Billionaire Biker (Billionaires - #23)

by Claire Adams

  I wasn’t an idiot. The hottest babe in the world could make the crappiest lawn mower pretending to be a bike look good, and we had the advantage of producing some of the best damn bikes out there.

  Sure, I got that we needed advertising to help sell our bikes, but it still pissed me off. I loved the bikes my company put out, and I’d ridden them for twenty years now. A part of me died a little at having to get some pretty faces and nice bodies to convince people to try our bikes out. I didn’t give a crap if it was part of the scene or not. Why couldn’t a man just respect the quality?

  I shoved all that bitching out of my head. I was the owner and CEO now, so it wasn’t about what I wanted or liked. It was about what was best for Stroker Motorcycles.

  With a grunt, I turned and walked to the other side of the room and sought out John. Whatever my feelings, I needed to still make sure business was getting taking care of. The whole point of having these models at the company was to help the bottom line after all.

  Daniella and the operations people were keeping an eye on all that, but I thought it was important that I put in a personal appearance. Sometimes you needed to let people know that the boss is watching. It keeps them from even thinking of being stupid.

  “Make sure they are treated with respect,” I said to the foreman. “I know it’s hard around these hot models, but I don’t want anyone making them feel uncomfortable. This is an advertising campaign for the company. Everyone best keep that in mind.”

  Yeah. Keep that in mind. Just like I did such a good job of keeping it in mind at the ice cream parlor where I kept thinking about how I wanted to lick Cat all over.

  I was more worried about myself than any of my employees, but I figured it was better to try and get out in front of any trouble. The last thing I wanted was to have to fight with the union over firing some guy because he thought a model owed him a date and he got too pushy.

  John gave me a curt nod. “You got it, bossman.” He grinned. “I gave everybody that speech already. Still, you think they can score some signed pictures or something?”

  “Pictures? Of the models?”

  “Yeah, come on. How often do we get to be around models doing a sexy photo shoot? It’d be nice to have a few souvenirs.”

  I chuckled. “Yeah, I’m sure we can handle that. I’ll talk to my sister about it. Just let her handle it, though. I don’t want the guys going up and bothering the models.”

  “Sure thing,” John scratched an eyebrow. “Even without any pictures, bossman, this is a nice, you know, perk of the job and all that.” A big, stupid grin appeared on his face. “Maybe we should get a yearly shoot put in the union contract. Only the hottest babes, too.”

  I laughed out loud. “Don’t get used to it,” I said. “Next time, we’re not doing this here. I don’t know what I was thinking.”

  He laughed, too. “Then I should take a bunch of pictures now while I have the chance.”

  “Probably. Everyone likes this, but I’m not going to shut down production for this long anytime again soon.”

  John nodded solemnly.

  “How are the custom bikes for the moving coming?” I asked.

  “Great. We shouldn’t have any problem with delivery. It’ll be damn awesome seeing them in the movie.”

  “Yeah, it will.”

  I spotted Daniella chatting with Simon. She had the situation under control, and I’d been spared a certain sexy blond. They didn’t need me, so I figured I’d head up to my office and just check in every once in a while. If anything serious came up, John or Daniella would let me know.

  “Okay, enjoy your models,” I said. “I’ve got stuff to do.”

  * * *

  An hour later after going through my email, I decided to head down and check on the photo shoot. Waiting for the elevator, I took several deep breaths. There was a good chance I’d see Cat at the shoot. I mean, she was a damn model. It’d be hard to have a two-week long photo shoot without one of the models being involved.

  Damn it. Why did I let Daniella convince me to hire her? I could have picked any other woman. I could have just lied about really liking another one.

  Except that probably wouldn’t have worked anyway. My sister had a way of seeing right through me. I was still half-convinced she knew exactly what Cat did to me, and she enjoyed seeing me suffer. She was giving me more than a few weird looks at the ice cream parlor yesterday.

  I thought about setting up a fake beefcake photo shoot just to mess with her. See how she liked getting screwed with.

