Gunner sincerely doubted that whoever Tamara had been born to, she’d ever settle for simply being another club girl. He’d watched her closely over the past week. The men in the club loved her and she loved them, but they treated her with a different kind of respect than they did the other girls that came around. He didn’t believe it was just because she was the VP’s daughter.

She was smart and witty and there was just something about her that commanded a certain amount of respect. He watched her cook and wait on the MC guys, but he also saw how she took control when it came to his healthcare and how she didn’t take any shit off any of the guys, even her father and brother. On top of all of that she was gorgeous, and the healthier Gunner got the harder he found it to be so close without touching her.

She had her back to him as she made the sandwiches, so he took a seat on one of the stools at the counter. When she turned back around with his plate she said, “No shirt, no service.” Gunner smiled and started to get up. “I’ll get it.” She left him sitting there and went down the hallway to the bedroom. She came back with a white t-shirt that was about two sizes too big for him. He pulled it on while she got them each a soda out of the refrigerator and sat down.

“Can I ask you a question?” Gunner had so many questions about her on his mind, but there was one he just had to ask.

“What’s that?”

“Why do you do this?”

“This?”

“Yeah, take care of boneheads like me and cook and clean for a bunch of smelly bikers. You said it yourself, you’re not a club girl.”

She shrugged. “These guys are my family. I’m part of this club whether I wear a patch or not. This is my role.”

“Do you want to be a part of it?”

“If you mean is anyone forcing me, the answer is no. I lived with my mother most of my life. I came here to live with my father and my brother when I was fifteen, of my own free will. I love my dad. I love my family. It’s unorthodox, but they’re mine and I don’t have a problem taking care of them. What about you?”

“What about me? What?”

“Why are you here, Gunner? You’re not a biker.”

“Yet.”

She smiled. “Why do you want to be a biker?”

He took a bite of his sandwich and thought about how he wanted to answer that. Finally, he said, “I think that of all the people I’ve met in my life, I have yet to meet anyone as loyal as a member of an MC. They’re a family, but it’s more than that. They have each other’s backs no matter what. All I had to do was have Billy call Dax and all of this was set into motion, for me, and I’m not even a patched member.”

“What are you…to the Skulls?”

“I’m not sure yet. I think Dax and I had the same father, and I know whether that’s true or not I’d like to be a member of their club. When I was there, at the ranch where they live, I felt like I was home for the first time in my life.”

“You look like him.”

“Dax?”

“Yeah. It was the first thing I noticed when I met him. He seems fond of you.”

“I hope he is. I have so much respect for him. Did you know that he’s married to a lawyer?”

She raised an eyebrow and laughed. “That’s convenient. It would have saved this family a hell of a lot of money over the years if one of them had thought to do that.”

Gunner chuckled. “Yeah, I’ll bet. So, are you a nurse or…?”

“I graduated from the nursing program and passed my boards but finding a job is proving to be more difficult than I thought it would be.”

“Why?”

“Because everyone in this county knows who I am and who my family is.”

“And you’d rather stay here with your family than move somewhere that they don’t know you?”

Lately, she wasn’t sure about that. She’d been thinking a lot about taking off on her own, but every time she came close she found herself making excuses to stay. Finally, she nodded. “I guess,” she said. “Something like that.”

“See what I mean about the loyalty? I want to be a part of that.”

She changed the subject by asking him, “You have a bike?”

“Yeah…well, kind of.” Gunner thought about the last time he saw his little bike, on its last leg in Toolie’s shop. “She kind of took a beating on my trip back east a couple weeks ago. I’m not sure she’s going to make it.”

Tamara smiled. “You want to see mine?”

“You have a bike?”

“Why shouldn’t I? Because I’m a girl?” Gunner put his palms up and popped the rest of his sandwich in his mouth before he got himself in trouble. Tamara narrowed her eyes at him and finished her own meal. When she was finished, she said, “Come on, I’ll introduce you to Sadie.”

“Sadie?”

