Three weeks had flown by since the initial diagnosis. Her mother had cancer. How the hell was she supposed to deal with that? Work was being as accommodating as they could be, but Josephine knew it wouldn’t continue. Besides, she needed the money to help pay the medical bills.

 

The insurance her mother carried not only sucked, it was mostly useless. They paid for some of the treatments, but there were still going to be a lot of out-of-pocket expenses.

 

Josephine picked up the pamphlet she’d laid in her lap with a newfound sadness. She’d wanted a baby for so long, and waiting around for Prince Charming wasn’t getting her anywhere. She was already twenty-seven. Before her mother had fallen ill, she’d been contemplating having a baby on her own. Now, seeing her mother so ill and likely to slip away from her, the feeling was stronger than ever. No one was promised tomorrow. If she waited too long, it could be too late.

 

The procedure would cost almost all of her savings, and with her mom needing so much care, it would be selfish to spend the money on herself like that.

 

Loud beeping interrupted her pity party of one, and Josephine watched the nurse rush into the room to turn off the machine.

 

“Just need to change the IV.” The younger woman smiled. “You’ve been in here all morning. She’ll probably be asleep for a few more hours; that medicine really wipes her out. Why don’t you go down to the café and get some lunch, or at least some coffee? It’s better than the stuff in the waiting area on the floor.”

 

Several nurses had already made that suggestion. They were always trying to force food on her or pour caffeine into her. A few offered to let her use the unit shower to freshen up. Did she really look that awful? Sure, she’d been at her mother’s side every second she wasn’t at work, but she’d showered and even managed to brush her teeth.

 

“You know, coffee actually sounds good.” Josephine pushed off from the chair and leaned over her mother, brushing a loose lock of hair away from her face. “She looks better today.” Josephine repeated the lie every day.

 

The nurse gave a polite nod, like they were sharing the same secret. “Cafeteria is down on the first floor. Take the hall to the right, then just follow the smells. They put in a Starbucks a few months ago. You can’t miss it.” The nurse finished changing the IV bag and patted her mother’s hand before heading out of the room.

 

Josephine slipped her purse over her shoulder and headed in the direction of the elevators. Real coffee. Why hadn’t the nurses told her about the damn Starbucks? It would have made the decision to caffeinate much easier.

 

She could smell the coffee brewing the moment the elevators opened. This section of the hospital was new to her. She always went in through the front doors and straight to her mom’s room. It looked as though the whole wing had been rebuilt. Beautiful artwork lined the halls, and new tiling had been put in. Way classier than she thought a hospital should look.

 

Only a short line of people stood between herself and the caffeine boost she’d been denying herself all afternoon. Stepping behind the fourth person in line, she realized she still had the artificial insemination pamphlet in her hands and tucked it into the front pocket of her purse.

 

“Fuck.” A whispered curse came from behind her. It wasn’t the word, but rather the deep voice that uttered it that drew her attention. With a slight glance over her shoulder, she saw him—the man who’d spoken. The man who took up the whole room with his presence.

 

He was an entire head taller than her. Large chest, that looked hard as nails, to go with the muscular arms he possessed. The leather vest he wore over a tight black t-shirt showed off all his strength. And his legs…men shouldn’t wear tight jeans in her opinion, but his legs were so damn built she doubted any pair he put on wouldn’t cling to him in such a way. When she finally made her way up to his face, she sucked in her breath. She’d heard of chiseled features, read about them in novels, but never had she seen the model for such descriptions. And there he was, with chin length, dirty blond hair, a light covering of stubble over his firm jaw, and green eyes. No, not just green, muddy, swampy-green, unlike anything she’d seen before.

 

He swept his gaze over the line and came to her. Their eyes met, but only for a split second before she looked away, facing back to the front. Her cheeks heated enough to know she was blushing. Blushing! A grown woman blushing over some guy just because he looked hot. If hot was really a strong enough word to describe him.

 

She felt him step in line behind her, and the heat of his body rolled over her. Sticking her thumbnail between her teeth, she began to nibble—a nervous habit from a long time ago.

 

The scent of leather and aftershave enveloped her from behind, and she closed her eyes, inhaling the sweet smell of it. Manly—he smelled manly. Much different from the men she dated. Even those a few years older than her all seemed so young, unworldly, and boyish.

 

“The line moved, darlin’.” A strong finger tapped her shoulder.