  I couldn’t help but think about running into Cat the day before and the way she sat across from me. She didn’t have to, but every time she looked at me, I could feel something, like a fire, a connection. These sparks had to be real. I’d never felt this way about a woman before.

  Or maybe that’s just what my cock wanted me to think. It wouldn’t be the first time my second head led me astray.

  Still, the woman was like a damned cactus. Even when she got the free ice cream, tension radiated off her, almost like she was pissed off about it. Who the hell gets pissed off about free ice cream? She was in the ice cream parlor, so she obviously liked it.

  And I couldn’t forget the way she’d reacted to her son wanting to sit on my bike. He obviously liked it, and I was proud of the custom cycle. But Cat, the way she looked it, with so much hate and disgust, it was like it was a big pile of shit.

  I couldn’t help but be pissed about that. That bike was as much a part of me as my damn heart. It represented my life. Somebody who hated my bike hated me. More than that, they hated Stroker Motorcycles, which meant they also hated my family.

  The elevator door dinged, and I stepped out into the hallway, my fists curled. I marched down the hallway toward the assembly floor. I needed to push that woman out of my mind. It’s not like she was the only hot woman in Denver. Maybe if I got laid, I could ignore her.

  Damn it. Of course, getting laid meant I’d actually go have to find some woman to have sex with. Fuck.

  I stopped in the hallway. No, not other women. I could sleep with Cat. It’s not like I’d hired her to have sex with. I’d tried not to hire her.

  A little romp might cure me of my addiction. I grunted and punched a wall. What the hell was I thinking?

  It’s not like I could just sleep with her. She didn’t even like me. Not to mention, she’d probably get pissed and storm off the shoot, and then we’d have all sorts of trouble.

  Maybe I could sleep with one of the other models.

  No. That wouldn’t work. They were hot, sure, but they didn’t light my body on fire like Cat, and I still risked messing up the photo shoot.

  I reacted to Cat like a junkie needing his fix. Damn. I didn’t know why it was. Normally, I wasn’t even all that into blonds.

  I shook my head and continued toward the assembly floor.

  As I hit the assembly floor, my jaw dropped, and my cock stirred. Damn it.

  Of course, she’d be there. And of course, she’d be the first thing I saw.

  Cat was straddling one of our signature bikes. She was done up in jeans and a crop top, her hair pulled back in a bright blue bandana.

  “A little more ferocity, darling,” Simon called out.

  Cat put her hands on the bike, a smug smile on her face. Fierce. Sexy. Too damn perfect. It’s like she was born to be on that motorcycle.

  No, it was like when we built the bike, we built it for her, knowing that someday she’d straddle that thing and look like pure sex.

  I gritted my teeth. She looked delicious, good enough to nibble on. My dick seriously strained against my pants now, and I wondered what her tits would look like without that crop top on. Or how she’d look bent over that bike as I fucked her.

  Leaning against a wall, I groaned. Heaven and hell. Pleasure and pain. This woman was pure torture, but a torture I wanted—so badly.

  I tore my gaze away from her and stomped back toward the elevator. Cat also hated motorcycles, which not only were c
ore to me, but were my father’s life work, and now mine. Shit, even my sister’s.

  Hating motorcycles meant hating the Stroker family. So I didn’t care what my dick said. I needed to go back upstairs and take care of my company.

  Chapter Eight

  Catherine

  “That intrigued look was good,” Simon said, “but I need pouty now, darling.”

  Sometimes I had to resist the urge to laugh at some of the directions, but Simon was good at what he did. I’d worked with him before, so I didn’t question him and didn’t laugh. I just did what he wanted.

  I puckered my lips, going for pouty.

  “Yes, yes,” Simon said. The camera clicked. He rushed to a different spot and took several more pictures from a different angle. More clicks followed.

  “Bend over now, forward. Need to see a little more of the old puppies.”

  Working with photographers during sexy shoots could be uncomfortable, but it helped a lot that Simon was gay. I knew he wasn’t leering at me the way I’d seen other photographers do during shoots.

