Mean Machine Read online

  Praise for Joanna Blake

  Couldn’t put it down. Can’t wait to see if Mason gets a story and how things turn out for the family.

  Amazon reviewer

  Love her stories and the suspense of wondering what will happen. You can get lost in this fantasy world of love, heartache and happy endings.

  Amazon reviewer

  Loved the way this author writes. Will continue to read her books. Love those military heros!

  Amazon reviewer

  Mean Machine

  Joanna Blake

  Contents

  Mean Machine

  Foreword

  TOC Instructions

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Six Months Later

  DARE ME

  Six Years Ago

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Epilogue

  TOC Instructions

  About the Author

  Acknowledgments

  Excerpt of Torpedo

  Excerpt of Torpedo

  Excerpt of Go Long

  Excerpt of Grind

  Excerpt of Bro’

  Excerpt of A Bad Boy For Summer

  TOC Instructions

  Mean Machine

  I swore off women years ago. I’m better off alone. Until the gorgeous single mom walks into my bar and changes everything.

  Everyone thought I was next in line to lead The Untouchables MC. That is, until a tragic accident takes my heart out of the game. I decided life was simpler on my own.

  Well, other than the strays I take in.

  I have a scruffy dog and two cats. I even had a teenage runaway under my roof before she up and married an FBI agent. But that’s another story.

  Now I’m all alone, running the biker bar I own and love.

  Hell, if the Mason Jar was a person, I’d marry it.

  When the gorgeous girl walks into my bar looking for a job, I’m inclined to say no. Not because I don’t want her around.

  Because I do.

  She’s been hurt but she’s still kind. She’s a good mom even though they’ve been through hard times. And she’s so beautiful she takes my breath away. She’s not put off by my gruff exterior either. She doesn’t judge me or the leather cut I wear.

  And her kid has me wrapped around her little finger.

  But is that enough to get her into my bed?

  After years alone, I’m ready to dust myself off and try again. But it’s more than just sex. She makes me believe in miracles.

  Now I’m just praying for the biggest miracle of all.

  Mean Machine is the first novel in my ALL NEW Untouchables MC series! Read closely--some of your favorite characters from Cuffed and other books might make cameos!

  Copyright © 2017 by Joanna Blake

  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.

  Created with Vellum

  For the General

  Foreword

  The Untouchables MC is a brand new series. Some of the characters may be familiar as many were introduced in my stand alone book Cuffed, but you do not have to read it to enjoy this new series!

  This edition contains the bonus book Dare Me for a limited time. Mean Machine will end before 100%!

  Enjoy!

  Xoxox,

  Joanna

  STOP!

  Please use the TOC (located in the upper left hand of your screen) to navigate this book. If you're zoomed out, please tap the center of the screen to ensure you are out of page flip mode.

  Thank you so much for understanding,

  Pincushion Press

  Prologue

  Mason

  “Boss? You slinging hash again today?”

  I glared at Shorty. Up at him, actually. Even though I was well over six feet tall, Shorty was even taller.

  I’d mentioned once that his name was ironic and he’d just looked at me with a blank expression. The man had no sense of humor, but he was a great short order cook.

  I even trusted him to watch over my chili, though he didn’t know the ingredients for the spicy secret sauce that we put on just about everything.

  Yeah, we kept things spicy at my place, the good old Mason Jar.

  He gave me a toothy grin, complete with the wooden toothpick he seemed to always have in his mouth.

  “Another one quit on you, or what?”

  I gave him a dirty look. I knew what was coming. I didn’t want to hear it.

  “Uh huh.”

  “She fell in love with you, huh?” He chuckled. “They all do.”

  “No, she didn’t. And before you ask, I never laid a hand on her.”

  He winked.

  “Oh, I know. That’s why they all fall in love with you, Boss.”

  “That’s ridiculous.”

  “Face it, Boss. You might live like a monk, but you do something crazy to the ladies. We haven’t had a waitress stick around longer than six months since Casey.”

  “It’s Cassie now.”

