As I sat and watched Bree ice skate on Tuesday night, I wished I’d taken it up when I was a kid. She seemed to really love it, and it looked like so much fun. Hell, maybe I should take lessons myself. It’d kill two birds with one stone—fun and exercise. There were plenty of adults out on the rink taking a class, many of them older than me. Bree was about fifteen minutes into her lesson, and I’d spent that time watching both her and a man who had to be at least sixty. He moved like he was my age. If he could do it, surely I could.

A waitress interrupted me when she delivered my order of hot chips to the table where I sat in the tiny café at the rink. The heating in there coaxed me in. I’d rather watch Bree from the warmth than sit on the bleachers and freeze.

“Thanks,” I said as she placed the bowl of chips in front of me.

“Just let me know if you want anything else, love. I’m serving hot food for another half hour and then closing down the kitchen.”

“Will do.” I wouldn’t want anything else, though. God, I shouldn’t even be having these chips. I’d hit the gym at lunchtime, so I was probably undoing all that work. Story of my life.

As I watched her walk away, I caught a glimpse of a guy entering the café—the kind of glimpse that made me keep looking. I did a double take when I realised it was Hyde. What the hell was he doing at an ice-skating rink? He didn’t strike me as the type of man to skate.

Oh, God, my belly started doing somersaults. And all I’d done was look at the man. I needed to get myself under control. But damn, these kinds of somersaults weren’t common for me. Why, why, why did he have to cause them?

He took a few steps into the café before turning to look out at the rink. I watched intently as his gaze stayed pinned there and his mouth curled up into a smile. He wasn’t here to skate; he was here with someone.

I looked away and focused on my chips and Facebook. Anything to take my attention off him and those muscles of his that made me want to do dirty things with him. Not to mention that ass. Fuck, I wondered if his cock was pierced.

Stop it, Monroe.

Enough.

He is not the man for you.

A girl could daydream, though, right?

Scrolling through my Facebook newsfeed, I discovered my sister had started another online marketing course that day. Savannah was a twenty-nine-year-old uni dropout who had quit her teaching degree about a year ago after coming home from two months of overseas travel and declaring teaching wasn’t for her. She’d decided to try internet marketing instead, and was convinced she’d make her fortune in that field. Our father was concerned about this change in direction, and that she was throwing money away by buying a multitude of online training courses, but Mum told him to let her be. Mum believed that everyone eventually found their calling in life, some just found it later than others. Dad didn’t agree, but he’d let it go for now. This new course had to be, by my count, her sixth one this year. I kinda believed the same as Mum—Savannah would find herself eventually.

“This seat taken?”

My head snapped up at the sound of Hyde’s deep, gravelly voice. Oh dear Lord. Mother of all things holy. This man had it all going on. Especially when he flashed that smile at me that he was currently flashing.

“It’s all yours,” I said against my better judgement. But really, it’d be weird if I told him to find a different table to sit at. The café was tiny and there were only about four other spare seats.

He pulled the chair out and folded his huge body onto it, his long legs stretched out in front of him and his arms crossed over his chest. “I figured you’d say no after that tongue lashing you gave me the other day.”

“Trust me, I wanted to.” The words fell out of my mouth before I could censor them.

His lips twitched. “I like a woman who’s honest.”

“Yeah, well I’m not sharing my chips with you, so don’t ask for any.”

This time a smile spread out across his face. “Message received loud and clear, sugar.” He uncrossed his arms and leant towards me. “You should probably know, though, that you’ve got tomato sauce on your face.” Taking hold of my jaw, his thumb swiped the sauce from under my lip. He then placed his thumb in his mouth and sucked the sauce from it while I sat mesmerised by his moves. The man made cleaning my face look sexy as hell. I wanted to squirt sauce all over my face after that.

“Thanks,” I said, but it came out like a bloody croak. What the hell was happening to me? I didn’t get nervous around men, but Hyde made me act all kinds of weird.

His smile turned into a grin, but he didn’t say anything else. He simply lounged back in his seat and crossed his arms again.

I ate a few more chips in silence and tried to focus all my attention on Bree, but just having Hyde sitting next to me made that difficult. As much as I avoided looking at him, I could smell him and sense his presence. And he smelt so bloody good with whatever scent he was wearing. Damn him.

“Who are you here with?” he asked, giving me a reason to turn back to him.

I found him watching me closely, which I both loved and hated all at the same time. “My friend’s daughter, Bree. You?”

“My daughter.”

Colour me shocked. That was the most unexpected thing to come out of his mouth. I hadn’t picked him for being a father, and certainly not one who spent Tuesday nights taking his kid ice skating. But I loved that he did. “How old is she?”

“Sixteen.”