  So I did my best to give the photographer what he wanted. We’d been at this for hours. Different bikes, different poses. My muscles ached, but I wasn’t about to complain. This was my job in the end, and I got paid to look pretty or sexy for the camera.

  The thing about modeling is that it’s both easy work and hard work at the same time. A lot of the struggle comes in just being to keep up your body and the mental toughness that comes with existing for other people to manipulate.

  For all the reputation of models as divas, only the models who are already super-successful can get away with that kind of thing. For the rest of us, being too pushy or egotistical is a good way to quickly kill your career.

  I didn’t really have a problem with any of that. I liked my body and looked, but I didn’t think I was the most beautiful woman on the planet, and I didn’t think I deserved anything in particular. All I wanted was to put in the work I’d need to earn money to help my son.

  For me, one of the hardest parts was just keeping my concentration. I had to listen and obey the directions, but there wasn’t much to keep my mind busy otherwise. Concentrating on just doing what someone else said was exhausting in a very boring sort of way.

  It didn’t help that I could have sworn I saw Drew not all that long before. I’d just looked to the side a second before Simon told me to turn. By the time I looked back, Drew was gone, if he was ever there at all. Maybe I was hallucinating, conjuring his presence because I liked the idea of him watching me here, especially when I was in full make-up and dressed up to look so sexy.

  What did he think? Did he think I looked hot? Would he prefer me in a different outfit?

  “Yeah, that’s great,” Simon said, a grin on his face as he snapped several pictures. “Oh, yeah, great look. You look like you could just gobble that bike up. Lean over the handlebars. Tilt your head back.”

  I complied, glad I had the dark jeans on so no one could tell how wet I was from thinking about Drew charging over here and taking me into those muscled arms, then jamming his tongue down my throat.

  My heart thundered as my insides twitched, and my center grew even slicker with need. I tried to keep the desire off my face.

  “Woah, woah,” Simon said. “Something’s off.”

  “Off?” I said, my heart still pounding away.

  Simon rubbed his chin. “Yes, off. It’s ruining the atmosphere of the shots. Let’s take a ten-minute break, and get some water; darling, your face is so flushed it’s throwing off the shots.”

  My cheeks started burning. If I looked flushed before, I must have looked like a lobster then.

  “You too warm from the lights?” Simon asked.

  I blinked. “Um, no. I’m fine.”

  He waved a hand. “Get some water.”

  I stepped off the motorcycle and headed to a table holding bottles of water and Gatorade, my cheeks still hot. I wondered if Simon knew I was getting a little too excited. The thought made my stomach tighten. The last thing I needed was for a room full of people to realize my insides were clenching over my boss.

  Drew needed to stop haunting me, or I needed to figure out a way to stop thinking about his dark eyes, strong arms, and the chiseled chest undoubtedly hiding under his shirt. When I thought about that, I thought how it would feel to touch those muscles, both with my hands and when his arms wrapped around me and pulled me against his body.

  Whew, boy. It was a good thing Simon gave me a break after all.

  I’d been worried about seeing Drew after the weird meeting at the ice cream parlor. I couldn’t help how my body responded to him. It didn’t help that I was about ninety-five percent sure he wanted me just as badly.

  It’s not like I thought I was so hot he had to want me, but the way he’d looked at me several times made me think that. I wasn’t a teenager. I knew when I a guy was checking me out, and this went beyond just checking out a nice-looking model.

  I’d watched him when he chatted with Briana and Jessica. The same fire wasn’t in his eyes, and his voice sounded less suggestive.

  I shook my head, trying to clear it, as I arrived at the drink table. I took several sips of water.

  It didn’t matter. I wasn’t here for a new boyfriend; I was here to earn money to pay for my son’s education.

  Jack was going to start school in a few months, and I needed to make sure I had enough. Without his father, he was already starting out behind, so I wanted to make sure he went to a private school and had the best education experience possible.

