JAX: MC Biker Romance (New Adult Contemporary Bad Boy Romance) (33 page)

She couldn’t even pronounce half the shit in his fridge and pantry, and what she could, she knew it was way too expensive for a nursing student to afford. She would feel like an asshole if she ate food she couldn’t afford to replace, even if he wouldn’t notice.

Hell, she wasn’t even sure why she’d been scouring through his kitchen in the first place… curiosity, she supposed.

“Finally…” she breathed, as the last bit of granite top was wiped clean.

She pulled off the yellow kitchen gloves she’d been using and threw them underneath the cabinet just under the sink. She would have to hurry and get cleaned up if she was going to go out in public tonight, which she had planned do if things went her way.

Footsteps sounded out from behind her, coming from one of the two hallways connected to the large kitchen. Her head whipped around to see Chris, clad in a nice two piece suit and black tie. It was a different suit than any of the others she’d seen before, but no less expensive in look. It was light grey, and also, tailored to fit; almost as if it was made for him – if it wasn’t made for him, that is.

“Would you like to go out to dinner tonight?” Michelle asked, more abruptly than she’d meant to. “I thought it’d be nice to thank you for your kindness.”

“Your parents wired you money?” he asked, smirking. She wasn’t sure why she had told him they were going to wire her money in the first place. It already made her feel like shit to take money from them in the first place. “You know that wasn’t really necessary. You can crash here and use whatever I have as long as you need to; and if you need things, just take one of my cards.”

She still couldn’t believe how lax he’d been about everything. I mean, what the hell? She had only known him a couple of weeks. She still wasn’t comfortable eating crackers out of his kitchen, and he was suddenly comfortable enough to give her his credit card?

Truth was, she wasn’t sure if she’d ever stop being confused as to why he was being so kindhearted and generous to basically a total stranger, and truth be told, he was wondering the same. It didn’t make sense to him. He had never given a shit about anyone else before, just money. Making money, keeping money… generous wasn’t really in his nature before. There was just something… about her.

“So, you want to take me on a date?” he chucked, low in his throat.

“No!” she laughed, and swatted at the air, as if she was swatting the idea itself away. Chris didn’t know why, but somehow, he felt a little disheartened by it. Almost rejected. “It’s not like that, but I do want to show how much gratitude I have for what you’ve done for me over the last couple of weeks…”

He held up his hand to halt her from the pending rant he knew was sure to come. He was tired of hearing how grateful she was. It had seriously been an everyday thing. “I’d love to.”

It was strange seeing her in something other than scrubs, and with her ponytail gone. She looked beautiful… more beautiful than he admittedly thought she already looked. “Wow,” he breathed when she had first descended the stairs. “You’re all dolled up…”

She had smiled, and a red blush had crept up to her cheeks. They were at the restaurant now, and he still couldn’t take his eyes off of her. Her hair was still up, but it was in a nice curled loose bun with loose strands that seemed to fall in a way that sculpted her softness that only seemed to intensify the urge he had to look at her.

She wore a tight black dress and high heels. He couldn’t help but wonder when she first came down the stairs toward him if she was used to heels enough to wear them for the entire evening. He hadn’t seen her donning anything other than sneakers since he’d met her a couple of weeks before, but she seemed to walk just fine to the car, and then from the car through the restaurant. He was impressed.

He couldn’t help but watch her as he sat across from her at the dinner table. He seemed to pay attention to each and every move she made; almost in awe of her beauty. He wasn’t sure why… he’d been with models before, but it seemed like -- at least, at that moment -- she was the most beautiful woman he’d ever laid eyes on before.

“You clean up really nicely…” he laughed, over their glass of wine and coq au vin.

“I do own things other than scrubs!” she laughed.

“Well, honestly, I have never seen it. Besides, I didn’t realize your small suitcase of clothes actually had a dress like
that
in it.”

She smirked and brought the rim of the glass to her lips. The truth was, she didn’t have anything nice that evening. Stanley hadn’t packed her much of anything. Instead, she’d gone out and bought something nice, and she wasn’t even sure why. It had nothing to do with the restaurant. She’d gone to a lot of nice restaurants with her doctor friends, and all of them were clad in scrubs.

She wasn’t embarrassed on that end; it was the fact that she was out with Chris. She wanted to look nice and, if she was being perfectly honest with herself, she wanted him to look at her exactly the way that he was looking at her in that moment.

*****

He didn’t like the fact that she’d paid for dinner. He could see the pain in her eyes as she laid her card down to pay. It almost killed him to let her do it. He wasn’t sure why he did. All he knew was that he didn’t want to offend or embarrass her.

“So, I have a plan…” she sighed, as they went through the garage the door and headed toward the living room. His brow cocked in confusion as his head tilted to the side to look at her.

“Plan?”, he asked. She seemed sad, and he wondered by the expression what it was.

“I figured I would probably put a hold on school, so that I can find work and get back on my feet.” He gestured for her to sit down on the couch, hoping that getting her off of her feet might somehow reverse what she had just said, but he knew as soon as he saw the pain in her eyes that she wasn’t going to.

He shook his head. “No,” he replied, sternly. “That’s not necessary.”

She looked at him, confused, and honestly even a bit taken back. She cocked her head to the side, waiting for elaboration.

“I mean to say…” He cleared his throat. “We’re friends now. I’ll help you if you need help.” He turned to walk away, as if to leave her at that, so that his emotions wouldn’t get the better of him. He was starting to feel a little more than he’d meant for this girl. He was starting to care.

