I twisted to the side, trying to crack my back. I had never been so tired in my life. A long day of travel yesterday and then doing the grocery shopping for Gran and I. Then the chore of unpacking and cleaning it up before I finally sank gratefully into the worn in chair in the living room.

Home. I was finally home. No more cramped apartment filled with nursing student. One of which had the unpleasant habit of bringing home every guy she met.

Not that I was judging. I just came home to eat, sleep and study. Instead I spent quit a few nights staring at the ceiling, trying to muffle out the sounds of all the sex I wasn't having.

Silence. Blissfull, peacful silence. I closed my eyes and felt myself start to drift…

ZOOM ZOOM

"What the-"

I sat up and looked around. I had been home less than five minutes when I heard the unwelcome sound. It took me a minute to figure out what it was: the persistent rumble of a motorcycle.

A big one from the sounds of it.

It was close. Really close.

I ran to the window and looked out. Oh no. There was a large, muscular man in worn in denim and leather climbing off a bike in the driveway next door. Calling it 'a bike' was laughable. It was hell on wheels. Literally.

Suddenly I wanted to cry.

The thing was huge and looked terrifying. Kind of like the man who was standing next to it. Some maniac had actually customized the thing so that it looked like it had wings. Boney, black wings coming out of the front.

They'd made the bike bigger too somehow. To suit the rider. The man was menacing to say the least. He stood well over six feet, with long lean legs and thick, tattooed shoulders that looked wider than four feet.

I shook my head wildly. My eyes were playing tricks on me. That wasn't possible was it? I'd never heard of someone that broad, not even in anatomy class.

I gasped when he pulled off his helmet a moment later. Long dark hair poured out over his shoulders, making him look like an avenging angel. His sunglasses were on but his face was chiseled and handsome, with a full pouty mouth below it.

A smiling mouth. What the heck did a monster like him have to smile at? It was a predatory smile, making him look hungry.

In fact, it looked like he was smiling at his next meal.

He was staring right at me.

I jumped back from the window, nearly knocking over a lamp in the process. I righted it and casually strolled into the kitchen, where Gran was baking a full tin's worth of bran muffins. I stared at her, wondering if that monster next door had made her life a living hell. She hadn't said a word about it.

Gran carefully stacked the muffins on a plate covered with a napkin. Funny… she didn't look like she was being terrorized by bikers. She looked healthy and happy, with rosy cheeks and sparkling eyes. I frowned at the number of muffins she'd made. Not only was it a full tin, but she'd made lemonade from scratch. We must be expecting company. Usually she only made half a tin.

Gran was big on healthy eating and had raised me to be mindful of what I put into my body. That was a big reason I had decided to go into helping sick people. Even though the nursing program was challenging to say the least.

"Gran you didn't tell me that we had new neighbors."

"Neighbor. It's just Hunter over there."

Her grandmother looked at me shrewdly.

"He's single, though there has been a stream of pretty women coming and going. Why? Do you like him?"

"Ew, Gran! He looks like a criminal!"

"Well then, he must be. If he looks like one, right?"

I gave Gran a look. I knew what she was doing. I'd heard the 'don't judge a book by it's cover' lesson a hundred times. Normally I didn't. But this guy- well, there was no mistaking him for what he was.

A first degree bad ass.

"All the same, I expect you to be polite when he stops by."

I stared at Gran in shock. What was my sweet old grandmother doing inviting that cretin over for muffins?

"When he WHAT?"

"Go fix your hair dear. He'll be here any minute."

"Gran!"

My grandmother looked at me with an arched eyebrow. It was the look that said 'don't you sass your elders young lady.' That look had kept me on my toes since I was two years old.

"I promised him muffins after he fixed the front door for me a few days ago. Doesn't squeak any more in case you didn't notice. Added some extra security too."

My Grandmother grinned at me cheekily.

"Those criminal types know all about that sort of thing. Now, go freshen up."

I ran into my bedroom and looked at myself in the mirror. Not that I cared what the guy thought. Not any man for that matter.

Oh yeah, I'd been off the market for quite some time.

It wasn't that men didn't like me. I just didn't have time for romance. I'd spent the past few years with my nose in a book and now I was almost a licensed RN. My dream of being a nurse was so close I could taste it.

I'd passed all my exams. The only thing left was passing the licensing test. That'w why I was home now after all this time. It had been too far to travel on my brief breaks to visit Gran. I'd seen her once or twice a year the entire time I'd been at school. It's been hard, but neccessary. Plus I'd been too exhausted to do anything more than order take out or do my laundry once a month. But now my student housing was up and I was here to study and make my next move.

Maybe if I was lucky I'd even find work at a hospital nearby. Gran was all the family I had and I'd missed her terribly the past few years. Phone call just weren't enough. The plan had always been to come home and start off with a great job. Really look after Gran as she got older. But this new unwanted element in the neighborhood was messing with that.

How was I supposed to study with biker parties next door? I groaned. I'd just left one house with a couple party girls. I needed my sleep, not to be worried about keggers and roaring engines.

Ding dong

Startled aqua eyes stared back at me from the mirror. Hastily I put my hands on my head, smoothing down the wisps that curled around my face. My long light brown hair was pulled back in a ponytail with a pink bandana wrapped around my head like Rosie the Riveter. I was wearing tight denim cutoffs, tennis shoes and a tight t-shirt.

In short, chore clothes. Or study clothes. Or 'everything I own is in the laundry' clothes.

Who was I kidding? These were my every day clothes. I was hardly ever off duty and had zero wardrobe to show for it. Maybe once I had a good job… maybe I'd finally get to spend some money on something fun, like shopping.

