I stand up and feel kind of sheepish as she’s a bit intimidating, and it’s not very easy for a woman to intimidate me. But her use of a nickname for me has me wanting to laugh. And I know she’d get even more pissed if I laughed right now
“I shouldn’t have touched your hair. You’re completely right. It won’t happen again. Unless you ask me to, of course. Then I’ll run my fingers all through that silky heaven on top of your pretty little head.” Her glare tells me I have spoken the wrong words.
Those porcelain cheeks fill with red and that can only mean one thing.
Anger!
“Pretty little head?” she says with a very even and low tone. It’s a scary tone as I can see fire in her gorgeous eyes. “Look, I had me a biker once, and he made me believe he loved me. He made me think we had a future, and he took off and went on a world tour, alone. He broke me, Benny. I’m not a repairable person from how he left me. So I stay to myself. I don’t want a man. Especially a fucking biker with a love for the road, fast women, and booze. No offense.”
“Yeah, of course. I mean what’s offensive about any of that you just said? Not a thing, right? Not one thing.” I tap my fingers on the top of the counter and wonder how I can repair this damage.
She pounds at the poor keyboard in front of her as she finishes writing up the ticket. Muttering indiscernible things as she does and I decide to take a walk around and look out the glass door as a group of bikers rides along the roadway in front of the garage.
“Hey,” I hear her say so I turn back around and see a little smile on her face. “I’m sorry. I know you aren’t just a biker in some gang. I know you’re this high-powered lawyer who likes to ride once a year. I shouldn’t have said all that to you. I’m a little high-strung at times.”
With slow steps, I walk back toward her. “I have a feeling you don’t apologize often.”
She nods. “Try never.” She smiles again. It’s a wide and genuine smile. “Please don’t tell my uncle I was so harsh to you. He just gave me a lecture this morning about not being rude to his customers.”
I give her a wink. “So the owner is your uncle then?”
“He is,” she says and stands up and comes around the counter to fix some brochures about oil and things for motorcycles. “I’m working here part-time until I finish college and hopefully move on to working for some motorcycle manufacturer. Uncle Phil was nice enough to keep me employed these last few years.”
I lean on the counter and watch her as she leans over to straighten up some magazines on the old as shit coffee table with all kinds of stains on it. Her ass is plump and so damn round and I can hardly stand straight up as I’m getting a huge boner.
So I lean a little lower to help that not be so obvious. She seems to be calming down nicely, and I’d hate her to turn back around and see me all huge for her and get mad again.
“So you stay home and never go out? Is that why I haven’t seen you around before?” I ask as I look away and try to think of things to make the boner go away.
Kids playing baseball. Eating ice cream cones. Riding on a merry-go-round.
Fuck! None of those worked!
She turns back around and says, “That’s why. I’m a homebody. Work and school take up my time. The crazy bar scene is not for me.”
“So, how about dinner then?” I ask as she goes back to sit on the stool behind the counter again.
A thing I’m thankful for as the hard-on is staying, it seems.
She shakes her head and laughs. “No. No dinner. No date. Nothing. Look, Benny, I don’t want you to take this personal. It’s not. It’s just that I’m done with love.”
A loud laugh comes out of me. “Damn! Who said anything about love? I was talking about getting some food and eating it. Not running away to Vegas with me to get hitched!”
Her cheeks go pink and now I’ve embarrassed her.
Shit!
She won’t look at me as she shakes her head and looks down. “No. I know that. I didn’t mean for you to take it that way. Sorry. Just no thank you to dinner. I think I hear them all coming back from lunch. Your bike will be looked at soon if you’d care to take a seat.”
“How old are you, Angel?” I ask as I find her way too young to be so cynical and set on a life of being alone.
Her blue eyes shine as she looks back at me. “Twenty-four. And you’re around thirty, right?”
I nod. “I am thirty. And I’m in no rush to settle down. I’m here to sow some wild oats. So I get it why you don’t want to date anyone who comes in with this crazy rally.”
