Fast

by Gillian Archer

  Ryan: Great. I’ll wait for you out front.

  Out front? He was here? A stupid grin stretched across my face, and I all but sprinted out of my office and down the small hallway to the front door. I vaguely heard the sounds of the after-school program behind me. Usually I’d hang around and help out, but not tonight!

  I pushed open the front door and there he was. Standing in front of his bike as he looked down at his phone, Ryan could’ve been on the cover of any magazine. He was so much hotter than his brother, Austin, who’d already been on a few covers. Between Ryan’s cheekbones and the scruff of facial hair and the muscles that couldn’t be hidden under any clothes, he would put any model to shame. And then he raised his head, and gave me a panty-melting grin—it was this mix of cocky and endearing that made my heart pound.

  “Hey.” I smiled as I crossed to him.

  “Hey,” he murmured back just before he wrapped his arms around me and kissed me like he hadn’t seen me in a month and not just two days.

  I had enough time to be thankful that I kept a toothbrush at my desk. Then I couldn’t hold a single thought as Ryan’s lips moved over mine. He had me panting and willing in just moments. I swear I moaned slightly when he broke our kiss.

  “Probably shouldn’t give the kids a floor show, huh?” He whispered with a smile before pressing a quick peck on my lips.

  “Wha—?” I broke off with a gasp when I realized what he’d meant. Shaking my head, I took a huge step backward. “You, sir, are crazy sexy and probably not good for my reputation.”

  “What does that mean?”

  I blinked in confusion at his suddenly pissed tone. “Just that I work with kids, so it’s probably not a good idea if I get all kissy and unprofessional in the parking lot where I work. I kinda want to keep my job, especially considering…”

  “Sorry. I just thought you meant… You know what? It doesn’t matter. I’m sorry. I uh, was kinda hoping you could show me around? See what you do here? If it wouldn’t get you into trouble that is.”

  “No, I can show you around. It’s fine.” I bit my lip to hold back the impulse to ask what that had been about. I didn’t want to rock the cart when Ryan didn’t seem comfortable talking about it. “Come on in. I’ll show you around, as long as you promise to keep those lips to yourself.”

  “I swear I won’t kiss you while we’re inside…but no promises when I’ve got you all alone back at your place.”

  I laughed. “Come on. Let’s get this show on the road, so we can get to that private show ASAP.”

  Ryan followed me inside the large auditorium, keeping a respectful distance between us. It kinda made me love him all the more for it. My steps stuttered for a second and Ryan bumped into me from behind. I mumbled an apology as my mind whirled. Did I just think about love and Ryan in the same sentence? That was crazy. We didn’t know each other nearly enough for me to think that.

  “Hope? Everything okay?”

  I cleared my suddenly froggy throat. “Yeah. Yeah. Uh, where were we?”

  “You were going to show me around? Let me know what you do?”

  “Right. Yeah. So, these are our indoor courts. We have basketball and volleyball in here. Down that hall is the activity room where we do our afterschool program. One in four kids have nowhere to go after school—in the summer that number skyrockets. So we’re here to support all kids, especially those who need us most, to reach their full potential as productive, caring, responsible citizens.”

  Ryan had been craning his neck, taking in the large auditorium with its basketball hoops and painted wooden floors, but paused and swung his gaze to meet mine. “Is that why you picked this Boys and Girls Club?”

  “What?”

  “’Especially those who need us most?’ You chose to work and live in one of the most depressed areas in the city. Why was that?”

  “You know why I live where I do. As for the rest… I’d like to say there’s some altruistic reason that I chose to work here, but the honest answer is that they hired me. Not a lot of places were hiring at the time and apparently not a lotta people wanted to work here. It’s not that easy to find a placement after college doing what I do. My mom tried to get me into the local club, but they weren’t hiring. And I don’t know if I would’ve if I could have—that place had a lot of not-so-happy memories for me. So I don’t know. Something about this place just felt like home. I knew it the minute I walked through those doors. I’m just glad they offered me a job in the first place.”