I shrugged. It was probably hopeless anyway. Gran always said that I wouldn't know a ladylike outfit if it bit me.

I moaned, looking at my face. There was a smudge of dirt over my pert nose. The silly nose that made me look like I was twelve years old. My large blue green eyes were make up free just like usual, as was the rest of my face. I swiped pink flip gloss across my annoyingly pouty lips and sighed.

I certainly didn't look intimidating but it would have to do.

It was too bad I wasn't wearing my scrubs. They wree shapeless and hid my curves. Plus they made people take me more seriously.

I called them my 'armor.'

Anything to make sure that Mr. Harley Davidson next door would take me seriously when I told him to keep the noise down or to tell his buddies not to park their bikes on Gran's lawn.

"Callie girl? We've got a visitor!"

I squared my shoulders and followed the sound of Gran's voice into the kitchen. It was a cheerful yellow and white room originally decorated in the 1950's, not large, certainly not new, but spic and span as always. And filled with one enormous man.

Hunter stood by the table, his head seeming to almost scrape the ceiling. He took over the room without doing a damn thing. Up close, he was even more alarming looking. His muscles were covered in terrifying looking tattoos. His face was hard lines with cool, ice blue eyes that seemed to stare right through me.

He was well constructed, almost too handsome, but in a blockbuster movie villain kind of way. The kind the girl might not mind being taken prisoner by… and not mind all that much.

He smiled slowly as I came into the room. His eyes flicked down my body quickly, but didn't linger long enough to be rude. I tried to act cool, leaning against the counter and nodded at him.

"Callie, this is Hunter. Hunter, this is my brilliant granddaughter that I've been telling you so much about."

He crossed the room and took my hand, enfolding it in his big, hard, callous one. He practically swallowed mine up in his big, hot mitt. I could practically feel the heat coming off of him from a foot away.

He must be nice to snuggle up next to on a cool night.

I shook myself mentally and tried to pay attention to what the behemoth was saying.

"I'm sorry?"

"Ellie here is so proud of you. It'll be great to have a nurse in the neighborhood."

He was grinning at me, as if he was saying something else with his innocuous words. Something along the lines of, I'd like to bone your brains out.

I gasped, belatedly pulling my hand back. His grin only got wider, as if he knew I'd received his message. Had I ever. Loud and clear.

I stiffened up and looked down my nose at him. Well, I had to settle for looking up my nose at him since he towered over my 5'4" frame.

"Yeah well I'm not sure if I'm staying here or not. A nurse sort of has to go where the work is."

He was watching me intently, really listening in a way that caught me off guard. It was hard to believe there was brain under all that muscle, but apparently, there was.

"You don't say."

I kept talking, wishing I would shut the hell up. The man made me about as nervous as a cat on a hot tin roof.

"I mean, I hope it's nearby. I want to keep an eye on Gran and- make sure no one is bothering her."

That shit eating grin was back in a flash. He knew I was implying that he might be bothering Gran. He knew it, and he was letting me know he knew it. Oh yeah, there was a lot of unspoken communication going on between us all right.

"Are you sure she's the one who needs looking after?"

Gran bustled over and whisked Hunter away, seating him at the kitchen table by the window. He looked absurd. This huge leather clad biker squeezed into one of Gran's tiny vintage 1950's chairs. He managed to look completely comfortable somehow.

As if he hadn't just whispered something outrageous in my ear. Now he was leisurely looking me over. I realized it was because Gran wasn't looking. Now he was taking his time, letting me see him check me out. Thoroughly.

Way too thoroughly.

He stared at my feet and slowly slid his eyes up my legs. His face looked serious, intent, almost like he was in pain. When he got to the top of my thighs he licked his lips.

He actually licked his lips.

My face felt like it might burst into flames I was so annoyed. Annoyed, and something else. Something hot and unfamiliar. Something I'd rather not think about.

And his eyes were still roaming! Up my body to my tits. And there they stayed. He shook his head ruefully and made a satisfied grunting sound.

Like he'd just tasted something good.

Well, that was that.

"It was nice to meet you Mr. Hunter but I need to go and unpack."

I pushed myself away from the counter, not caring if it was rude. I just wanted to get some space from this man. He was making me uncomfortable.

And- overheated!

"Hunter."

I stopped at the deep, rough silk sound of his voice. He really should get a job working in coffee commericals… if you couldn't see him, that voice would sound sensuous. Comforting somehow.

"What?"

"It's just Hunter."

Now it was my turn to smirk.

"Oh really? Like Madonna?"

He scowled at me slightly. Ding ding ding! Score one for Team Callie! Gran covered up the uncomfortable silence.

"Now Callie you sit down and have a snack. Girl doesn't eat half enough I tell you."

Hunter dragged his eyes down me body again. Slowly. I cringed, almost feeling his eyes on my skin. He paused at my breasts on the way down, and between my legs again on the way up. I was froze, shocked at his forwardness. My face felt like it was actually aflame by the time his eyes met mine again.

"She looks alright to me."

Alright? ALRIGHT?

My feminine pride took immediate offense to that. First he eye fucks me, then he insults me? Not to mention, I knew he was lying.

I looked better than alright and I knew it. I'd had doctors chasing after me from the first day of my residency. Mostly married doctors but still. I was asked out by someone on a daily basis. Doctors, patients, delivery men, strangers, you name it.

And Mr. Eye-Fucker extraordinaire thought I looked ALRIGHT????

I narrowed my eyes and opened my mouth to lambast the idiot. Gran must have sensed my mood because she closed her hand over my shoulder and hastened me out of the room.

"Alright Callie girl, maybe you do need to unpack after all. Go on now."

I turned and left, vowing not to give the bastard a second thought.