“Good,” she says with a smile.
A burly man comes in from the back with a stained up blue uniform on. “What ya got, Angel?” His voice is all messed up from years of smoking and being around harsh fumes.
She gestures toward me with an open hand. “This gentleman has an issue with his bike. It’s the red one in the bay.”
He looks me up and down. “In town for the rally?”
I nod. He looks back at Angel. “He hit on you?”
She shakes her head. “No, Uncle Phil. He was a complete gentleman.”
“Good!” he says then turns his large body around and walks out of the room toward the bay.
Once he’s out of earshot, I give her a wink as she looks at me. “Thanks for that. He looks like he packs a wallop.”
With a laugh which sounds like Heaven to me, she says, “He does. And I’ve seen the mess it leaves. I didn’t want your first night in town to be with a shiner and a busted lip. The tramps would just hate it if your pretty face got all messed up.”
I lean over the counter again and smile at her. “So I have a pretty face, do I?”
She blushes and shakes her head. “You are incorrigible.”
I’m smitten is what I am. I’ve never been smitten before, but this has to be it. “Come on, Angel. Just dinner. Just one dinner and if you hate me, then I’ll never bother you again.”
“Nope.” She gets up and walks out of the waiting room, leaving me there alone and wondering how the hell this chick has gotten under my skin so damn quick.
I drum my fingers on the counter until she comes back. She’s beaming as she goes back to her chair.
“Well, what has you all smiles?” I ask.
“Oh, just the fact I was right about your bike. Just a little pinhole. It’ll be ready in about an hour.”
“Cool, I get to hang out with you for another hour.” I go take a seat on the very uncomfortable old sofa and grab a magazine and sit back.
“Seems so. Or if you want, I can give you ride to where ever your gang is and drop you off with them. Someone can give you a call when your bike’s ready,” she says.
“Nah, I’m going to hang out here with you and hopefully talk you into dinner tonight.” I give her my million-dollar smile.
“That won’t happen, Benny.”
“We’ll see about that.”
Chapter 4
ANGEL
“Oh yeah, I forgot to offer you anything to drink,” I say as I recall Uncle Phil’s speech this morning on how to treat his customers. “I have a pot of coffee in the office and there's a few sodas. Or we have some bottled water.”
“I was craving a cold beer,” he says with a lopsided grin that’s really adorable.
“Sorry, we can’t keep beer anywhere inside the shop or Cletus will find it. He’s got a nose like a bloodhound for anything that contains alcohol. But I make a mean coffee with caramel and chocolate.” I get up and head back to the office. “I’ll get you one. I’m making me one, anyway.”
I need a drink myself as this man has my insides all wiggly. It’s a thing I find quite annoying.
And I happen to have a secret stash of alcohol hidden in an ordinary milk carton that Cletus would never touch. After I fill two disposable cups with coffee, I open the milk container and pour some Baileys into each cup and give them a stir with my finger.
I don’t think Mr. Beg Me For A Date, will mind.
&nbs
p; As I walk back into the waiting room, he looks up from the magazine he’s holding and his eyes roam all over me. It makes my insides wiggle even more and I hope this drink knocks the wiggles away.
I lean in close to whisper so Cletus won’t hear, “There is some alcohol in here, but don’t say anything about it or my secret stash will be history.”
“Now we both have secrets to keep,” he says with a smile.
“That we do, Benny,” I say then tap the side of my cup to his and we each take a sip.
I watch his expression as he pulls the cup away from his very firm lips. They’re as chiseled as the rest of his face is. Hard corners in some places, soft curves in others.
The man is a mixture of hard and soft all over his body. And from what I’ve seen so far, his personality is that way too.
“You like it?” I ask and wait.
He nods and runs his hand up my arm. “Thanks, I’ve needed something to knock the edge off.”
His touch is making my wiggling insides go into a full roll and I take a step back, trying hard not to let him see how he’s affecting me. I turn and walk back to my seat. “You’re welcome.”