  We might’ve been all alone in the gym, but I felt like a thousand people were staring at me and finding me wanting. Why did I say that? I know I’d had a better reason when I interviewed almost a year ago but damned if I could remember it now.

  “Damn girl, I didn’t think it was possible, but you just got so much hotter.” Ryan shook his head and rubbed at the back of his neck. “You better show me around quick before I have to drag you out of here.”

  “What? Where’s that coming from?”

  Ryan buried his face in his hands and groan. After a beat he looked up at me with burning eyes. “Every time I find out a little more about you, I fall a little harder. You said it wasn’t altruistic? I don’t know what your definition of that word is, but to me, you’re it. You work to give kids a safe place to hang out. You found a second home in this crazy neighborhood.” He shook his head. “That’s hella hot.”

  “Thank you?” It came out as a question because I was so lost. He found my job hot? Now I was kinda afraid to show him what I actually did. Nothing would kill an erection faster than a huge spreadsheet of costs and suppliers.

  “You take care of kids. And you’re having my baby. I couldn’t have tried to find a more perfect woman.” Ryan reached up and tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. “You make me want to be better. I want to do better to be worthy of you.”

  “Ryan…” I shook my head slightly as I looked up at him. I didn’t know what to say. He thought that highly of me? It made me feel so much I couldn’t put it all into words.

  “Hope, I didn’t know you were still here.” My boss, Paul, boomed from the other side of the gym.

  And the moment was broken.

  I gave Ryan an apologetic smile as I took a step back and away from him. Turning, I gave Paul a forced smile. “I was, but my boyfriend asked for a tour.”

  The word fell from my mouth before I’d realized. Boyfriend? We’d never even had the talk, and I’d just declared him my boyfriend to my boss. Crap.

  “Boyfriend? Hope, you know we can’t just—holy crap! Is that—are you Austin Burns?”

  Now it was Ryan’s turn to give Paul a fake smile. “I’m his brother actually. Ryan Burns. Nice to meet you.”

  Paul took Ryan’s outstretched hand and shook. “Right. Of course. Sorry, you guys look so similar, but I’m a fan. I love your guys’ work. I wish I could afford to hire you to build a bike for me.”

  “Oh, you ride?” Ryan asked before sidestepping slightly to put a respectful amount of room between me and him.

  “Uh no, but I’d like to.”

  I had to turn my head and cough to cover my laugh. Paul was a dork on the best of days. Now, here with Ryan, he was kinda ridiculous.

  “Maybe one day,” Ryan replied nicely.

  I coughed to cover my giggle. “Excuse me.”

  “Are you feeling okay, Hope?” Paul tilted his head. “I’d heard that you were maybe under the weather today.”

  Meaning Nancy, the gossipmonger, had heard me puking in the restroom and told everyone. “I’m fine, Paul. Just a little tickle in my throat.”

  “Well, okay. Please don’t come in if you really are sick. The last thing we need is to have it spread to everyone here.”

  I choked back another laugh. I mean, Ryan was potent but I don’t think my morning sickness would spread.

  “I will. Thanks.” It was hard to smile without letting my laughter leak out, but I managed.

  Barely.

  “Okay. I’m gonna head hom
e. It was nice to meet you, Ryan. Good night, Hope.”

  “G’night, Paul.” I echoed.

  We waited until the door shut behind him before breaking out in laughter.

  “Oh my god,” I gasped as I wiped at my eyes.

  “Your boss is kind of a tool.”

  “Tell me something I don’t know.” I spent the first three months here being his glorified secretary. He had absolutely no respect for my degree or the time I spent doing field work and internships or the fact that I was hired as a director here. But I was finally getting a few solo jobs here and there, so hopefully that will prove my worth.”

  “I take it you haven’t told anyone about…” Ryan tilted his head toward my tummy.

  I shook my head. “Yeah no. I just got off my new-hire probation, the last thing I’m going to do is advertise this. I’m not telling anyone until I put in for maternity leave. They can’t ask, and I’m not telling until then.”

