Page 20 of Mac

“What’s up?” Colt asked as he joined our group.

“Not much. Just appears Mac here has a little crush on Viking’s daughter,” Viper decided to announce.

Wolf started laughing hysterically while Colt just looked at me with a small smile. I flipped them all off and went back to reading my menu.

“You know you can’t fuck her, right?” Colt asked after he sat down across from me. Leave it up to him to turn this into a serious discussion.

“I’m not going to fuck her. She has a nice ass, that’s it.” The conversation needed to end before she came back and heard us.

“Did you guys check out where she was staying?” Viper asked, as we all looked over the menu and decided what we wanted to eat.

“It was a total shithole. The whole area is bad, man. Viking needs to get her the hell out of there,” Wolf answered with a frown.

I agreed. I hated the thought of her staying there unprotected. When we’d reported back to Viking, he assured us he had a plan, but he had to go about it in a way that wouldn’t scare her off. Kate seeing members of the club nearly every day was helping her get used to us. She wasn’t ready to participate or even witness another wild party night, but I thought she might be up for one of our more relaxed family barbecues that Meredith spearheaded every month at the clubhouse.

A few minutes later, Kate came back to take our order. It was quiet in the diner, only an older couple on the other side of the restaurant was here, so we convinced Kate to take a break and join us when she brought out our food. She always declined but not today, which pleased all of us. It meant her comfort level with the club, and us, was heading in a positive direction.

“How do you like it out here so far?” Viper asked Kate when she pulled up a chair and sat at the end of the table.

Even though Viper was always looking for his next hookup, I knew he wasn’t hitting on her. He seemed genuinely interested in what was going on with her, and, like all of us, I knew that stemmed from the respect he had for Viking.

“It’s actually better than I expected,” she replied, glancing up briefly and looking right at me.

"You plan on sticking around for a while?" This was from Wolf, and unlike Viper, I knew he would flirt with her given a chance. I gripped my fork a little harder than necessary as I awaited her answer.

“I… I’m really not sure.”

“I think Viking would be disappointed if you left,” I added.

Her smile was bright at the mention of her father.

We continued to chat until her break was over and it was time for us to head back to the shop.

As we walked out the door, I turned back around to look at Kate once more. She gave me a shy smile and then ducked her head and went back to work.

I left there knowing I wanted her to stay, but not sure what that meant. And knowing I couldn’t break Viking’s trust, no matter how much I wanted her.