“Oh God, you must be in hell. Bree’s fifteen and she’s more of a handful than she’s ever been. How are you even managing to look so cool and calm? I mean, we’ve spoken a few times now and besides being a bit of an asshole the last time I saw you, you didn’t seem run down or beaten to a pulp by your kid.” God, I was fucking rambling. Would someone take a shoe and shove it in my mouth to shut me the hell up?

He chuckled, and that surprised me too. Hyde always seemed so intense and serious. I had to admit, I liked this side of him. A lot. “She lives in Melbourne with her mother, so she hasn’t had the opportunity to beat me to a pulp yet. I’m sure it’s coming, though. We’ve already gone two rounds today.”

“Any bloodshed?”

“Only mine so far.”

I laughed. “When did she arrive?”

“Three days ago.”

“Oh man, strap on some combat gear. You’re in for a wild ride.”

“Yeah, I figured that after the first day.”

“How long have you got her for?” It wasn’t school holidays, so I wondered if she’d moved in with him.

“Her mother will be here tomorrow, but I’m not convinced Charlie wants to go home with her.”

“Her name’s Charlie? I love that.”

“It’s short for Charlotte.”

An insistent tap on the window of the café drew our attention. It was Hyde’s daughter. He promptly pushed his chair out and went outside to her where they engaged in a short conversation before making their way to the skate hire counter.

Charlie was a stunning girl with the same dark hair that Hyde had and a beautiful face I was sure the boys flocked to. I wondered how much stress she caused her father where boys were concerned. I remembered how much hell I’d given mine when I was a teenager. He swore half his grey hairs were from that time in my life. I’d had a new boyfriend every couple of months until I found one I really liked in my last year of school and had kept him for almost the entire year. My father hadn’t been excited about him and it had caused us numerous fights.

Hyde helped Charlie exchange skates and waited until she was back out on the rink before he came inside again. He ordered a drink and then joined me at the table.

After drinking some of his coffee, he said, “You got kids, Monroe?”

“No, not yet.”

“You want them?”

I nodded. My heart actually hurt at the thought of not having kids. “Yes,” I said quietly. This conversation had turned personal, fast. Another thing I hadn’t expected from him, but that was probably my bias against bikers. “I want a big family. Five kids. Maybe. Or three, at least. I guess it depends on my partner and what he wants. And whether those three have driven me insane before I can go for another one.” Why the hell was I sharing all this with him? It was like my mouth had a mind of its own and just kept going.

His lips twitched. It seemed to be a regular occurrence, but then again, I was babbling a little, so I could understand his amusement. Please God, let me shut up. “You’ve put some thought into this. But you haven’t found a father yet?”

I sighed. “Sadly, no. I’m flat out finding a man who likes meat, let alone one who wants to settle down and have kids.”

He frowned. “Meat? Who the fuck doesn’t like meat?”

“Right?! My thoughts exactly.” He was tall and he liked meat. And he smelt heavenly. I died a little on the inside. He wasn’t the man for me, but fuck, he was beginning to tick a lot of boxes.

He leant back in his seat, stretched his legs in front of him and reached his arms back so he could cradle the back of his head with his hands. Good Lord, did the man not know how sexy that move was when he did it? It was like having your favourite food laid out on a banquet in front of you and being on a nil-by-freaking-mouth diet.

“I guess there’s always IVF or some other shit you could try if you can’t find a guy who likes meat,” he said, his mouth curving into more of a grin.

I pursed my lips in mock annoyance with him. “You’re finding this meat thing hilarious, aren’t you? I’m telling you, it’s a serious thing to look for in a man.”

Still grinning. “I have no doubt. Tell me, what else are you looking for? Someone who flosses regularly? Or maybe someone who gets their tax in on time every year?”

I lifted a brow. “Flossing is very important. And honestly, I hadn’t thought of the tax thing. I may need to add it to my list.”

He laughed, and my belly fluttered at the sound. It was like a deep rumble of sexy goodness that I wanted to provoke over and over from him. “Ah, the mysterious list you mentioned the other night.”

“I did?” God, I didn’t remember that. What else had I said to him?

He shifted so he was leaning forward, his body and face closer to me. Dropping his voice to a low gravel, he said, “Yeah, you said I ticked two items off it. I had no idea what the fuck you were talking about, but it’s making sense now.” He paused for a beat before adding, “I’m guessing the fact I like meat gets me another tick.”

Okay, it was time for me to woman up. Hyde had me on all kinds of edge just by being in the same room as me. No man ever did that to me. I was the woman who could flirt with anyone and never get tongue-tied. And yet, Hyde was making me question my ability to even engage in adult conversation.

