White Heat (Lost Kings MC 5)

“You gonna be my matron of honor, Hope?” she asks shyly.

“Yes! Oh my God. Are you sure you want me to? I don’t think I can do half the stuff you did for me. I’ll be terrible at it.”

She grins from ear to ear, leans over and hefts a giant, pink binder onto the table. “Don’t worry, I kept all sorts of notes for you.”

Z, Murphy and Teller all groan. “I am not going to any dress shops,” Murphy informs everyone.

Wrath’s staring at her in wonder. “This one was yours?” I guess he’s seen the pink one before.

“Yeah.” She tilts her head. “You told me it was happening one way or another, remember? Figured I should be prepared.”

“Fuck,” he mutters, yanking her onto his lap and kissing her in front of all of us.

“Well, all right then,” I say as I move back to my chair, because it doesn’t seem they’re going to part anytime soon.

Lilly returns to her chair, smiling at Z and I can’t wait to start poking them for information.

Rock pulls me into his lap before I sit down. “You’ll wait until we get back from our honeymoon, right?” he asks when Wrath and Trinity finally come up for air.

Wrath nods at the binder. “By the size of that book, there’s about two years of planning about to go down.”

Trinity giggles and rubs her hands together. “I’m envisioning lots of tuxedos.”

The guys groan and send Wrath a bunch of pleading looks. He glares at each of them. “Whatever my ol’ lady wants, she gets.” He glances at Trinity. “Except me, right? I’m not wearing a tux.”

We all break into laughter.

Reluctantly, I let Hope slide out of my lap and into her own chair so she can talk to Trinity, who moved next to her.

Murphy raises his glass of orange juice. “None of you fuckwits remembered to toast our prez and First Lady last night.”

A flash of guilt seems to plague both Wrath and Z. Teller just looks confused.

“We won’t be the same without you two living here. When the King and Queen are in love, the clubhouse is a castle,” Murphy says with a nod at us.

Hope sighs and we all knock our glasses together.

“To your new life of married, missionary sex,” Z says next.

Next to me, Hope snorts. “Says the guy with no wife.”

Lilly laughs and smacks Z’s arm. “Careful.”

Teller flashes a devious smile at Z. “Aren’t you the one who’s always saying Rock’s got her dick-whipped?”

It must be true, because Z sputters and reaches across the table to punch Teller’s arm.

Hope’s not at all offended. In fact, she’s laughing so hard, she falls against me and I wrap my arm around her. I lean down and press a kiss to her forehead. “Is that true?” I whisper.

She snorts and laughs harder. “Probably.”

“I think it works both ways.”

“That’s why I don’t mind,” she says with a solemn nod as she leans up and whispers in my ear. “Besides you know you can always have it any way you want it.”

Murphy drops down into the chair on my other side, interrupting me from answering her. “There was an incident last night,” he says in a low voice.

“Explain.”

“I may have knocked Bull out.”

I almost choke on my coffee.

“Hey, Murphy, stop trying to make out with Rock. He’s a married man now,” Z jokes. Lilly playfully taps his arm, and he grins at her.

Wrath lifts his head. “Yeah, share with the table.”

Murphy clenches his jaw and looks around the dining room. But only the eight of us are here. “I knocked Bull’s ass out last night,” he explains only slightly louder.

Z cracks up. Trinity flinches. Hope looks confused, probably because she has no idea who Bull is. Wrath narrows his eyes. “Why?”

Murphy’s gaze slides to Trinity. “He was being rude.”

“To who?” Wrath persists.

“To me,” Trinity answers. “And then he said some shit about Serena.”

Wrath’s face goes cold. “Where is he?”

Murphy shrugs. “Left him out back by the dumpster.”

Wrath seems satisfied with that and settles back in his chair, pulling Trinity’s closer.

I shrug. “Don’t sweat it, Murphy. If the asshole even remembers, I’ll handle it. You did good.”

“Thanks.”

Serena and Mariella bring out breakfast and end up joining us, which is…interesting.

“So how was the house, Hope?” Z asks.

“Wonderful. We still need to finish—”

“Nope.” Wrath cuts her off. “You got running water and a roof over your head. Jasper’s mine now.”

“Eager much?” I joke.

“You guys are moving out too?” Teller asks.

“Yup. Can’t stay here forever, little man.”

Z snickers. “We build a few more houses on the property, we’ll have a nice doomsday compound going.”

“Great we can end up on a cult watch list,” I grumble. I catch Wrath’s eye. “Did Stump stick around?”

“Nah, they rode back last night. I talked to him though. Fill you in later.”

Yeah, seems like all sorts of interesting shit went on yesterday. Guess we’ll have to sit down in the war room before Hope and I take off on our honeymoon.

“Did you two decide where you’re going for your honeymoon?” Lilly asks.

“Hawaii,” I answer.

Hope turns and stares at me. “We are?”

“That’s where you said you wanted to go.”

“Yeah, but then we never—”

She gasps as I pull her into my lap. “Surprise, Baby Doll.”

“Oh. Speaking of surprises, what did your husband think of the—” Trinity brushes her hand over her side.

“Hot. As. Fuck,” I answer.

“You’re welcome,” Wrath says and I raise an eyebrow. “Well, I set it up for her.”

“What the fuck are you guys talking about?” Murphy asks.

Hope leans back and moves to pull the waistband of her sweat pants down. I grab her hand to stop her. “I don’t think so. Mine.”

Trinity and Lilly can’t stop laughing. Finally Trinity explains.

