Blazing Hot Bad Boys Boxed Set - A MC Romance Bundle

by Glass, Evelyn

  “No. Nothing like that. Call it a feeling. Woman’s intuition. Whatever.”

  “So are you going to sleep with him?”

  “Didn’t we already have this conversation?” Rose asks, her tone playful.

  “Yeah, but that was before you had dinner and a goodnight kiss.”

  “Well, nothing has changed.”

  Melina looks at Rose a moment. “Why? Is there someone else?”

  “No. There is no one else. But…”

  “Then why?” Melina presses. “He is even better looking now than before. And you two were so hot for each other.”

  “Because, Melina…” Rose begins, then falters, unsure of what to say.

  “Because why?”

  “I don’t know. Just because,” Rose grumbles. Maybe talking to Melina about this wasn’t such a good idea after all.

  “Okay. Your loss. But if I were in your shoes, I would jump his bones... in the good way,” Melina says, then giggles.

  “When did you get to be so sex crazed?” Rose demands playfully.

  “When you get used to having it four or five times a week, you…” Melina says before her smile fades and she grinds to a stop.

  “Melina… I’m sorry. I didn’t mean anything…”

  “I know, Rose. But I just realized that I will never have that feeling again. That…”

  “Melina!” Rose exclaims. “Don’t say stuff like that! You just need some time, okay? You’re a beautiful woman with two adorable children. Just give yourself some time and some guy will fall all over himself for you!”

  “I don’t know, Rose. I’m almost thirty. I have two kids. I don’t…”

  “You cut that shit out right now!” Rose says sharply. “I mean it, Melina. You’re hurting right now, I understand that. But don’t do this to yourself, okay? I know you are missing Tim. I know it is going to take some time to get over your loss. But don’t give up on life, Melina. You’re too young for that.”

  Melina looks at Rose for a moment. “I just feel so alone right now. If it weren’t for you I would be going crazy.”

  “That’s understandable. You and Tim were together for, what, eleven years? Twelve? That’s a lot of memories. Memories for you to treasure. But there is more to life than just memories, Melina. The heart isn’t a box that fills up—it expands. There is room in your heart for Tim and someone else too.”

  “I don’t think I will ever love anyone else. Not the way I do Tim.”

  “Maybe not. But you may find someone else that you love just as much, but differently. And he will love you too. Melina, trust me. Life goes on. I know it isn’t the same as your loss, but when Joseph and I broke up I thought at first I would never recover… but I did.”

  Melina looks at Rose and smiles sadly. “We’ll see. But in the meantime, I can live vicariously through you. So are you going to see him again?”

  “I don’t know. I doubt it. Not the way you mean.”

  “Your loss,” Melina says, her smile partially returning.

  “Well, if I change my mind, you will be the first to know.”

  “I’m going to hold you to that!”

  “Yes, I’m sure you will,” Rose says with dramatic sigh.

  CHAPTER NINE

  When Rose arrives at the Goose the next day the restaurant is busier than normal for lunch, mostly due to the tables occupied by the Nines. She catches Joseph’s eye but he doesn’t acknowledge her except for a nod in her direction.

  She stops by her office, tossing her mail on the desk for later and Joseph’s mail into his plastic box. It really is no bother to pick up his mail and she wonders if maybe she shouldn’t just keep the current arrangement going. Deciding that idea will require some additional thought, she locks her purse in her desk, makes a quick check on the crew, then mingles with the customers.

  “Rose!” the Nines cheer as she stops by their tables.

  “Afternoon, everyone. Everything okay today? Can I get anyone anything?” she asks.

  “Excellent as always,” a man with skin the color of creamed coffee says.

  “That’s good to hear. If you need anything, just ask for me.”

  She starts to step away, but then turns back. “May I sit down for a moment?”

  “Of course,” one of the Nines says.

  “I was talking with Joseph last night and…” Rose begins, then pauses as the group directs lascivious noises to Joseph, making them both blush. “As I was saying, I was talking to Joseph and he was telling me how the Nines live off the grid. Do all of you live like that? I’m just curious.”

  The group looks at one another, and then the coffee-skinned man begins to speak. “To one degree or another, yes. I think Joseph is the most hard core, but speaking for myself, I’m cutting my ties one at a time. The first to go was my credit cards.”

  “Why is that?”

  “Has Joseph ever shown you the information he can get on you?”

  “No. Is it a lot?”

  “It is scary. There are services whose entire business revolves around collecting data about you and selling it to others. Nothing nefarious, just targeted marketing. But you know if a private company has the information, the government has it too, and a whole lot more. Anyway, when I was thinking about joining the Nines, Joseph bought my information. I was shocked. They had my annual salary to within two thousand dollars. They knew what cars I drove. They knew where I lived. They knew how much I paid in taxes, where I shopped, what I bought. As Joseph is fond of saying, they almost knew what I had for breakfast that morning. It was a real eye opener for me.”

