Total pages in book: 40
Estimated words: 37734 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 189(@200wpm)___ 151(@250wpm)___ 126(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 37734 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 189(@200wpm)___ 151(@250wpm)___ 126(@300wpm)
All of this whirled through my mind as Doc took me outside the clubhouse and to his bike. Excitement shot through me at the thought of being behind him on his motorcycle. That meant something in our world. A man didn’t put a woman on the back of his bike if he wasn’t serious about her.
“Get on, baby.” His voice was rough and low. Sexy as hell. I had absolutely no chance of protecting my heart if this went south. And there was a very high probability it would go south. I climbed on behind him and wrapped my arms around him without his instruction. I couldn’t help it. Unfortunately, I didn’t stop there. I buried my face in his back and… inhaled.
God! His scent! Sun-kissed skin. Clean sweat. Gasoline. There wasn’t anything not masculine and Alpha about him. No doubt about it, Doc was a take-charge kind of man. I could see it in the way he dealt with Beatrix. In how he’d dealt with my dad. My father had led him to this, had basically forced Doc to take me, and Doc had seen through him. Yet he’d still agreed to this.
When he pulled the bike into the garage by a small cottage and turned off the engine, I asked my question.
“Is this about the club? Are you agreeing to take me in to further their interests?”
He looked back over his shoulder at me. “Does it matter?”
“It matters to me.” I felt like I was going to shatter. I was nervous and excited while at the same time terrified I was in over my head.
He swung his leg over the seat slowly. Deliberately. When he stood beside me, he held out his hand to me. “Then no. Sure, some of the benefits the club will be getting are great, but I wouldn’t agree to do something for the club I didn’t want to do. Not something that involves the happiness and well-being of someone completely innocent. And you’re the only innocent party in all this besides my daughter.” He brought my hand to his mouth and kissed my fingertips, never taking his gaze from mine. “What I told you at the diner was true. I’d have pursued you anyway. This situation gives me a better incentive to make it all work out to your satisfaction.”
I nodded, looking up into his eyes. If the man was lying, I couldn’t see it. I saw nothing but sincerity and kindness in his gaze along with a dose of something else I wasn’t sure how to name. Hunger? Lust? He looked at me like he was sizing me up. Trying to see how far he could push me before I pushed back. I couldn’t have told him the answer to that question.
Part of me wanted to run with it. Follow where he wanted to lead me. Another part, the part that felt I didn’t deserve a man like him, was afraid he was using me for his own amusement and would laugh at me when it was all over. Not only was he older than me in age, but in knowledge and experience. He was a strong figure in the community as well as his club. I was a twenty-two-year-old woman with no experience on my own who was basically freeloading off another club. I couldn’t survive in the world alone. Mentally, I still clung to my father even though I knew he didn’t need me in his life. I was a complication at best. A nuisance was more likely. Would I be nothing more than a complication to Doc once he got tired of me?
“I can see from your expression we have a lot to talk about.” He smiled gently as he helped me from the bike. “Come on inside. I’ll make us a cup of coffee, and we’ll talk. I’ll do my best to alleviate your immediate fears, then we’ll get some rest. Tomorrow evening, you’ll need to give Thorn your answer, but we’ll have time for any other questions you think of. He’ll have the club’s answer soon after, and we can contact Rocket.”
I let him lead me inside his home. It was a bit spartan, the only furniture being a couch in front of the TV and barstools at the island in the kitchen. I assumed he had a bed somewhere, but the place didn’t look lived in at all. There wasn’t room enough for my baby grand, but I could make do with my keyboard. I had a few instruments I really needed to get, but the main thing I was concerned about was my piano. I needed to play to work off nervous energy.
“You don’t stay here much, do you?” I winced. Not exactly smart to insult his home. “No offense,” I muttered.
He chuckled. “None taken, Lia. But no. I don’t stay here much. I spend most of my time at the clinic. I have a small room there with a twin bed. Not very comfortable, but most of the time it’s more convenient than going home when I’m working. It’s close to the hospital when I’m working in the ER and lets me keep the clinic open as long as I need to. I’ll see about putting a full-sized bed in there tomorrow.” He shrugged. “Might be a little cramped, but I’m betting we can work out a way to make it cozy instead.” His grin was infectious, but I was so on edge I could do little other than give him a timid smile.