  He nodded, unperturbed. Cassandra was my kid, more or less. I’d found her on the street in the middle of a thunderstorm, so thin and lost that she’d broken my heart. I’d convinced her I wasn’t a creep and she’d come in out of the rain.

  One taste of my famous chili and she’d been hooked.

  The kid had nowhere to go. No family. She’d been in the foster system. I’d made sure she got her GED and had a roof over her head.

  She was a good kid. I loved her like a daughter, even though I was only fourteen years older than her. And now, not even a decade later, she had her own kid.

  Life was funny sometimes.

  DING

  Shorty was staring at me expectantly.

  “Order’s up, Boss.”

  I nodded and took the plates. They were hot and I hissed as they burned my fingers, adjusting my grip.

>   “It’s too bad. Suze was a good waitress.”

  I glared at him and walked back into the bar to distribute the chow. But his words stuck with me. So did the tearful scene from the night before.

  That was the worst thing about it. He was right. He was right about all of it. She had been a good waitress other than her inconvenient crush. She’d thrown herself at me for months. I’d ignored her, as I always did. I wasn’t even tempted for a nanosecond.

  But she’d cornered me late at night and I’d been forced to tell her the truth. I wasn’t interested in her and no amount of dolling herself up and bending over in front of me was going to change that.

  And then things got really crazy.

  She’d admitted that she loved me. That’s when the tears started. I’d told her I was sorry to hear that and I meant it. It wasn’t personal. She was a nice enough girl, though not my type.

  Not even back when I actually had a type.

  I hadn’t been with a woman in a long time and I meant to keep it that way. Women were nothing but trouble for a guy like me. I couldn’t risk it.

  After the first few years it hadn’t been so bad. I didn’t even get the itch. But try explaining that to a crying waitress. I got nowhere.

  So she’d quit. And now I was running this place and waiting tables.

  I should hire some male servers. That was the ticket.

  I glanced at the clock and groaned.

  The animals would be getting antsy. Usually I ran home around this time to feed them and walk the dog. My two cats even appreciated the visits, and not just for the food. They liked the extra head scratches they got. In fact, they demanded them.

  Morey had pissed in my boots one time when I couldn’t get back.

  I pulled out my phone and texted Connor. The bastard owed me. He’d corrupted my innocent little Cassie, all the way back before she’d told us her real name.

  Now he was the daddy to my goddaughter. He was family. And dammit, he was going to have to walk the dog.

  Chapter One

  Mason

  “No thank you, ma’am.”

  I turned away, finding something else to do that didn’t put me right in front of the cougar making eyes at me. She’d made me an indecent proposal when I delivered her drink. It wasn’t the first time, either.

  I was behind the bar, forcing Jaken to wait tables. He’d been my bartender for years and was a damn good one. But I was the boss and I was tired of running around like a chicken without it’s head.

  So I pulled rank.

  It was much more relaxing behind the bar. But there was just one problem. The women.

  My place used to be a biker bar. I’d eased it more into a rustic country road juke joint after the drama from last year. There’d been a murder in the parking lot, and Cass had gotten dragged into it.

  That’s how she’d met Connor, the bastard. It’s not that I didn’t like him, I did. But I didn’t want him to know it.

  Not after he’d fallen for my girl.

  Anyway, the place was much more mainstream these days. The bikers still came in, but not in droves. Now it was more of a colorful bar with damn good food. But try telling that to the ladies.

  They wanted bikers and they weren’t shy about asking for what they wanted.

  I was a biker, even though I wasn’t active in the club. I was a member for life, whether I liked it or not. Just wearing leather and having wheels was like catnip to these chicks. So, I spend a lot of time fending off advances. Some that were not too subtle.

  At the moment, it was a woman named Mag who was making eyes at me from the other end of the bar. I kept moving so she couldn’t get too close. I could tell she wanted someone to get rough with her, and that had never been my idea of a good time, even back in the day.

  I groaned, rubbing the back of my neck. I used to hide in my office if I got wind of a woman like Mag on the prowl. They were easy to spot, and Jaken warned me sometimes too. But until I hired more staff, that was going to be impossible.