  “How long have you been a member of the Nines?”

  “About four years now.”

  “And you enjoy it? Living off the grid?”

  “It’s hard sometimes. But you get used to it. I’ve learned to write letters again.”

  Rose grins. “All of you look like such normal people too.”

  A rumble of laughter circulates around the table. “Don’t let outward appearances fool you,” a woman says with a grin. “Actually, I think we are normal. Let me ask you something. Do you want people poking into every aspect of your life?”

  “No. Of course not,” Rose says.

  “Do you consider that to be normal?”

  “Yes. I’m sure most people are like that.”

  “Then I would say we’re normal people. The difference is, the Nines are doing something about it.”

  “What does that mean, anyway? The Nine Devils. Joseph said it has meaning to you.”

  No one says anything for a moment. “It is the nine things we consider to be the biggest intrusion into personal freedom,” Joseph says.

  “And those are?” Rose prompts.

  “Affirmative Action, Eminent Domain, Gun Control, Public Education, Regulation, Social Security, Taxes, Universal Health Care, and Welfare,” Joseph says, ticking each item off on his fingers.

  “Wait a minute! You’re against having everyone treated equally?”

  “When did I say that?” Joseph asks, his voice calm.

  “You said Affirmative Action is an intrusion on personal freedoms.”

  “That’s right. And what does that have to do with people being treated fairly? By its very definition, choosing one person over another based on the color of their skin is unfair. Where perhaps the original the intent of the order was to prevent discrimination, it has become the tool for race-based quotas.”

  “But that’s what Affirmative Action is supposed to prevent.”

  “And the equal protection clause of the fourteenth amendment isn’t enough?”

  That gives Rose pause. “I’m embarrassed to admit this, but I don’t know what that is.”

  “It basically means that all citizens have the same rights under the laws. It doesn’t say all white citizens, or all black citizens, or anything like that. It says all citizens.”

  “So all those things you listed, the Welfare and such, you think that is what is wrong with America.”

 
“Among other things,” Joseph says. “Anything that creates a dependence, like welfare, can’t be a good thing, do you think?”

  “So you don’t want to help the less fortunate?”

  “I didn’t say that either. But if you are dependent on me giving you something, what happens when I no longer can, or no longer wish, to give it to you? But if you work for it and earn the item in a fair exchange, then withholding the item would be a breach of contract and I can be held accountable.”

  Rose waves it off, not wanting to get sucked into a political discussion that she probably can’t win. Joseph has obviously given this far more thought than she has… and maybe that is what Melina was trying to tell her. His arguments seem to make sense but for some reason they make her uncomfortable. “You certainly have some interesting views,” she allows as she rises from her chair, trying to extricate herself from the quagmire she has gotten herself into.

  “Only until you sit down and really think about them,” a third member of the Nines says. “Then you begin to realize how messed up everything really is.”

  Rose nods and smiles her generic business smile. “Yes. Perhaps I will think on them some more. Enjoy your meals and thank your for dining with us today.”

  As Rose moves off, the older man that lost his business in California looks at Joseph. “Does she know?”

  “No.”

  “Are you going to tell her?”

  “Not if I can help it,” he replies.

  CHAPTER TEN

  “You got a minute?” Joseph asks, sticking his head into Rose’s office half an hour later.

  “Sure. Come in and have a seat.”

  “I’m sorry about that out there. I didn’t mean to come down on you so hard. I don’t try to foist my views onto others. I would welcome the chance to talk to you about them sometime, but that wasn’t the time or the place.”

  She waves off his concern. “You were fine. I’m the one that started the conversation. I should know better than get into a discussion with someone better informed than me. I bet you felt like you were in a battle of wits with an unarmed woman.”

  Joseph chuckles. “No. Your reaction is fairly typical, actually. People buy into the spin and don’t really think about what they are saying. Everyone wants to help others and feel good about themselves. It isn’t until you really think about what you are saying when you realize that maybe this stuff isn’t such a good idea after all. Unintended consequences can be a real bitch.”

  Rose grins. “I know how that works. I had this huge, and expensive, saltwater fish tank put in at Aguilar’s. It was gorgeous. The problem was, it made the entire place smell like the ocean. A lot of people in Vegas have never smelled the ocean. I finally had to have it taken out.”

  “And yet it seemed like such a good idea at the time,” he teases.

  “Yes it did! I mean it was beautiful, and it really added something. But every time I walked past the thing, even though it was built into a wall, you could still smell it. In case you didn’t know, Aguilar’s isn’t a seafood place, and the first thing I want people to smell when they come in isn’t that fish tank.”

