Zenone Read online

  

  Kinky Saints MC 5

  Zenone

  [Siren Classic BDSM: BDSM, DD/lg, contemporary, small town, motorcycles, MF, HEA]

  On the run from her abusive ex, newly divorced Willow Lynch isn’t sure which way is up. Arriving in Texas, she has no plan except to hide and heal and try to figure out her next step. The last thing she expects is to be rescued by newly retired Navy SEAL Zenone Santi and the Kinky Saints MC.

  Newly retired from the Navy, Zeno is returning home after spending twenty-two years traveling the world and looking for his own Little girl. Then he meets a woman who intrigues him more than he wanted to admit. Deducing Willow is Little is only the first step in claiming her as his own Little girl.

  But is she really a Little? Will she allow him to be not only her Dominant, but also her Daddy? Will Nonna leave them alone long enough to see if they are as compatible between the sheets as they are out of them?

  Length: 24,000 words

  ZENONE

  Kinky Saints MC 5

  Cooper McKenzie

  

  Siren Publishing, Inc.

  www.SirenPublishing.com

  A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK

  Zenone

  Copyright © 2020 by Cooper McKenzie

  ISBN: 978-1-64637-132-7

  First Publication: April 2020

  Cover design by Siren Publishing

  All art and logo copyright © 2020 by Siren Publishing, Inc.

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: This literary work may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without express written permission.

  All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.

  WARNING: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.

  If you find a Siren-BookStrand e-book or print book being sold or shared illegally, please let us know at [email protected]

  PUBLISHER

  Siren Publishing, Inc.

  www.SirenPublishing.com

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Cooper McKenzie always thought she had been born a hundred years too late, though she appreciates air conditioning, computers, and other conveniences of modern-day life. She lives in central Texas with her mixed breed companion, Honey, the Princess Fuzzybutt.

  For all titles by Cooper McKenzie, please visit

  www.bookstrand.com/Cooper-McKenzie

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  ZENONE

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  ZENONE

  Kinky Saints MC 5

  COOPER MCKENZIE

  Copyright © 2020

  Chapter One

  Approaching a square table for four at the edge of the restaurant’s seating area, Willow Lynch ignored the “Reserved for Customers Only” sign and sat down. She opened her carryall and pulled out the peanut butter sandwich she’d made and cut into triangles just before leaving the shelter for the airport. Carefully pulling the bread apart, she opened the bag of gummy bears Micah, the little boy who had slept on the cot next to hers, had given her the night before.

  She carefully laid the bears out on the bread, making sure each triangle received an equal number of pieces. After pressing the candy into the spread, she replaced the four top breads, then returned three to the sandwich bag. Picking up the fourth triangle, she bit into a corner and began to chew.

  “Mmmm,” Willow hummed as she did a little happy dance in her seat.

  Just the thing to help soothe the nerves that were growing more jangly the closer it got to time to board the airplane. She’d never flown before.

  She wouldn’t be able to say that by the end of the day. By nightfall, she would have taken her first airplane trip to Austin, Texas. She’d always wanted to visit Texas, and now that she had escaped the hell she’d lived in for the past seven years, she would not only be visiting, she planned to start her new life there.

  As long as she was far, far away before Justin received the finalized divorce papers that were to be delivered by a sheriff’s deputy this afternoon. Then she had no doubt he’d come looking for her. But he wouldn’t find her. With help of friends she had never met, she had bought her plane ticket, and spent the night before in the women’s shelter and was now on her way halfway across the country to start her life over again.

  When the chair to her left moved, Willow jumped and winced as various bruised places on her body protested the sudden movement. At the same time, she protectively grabbed the handle of her carryon. Everything she owned in the world was inside the suitcase and carryon. Turning her head, she watched a tall, well-built man pull the chair even further from the table. He held a paper coffee cup in his free hand. After setting the cup on the table, he shrugged out of his backpack and sat down.

  Willow looked around, confirming that more than half of the dozen or so tables around her were empty. So, why had this man decided to sit with her?

  By the time she turned her confused gaze back to him, he was fully settled and sipping at his cup with his forearms resting on the edge of the table.

  It took two unobtrusive sniffs before she realized he wasn’t drinking coffee, but hot chocolate. It smelled good, but her budget did not allow her to have anything more than the water from the bathroom sink that filled her purple travel bottle. She’d brought a sandwich with her as well as some cracker, cookie, and gummy bear snack packs the shelter director had given her to snack on during the trip.

  She hoped she’d be able to afford a burger and fries once she arrived in Texas, though she still had no idea exactly where she would be staying once she left the airport.

  But she would figure something out. She always did. Juggling and tap-dancing from chaos to tragedy had become a talent, though not one she could put on her resume.

  “What kind of sandwich is that you’re eating?” the man asked, pulling her away from the sad thoughts of only having herself to depend upon.