Hope turns, wrapping her arms around my neck, staring into my eyes. Fuck, those pretty greens lured me in the day we met, and I haven’t escaped them yet. Don’t want to either. We’ve been through an awful lot since that day, but I think we’ve come out on the other side stronger than ever.

My hand strokes up and down her back. I love the feel of her against me.

She leans in and presses a kiss against my lips. “I’m so happy to finally be your wife. I love you more than anything, Rochlan.”

I’ll never tire of hearing those words from her lips. “And I love you, Mrs. North. I plan to work every day to give you the happy life you deserve and earn your love.”

NOTES FROM THE AUTHOR

Welcome to my author notes. If you’re taking the time to read this-thank you! I generally use these notes to talk about the story, the series and how much I love my readers.

I started working on White Heat way back when I was finishing up Strength From Loyalty. The idea of putting Rock in jail, just wouldn’t go away. And while the first three books were about Rock’s devotion to Hope and bringing her slowly into his world (which didn’t always go smoothly for him) I knew White Heat would be all about Hope’s strength and her loyalty to Rock throughout his ordeal.

I’m asked a lot if I’ll write more about Rock and Hope (apparently some readers feel their story isn’t quite complete yet?) The short answer is yes. The longer answer is this: I’ve discovered some readers really hate multiple books about the same couple. Given the success of series like Crossfire and many others, this surprised me a great deal. It also annoyed me greatly when some suggested the way I’ve written the Lost Kings was for monetary purposes. I can assure you, calculating the numbers of hours I put

into each book vs. what I’ve earned, leaves me working for pennies per hour. It’s best not to even think about the money stuff. There are things about this journey that are priceless to me, which I’ll get to in a minute.

I write the stories as they come to me. I write books I want to read. Last year I couldn’t find an MC Romance with a faithful hero who truly respected women, so I wrote one. Now, “romantic MCs” are popping up all over. I love each of the characters I’ve created dearly. Each book and every single word I’ve written about Rock and Hope’s story has meaning.

So yes, like it or not, I see more in store for Rock and Hope in the future. Probably not a full-length novel, but I’ll never say never. White Heat was supposed to be a novella. Hope and Rock are the catalyst for many things that happen in the Lost Kings world, so no matter what, they will always be a large part of the series. For me, I firmly believe a true love story never ends. But I’ll always be up front about who each book is about so you can decide for yourself whether you want to spend your hard-earned money on it.

Wrath and Trinity also deserve their own wedding book, don’t you think? It even has a name and I think I know what happens in it. Although given the direction I see the next two books going, I’m not sure timeline-wise where their wedding will fit in. But that’s future Autumn’s problem.

What about Murphy’s story?

Can I stop and say right here how much I love my #teammurphy and #teamaxel ladies? Some of the most heated discussions in our Lost Kings Ladies Facebook group are over who Heidi (and Axel!) should end up with. You have no idea what it means to me that Murphy and Axel have incited such a passionate response. That love (and hate!) for characters I’ve created is precious and priceless to me. A few of you have even embraced Mr. Lake’s #teamaxelandmurphy idea. Thanks for that. He mentions it often.

Murphy, Heidi and Axel’s book will be brutal. For me, not you. Well, maybe for you too. I think I know where it’s headed, but I want to take my time and tell the story right. It’s going to be a long one. Shocking, right?

The last fifteen months have been amazing. I’ve put out nine books in that time (you’re doing the math, aren’t you?) and it’s been a wonderful journey. It’s a journey I plan to continue for as long as you’ll allow me to.

2016 is already jam-packed which freaks me out. Some of you have asked about Mara and Damon’s story. It was something I wrote a long time ago and after a few rejections, I set it aside. I think I know what was wrong with Objection now, and I plan to work on that in early 2016. I also have a novella, Kickstart My Heart, releasing in the 80’s Mix Tape Anthology in February. If you’re a Lost Kings fan, there’s a special surprise waiting for you in it.

In April, I’ll be attending my first RT convention—I’m looking forward to meeting readers and hope it’s not too overwhelming. In June, I’ll be attending the Outlaw MC Author convention and I’m super-excited about it! In October I’ll be at the Glass City signing. I can’t wait to meet you!

One question I get asked a lot is how many more books I have planned for the series. This one is hard for me, because I love these characters and have lived with them for a while. Thinking of the end of the series isn’t easy. However, it’s also hard to invest myself—my time, energy, and money—without a return on my investment. So, I guess we’ll see. Right now, I have Murphy’s book started. Since it’s long, my editor and I have discussed it spanning two books. Z has had two short stories and I really think he deserves his own book. What I want to do for him is something I swore I’d never write, and I can’t wait! I think Teller deserves to have his story told too and I hope it becomes clearer to me as I move through the next two books. Dex and Ravage have also been chatty. And I know at least one person out there is itching for Sparky to have his own story. Of course I’m always interested in hearing what you want to read—so don’t be afraid to let me know!

As I said above, I also want to have a wedding novella for Wrath and Trinity and I have one other top-secret novella in mind. I live in fear that as quickly and vividly as these characters came to life in my head, they might disappear, so having a plan for them keeps me happy.

Finally, if you’ve made it this far, I want you to know how much I appreciate every reader who has purchased my books, written to me, left reviews, and told their friends about me. As an Indie author, I’m often overwhelmed by how much stuff there is to do. The support, love and kindness so many readers and authors have shown has been incredible. It’s what keeps me moving forward when life turns difficult—so thank you.