 

She jumped and stepped forward, mumbling an apology but not looking back. He’d see how red her face was if she looked back at him, and that wouldn’t do. Let him stand behind her oblivious to what he was doing to her, because she doubted she was the first girl to react in such a way. The man was probably used to having women faint at his feet. He looked more like a Viking than an ordinary man. But he was just a man, she reminded herself.

 

“You okay? You seem jumpy.” He leaned forward and she could smell his breath. Mint. Damn him.

 

“Uh, yeah.” She chanced a glance over her shoulder; his face was near to resting on her. “I’m, uh, fine. Thanks.” She scooted up when the line moved again. She heard his low chuckle. Was he laughing at her? What the fuck was so funny?

 

“I wouldn’t really say fine,” he said from behind her but hadn’t moved closer. She tried to ignore him. She couldn’t talk with him; that would only encourage her body to continue reacting to him so damn much. Hell, her nipples were starting to tighten just from the brief exchange they’d already had.

 

She tried to ignore him as the woman in front of her gave her order, but his gaze was burning into her back. She made a quick glance, just to assure herself he wasn’t staring at her. Nope. He was completely fixated on her, and when he caught her little peek back at him, he grinned. A wide grin that deepened the creases around his mouth and made his eyes look much lighter.

 

“I’ll have a grande caramel latte, please.” If the caffeine didn’t wake her up, maybe the sugar high would. She pulled her wallet out of her purse only to be pushed aside.

 

“And I’ll have a plain coffee. You do that, right? Just black coffee?” The guy behind her had moved her out of the way and thrust a twenty-dollar bill at the girl at the register.

 

The girl, who, once she looked up from pressing the buttons on the machine, dropped her jaw. As much as Josephine understood the reaction, she found herself not liking it. Not one bit.

 

“Um, of course. Black coffee. What size?”

 

“Small.” She took the money from him, and he turned to Josephine with a large grin.

 

Finally finding her vocal cords, she spoke up. “You don’t have to do that. I can pay for my own coffee.” She tried to shove past him to hand over a credit card, but he wasn’t moving. The stone build of his remained right where it was as he plucked the plastic from her hand and tucked it into the back of her jeans. His fingers brushed her rounded ass when he did so, sending a current of heat through her body. Dammit, she was going to blush again.

 

“Wasn’t a matter of if you could, was a matter of me wanting to pay.” His answer didn’t help her irritation, but did at least wash away some of her shyness.

 

“I didn’t ask you to.”

 

“I didn’t either. I think your drink is ready. Go grab it, and we’ll find a table.” He took his change from the girl behind the counter and picked up his coffee without another word. He just expected her to listen to him, to do as he said? That wasn’t something she regularly did. Yet, when he raised an eyebrow and pointed to her drink still sitting on the ledge waiting to be claimed, she moved to do exactly that.

 

Thinking to grab her drink and get back up to the room with her mom, she turned toward the exit. His large, rough hand cupped her elbow and led her to a table for two in the corner of the cafe. “Not so crowded over here,” he said as he waited for her to sit down.

 

What could a few minutes hurt? Her mom would be sleeping for a while yet, and when was the last time she had a conversation with a sexy man? Only a conversation, she told herself. She couldn’t afford anything else right now. She needed to stay focused and make her plans.

 

# # #

 

 

The little dusting of freckles over her nose gave her an innocent appearance. She was no little girl, but fuck if she didn’t give off the innocent vibe. Stepping in to buy her coffee was an easy decision. Corralling her over the table seemed right, too, but when he touched her, just the soft cupping of her elbow, his body tensed at the sensation that crawled over his body.

 

“Just for a minute. I have to get back upstairs.” She took a tentative sip of her coffee.

 

“You visiting someone?” She definitely didn’t work there. He knew most of the staff at the hospital. Over the years, too many members, or their family members, had used the services of the hospital. Every time one of them ended up there, Lucas saw it as his duty to check in on them.

 

“My mom.” She frowned and readjusted the strap over her shoulder. She hadn’t taken her purse off. Maybe she thought she’d stick around for a few sips and bolt.

 

“Serious?” He didn’t want to ask, yet the words flew out of his mouth. Seeing the wrinkle of worry on her face irritated him. Something so pure shouldn’t know pain. Not like that anyway.