I don’t know what’s wrong with me. It’s not like I don’t see hot guys every single day. He’s just another one.
After another sip I find myself very curious and ask him, “So, being a lawyer, how have you managed to keep that beard you have there?”
He gets up and brings his coffee with him then leans on the counter. “I started growing it a year ago just for this trip. It was difficult to get to keep it. Until I came up with the reason I needed to.”
His finger moves in a circle around the top of his cup and I find myself wondering what that finger would feel like as it moved in just that fashion around my nipple.
Damn it!
I look into his eyes to stop myself from daydreaming such dangerous dreams. “So what was your reason?”
“Beard products and potentially harmful effects of them. I’m supposed to be writing a legal report once my research is finished,” he says with a smile.
“Is the gang a part of your legal research too?” I ask then take a sip of the coffee I wish was straight whiskey as he’s doing such a number on me it’s making me seriously think about accepting his dinner invitation and a whiskey would remind me that I don’t date.
“No. No one knows about my involvement with them.” He smiles and winks. “Now you know another big secret about me. It’s time for you to let me in on another one of yours, so we can stay even here.”
Looking into those piercing eyes has me feeling a bit more free than I usually do and I just say what’s crossing my mind, “Pain excites me.”
His eyebrows raise and he laughs as he says, “I’ll bring my whip then.”
I go all wet again and it makes me really mad at myself. So I add, “But I never give in, Benny. Sorry, the answer is still, no.”
He sighs and picks his coffee cup up and walks away, going back to sit on the sofa. “Have you ever heard the expression, cut your nose off to spite your face, Angel?”
I nod and look back at the computer screen that’s blinking like crazy so I hit the side of the old monitor and it goes all the way black. “Shit!”
“Did you break it?” he asks as he gets back up and comes right back behind the counter and looks at the black screen.
“Maybe,” I say and take a step back.
He looks the whole thing over then looks at the back of the monitor and pushes the cord that’s connected to it in a bit and presto, the screen is back. He looks over at me with a huge smile, like he’s saved the damn day or something.
“There you go. Computer repair services are not my usual thing, but I will accept a dinner date in lieu of cash.” His hand rests on my shoulder and I have to fight the urge to lean in and kiss him.
His eyes hold mine for way too long before I manage to say, “How about you give me this one repair job for free. You know, to keep me coming back for more.”
“No. I want to take you to dinner. I’m done taking no for an answer, Angel.” He stares hard into my eyes.
A shiver runs through me as I see it there in his eyes. He has the ability to make me do things. Bend me, form me, rule me.
“You have to take it, Benny. That’s all I’m giving you. No, thank you.”
My uncle walks into the waiting room and looks at us with his small dark eyes narrowed. “What’s up?”
Shaking off the ominous vibe this man is giving me, I answer, “I thought I had broken your computer, Uncle Phil. But Blaze here figured out the cord was just loose. He saved you a few hundred bucks as I don’t think I would’ve ever thought of that and I would’ve told you it was time for a new computer.”
His eyes go back to normal and he reaches out to shake Blaze’s hand. “Thanks, Blaze. Is that what she called you? I thought I heard her calling you something else.”
“She’s made up a nickname for me, it seems. But Blaze is what I’m called. And you are Uncle Phil. It’s very nice to meet you. I was just asking your niece out to dinner this evening,” he says as he cuts his eyes back at me.
So I finish for him and say, “But I told him no. I know how you don’t like me to date the customers, Uncle Phil.”
My uncle looks at Blaze for a good long moment then he shocks me as he says, “This guy would be okay, Angel. You have my approval to accept his invitation.”
“What?” I say and take a couple of steps back. “No! Rules are rules after all.”
Blaze looks back at my uncle and asks, “What’s her favorite type of food?”
“Italian. Anything Italian,” my backstabbing uncle says. “Your bike is just about ready.” He walks away, leaving us alone again.