  It was still early and destined to get worse. I served another round and snuck up the stairs in the back to get some peace and quiet. I sat heavily in my old leather desk chair. It had conformed to my body over the years and was super comfortable. Almost an easy chair.

  I’d even fallen asleep in it a couple of times.

  Okay, more than a couple.

  I had five minutes tops before I had to get back out to the floor. Jaken could run drinks and orders and man the bar for a little while. I closed my eyes and heaved a sigh of relief.

  Of course, someone knocked at the door almost right away.

  “Yeah?”

  I tried not to sound surly but I was. I was surly.

  “Boss? Someone here to see you.”

  “Who?”

  Jaken raised his eyebrows meaningfully.

  “Someone about the ad in the paper.”

  I sat up straight.

  “Okay.” Jaken turned to go but I waved him back. “Wait. Anything I should know? Does she seem crazy?”

  “Not even a little.”

  “Anything else?”

  He smiled.

  “Well, let’s just say that if this one falls in love with you too, you won’t be complaining. I’ll send her back.”

  I was still frowning over that last comment when I heard a soft rap at the door.

  “Come in.”

  The door opened and time stood still. I stared at the girl standing shyly in the entryway, my hand frozen in mid-air. Long auburn hair and hazel eyes in a heartbreakingly pretty face, with a sprinkle of freckles over the bridge of her dainty, slightly upturned nose.

  I wasn’t thinking coherently, so that was all I saw. Until she moved. I cleared my throat and gestured to the seat.

  “You can sit.”

  She nodded shyly and took the seat opposite my desk. I barely had time to register the threadbare coat and long legs encased in faded jeans. She was thin. Nervous. She clutched a handbag on her lap, holding on for dear life.

  Like her coat, the purse was beat up. But everything else about her was fresh as a daisy. Her shiny hair, her glowing skin.

  I wondered how old she was. Mid-twenties, I thought. A couple of years older than Cassie.

  Her clothes had seen better days but it only made her beauty more obvious. She was flawless. Neat as a pin. But it was the serious look in her eyes that took my breath away.

  This girl was not about to start professing her love for me or modifying her uniform to show off her feminine assets. She was too shy and she had too much dignity. Her eyes said it all.

  And the colors. Her eyes were a rich combination of green and gray and yellow. Not dark, like hazel tended to be. They were bright, lit up like the colors of mother nature in all her glory.

  They actually sparkled.

  “What’s your name?”

  “Shell. Michelle.”

  Her voice was soft and melodious. Sweet and feminine and alluring. It did something to me. Made me want to lean forward and hang on every word.

  The name suited her, I thought. Shells were delicate and pretty, like her. And she looked like she was the type to take long walks on the beach.

  I shook my head. I had to focus. She was pretty enough to be in one of those natural beauty commercials, but she was here for a job, not to be gawked at.

  “I’m Mason. This is my place.”

  She nodded earnestly and I felt my insides twist. I was already trying to figure out a way to let her down easy. I needed a waitress badly, but this girl was trouble. Not only was she too fragile looking for the rough crowd we got sometimes, but she would be a constant distraction to everyone who worked here.

  Especially me.

  Then again… Cass had handled it. She was a beautiful girl, too. And even a little younger when she worked here. Maybe it wasn’t fair to discount her, just because the girl seemed so shy.

  “Have you waited tables before?”

  Again, she nodded. Not one for talking then. M
aybe that wasn’t a bad thing.

  “What kinds of places?”

  “A couple of diners, a sports bar, and a chain place. You know, endless bread bowls”

  I smiled at that.

  “Are they really endless?”

  She bit her lip and shrugged. Obviously, my jokes were not landing. I felt like a damn fool, truth be told.

  I leaned back in my chair, feeling like my insides were all twisted up. I had to get rid of her. I’d scare her off, then I wouldn’t have to be mean. That would be best for everyone.

  “This place can get pretty rough sometimes. Especially late at night. Think you can handle it?”

  She nodded. This time I raised my eyebrows, encouraging her to answer me. She was making me nervous. I needed to know she could speak.