Read Online Grounds for Divorce by Helena Maeve - Free Book Online

supposed to be home. Probably forgot her homework. It wouldn’t be the first time. Tamra had inherited her mother’s rattlebrain—and thankfully not much else.
    “Mom? Everything okay?” Tamra glanced from her to Booker and back. “I thought you were at Zach’s…”
    Shit . Guilt stung like a swarm of vicious hornets. “Um—”
    “Your mom had some car trouble,” Booker said, plucking off his sunglasses. “I was giving her a ride home.” He wasn’t lying. The Mercedes had refused to start in the morning, its battery dead.
    Yet even with his best, most convincing, ‘trust me I’m one of the good guys’ smiles on, Booker still looked like bad news. The ink on his arms and the scar on his face gave away a whole history in a single glance.
    Tamra folded her arms across her chest. “Uh-huh.”
    The pang of regret in Kayla’s chest became a wrecking ball swinging between her lungs. “Sweetie, it’s okay. I’ll be right in.” She hadn’t meant for Tamra to find out about Booker like this. She hadn’t meant for Booker to find out about her kid, either.
    She should have known by now that her best laid plans had a way of falling apart.
    “You,” Tamra said in a mock whisper, “are in so much trouble.” The screen door slammed shut in her wake.
    Kayla winced, clutching Booker’s helmet to her chest.
    “She doesn’t approve,” he observed.
    “It’s not that.” There were no two ways about it. Secrets clearly didn’t work for Kayla. “I told her to stay away from the Hell Hounds,” she confessed, turning to face him.
    “Smart mom.”
    Kayla looked down at herself, her pajama bottoms, her unlaced sneakers. “Hypocritical mom.” It wasn’t the first time she’d screwed up the parenting gig and it wouldn’t be the last, but it ranked up there with missing school bake sales because she had to run from one job to the next or forgetting Tamra at her grandmother’s house.
    She met Booker’s gaze with some effort. She shouldn’t have feared his judgment.
    “You didn’t mention you had a kid.”
    The night they’d met at the Grounds , Tamra had already been asleep by the time Kayla had got home. Even the revving of motorcycles hadn’t woken her.
    “Does it make me more or less attractive?” Kayla wondered, a tepid smile climbing to her lips. “Don’t answer that.”
    Booker didn’t attempt to. “How old is she?”
    “Sixteen. I had her young.” And stupid, obviously, or we wouldn’t be having this conversation . For a little while this morning, she’d almost deluded herself into thinking something good could come of her messed-up choices. “Sorry.” Kayla sighed, waving a hand. “I should head inside, make sure she eats before she leaves…”
    “When can I see you?”
    The question caught her by surprise—so much so that no clever quip was immediately forthcoming. “Oh. I have to work tonight. And I shouldn’t make a habit of leaving Tamra—”
    “Doesn’t have to be the whole night.”
    “I can swing by after my shift?”
    Booker’s lips arced into a slow, delighted smile. “I can work with that.”
    “Okay.”
    “Good.” He slid his glasses back on and revved the Harley. “Go get your ass chewed out, hot mama. You’ve earned it.”
    “Bite me,” Kayla shot back, tempted to flip him off but not so eager to let her daughter see. She didn’t have to look to know that Tamra was watching them from the kitchen window.
    She made no move to hide it when Kayla entered. “So…no more Zach?”
    “You don’t seem too torn up about that.”
    Tamra shrugged, crunching through a spoonful of milk-sodden cereal. “Eh, Zach’s annoying.”
    Kayla couldn’t disagree. She didn’t want to think about the evening ahead. Working with Zach was difficult enough when they weren’t at odds. He wouldn’t take kindly to being thrown over for another man.
    “And he doesn’t have a bike,” Tamra added meditatively.
    A spark of dread kindled in Kayla’s chest. She turned with the