“Yes, she has a name. Shut up.” Gunner tried not to laugh as he followed her out to the garage. She flipped on the light and he was looking at a blue tarp. “I don’t like her to get dusty.” Tamara went over and untied the tarp from a metal ring coming out of the floor and said, “Meet Sadie.”

“Oh wow.” The bike was a Dyna Super Glide. She was black with a blue wolf and sickle painted on the gas tank. The chrome on her wheels and exhaust was so shiny it was almost blinding. The sleek, black leather seat and the leather saddlebags were even shiny. Someone had clearly put a lot of time, work, and money into the bike. “She’s gorgeous.”

“I know,” Tamara said and grinned. “She’s my pride and joy.”

“Take me for a ride.”

“Excuse me? I don’t think so.”

“Why not? You know how to ride it, right?”

She looked indignant. “Of course I know how to ride it. I could ride circles around you, I bet.”

“Prove it. Take me for a ride.”

“You’re supposed to be resting.”

“Oh, come on. I’ve been resting for over a week. I’m tired of resting. Take me for a ride, just a short one…please.”

He could tell she was considering it. He gave her the most pleading look he could muster, and she finally said, “Around the block.”

He grinned. “Around the block sounds amazing.”

“Go put some pants on…and your boots.” She was a bossy little thing, but Gunner didn’t mind. He went into the house and put on his jeans and boots. When he got back, she was in the little laundry room off the garage pulling on a pair of jeans of her own. She was wearing a long-sleeved black t-shirt and a pair of jeans that fit her like a glove. She grabbed a pair of black boots off the dryer and put those on and then donned a pair of black leather gloves. Gunner thought she was the hottest biker he’d ever seen. Once she was dressed, she pulled the bike out of the garage and tossed him a helmet. She was about to slip hers on when he asked:

“I need this for around the block?”

“You don’t want any more brain damage.”

He laughed nervously. “More? I have brain damage?”

She smiled sweetly and said, “The jury is still out. Put it on.”

He slipped on the helmet as she put on hers and then effortlessly slid onto the sleek bike. Gunner slid on behind her. He’d never been on the back of a bike, much less behind a woman. He didn’t have a problem riding behind her, he just wasn’t sure where to put his hands. As he was pondering that she fired up the bike and the rumble of it shot through his boots and all the way up his spine. He loved the vibration of the motor between his legs. Even more so, he loved having Tamara between them.

“You can touch me,” she said over her shoulder, “unless you want to fall off.” Gunner didn’t have to be told twice to touch her. He slid his arms around her middle, letting his hands press into the t-shirt that covered her hard, flat stomach. He had to will himself not to slide them up and touch her breasts. He’d been looking at them for a week now, thinking how they were the perfect size to fit into his big hands. He imagined her rock-hard nipples pressing into his palms and shuddered. “You scared?” she said, then laughed.

He laughed too. “Not yet.”

She put the bike in gear and pulled out of the driveway. The night air was warm but he’d been cooped up in the house for so long it felt like a caress on his skin. He inhaled and got a lungful of fresh air, mixed with a delicate coconut scent that came from Tamara’s hair. He closed his eyes for a second and imagined burying his face in it. He was reveling in that when he realized his erection was growing, and in a few seconds she’d be able to feel it poking her in the back. Not wanting her to think he was a complete pervert, he wiggled his hips to adjust himself so his crotch wasn’t touching her back. As he did that, his hands slid up and were almost cupping the bottoms of her breasts. He didn’t know if it would be more obvious to move them or leave them there. Tamara didn’t say anything and she didn’t look at his hands, so he just kept them there.

She accelerated as they turned off her residential street and onto a gravel path that led alongside the Medina River. The reflection of the moon off the water was beautiful and the sounds of the rushing water only made things seem more romantic. Gunner closed his eyes again and imagined her pulling over to the side of the riverbank and taking off her clothes. He opened his eyes when he felt her open up the throttle and he smiled…laughed at himself, really. Romantic? Where are you getting this crap? When he wanted a woman he just told her so, and nine times out of ten he got her. There was no romance involved. He’d never been on a date in his life. He didn’t take girls on picnics or to movies or pick flowers for them. In his life, girls were a means to an end. He always treated them well, but once he got what he wanted, which was always sex, he was finished and ready to move on. He had to ask himself, why was this one so different? Was it because she’d been nursing him? Was it because she was Randall Covey’s daughter? He chuckled; that was probably it.

