Page 25 of Bowser (Dragon Riders MC 2)
“You and I both.”
“I can only imagine.”
She pointed. “That your kitchen over there?”
I nodded. “And down the small hallway is my bedroom and bathroom.”
“Mind if I take a look?”
“Help yourself.”
She smiled as she gave herself the grand tour of my eight-hundred square foot space as more footsteps came up the stairs. I recognized the canter, too. I braced myself for whatever Link might have to say about all of this, which I assumed was a lot. I understood where he was coming from, too. While I admired Hope’s fighting spirit during these trying times, we had a job to do. A very serious one. And she was going to be a great distraction as well as a problem for me.
She also wasn’t aware of the last-minute changes that had taken place.
“Got a minute?” Link asked.
I peeked down the hallway before striding for my front door.
“I still think we should tell her to hang back,” I murmured.
“You’re the one who supported her in all of this,” he said.
“Yeah, back when we were still doing the bait-and-switch shit. Back when we were still using her to talk to these women. Not now, though.”
“You worried about the changes?”
“With her on the back of my bike? Of course, I’m worried. I think we should intervene and tell her she has to stay behind.”
He nodded. “Well, find a way to do it and take her back to the clubhouse.”
I sighed. “You know it’s not going to be as easy as—”
He pointed at me. “You’re the one who called the meeting. You’re the one who created the plan behind my back. You’re the one that cornered me with the rest of the guys and you’re the one who called it at the fucking cabin in the first place.”
“All right, all right. I get it. Damn.”
“No, Bowser. I don’t think you do. You don’t want her going now that the plan has changed? Then, you tell her. Because it was your hastiness that put us in this situation in the first damn place.”
I drew in a deep breath. “The plan was fine as it was. You didn’t have to go and—”
Hope reappeared. “Already bickering, the two of you?”
Link and I whipped our heads in her direction before he clapped me on the back.
“Good luck,” he whispered.
Then, he disappeared down the stairs.
“Good luck?” Hope asked.
Of course, she heard that. “Yeah. Just wishing us well on the ride.”
“Aren’t we all riding together?”
“Doesn’t mean you can’t wish everyone well.”
She blinked. “This is true.”
As I stood there, drawing in her beautiful forest eyes and her honey brown hair pulled up into a messy bun, I tried rationalizing things to myself. My number one job was to keep this woman safe. Hands down, no matter what. So, if she had to stay behind, then so did I. But if I stayed behind, then this plan didn’t work. I was the hub of this entire thing, which meant I was necessary on the frontline.
And if I couldn't stay behind with Hope to protect her, she’d have to come with me so I could keep her at my side and fulfill my promise.
You're stuck, Bowser.
“I see those gears turning. What’s wrong?” she asked.
I shook my head. “Just running through the bike route in my mind. We’ll need to stop for the evening and get some rest. We won’t be able to do it all in one night.”
“What, like a hotel or something?”
I paused. “More like a motel. Conserving money and staying off the main roads.”
“So… we’ll be spending the night together.”
“Yep.”
“In the same room.”
I shivered at the thought. “Uh huh.”
“In the same bed?”
Oh, hell yeah. “If they don’t have any rooms left with two double beds, yes.”
She smiled. “Perfect.”
My eyebrows rose. “Perfect?”
She winked. “You heard what I said, handsome.”
I stuffed down the knot in my gut that kept churning my pelvis. The last thing I needed to be thinking about was having sex with this woman. She was making it hard, though. Very, very hard. As she walked toward me, she sashayed those luscious hips of hers. The thighs she sported gave an extra jiggle just for me with every step she took. Her hand pressed against my chest before her fingertips trailed along my leather jacket. Until she walked past me and started her way down the stairs.
Leaving my horny ass with the bags.
“You can do this. One step at a time,” I whispered.
I reached down for the bags and hoisted them over my shoulders. Since she had to come on this ride, I had to keep my head in the game now more than ever. And if that meant fucking this beautiful woman into the musty mattress in some motel tonight, then so be it. If fucking her out of my system got me to focus on saving her life, I’d willingly take that sacrifice.