 

“Serious enough.” The casual shrug and wave of her hand might have worked on most men, but he knew what that meant. It was damn serious, but she didn’t want to talk about it. Fine with him. “You?”

 

“Friend. Just a little injury. He’ll be home in a day or two.” Luckily for Jeff, the bullet had gone clean through his shoulder. If it hadn’t been for the blood loss and the torn muscle that needed surgery, he would have been home already.

 

“He in your, uh, club?” She pointed at the patches on his kutte. Most women outside the MC didn’t bring up his kutte, not because they didn’t understand what it all meant, but because they were afraid of it. Not this girl, though. She didn’t look scared of anything.

 

“Yeah.” He took a sip of the coffee. Not bad. Not worth the five bucks, but not bad. “You look a little wound up.” He rested his hand over her small one on the table. Her skin was smooth beneath his, and he ran his thumb under her palm. She couldn’t hide the tremor of her body at his touch. He wanted to see what else he could do to her, if his thumb got that sort of reaction. “Like you need some tension released.”

 

Her eyes widened with understanding. She didn’t yank her hand away, though he expected her to. Instead, she seemed to appraise him. Her eyes narrowed in thought, then she pulled away, taking her purse off her shoulder and putting it on the table.

 

“You wanna release my tension? And how would you do that?” She crossed her arms over her chest.

 

He looked around the café just to be sure no one was listening in on their conversation. “Well, there’s a store room on this floor that’s rarely used. We could go in there, and I could show you.”

 

She laughed, a loud, bursting sound that drew the eyes of a few patrons in the place. “A store room? Whoa, don’t be so romantic. Do I look like a girl who would fuck in a store room?” She didn’t even look like a girl who would say the word fuck, but he had already jumped on the boat, might as well paddle the oars.

 

“I guess not, no.” He leaned back in his chair, folding his own arms over his chest. “Where do girls like you fuck?” he asked, not lowering his voice. That blush he’d seen earlier crept back up her neck. Damn, she looked cute, too cute. His cock was starting to hurt from pressing on his jeans.

 

She didn’t answer him, just took another sip of her coffee. He noticed something sticking out of her purse, a pamphlet with a baby on it. Curious, he plucked it out, despite her quick attempt to stop him, and looked it over. “Artificial insemination?” He pointed to the pamphlet. “What, your man can’t knock you up himself?” He hadn’t meant to be so damn crude, but the idea of her having a man pissed him off. After five minutes with her, he was already pissed at other men even looking her way.

 

“No.” She gritted her teeth together and tried to snatch it away from him. He only held it farther out of her reach while he read the information. “I don’t have a man.”

 

“Good.” He didn’t look at her, but he didn’t need to. The heat from her glare was enough to scorch the paper he was holding. Flipping open the pamphlet, he took note of the wear of the creases. She’d obviously been going over the information a lot. “You want a baby this bad?”

 

A lock of her hair fell in front her face as she turned to look away from him. Just when he thought he’d embarrassed her or pissed her off, she turned back to him with a stern chin. “Life isn’t a guarantee. Who the hell knows what will happen tomorrow? I’m tired of waiting for some happily ever after that’s probably never going to come. This is a pretty small town, in case you didn’t really notice, the guys…well, I haven’t had much luck there. So yeah, I’m thinking about doing it on my own. I don’t need anyone to help me. I just need one thing from someone else, then I can do it on my own.”

 

Lucas stared at her for a moment, not sure what to say to all of that. It was quite the mouthful she gave him. Though, not the mouthful he wanted from her at the moment. “I don’t think you need to go through all that. And those other guys, the wimps and the pussies you no doubt dated, fuck ’em. They probably don’t know how to handle a woman anyway. ’Cause if you were my girl, you’d never be worried about anything. I’d have your whole world taken care of. You’d be protected, and you sure as fuck wouldn’t be unsatisfied in any department. I’d have those legs of yours wrapped around me every fucking morning, and before I tucked you in at night, too.” His girl? No, he didn’t need a girl. He didn’t need that complication.

 

Her eyes narrowed a bit. Bringing her cup up to her mouth, she sipped the coffee while still staring at him. Maybe trying to make heads or tails of what he said, or just thinking on how best to slap him and get out of the cafeteria without him catching up to her. He kind of hoped she did try to slap him and run, because then he’d have a chance to catch her and put his hands on her ass.

 

“Okay.”