Tamara was pushing about seventy miles per hour on a dark country road now. He let his hands slide down and grip the tops of her thighs. It gave him a better hold so he didn’t fly off the bike, but it didn’t do anything to help the ache in his groin. When she started to slow down, he let his mind go back to the fantasy that she’d brought him out here to seduce him, but she dashed those hopes as she turned the bike around and headed back for her house. When they pulled into Tamara’s driveway, Gunner got off the bike while she opened the garage door and parked it inside. He watched her get off and his mouth watered as he looked at her perfect body. She didn’t have huge breasts and her hips were a little wide, but the whole picture was fascinating to him and he was aching to see more.

“So, what did you think?”

He pulled off his helmet. “That was fun, thanks.”

“No problem, just don’t snitch on me that I let you go out after I told them you weren’t ready for church.” She went over to hang her helmet on a hook on the wall and Gunner took his over as well. Their bodies brushed up against each other and Gunner almost came in his pants. He reminded himself again that she wasn’t just any girl. She wasn’t a one-night-stand kind of girl, or at least he didn’t think so, and she was Randall Covey’s daughter. He’d done a lot of stupid things in his life, but fucking the daughter of the VP of the Head Hunters might just take the cake. What he needed was a cold shower.

“I’m going to grab a bottle of water.” She nodded at him as she picked up the tarp to cover the bike. It was obvious, as she concentrated on what she was doing and ignored him as he went into the house, that she wasn’t feeling the same thing he was. Gunner opened the refrigerator and took a bottle of water out. With the door still open, he downed it in almost one big gulp and then leaned his head into the top of the refrigerator. He just stood there for a few seconds, trying to cool himself off. “She’s killing me,” he whispered, just as he heard the door open and shut behind him. He was hoping he hadn’t said it out loud, or at least loud enough for her to hear, but when he turned and looked at Tamara’s face he knew that he had.

She stared at him for a few seconds and then a slow sexy smile spread across her face. “I’m killing you, huh?”

“What? Oh, you thought I was talking about you…” Tamara stepped up so close to him that they were almost chest to chest and she said:

“If not me, who then?”

“Fuck.” He reached down and pulled her chin up. With his lips hovering just above hers and his breaths coming in harsh ragged gasps, he said, “Fuck,” again. He had no idea what else to say. She really was killing him.

Tamara pushed up on her toes until their lips met. Gunner closed his eyes and tasted her, softly at first, but the kiss quickly turned passionate and they licked, sucked, and bit at each other’s lips. She brought her hands up and tangled her fingers in his dreads, and he had his cupped underneath the sexy round cheeks of her ass. She kissed him with a raw passion that he felt in every fiber of his body. She moaned into his mouth and he pulled her in closer, letting his hands travel up her back to the sides of her breasts. He slid his mouth down the side of her jaw until he found her neck and he began to suck and lick there. She tasted so good, he wanted to taste every part of her, and he’d already forgotten that he was tasting forbidden fruit.

He let his hands slide down again and this time he used them to lift her up off the floor. She put her legs around his waist and he turned so that her back was against the wall. He kissed down the front of her neck and dipped his face underneath her blouse. He could feel the swell of her breasts over the top of her bra against his lips. He kissed and licked and sucked the smooth flesh there until she let go of his hair and reached down and pushed the shirt up. He sat her down on her feet and pulled it off over her head, unfastening her bra with one hand at the same time as he did. His breath caught in his throat when he saw her. He knew she was going to be beautiful naked, but he’d had no idea just how gorgeous she was.

“Fuck,” he said, again. Tamara smiled up at him and said:

“Maybe we should take this to the bedroom.”

Gunner realized again what he was doing. Looking toward the front door that had acted as a revolving one for Head Hunters over the past week he said, “Are they going to kill me?”

She took his hand and led him toward the bedroom. With a mischievous little laugh, she said, “Only if they catch us.”