Sandy

Lex and I were best friends and co-workers. Her boyfriend, Cholo, was a fully patched member of a local Motorcycle Club, the Filthy Fuckers. Contrary to popular opinions about bikers, he was kind, sweet, protective, and loyal. Considering her success with him – and my lack of success with men in general – I decided to meet a friend of his, another patched member of the club.

With a bucket of iced Budweiser at my side and my chair pointed toward the front door, I eagerly waited for them to show up. When they finally walked in, I stared in disbelief.

Hell, anyone would have.

My potential date was handsome, outwardly cocky, and had the muscular structure of a running back. Short of the kutte he wore, he looked like he could be a tattooed model for a clothing company.

“Oh. My. God.” I picked my jaw up from my lap and rapped my knuckles against the table. “Is that him?”

Lex glanced over her shoulder and then looked at me. “Yep.”

Cholo nudged his buddy and motioned toward where we were sitting. As they walked in our direction, I couldn’t help but notice my date’s undeniable swagger. Confidence radiated from him, and he didn’t have to speak for me to realize it.

He wore it like a crown.

I pried my eyes from his handsome face and gave Lex a quick look. “Is he an asshole?”

“No. He’s just. I don’t know.” She shrugged one shoulder. “Intense.”

“Intense?” My eyes darted back and forth between him and her. “Like, in a good way?”

Her mouth twisted to the side. “Uhhm…”

It didn’t matter. I’d already made up my mind. With looks like that, he could be a little bit of an asshole, and I’d somehow find a way to accept it.

He stopped at the edge of the table and looked me up and down. He raked his fingers through his closely cropped hair, and then hooked his thumbs on the edges of his front pockets.

His blue eyes met mine. “You Sandy?”

I opened my mouth to speak, but my throat had gone tight, leaving me no alternative but to nod.

After taking another quick look at me, he took a step back. He tilted his head toward the door. “C’mon.”

I shot him a deer in the headlights look. Somehow, I managed to speak. Kind of. “Huh?”

He did the head toward the door thing again. “C’mon, we’re leaving.”

“We’re uhhm...” I stammered.

He hadn’t even introduced himself. I looked at Lex. She shrugged. I looked up and blinked a few times. “Leaving?”

His eyes fell to my boobs. He grinned and coughed his response. “Yeah.”

I had just finished my period, and I was horny as hell, but I wasn’t an easy lay. I was pretty sure I’d let him fuck me at some point, but it wasn’t going to happen until I wanted it to. Hot biker or not, he was going to have to wait until I was ready.

“I’m not going anywhere,” I said adamantly. “Not yet, anyway. You haven’t even introduced yourself. Sit down.”

He pursed his lips, looked me over, and then grabbed the seat beside me. After turning it around backward, he sat and draped his arms over the chair’s back. I glanced at his full sleeve of tattoos, but made it a point not to stare.

A colorful array of dragons, flowers, and skulls covered his right arm all the way down to his hand.

Interesting.

He cleared his throat. “Name’s Smoke.”

“Smoke?” I chuckled. “That’s your name?”

He nodded. “Yep.”

“Mine’s Fire,” I said with a laugh.

He didn’t seem amused. I wrestled the smile from my face and changed my tone to serious. “Seriously, what’s your name?”

“Smoke,” he said flatly.

“Okay.” I nodded and extended my hand. “I’m Sandy. Nice to meet you, Smoke.”

He shook my hand and gave a slight grin. “Ditto.”

His sexy appearance and handsome looks had my interest. The jury, however, was still out on him. As I stared back at him and tried to decide what to talk about, I wondered just where he thought we were going to go had I chosen to get up and leave when he asked me.

He tilted his head toward the bucket of beers. “You mind?”

“No, we ordered them for you guys.”

“Appreciate ya.” He pulled a bottle from the bucket, handed it to Cholo, and then grabbed another. After opening it, he drank half the bottle in one gulp.

“So, what do you two want to do?” Lex asked.

I shifted my eyes from him to her and shrugged. “I don’t care.”

I really didn’t. The excitement of meeting someone new had taken over, and whatever we chose to do would satisfy me.

“We could go for a ride,” Cholo said.

“We’re headed out in a minute,” Smoke said.

I looked at him. He was leaning over the back of the chair with the bottle of beer, which was now empty, dangling loosely from his fingertips.

Oh really?

“Relax,” I said. “Have another beer.”

He set the bottle aside and shook his head. “I don’t ride drunk. One’s my limit.”

I looked at Cholo, expecting him to laugh or say something contradictory. He grinned and nodded. “He never drinks more than one.”

I shifted my eyes to Smoke. He shrugged and then stood. “You about ready?”

The thought of leaving with him excited me, but I wanted to act indifferent. “Where are we going to go?”

“We’ll head to Belmont Park, get some ice cream, and then maybe take a walk along Mission Beach. Toes in the sand sound good?”

Holy crap.

A handsome biker who had so much confidence it oozed from his pores, and he was romantic.

Who was I to argue?

I grabbed my purse, stood, and then met his gaze. “Really?”

He leaned toward me, brushed my hair to the side, and then pressed his mouth to my ear. “No,” he whispered, forcing his warm breath into my ear. “We’re going to your place, get to know each other a little, and see what happens. Now, turn around, wave at your friends, and smile.”