  “Excuse me?” she asked, picking up the second quarter of the sandwich and smooshing it between her palms before she took a small bite with no candy in it.

  “What kind of sandwich is that?”

  She hesitated only a moment as she looked from the small triangle in her hand to the big, beautiful man. Tall, dark and yummy was the only description she could come up with. He looked interested and didn’t seem to be just making polite conversation.

  “Peanut butter and gummy bears,” she said before taking a bigger bite and concentrating on chewing as she watched the man’s reaction.

  He blinked.

  Then he frowned.

  And then he raised one eyebrow.

  “Peanut butter and gummy bear,” he whispered to himself before he asked, “Is it good?”

  She nodded enthusiastically as she swallowed the last bite. She laid the crusts on the paper napkin she had laid out as a plate to be thrown away later. “Oh, yes. It’s one of my favorite sandwiches.”

  Taking out the third quarter which she laid on the napkin, she offered him the plastic bag. “Here, try for yourself.”

  The man looked more than a little skeptical as he took the bag and fished the triangular sandwich out. He turned it one way and the other, studying it as if it were a bomb about to explode.

  “Cheers,” she said as she lifted hers in a toast.

  With a small smile, he touched his sandwich to hers before taking a bite which made half the sandwich disappear.

  Then he started to chew. And chew. And chew some more.

  Willow giggled at his expression when he finally swallowed then took a long drink from his cup.

  “So?” she asked as he carefully tucked the rest of his quarter back into the plastic bag and laid it aside. “You didn’t like it, did you?”

  He cleared his throat and looked at the remainder. “Well, umm, it just wasn’t to my taste. I prefer raisins, bananas, or mandarin oranges with my peanut butter.”

  Her eyes grew wide as she thought about his combinations. “Mandarin oranges? In a peanut butter sandwich? I’ll have to try that. I’ve only put those in a fruit salad for Christmas parties.”

  “So, Little girl, where are you headed?” he asked, obviously ready to change the subject away from food.

  Her eyes went wide at his “Little girl” comment. Could he tell? Was it that obvious? She’d tried so hard to not act like a Little, even if all she wanted was to curl up and cry. It had been a long, long year and she had not been able to indulge her Little side nearly as often as she needed. Once she was settled in Texas, she would spend at least one day a week doing things that made her Little side happy.

  Looking down at herself, she knew she didn’t look little. She’d worn new plain black leggings with a long, oversized plum-colored shirt that didn’t have any writing or puppies or cartoon characters on the front. She’d even worn plain black ankle boots. Sadly, she’d left her ladybug wellies and canvas sneakers with rainbows and unicorns painted on them behind to save space.

  Her hair was loose instead of tied up in the pigtails or braid she usually wore when in
Little space. So, how did he know?

  “I’m … um … relocating to Texas,” she whispered as she blinked several times to keep the tears that threatened from falling. The last thing she wanted was to be a crybaby in the middle of the airport.

  “Where in Texas?”

  She hesitated a moment to debate. She didn’t know this man. Could Justin have sent him to follow her? Or worse? He didn’t look like the greasy, mean men that her now-ex usually hung out with.

  “The Austin area,” she said, hoping he didn’t ask anything further. “Where are you traveling to?”

  “I’m actually headed home to Austin,” he said, seeming just as cryptic.

  “Are you scared about flying?” Willow leaned over the table and whispered, “Because I don’t know if I should be scared or not. I’ve never flown before.”

  She blinked back sudden tears that came out of nowhere. This was one of those times when she wished she had a Daddy. Or a manfriend. Or someone else who would take the stress, pressure, and worry off her shoulders. Stress had never been her friend.

  She couldn’t understand why she was confiding in this man who, though he looked like the Daddy of her dreams come to life, was still a stranger. She didn’t even know his name.

  She knew he was tall, with broad shoulders and from what she could see, a very well-developed, fit body. The flecks of silver in the black hair at his temples and liberally threaded through his beard said he was older, but then, to her thirty-two years, most everyone looked older to her.

  His deep brown eyes seemed soft and kind, so she wondered if he was as old as she’d first thought, or was just going gray at a young age. Then he smiled and the lines around his eyes crinkled and she really wasn’t sure of anything. But his smile made her feel warm and happy.

  “No, Little one, there’s nothing to be afraid of. We’ll get on the plane and in a few hours, we’ll get off in Austin. Do you have a book to read or something to do on the flight?”

  She nodded quickly. “I have a book in my bag. And a notebook to write in about my adventure.”

  The man looked at the plastic bag in front of her with the small bag of snacks. “You have snacks, though you probably should have something more substantial to eat, and the airline will offer free water or juice or soda, so it looks like you’re all set.”