“He likes me, Angel. What do you think about that? Maybe I’m not so bad after all,” he says then goes back to sit on the sofa.
“You are bad. You are leaving. And you are not getting me to go with you anywhere. I’m not the kind of girl who likes to become a notch on any man’s bedpost.” I go back to typing in the parts I have to order as this guy has been keeping me off task for over an hour now.
“You sure do jump to some massive conclusions there, Angel. I asked you to dinner not to join me in my motel room.” He laughs and picks up the magazine he’s been pretending to read.
“Right, Benny. Getting me into your bed isn’t on your mind at all,” I say as I roll my eyes.
He lowers the magazine with a Harley like mine on the cover. All I can see are his eyes. His dangerously intriguing eyes. “It’s not. But it seems to be all you can think about.”
My cheeks heat with embarrassment. How did the fucker get me on this end of this deal?
I’ve told the man I like pain and now he knows I’m thinking about him and me in bed and fucking like a couple of rabid animals.
Fuck!
I walk out of the room and go to the bathroom to readjust myself. Looking in the mirror, I see the reflection of a young woman with a lot going on inside her head.
Maybe it’s been too long since I had sex with a real man. The machines can’t hold you. They can’t tell you sweet words. They can’t handle you roughly and make you beg them to keep going or stop.
Maybe I should get laid. Not by that guy!
Not him. I think he has the power to break my heart. I know he does as a matter of fact.
But maybe some other random stranger is going to be necessary to get myself back under control. If this guy can get me so hot and bothered with so little fucking effort, I must be a walking time-bomb, waiting to explode all over some poor schmuck.
With a crack of my neck and my knuckles, I walk back out to find my uncle chatting it up with Blaze who has his jacket back on and is signing the bill.
“This is a very reasonable bill, Phil. Thanks for the break in the labor cost,” Blaze says as he barely looks up at me when I walk in. “You want to run that transaction for me real quick, Sweetie?”
Sweetie!
I don’
t say a word though as my uncle disappears back to the garage with a smile on his face. I simply punch in the price and send it to the merchant services site and wait for an approval code.
His hand is resting on the bill and I need it to write the code down on it. But I wait for him to move his hand. Which he doesn’t do.
“Can I have that, please?” I ask very politely.
“Come and take it,” he says.
I look at him to find him smiling with a shit eating grin. So I move my hand slow and deliberate over his and slide the piece of paper out from under his hand.
Electricity flares through me, but I try desperately to ignore it and keep my eyes steady. His blue eyes flash and his grin disappears.
He feels this too!
I watch as his lips tremble a little. “Come on, Angel. Let me take you to dinner. Just dinner. Anywhere you want. Please.”
With a shake of my head, I say the words again, “No, thank you.”
I can’t let him take me to dinner because it will be me who makes the next move and takes him to bed. I can feel it inside me.
I want him like I’ve never wanted a man in my life. He’s everything I want all wrapped up in a very nice package.
Gorgeous with a dangerous edge. Muscles, tats, great personality. The ability to make me feel as if I’m coming unglued right in front of him.
How he could make me scream and beg is obvious. And I can’t do that.
So I just give the top of his hand a quick pat. “There are plenty of females waiting for you out there, Benny. Go pick one out and she’ll give you what you’re looking for.”
In a quick movement, he has my hand in his as he looks at me with an unwavering stare. “Angel, I did come here with the main plan to bed as many women as humanly possible. That is a fact. But now that I’ve met you, I want only you. I can’t explain why, but I do. I want to spend every minute I can with you. I’m not feeding you a line. It’s completely true. I don’t do this. I don’t ask women out. I usually don’t even hold any kind of real conversation with one unless I’m drinking. You do something to me. I want to spend some real time with you and see what this is all about.”
Hot Nights in Sturgis The Complete Series: A Billionaire, Bad Boy, Motorcycle, BDSM, Romance (Billionaire Romance Novels) Page 3