  Joseph smiles. “In any case, I just wanted to tell you I’m sorry and I hope you won’t hold it against me.”

  “It’s fine Joseph. Don’t worry about. Melina told me I should talk to you and when I did I would start to think about all the things I believe.”

  Joseph smiles. “She, Tim, and I used to have some real stem-winders. A lot of her reactions were like yours. I think women are just naturally more nurturing.” Joseph pauses a minute. “She is a great friend. Tim was too.”

  “Yes they are, were,” Rose says. “And me?”

  Joseph’s lazy grin appears. “You’re much more than just a friend.”

  “Oh, would you just stop it!” she teases. “I told you yesterday, I’m not sleeping with you.”

  ***

  Rose flops down on Melina’s couch after closing the Goose and takes a deep breath, blowing it out from puffed cheeks. “You okay?” Melina asks, appearing from the back of the house.

  “Just tired. You?”

  “Okay,” Melina says. “I’ve made it all day without shedding a tear. I was close a couple of times but I managed to get through them.”

  “You need to get out of the house. Why don’t you drop the kids off with your parents and come have lunch with me? We’ll go shopping and I’ll buy your lunch. You can’t beat an offer like that,” Rose suggests.

  Melina smiles. “You know. Maybe I will. I haven’t been out of the house since the funeral. I have been going through Tim’s things. Boxing them up. I could use a break. It will be good to get out and go do something fun.”

  “Perfect!” Rose exclaims with a smile, glad to see that Melina’s ship is finally starting to right itself. “That’s a good attitude. Baby steps. Take it one step at a time and it will get better. If you stumble and fall, just get right back up and take the next step. I know it has to be hard, but it’s all you can do. You’re not even thirty yet. You’ve got your whole life in front of you.”

  Melina smiles sadly. “Yeah, I know. But it’s easier said than done.”

  “I had a nice chat with the Nine Devils today,” Rose says, changing the subject to draw Melina’s thoughts away from her loss.

  “What did you think?”

  “They have some pretty strange ideas. No public education, for example.”

  “Actually, that’s not completely true. I think they object to federal government being so heavily involved in education and want to see control returned to the local level.”

  Rose looks at Melina, surprised that she is so well informed. The last time she saw her, she was more concerned with who was winning Dancing with the Stars. “Joseph said that you and Tim and he talked about this stuff. Stem-winders, he called them.”

  “Yeah. Joseph used to piss me off, but the more I talked to him, the more sense he made. The thing is, he never belittled my opinions. He would just present me with facts and ask me questions. And the more I thought about what he was saying, the more I realized that he is right. I could never live like he does, but that doesn’t make him any less right. In the last year or so, since I started talking with him and thinking about what he believes, I have… changed, I guess is the best word… much to Dad’s chagrin.”

  “Your dad is still a Democrat?”

  “Always has been, always will be,” Melina says with a lopsided grin. “We just don’t talk about it. Saves the hard feelings because he gets so upset. Unlike Joseph, he can’t discuss stuff like that without getting mad.”

  “Yeah. I noticed that about Joseph. He never got upset or snarky. But we didn’t talk long. I was in way over my head,” Rose says. “Beside, that stuff is boring! I have too much going on in my life to be worried over whether the feds are involved in public education.”

  Melina smiles. “I used to feel the same way. I’m still not as into it as Joseph is, but I do pay more attention to what is going on now. Like that stupid brouhaha over the Washington Redskins. I’m glad we have solved all of the countries other problems so we can worry about stuff like that.”

  “What?”

  “Never mind. It’s not important,” Melina says with a dismissive wave of her hand. “So, having talked to him, what do you think? Still think Joseph is a weirdo?”

  “Definitely,” Rose answers with a grin. “But a well-spoken weirdo for sure.”

  “Not to mention hot as shit!” Melina teases.

  “Okay, there is that too,” she agrees with a grin.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  The next morning Rose drags herself out of bed at eight, groaning, stretching, and yawning as she staggers into the shower. After Dick all but threw her out of the restaurant to have dinner with Joseph, she has backed off on the number hours, but she still hasn’t fully recovered from the long days and early mornings. She has more or less slipped back into her old routine, working the closing shift, more comfortable sitting up late than
getting up early.

  Scrubbed and dressed in a casual skirt and comfortable blouse, she helps Melina prepare breakfast for Michael and Kimberly, the baby giggling and throwing cereal around the room.

  “Are you sure about this?” Melina asks as she sips her coffee.

  “We talked about this last night. Yes I’m sure. When was the last time you went out shopping for just yourself?”