Goosebumps raised along the biceps of both my arms. The thought of having sex with him was exciting, but I wasn’t a whore, and I didn’t want him to expect that sex was a sure thing.

“I’m not a whore,” I whispered.

“Didn’t say you were. We’re both adults, though. And, I think you’re hot as fuck.” His hand slid along my side and stopped at the small of my back. “You gonna wave at ‘em, or not?”

I turned around, swallowed hard, and forced a grin. “We’re uhhm. We’re going to go ahead and go.”

Lex’s eyes slowly widened. Her smirk returned. She must have known. Cholo pinched the bill of his cap in a biker ‘goodbye’ wave.

I shot him a nervous smile and turned around.

Now facing the door with my blind date at my side, I was anxious and excited at the same time.

“Uhhm. Tell me a little about yourself,” I said, hoping to rid myself of the apprehension that filled me.

“I’ll tell you everything about me.” He chuckled and then began walking toward the door. “I like riding, eating at shitty diners, drinking coffee, and fucking.”

At least he was honest.

He pushed the front door open, mean-mugged a man as he walked past us, and then motioned for me to walk though. I stepped onto the sidewalk, and turned to face him. I wanted to act like he hadn’t shocked me, even though he had.

“Your list. Are they in order?” I asked. “From favorite to least favorite?”

He reached for the back of my neck, gripped it lightly in his hand, and pulled me close to his chest. His eyes met mine, and he held my gaze for an instant. I struggled to swallow as he leaned forward, brushing his cheek against mine as he did so.

“That depends on how good you are at fucking,” he breathed into my ear.

Dear fucking God.

It was too much.

My eyes fell closed and my legs went weak.

He lowered his hand, leaned away, and gave me a look.

I don’t know if he was trying to drive me insane or not, but he was doing a good job of it. I stood in place, incapable of doing much else. With a wet pussy and a wandering mind, I tried to come up with one good reason not to fuck him.

I produced nothing, good or bad. Convinced that was the direction the night was going to go, my curious side presented itself.

“Why are we going to my house?” I asked.

“My daughter is at my place, and I don’t make it a point of bringing women around her. In fact, I’ve got a rigid policy against it.”

His response wasn’t at all what I was expecting. My mind instantly went to thoughts of him being married, and that he was a typical cheating douche.

“Are you married?”

He shot me a look. “If I was, I wouldn’t be here, would I?”

I felt like somewhat of a fool for asking, but not a complete fool. Men cheated, it was a fact of life. I’d been the recipient of some of it in the past, and I wasn’t interested in having it happen again.

“Guys cheat,” I said with a shrug. “I just thought--”

“Well, I don’t. Never have, never will.”

Hearing it was reassuring, but I couldn’t help but wonder about him being single, and about the child.

“So, you’re single?”

He motioned toward his Harley. “What did I just say?”

He took a few steps, and then paused when I didn’t immediately follow him. As he glanced over his shoulder, my curious side reared its ugly head again.

“Who’s watching your daughter?”

“Jesus with the questions,” he said with a laugh. “She watches herself.”

“What?” I snapped. “You can’t leave a child at home alone--”

He arched an eyebrow. “Listen, Sandy. I’ve been a single father from the day after she was born until now, and she’s seventeen fucking years old. I’d really appreciate it if you don’t tell me what I can and can’t do with her, because considering all things, I’ve done a good God damned job of bringing her up. I’m pretty fucking proud of her, and of the job I’ve done.”

I swallowed hard. “Seventeen? You don’t look like you’re old enough to--”

“She’s sixteen. She’ll be seventeen here real quick. And, I’m thirty-four. I started young.” He reached for the helmet that dangled from his handlebars. “We doing this deal, or not?”

What little reservation I had about taking him home vanished after his speech about his daughter. I was right back where I’d started, only now I saw him as a handsome biker and a hot single dad.

“You got another helmet?”

“You ask a lot of fucking questions.”

I shrugged. “I’m a girl.”

He opened the compartment on the back of his motorcycle, pulled out a helmet, and handed it to me. “Yeah, every time you open your mouth, you remind me of that.”

“I’ll try and keep my mouth shut, then,” I said, my voice thick with sarcasm.

“That’s fine with me,” he said with a laugh. “I’ll let you know when it’s time for you to open it.”

I raised my index finger. “Oh, one last thing.”

He widened his eyes and cocked his head to the side.

“Can we stop at CVS?”

His brow wrinkled. “What?”

“I need to get protection,” I whispered. “In case we uhhm--”

“I’ve been clipped,” he said.

“Huh?”

He pointed at his crotch and then made the scissor finger gesture. “Vasectomy. I’ve had a vasectomy.”

I stole a quick look at him while he flipped switches and made adjustments. He was as handsome of a man as I had ever seen, and his confidence made him seem even more so. Feeling compelled to make my point, I pried my eyes away from his cute butt and cleared my throat.

“I’m on the pill, but that doesn’t mean we do it without protection. If we do it. I’m not saying we will, because we probably won’t. Not tonight. But, if it ends up that we do, I just think--”

He started the motorcycle when I was mid-sentence and began revving the engine. The high-pitched sound of the exhaust was impossible to speak over.

I couldn’t decide if he was an asshole, or just acted like one. Either way, I guessed, would produce the same result.

I could forego the asshole in him for one night.

And, regardless of what he said or I thought, I was sure that was as far as it would go.