Chapter Four

Jase

“Hold on a second. Harmony.” I drag out her name and glare at her sweet, smirking face in the rearview mirror of my truck.

“What?” she responds innocently, as if she didn’t just throw this surprise date on me while we’re on our way.

“Easy, Riding. I’ve been kicking ass since we were young. Don’t come at my lady.”

I give Harlen a sideways incredulous look.

Harmony tries to warm the sudden chill in the air. “Listen, it’s not a date. I just invited her along.”

I’m not letting her off the hook that easy. I know her better then she thinks I do. I haven’t found one woman to light a spark in my chest—or as Harmony puts it, I haven’t found my “boom”—and I don’t think that will change anytime soon. It’s not that I’m opposed to finding love. I just can’t seem to connect inside with anyone in the way I need it. I’m a father, I’m a business man, I’m a grown adult, and I no longer chase pussy. My soul is fucking looking for his match, and he can’t find her. Now, who knows who this stranger is Harmony met today? She may be an emotional nightmare who gets attached, and when I’m not interested, she might snap.

“You think you’re sly?” I ask.

She leans forward, wrapping her arms around my shoulders and getting as close to my ear as she can from her seat belt’s restriction. “Just trust me, big guy. She’s sweet, and who knows? Maybe it’s a chance to simply make another friend.” I smile and shake my head, taking this chance. She pokes my dimple. “There’s that handsome smile.”

“All right, baby. You’re cut off,” Harlen growls, his possessive side rearing its head, and I watch them. He grabs her hand away from me and brings it to his lips for a bite. She squeals, and they get lost in their cheesy love bubble.

I had love with Lainey, but never anything like that. We had affection and sex, but not possession and passion. She was my high school sweetheart, and I loved her with everything in me. I would be happily married still, but that kind of connection, that palpable I-would-die-for-you kind of love, we didn’t reach that. I most likely never will, because I believe Harlen is just a head case. I mean, I can just breathe in Harmony’s direction, and he’s ready to maul me. Don’t even get me started on how he reacts to anyone who isn’t in his close circle. A biker who packs is not a man you want to fuck with, especially if it involves his lady.

“I already told her not to meddle, man. Can’t stop this one when she is up to something,” Harlen says nonchalantly.

I give a grunt and pull up to the bar. It’s a local joint, and tonight it’s not as busy as it usually is for a Friday night. I park and get out, already ready to call it a night. I’m not ready to see any one, especially a woman I don’t know who is in God knows what mental state. Shit.

“This way.” Harmony heads toward the back, leading us as I follow behind Harlen and her.

“Ladies! Hey!” she greets the group of women, and all I can see from my place behind Harlen is two beautiful blondes.

“Girls, you have already met Harlen. This fella here is Jase, Harlen’s friend.” I smile at them, and the one with freckles on her nose goes wide-eyed, as the other with a simple gold cross around her neck smiles. They both look up to something. “This is Sadie and Kate. Oh, and Harlen, step aside so Jase can meet Kayla.”

With that, she moves, and I swear to fuck, my heart stammers in my chest, nearly stopping at the sight in front of me. “Fuck.”

“Wow,” she says at the same time.

Kayla is breathtaking. Long brown hair with blonde tips. Green eyes that look like a gypsy’s, surrounded by dark lashes. Her body calls to me like a siren. Curvy, toned, and tight, sculpted by gods from what I see. I’m stuck in place, my muscles tense and accumulating heat. And I know our meeting hit her too, because the music around us has drowned out and we are locked in an intense stare-off that neither of us can break.

“I’m—wow, this is embarrassing. I’m Kayla,” she speaks first, and I cough. Clearing the frog in my fucking throat. I look like a complete moron.

“Kayla, I’m Jase. It’s nice to meet you.” I touch her hand, and once again, something sparks. I swear she shocks me with her presence.

“Wow, the last time I saw a man look at a woman like that is the day Ben Cooper spotted you from the stage, Sadie Jay,” the blonde named Kate says.

“Yeah. Her reaction is about the same as mine,” Sadie whispers back.

“Man.” Harlen pats my back with a heavy hand, and I do my best to get my shit together. But little does everyone else in this damn room know that I just fell face-first into this beautiful woman’s depths, and I don’t know what the fuck is happening. I have never reacted to a woman this way before. Not even Lainey.

“Let’s take a seat and order us some drinks,” Harmony chimes in, and Kayla finally breaks eye contact, tucking her curled hair behind those small, dainty ears I would give anything to bite and growl into while she rides me.

Shit. There it is. I don’t even know this woman, and I’m already picturing myself inside her. Owning her. Possessing her. Claiming her fucking soul.

We sit, and without planning to, I end up next to her, her body melting into mine. She doesn’t look like the type to just give it up or do this very often, and neither am I, but there is a pull there, and we both can’t resist it. Crazy part is, we haven’t even said more than a sentence or two to each another.

We order drinks. I get myself a Bud Light, and she orders herself a Coke. Once the waitress takes off to collect our drinks and the next bar patron starts singing karaoke on stage, everyone at our table stays focused on the drunk idiot making a fool of himself. But Kayla’s eyes keep meeting mine, and I put my arm around her, resting my hand against the plush pleather of the booth behind her.

Leaning in, I bring my lips to her exposed ear. “Who are you.” It’s more of a proclamation than a question, because she has done something to me. Hypnotized me with her gypsy eyes. And I need to know how to break the fucking trance.

I can’t stop my other hand as it travels across my lap and onto her smooth, exposed arm. The little black simple dress is showing off her body in the best way possible, and my hands ache to touch her. I rub the back of my fingers up her arm, and she leans in to whisper back.

“Same to you. I’m not this kind of girl.” Kayla’s response doesn’t shock me. I know she’s never been touched by a man in the way she is dying for me to touch her. I can feel it, smell it, fucking taste it in the air.

“You feel it. Don’t you?” I question, bringing my lips to the underside of her ear and leaving an open-mouthed kiss. What in the actual fuck am I doing? I have never desired a woman like this, especially without even knowing anything about her. I’ve never felt so familiar with a total stranger.

“I shouldn’t. I don’t know if you are a serial killer or just an average Joe.” She shivers as my tongue touches her skin. I get a taste of her cherry-scented skin and I growl.

Laughing in my chest at her comment, I remark, “Baby, I’m neither.” I’m not an average Joe, especially in her presence. Instead, I’m a man unhinged and wildly untamable. Kayla is awakening something in me, and that scares the shit out of us both. And she doesn’t even know it yet.

“If you are neither, then what are you?” She peers up through those thick lashes.

I respond instantly, “Why don’t you let me show you? Let’s get out of here.” I watch the uncertainty flash in her eyes as she wavers on what to do. At least one of us is thinking logically, because all I care about is getting her under me and sliding inside her. Inside her body, inside her mind, and inside wherever the hell she will let me. Because I need answers. So many fucking answers.