  If I fell into bed with Drew, it might be fun and steamy, but it would probably end sooner than later, and I couldn’t screw up this job. I wouldn’t find another job paying this much anytime soon.

  What the heck I was thinking? I’d not slept with anyone since my husband died, and now I was casually considering the merits of sleeping with my employer? Maybe I should have been spending a little bit more with my vibrator at night if this was how I was going to start thinking.

  I took another sip of my water, thinking everything over. This was a major shoot, one of the longest I’d ever worked on, which was probably why it paid so well. In the end, it was still just a modeling job. It’s not like it’d last for years. Avoiding being alone with Drew or thinking too much about him for a couple of weeks shouldn’t be too hard, right?

  My gaze drifted from the table to the gathered employees, models, Simon, and Simon’s assistants. A slow check of the room over the next few minutes didn’t turn up any sign of Drew.

  I let out a sigh of relief. The man was living rent-free in my head. Being aware of a problem was the first step toward dealing with it. Everyone knew that.

  “Okay, let’s get back to work,” Simon said. “This time it will be both Cat and Briana.”

  The other model smiled and sashayed toward the bike. I’d been a bit worried about her at first, but she’d turned out to be super-friendly. She was very good at putting on a femme fatale modeling vibe.

  * * *

  The next couple of hours passed in a blur. Something about having Briana in the shots with me helped keep Drew out of my head, so I didn’t end up distracted.

  Around noon, Simon clapped his hands together. “Okay, great morning, darlings. Go get something to eat, and we’ll start up again in an hour.”

  I smiled at Briana, and we both headed toward the cafeteria. Unlike the last time we’d been there, it was filled with workers. They all offered us polite smiles and greetings. Briana headed off her own way after getting her food, but when I grabbed a bowl of soup, I spotted Daniella sitting at a table, a slight frown on her face, as she swiped furiously on her phone.

  I headed over to her. “May I sit with you?”

  Daniella looked up from her phone. “Please do, Cat.”

  Slipping into a chair across from her, I spoke, “Looking for a date?”

  She blinked. “Huh? A date? What are you talking about?”

  I gestured toward
your phone with a smile. “All the swiping. I thought you might be on Tinder.”

  Daniella laughed. “No, no. I was looking through some of Simon’s shots. Just trying to see how things are looking so far.”

  “Oh,” my cheeks burned. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to assume.”

  “Don’t worry about it, Cat.” Daniella waved a hand dismissively. “Seriously, there are a lot of great shots in here. This ad campaign is going to turn out great.” She leaned forward. “Don’t tell anyone,” she whispered, “but I think you’re the best of the three.”

  I laughed, “I’m sure you told Briana and Jessica that, too.”

  “Maybe,” Daniella winked. “Seriously, though, these look great, and I don’t think they would have looked nearly as good without you. I’m glad I convinced Drew we needed you.”

  “Convinced him?”

  “Yeah. When we were picking out our final three, he wasn’t sold on you.” She winced. “Oh, sorry. I didn’t think through how that might make you feel.” She rubbed the back of her neck, embarrassed. “If it means anything, I knew we had to have you.”

  My stomach churned at her revelation. “I got the job in the end, so nothing to complain about here.”

  Even though I said the words, I wasn’t sure if I believed them. In truth, a little pain pricked my heart. I’d been convinced that I had some sort of burning chemistry with Drew and that it was a two-way attraction. Now I found out that he didn’t even want to hire me, which meant he wasn’t as into me as I was to him, or at least my body was.

  I stopped myself from sighing. I shouldn’t be disappointed that Drew didn’t want me. It was actually a good thing, as it meant there was less chance of something awkward happening between the two of us. Plus, knowing that he didn’t want me would make it easier for me to ignore him.

  “You okay?” Daniella said. “I mean, I guess I shouldn’t have told you. I meant it as a good thing, you know, that you met all my expectations. I didn’t think you’d be offended by it, but I guess I should have considered the possibility.”