“Besides,” he said again with a laugh to push his bothersome emotions away, his back facing her and his head to the side, not quite glancing over his shoulder. “You looked hot tonight. I like to help the hotties…”

Joking seemed to always help divert attention away from pesky emotions that he didn’t like getting in the way. In this case, it would have worked just the same. He took another step or two before turning around again to completely face her with his regained composure. “I mean damn, if I can keep you around, at least I’ll get some nice eye-candy.” The cocky smirk plastered over his face could have been seen from space. “And, it would be great to get to know more of
this
side of you,” he said, gesturing to her body and the tightly fitting black dress. He bit his lips, as he glanced over her curves without really even meaning to; his composure falling all over again. He really was starting to find himself overly attracted… even drawn to her.

It was all he could do to stifle the low moan he felt resting inside of his chest when he saw her, blush–crimson, look down at the floor; her cleavage exposing itself even more to him.

“If it means that you can stay in school and pursue your dreams, I’m happy to help,” he said, clearing his throat before turning on his heel to leave again. He knew he had to get out of there, but something pulled him back, and he halted, and
again,
glanced back at her.

Something was bothering him. He was so incredibly in awe of how someone could be so selfless and kind to help others deal with pain and trauma while simultaneously bypassing her own pain. Someone with that sort of depth and drive should have been more careful.

“Oh, and next time, when you’re thinking about leaving school, so that you can work and
save money
, don’t invite people out on a ‘fancy’ dinner.” She wondered by the emphasis on the word “fancy” if he was making fun of her, but she didn’t care. The gesture was enough to keep her from getting angry at him. He was being generous again; more than she ever would have believed someone of his stature could be.

*****

It had been months since Chris had found Michelle sleeping outside his house in her green Ford Focus. It almost felt like it had been a lifetime ago. They were closer than ever; so close that Chris was beginning to wonder if he should distance himself from her.

He reached out toward the fog-covered bathroom mirror and wiped it off. He gave his hair a quick swipe or two to smooth it down before his peripheral vision caught a glimpse of her silhouette. She was sitting on his bed, Indian-style, reading. She bit her lip nervously, as her eyes scanned over the page. She wore a grey tank-top and her black bra strap poked out almost teasingly as he looked over at her.

She was focused on her book; her glasses falling gently down the bridge of her nose, as she got to the bottom of the page. She shifted her position, and her laced bra strap fell slightly over her shoulder, completely visible to him, as if taunting him.

A scowl replaced the initial response of his mouth falling open in awe.

He had to shake himself of the feelings that was starting to whirl within him. They were friends now. Hell, she was probably his best friend. He didn’t want to mess it up by screwing her. He knew himself. He was terrible at staying in someone’s life after fucking them. He wondered though if it would be different with her. If somehow, she could make him change in that regard.

He hated that he’d been thinking about her almost completely non-stop. He hated that he wanted to risk everything just to see if he cared as much as he thought he did. He was sure he cared though… almost positive of it. More than a “friend” should care. He had, on several occasions, found himself blowing off work just to spend time with her when her schedule would allow. That wasn’t like him at all.

It was weird how much he’d found himself changing… and wanting to change. He was still, even after all this time, in awe of how generous and selfless she was. He wanted to grab hold of her, touch her, feel her, and have her show him the world as she saw it. He wanted to see how beautiful it must be. He wanted to live life the way that she did; to feel life the way that she did.

She was always so adamant about having heart over possession; helping others, loving others. It was beautiful to Chris and he wondered how that was even possible for him to feel that way. Before her, he would have thought it was nothing but pure stupidity; just another stupid woman with overly sensitive emotions. But, not Michelle. He didn’t feel that way about her.

He wasn’t sure exactly what it was that he felt for her, but it sure as hell wasn’t that. There wasn’t one stupid bone in her incredible body. He felt himself stiffen against his towel as he continued to watch her read over her book.
Hell, a cold shower might have been more appropriate
he thought, as he found himself straining more and more, the longer he looked at her.

He stood in the doorway; his towel wrapped tightly around him, and he cleared his throat, so that he wouldn’t let the low, throaty groan that almost escaped actually sound out into the bedroom.

She looked up from her position on the bed. “I picked these out—” she started pointing at the ties she thought would look best for his company’s party, but stopped abruptly when her eyes fell over his flesh.

He smirked. That was a reaction he hadn’t expected, but one that he definitely wanted. He watched as she bit her lip again, just like she had when reading the book before she noticed his presence.

He wanted to run over there immediately and have his way with her, but thought better of it. The thing that he didn’t know though, was that she would have been just fine with it at that moment.

She was unable to comprehend how she hadn’t realized just how incredibly sexy he was before. I mean, sure, she always thought he was gorgeous, but not like this. This man, the man standing right in front of her, was nothing short of a fucking god.

She had to do a double-take just to fully grasp how muscularly hard he looked. Stifling a soft groan, she bit her lip even tighter. She couldn’t help but wonder about all the things she would do with him, given the chance.

“Damn, boy!” she cat called, hoping to distract herself from the growing heat of arousal starting to pool from her depths. “You’re looking fine!”

They shared a chuckle.

“Oh, really?” he questioned; a deep lust definitely audible in his tone. “Come over here and show me just how much.” He was smirking, knowing that she would eventually chicken out no matter how far she wanted to take her joke; although part of him wondered if she really was joking.

She hopped off the bed and started off toward him; a devilish smile curving at her lips. Her eyes narrowed into slits and she licked her lips as she walked with a sort of determination that he hadn’t expected.

He felt his body stiffen. Was she actually going to touch him? He wasn’t sure if he’d be able to hold his composure if she did. She reached out, touching his chest, kneading and massaging it as she leaned forward and hovered over his ear.