  The man reached across the table and patted her hand. Willow sucked in a breath at the shock of electricity that flashed between his palm to where he touched her arm. Her eyes widened as her entire body grew warm.

  What was this instant connection she felt to this stranger?

  When a voice on the loudspeaker announced their flight was boarding, Willow quickly collected her trash and threw it away before looking at the man.

  “Thank you,” she said with a smile.

  “You’re very welcome, kitten. If you need anything once you get to Texas, call Saints Bar and Grill in Georgetown and ask for Zeno Santi. Someone will know how to get in touch with me.”

  Willow nodded, though she knew she would never ask for help from this man. He probably had a wife and five children waiting for his return and the last thing he needed was a scared, overwhelmed woman asking for help.

  She just hoped she could figure things out before she ended up sleeping under a bridge somewhere in Texas.

  Chapter Two

  Zeno Santi stepped off the plane with a sigh. He was home and had no plans to leave Texas any time soon. Now, he just had to figure out what he was going to do with the rest of his life. At forty-one, and with grandparents still alive in their nineties, he had a good fifty or sixty years in him. And now that bad guys were no longer shooting at him, his chances of surviving those years had gone up exponentially.

  He took a deep breath and sighed again as he walked out of the jetway into the Austin airport following the rest of the passengers from his flight.

  He had lost track of the pretty Little girl who had generously shared her sandwich, which was sad. He would have enjoyed watching her reaction to flying for the first time. He would also like to see her try a peanut butter and mandarin orange sandwich for the first time. He had a feeling it would have been just as free-spirited as the chair dance that had drawn him to her earlier.

  After three days of traveling from the other side of the world, Zeno hoped one of his cousins would be waiting out front for him as he’d requested. He did not want to have to find alternate transportation, or wait the hour or so it would take for someone to drive down from the compound.

  Looking up the jetway to the terminal, he frowned. From her slumped shoulders and slow pace, the petite woman directly in front of him appeared nearly as tired as he felt. She had pulled her hair up into a ponytail, and had put a sweater on over her T-shirt, but it was the sweet Little girl who liked candy in her sandwich.

  Zeno watched as the woman stumbled. He winced when she landed on her knees. Once on the ground, she dropped her head forward and muttered a curse as her small purple rolling suitcase fell over, and the carryall that had been riding on top spilled its contents across the concourse.

  Stopping beside her, Zeno knelt, concerned when she didn’t pop up and act all embarrassed as most women would when faced with such a situation.

  “Are you all right?” he asked gently. His heart stuttered in his chest when she turned her head until her gaze met his.

  Her deep purple eyes that now stared into his with weariness and pain had sparkled with life and happiness at a peanut butter and candy sandwich just a few hours ago.

  She forced a smile before answering quickly, “I’m fine.”

  But she continued to kneel there in the center of the wide concourse as other travelers moved around them with a frown and negative comment.

  Zeno’s frown deepened at what was clearly a lie. “Let’s get you up and out of the traffic flow before we both get run over.”

  Instead of standing, she began crawling around, gathering her things, which she tossed back into her carryall. “Thank you for stopping, but I’ll be fine. I don’t want to hold you up.”

  He continued to watch her, and didn’t miss the tear that rolled down her left cheek. It dropped to her thigh and immediately soaked into the fabric of her leggings. She fumbled as she finished loading her things back into her carryall, this time zipping the top closed. Standing her small suitcase up, she paused for a moment, as if too tired to rise.

  Zeno stood up then slipped his hands under her arms and easily lifted her to her feet. She was a little thing, and those big, sad purple eyes pulled at his heart. He hoped she planned to stay in the Austin area and wasn’t driving somewhere else tonight.

  When she hissed another curse and shifted her weight to her left foot, he wondered how far he could take helping her before security descended upon them. Leaving her standing on her own, he grabbed her suitcase and carryall and carried them, as well as his backpack, to an empty chair closest to them. A moment later, he returned and swept the woman into his arms.

  “What are you doing?” she whispered as she stiffened in his arms.

  He didn’t answer. After twenty-three years of acting on instincts which had saved his and his men’s asses on countless occasions, Zeno trusted his gut. And his gut screamed this was the woman he had been looking for and he needed to keep her close.

  All he had to do was convince her that they were meant to be together. “Shhhh, kitten. I’m just here to help,” he said.

  He carried her from the center of the concourse, setting her down on the empty seat where their bags waited. Kneeling in front of her, he ran his hand down her lower leg to her ankle. He watched her face as he gently manipulated her foot. It wasn’t broken, but she had wrenched it good.

  “I’ll be fine,” she insisted again as she flinched before trying to pull her leg from his grasp. “Please, you don’t need to worry about me.”

  He met her gaze squarely, and watched her pale under his stern expression. “But I want to worry about you. I want to worry about you for the next forty or fifty years of our lives. Now stop arguing and let me help you.”