.

I slipped into the booth opposite her. As
casual as could be, I slung an arm over the back and kept my other hand wrapped
around the glass that I set on the table.

Before I had a chance to say anything, she
asked, “You’re the owner?”

Her voice was this breathy, seductive
thing, and shit…

“Yes,” I gritted.

She shoved her hand out across the table. “Hello.
I’m Eden Murphy. I’m really grateful for the opportunity to meet you.”

Yeah, well I wasn’t so keen on meeting her
because I was overcome with a severe bout of insta-lust. Kind that had my
fingers twitching and the tiny spec of a conscience I still possessed telling
me to stay the fuck away from the sweetness that was fillin’ my nostrils like a
drug.

My own sixth sense.

Because to a guy like me? It was the light
that was the danger. Thing that left me vulnerable. Put me at risk.

I just glared at her dainty little hand
like all it had to offer was a viper bite before I cocked my head and bit out
the reply, “Trent Lawson, and I’m sorry to waste your time, sweetheart, but we
aren’t hiring servers.”

I started to get the fuck out of there when
her voice hit me again. “Um…wait…what?”

Could feel her confused dejection floating
around me.

Gripping on.

Talons digging into my skin and dragging me
back.

Words started to flood out from behind. “It
said you were hiring in the job ad, and I had an interview at three o’clock
today. I’m qualified. I worked at a café all through high school and at a
coffee bar during college.”

“You and everyone else, sunshine,” I tossed
out without glancing back because looking at her had become a dangerous thing.

This chick with the autumn eyes and the
thrumming heart.

“Please, I’d appreciate you at least
talking to me.” Agitation bound her words as I kept moving away. Then they
flooded with panic. “I’m qualified and I’m fast…and…and I’ve danced my entire
life.”

I whipped my head around fast enough to
witness her delicate throat tremor when she said it, like maybe she could
swallow back up the words after she’d released them.

I chuckled a dark sound.

Was she serious?

I sank back into the booth, no clue where this
girl thought she was going with this, but some sick part of me liked the idea
entirely too much.

“So, tell me about this dancing, Kitten,
that you’ve done your whole life.”

She flinched, her delicate throat bobbing
when she swallowed, the words hard when she pushed them out.

“I’ve done ballet since I was a child,” she
said. “Now I teach classes to children.”

A rough chuckle scraped from my throat.
“Ballet?”

“Yes. I can demonstrate, if you like?” A
clear challenge tilted her head to the side when she said it.

Hard laughter slipped free, and I took a
sip of my scotch, raked my teeth on my bottom lip as I sank back farther to
take her in.

“What I want to know is how dancing has
anything to do with you gettin’ hired as a server here? This look like a strip
club to you?”

“No. I just…I thought it might…” She trailed
off, chewing at her bottom lip.

Hiking a brow, I blatantly let my gaze rake
over the bits of her I could see from over the top of the table. Girl was
wearing a fucking baby-blue blouse that she had buttoned to the base of her
throat, a suit jacket over the top like she was applying to be a teller down at
the local bank.

Hot as fuck, but not even close to fittin’
in around here, though I got the sense she was trying to convince me that
wasn’t the case.

Nah, we might not have dancers, but it was
no secret our servers weren’t shy to tempt imaginations. To tease minds into
desire with bits of flesh rather than showcasing everything hidden underneath.

Untouchable where they roamed like fallen
angels through the raving pack.

Girl sitting across from me might be an
angel, but not the kind who owned these floors.

The scrape of my laugh was like razors.
“Sorry, Kitten, know exactly what you’re sayin’. Think it’s safe to say you
don’t quite fit the bill.”

The offense that flashed through her
expression almost overrode the desperation. “And what exactly is that supposed
to mean?”

Pushing to standing, I moved over to plant
my hands on the table and leaned her way.

I was slammed with another shockwave of
energy.

That fear and distrust.

But this time, the other piece was
unmistakable—stark, terrified attraction.

My mouth moved close to her ear. “It means
you’d get eaten alive.”

Most likely by me.

Shivers raced her spine.

I felt them.

Her nerves ricocheting against mine.

Had to restrain myself from leaning in and licking
her jaw.

Because fuck, I wanted a taste for myself.

I edged back an inch, figuring she’d slip
out in the bare space and run the hell to safety.

But no.

Not this girl.

She lifted that defiant chin again. “I’m
far less fragile than you think.”

I inhaled her honeyed scent. Had to force
myself to be a good little boy considering I was dying to test that theory.
“Believe me, sweetheart, I’m doing you a favor. Girls like you don’t belong in
a place like this. Now go home and lock your door behind you before you regret
walking through my door.”

“Are you always so condescending to the women
who apply here?”

Desire and disdain.

They seeped from her skin.

This time, I let my nose run the edge of
her ear as I murmured, “Only the ones who look like you.”

I pushed back and started to walk, only to
freeze. Struck by the bolt of lightning that speared through my body when her
hand wrapped around my wrist.

She gasped like she’d felt it, too. Then she gritted, “I don’t need your
protection, Mr. Lawson. What I need is this job.”