  Ryan nodded slowly, but I could tell he didn’t total understand my position. To be a newly hired woman and pregnant was the most precarious of positions. I wasn’t doing anything to rock the boat until I had to.

  “Anyhow, you wanted to see the place, and here it is. Uh, what else did you want to see? My office? I have to warn you it’s pretty boring. I mostly deal with paperwork and phone calls. Not exactly thrilling stuff.”

  “What about sports and the afterschool program?”

  “We’re between sports seasons for the next week, but the afterschool program runs until seven thirty or when the last kid is picked up. We have a few other programs—STEM focused things, financial classes, music classes, health programs, leadership programs—that run throughout the year. But I think the only thing going on right now is the afterschool one.”

  “Lead the way.”

  “I… You want to see the afterschool program?”

  “Don’t you usually help out there after work?”

  “Well not officially, but I’ll pop in most nights and lend a hand if they need it.”

  “Then let’s go.”

  With wide eyes, I studied him for a beat, but I still couldn’t figure out what or why he wanted to see the program for himself. Shaking my head slightly, I grabbed his hand and pulled him toward the hallway leading to the activity room. The noise grew louder the further down the hall we went. Homework time was definitely over and the crew was deep into play time.

  “Are you sure you want to see this?” I asked after I tugged my keycard out of my back pocket.

  “You say that like we’re going into a strange, crazy, new world or something.”

  “You said it, not me,” I murmured as I waved my keycard in front of the lock then pulled the door open.

  The noise hit us like a slap in the face—excited chatter, occasional squeals followed by rebukes by the adults. The kids were in multiple groups, each captained by an adult. Some were painting, others were playing board games, some were playing duck, duck, goose. It was a picture of organized chaos.

  I stood inside the door next to Ryan as he took it all in.

  “Kinda reminds me of Aunt Wendy’s house.”

  I turned and saw the huge smile spread across his face.

  “Really?” I asked. “This is like your childhood?”

  “Yeah. We always had kids from the neighborhood over and some babysitter trying and failing to keep us all in line. Those are some of my happiest memories. This is awesome.”

  My heart melted. He got it. I smiled up at him and watched as his gaze bounced around the room. His shoulders relaxed, and he gave my hand a small squeeze.

  “Hope!” A squeaky voice shouted from the other side of the room.

  The tiny body of my buddy, Olivia, sprinted across the room until she crashed into my legs.

  “Hey kiddo. How was school?”

  “Good. Isabella got sick in class and puked everywhere. It was gross. Then Ms. Johnson made that puking sound and almost puked too.”

  “Awesome.” Ryan laughed. “Sounds like a banner day. What grade are you in?”

  “Second. I know you! You’re the angry man from that tv show. My mom says you’re hot, but not boyfriend material ‘cause you’re too angry. She says how boys treat their family shows how they’ll treat you.”

  I choked back a laugh and had to turn away for a second.

  “Sounds like your mom is a smart woman.” Ryan crouched down so he was eyelevel with the little girl. “I thought the same thing too when I watched the TV show, so I went and took some classes to learn how to not be angry all the time.”

  “They have school for angry people?” Olivia asked with a frown.

  Ryan smiled. “Kind of. And you know how awesome school is. I learned a lot, and I haven’t been in a fight since.”

  “Good. Fights are stupid.” Olivia turned to me. “Are you gonna come play with us?”

  “I wish I could, but I need to show Ryan around. Maybe next time?”

  “Okay.” Olivia graced us with another smile then turned when someone called her name. “Gotta go back to my group. Bye!”

  “Bye,” we echoed as she skipped away.

  I grabbed Ryan by the hand and tugged him out of the room. “I didn’t know you took anger management classes.”

  Ryan shrugged and looked uncomfortable by the question. “Like I told her, I didn’t like what I saw when I watched the show. I guess I had a lot of unresolved anger issues from my childhood and…” He twitched his shoulders. “I took some classes and learned some life skills I should’ve picked up years ago.”