I leant forward, resting my elbows on my knees and putting my cleavage on full display for him. Hitting him with the sexiest smile I could muster up, I said, “Three ticks don’t make a list, tiger. You’re gonna have to do better than that.”

“I’m not looking to hit a list, sugar. But I will tell you, that vibrator of yours could learn a thing or two from me.”

Fuck.

Hyde-1. Monroe-0.

“Roe, I hurt my ankle.” Bree’s voice cut through the heat between Hyde and me, which was the saviour I needed right then. If not for her, I’d be sliding fast into dangerous territory, contemplating letting a biker show me a thing or two. Or three or four. Hell, why stop at four? Jesus.

I stood. “Here,” I said, motioning for her to come to me,” Sit down, honey. What did you do to it?”

She limped my way, her skates in her hands. “One of the assholes out on the rink pushed off the wall, straight into me, and I twisted my ankle as I fell.”

“Little shit,” I muttered as I crouched to take a look at her ankle. I had not even one ounce of an idea as to what I was looking for, but it didn’t appear to be swelling, so I figured that was a good thing.

“You can still walk on it?” Hyde asked.

Bree nodded. “Yeah, but it hurts really bad.”

He shifted to sit on the edge of his seat so he was closer to her. After taking a good look at her ankle, he said, “It doesn’t look crooked or swollen. Is it numb at all?”

She pressed on her ankle in a few spots. “No.”

He stood. “Good. I’ll get you some ice. Wait here.”

As we watched him go, Bree said, “He’s hot, Roe. Do you know him or did you just meet him here?”

I stopped drooling over his ass and turned to face her. This checking-out-guys side to her was new. Well, at least the sharing it with me was new. Her mother would have had a fit if she knew Bree was checking out a man old enough to be her father, but I figured it was a natural progression in a girl’s life. I didn’t want her to feel like she couldn’t talk to me about guys, so I ran with it. “I’ve met him a few times now, but I don’t really know him. And yeah, he’s hot as sin, but definitely not my type.”

She hit me with a look of shock. “You’re kidding, right? Like, why is he not your type? What doesn’t he have that you’re looking for?”

“Bree, baby, he’s the bad boy your mama will warn you about when you get a little older. Bad boys are okay to fool around with, but you don’t date them.”

“So all your life you’ve dated the good guys? Is that working for you?”

I narrowed my eyes at her. “When did you become so sassy?” Honestly, I loved her sass, just not when it was directed at me.

A smile spread across her face. “Just pointing out something you may want to consider. You know, kinda like you do all the time for me.”

I returned her smile. “Smartass,” I muttered. “And while I haven’t met the man of my dreams yet, I’m not sure a guy like Hyde would fit that bill.”

Her smile morphed into a smug grin. “Don’t judge a book by its cover, Roe.”

I poked my tongue at her. “Shut up, missy. And stop throwing all the shit at me that your mother and I have been throwing at you all your life. That’s good advice, but sometimes you just need to ignore it.”

She laughed, but her laughter quickly died as she gripped her leg. “God, this hurts. I want to go back out there and run into that kid who ran into me. He should be hurting too.”

Hyde returned with ice, and positioned Bree’s leg up on the chair. He placed the ice on her ankle and said, “You’ll probably wanna get her one of those compression bandages and keep her foot elevated.”

“And see the doctor, I’m guessing.” My first aid knowledge was going to need a major brush up if I was ever blessed with children.

“Yeah,” he agreed. I loved that he didn’t make fun of the fact I had zero awareness of how to treat this. He was just like bam, bam, bam, do this, do that, and all will be good. Hyde seemed like a take-charge kinda guy, and that right there made me like him more.

Bree glanced up at Hyde with a look of appreciation. “Thank you for all your help.”

“No worries.” He grabbed a spare seat from the table behind us and sat. “It’s a good sign that it’s not swelling. I’d say it’s a minor sprain only.”

“God, I hope so. I do not want to have to get a boot or anything like that,” Bree said. At my smile, she pulled a face and added, “Those things are not hot, Roe. No guy is gonna check me out while I’m wearing a boot.”

I held up my hands in defence. “Point taken, but I’m not sure I agree with you. I think you could milk a boot for a long time. Guys like to help pretty girls.”

Hyde seemed amused by our conversation, but he didn’t get involved. And a moment later when his daughter came off the rink, he left us to help her.

I watched him with her for a few minutes. He had to be one of the most attentive fathers I’d ever come across. Where some dads would be itching to get out of here, Hyde seemed intent on taking his time with his daughter. It was like he savoured every minute. I guessed that was perhaps because she lived in another city and he maybe didn’t get much time with her. Whatever it was, I loved it. And bloody hell if that didn’t annoy me a little. I didn’t need any more reasons to like him.