  “That’s good.” I wanted to ask him more about it but he looked so uncomfortable by the whole conversation, I let it go. “Wanna see the rest of the facility?”

  “Sure.”

  Holding hands, I showed him around. The fields out back. The large, industrial kitchen we used for functions. The cameras in the hallway for security. My office.

  “So that’s where I work,” I finished as I leaned against my desk.

  “It’s pretty amazing. You spend every day knowing that you’re making a difference in someone’s life. I can’t… I don’t have anything like that in my life. I help build motorcycles for self-important assholes. I just… I mean I love working with my hands, building something from the ground up. And I love working with my brothers—most of the time—but there’s a lot of bullshit with it too. Especially with the show and some of our clients—” He paused and shook his head. “I don’t know. I don’t know what I’m trying to say.”

  “Well, not to burst your bubble or anything, but it’s not all butterflies and lollipops here either. My boss is an ass who thinks I’m his glorified secretary, and I spend most of my time doing paperwork.”

  “Yeah, but you do still get to work with kids sometimes. That’s gotta be super rewarding.”

  “Well you could work with them too. We’re always looking for volunteers here.”

  Ryan laughed. “You kinda stole my thunder. I was gonna ask you for an application.”

  “You were?”

  “Yeah.” Ryan ducked his head as he rubbed the back of his neck. He couldn’t meet my eyes like he was feeling bashful or something. “I was toying with the idea before, but seeing your afterschool program kinda cemented it for me. I’d love to help out here if I can.”

  Swoon.

  Okay, it was official. I was falling in love with Ryan Burns.

  “I think we can do that. Maybe we can talk about it over dinner?” I had absolutely no appetite with all my morning sickness fun, but I didn’t want my time with him to be over.

  “Sure.”

  Chapter 20

  Ryan

  “So, Austin tells me because of your run in with the West Coast Kings MC after your last build, you guys aren’t building anymore bikes for them. Can you talk to me about that?”

  I stared back at the smug expression on the producer’s face. That fucker really got under my skin. When we recorded our special last year, James spent the entire time mind-fucking us, st
irring shit up until we exploded. Blood everywhere. It’d taken us hours to get that shit cleaned up, and weeks to heal the breach between us four brothers. I’d be damned if I’d let James do that again.

  Because it’d always started with that phrase: Austin tells me. Or Nathan said. He made it sound like my brothers were constantly talking behind my back, and I’d later found out that they’d even never said most of the shit. James was just stirring the pot.

  I had to count to ten twice before I could answer him.

  “Yeah, we’re not doing that.” I leaned back against my tool kit and stared stoically at James, ignoring the camera guy and the boom operator hovering in our faces.

  James blinked. “Not doing what?”

  “I’m not doing the whole your brother said this or your brother thinks that. It’s a bunch of bullshit tricks you pull out to make for good drama. I’m not letting you and your stupid TV show come between me and my family.”

  “Stupid TV show? The network is paying you six figures for one season. You better show me some goddamn respect.”

  I smirked. “Who’s getting under whose skin now?”

  “Listen to me, you little pissant.” James hissed as he leaned into me. “You think you’re funny? You think you’re ever gonna win if you try to start a fucking war with me? I have more power than you can ever fucking imagine.”

  “Sounds like someone has a Napoleon complex. I thought short people were supposed to be more down to earth.”

  “Ryan!” Austin barked from the other side of the garage.

  “Excuse me, gentlemen.” I pushed away from the cabinets and crossed over to where Austin stood with a scowl on his face. I could hear from the pack of footsteps behind me that the crew were following.

  “Everything okay?” Austin asked, still frowning.

  “I was just letting James know I wasn’t gonna put up with his bullshit. I’m happy to talk about our builds and the work, but I don’t ever want to hear him imply that you all are talking shit behind my back.”

  Austin’s scowl swung from me to James. “I thought we had an understanding.”

  James’ face turned a mottled red as the camera swung from me and Austin to James. “I didn’t say anything contrary to the contract.”