Bad Boys of Romance - a Biker Anthology (53 page)

“Yeah, babe, I won’t let you go alone. Not yet.” He straddled the bike behind her; he used her hips to guide her back onto the seat. Interlocking his fingers over top of hers, he placed their hands on the grips. “I need to kick start it. Hold on, okay?”

She didn’t say anything, but she nodded in agreement. Christopher kicked the bike to life, and he noticed her shudder with the rumbling. “You’ll love it. Remember, don’t worry about shifting this time. We’ll go slow, up to that tree and turn around, all right?” He leaned close to her ear so she could hear. He nibbled on her ear lobe before kissing his way down her neck to the area where her shoulder met her neck. He sucked a little too hard and left a mark.

Rylan didn’t remove her hands
, but she twisted her body to face him, “You better not have left a hickey. Regina said if Barry caught another one on me he was calling my social worker and having me removed because they don’t need another mouth to feed.”

“Maybe they shouldn’t be foster parents then.”

“Chris, I’m serious! Did you leave a mark?”

“Just a little one, it’ll go away soon. I think.” Christopher laughed. With her relaxed, he leaned back to her ear, “Ready?”

She nodded her head and gripped the handle bars tighter. Christopher
tapped her right hand. “Loosen up. You need to be able to push the throttle, remember?”

He had gone over everything on the bike.
Everything. She was as ready as she would ever be to take her first ride. He removed his left hand and put it around her waist, followed by his right. She flung her head toward him, “What are you doing? I thought you were going to drive?”

“No, babe, you are. I’m going to hold on to you.”  He squeezed his arms to emphasis his meaning. “Go slow and let the clutch
out; you can do it.”

Rylan released the clutch and pushed on the throttle
. They shot forward, but the bike died. Rylan groaned, “I can’t do this.”

“Yes
you can.” He kicked the bike to life and sat back while holding on to her hips.

She took a deep breath and slowly released the clutch while pushing in the throttle
. The bike eased forward down the tree-lined wide dirt road. She handled the bike naturally, turning it around and coming to a stop where they began. With out letting it die, Christopher popped it out of gear and climbed off. He wanted to see her go on her own. He knew she could. “Go for it.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, you did a great job. Take it up and back.”

Rylan nodded before facing forward and shooting off down the road
. She handled it with grace. Turning it around, she pulled up right next to him, popped it out of gear, and let it idle. “Do you want me to shut it off?”

Watching her ride turned him on,
so it was hard for him to speak. He nodded yes, as he tried to hide the fact that his pants were tighter in a certain area. Rylan shut off the bike, climbed off it, and jogged over to Christopher. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she pressed her lips to his, causing his pulse to race. Christopher deepened the kiss and swallowed her moan. Sliding his hands down her sides, he gripped her outer thighs, lifting her up and settling her on his waist. He kissed her thoroughly before trailing soft nips down to her shoulder. He walked them over to the patch of grass where they had their blanket and belongings set up. He lowered her to the ground. “You are so beautiful, and watching you ride my bike turned me the hell on. Ry, you are my everything. Are you ready?”

Staring into his eyes
, Rylan nodded her head as she ran her hands up the inside of his shirt to caress his back. “I love you, Chris.”

It was the first time she’s said it. He told her for the first time weeks ago,
but she told him she was afraid to say the words. With her confession out in the open, Christopher made love to Rylan for the first time.

He pulled his bike into the parking garage at the hotel. Releasing the kickstand, Cole climbed off and headed for the elevator that connected to a skywalk that led to the hotel. Cole wiped his hands on his shorts, trying to rid himself of the evidence of his nervousness. He pulled his cap off and ran his fingers through his hair before slapping the cap back down. Staring at the numbers as the elevator slowly rose to the twenty-second floor, he wondered what to say and how to bring up who he was. Back then, he didn’t have any identifying marks. Now he had one for each race he won, plus the tattoo that was over his heart. Her tattoo. She might know what the symbol represented. But she may not, since he never told her he’d love her for infinity.

Finally, the elevator settled on the twenty-second floor before the doors slid open. Cole found the door to the room he sought. He lifted his hand to knock and stopped. He slumped against the wall and slid down to a sitting position with his hands clasped between his raised knees and his head hung between his arms.
I’m here. Now what the fuck do I do?
He hadn’t thought this through at all. He reached into his pocket to pull out his cell when he heard the elevator ping its arrival. He slowly raised his head, expecting to see some couple heading toward their room, and he was shocked to spot Rylan step off the elevator with a brown sack in one and hand and the other digging through her purse. He jumped up at the sight of her. “Here, let me help you.” He reached for the brown bag. Not seeing him sitting on the ground, Rylan jumped at the sound of his voice.

“What the hell! You scared the crap out of me.” Her shaking hand clutched at her heart as she took deep breaths.

“I’m sorry. I came to apologize. Let me hold that so you can find your key.” He decided not to let her know he had a key.

“How’d you know where to─
”

“Jamie.” They said in unison.

“All right, here hold this real quick.” She handed him the bag. Holding her purse with one hand, she was able to dig better with the other and eventually pulled out the key card. “Here it is. Do you want to come in?” She unlocked the door and held it open with her hip.

“Sure, where do you want me to set this?”

“Over there’s fine.” She gestured toward the mini fridge and table.

He sat the bag down and noticed a Coors Light box nestled inside. “
Okay. I guess I should be leaving. I just wanted to say sorry for earlier.”

“You don’t owe me an apology. I agreed to the shot. Would you like a beer?” She made her way to the bag and beer, shaking her hips as she went. He didn’t remember her moving like that when they were younger. She tore into the twelve
pack and produced two cans. Keeping one for herself, she handed one to him. He let his fingers linger and purposefully tease hers as he took the beer.

Rylan sat down on the bed as he sat on the only chair. Looking around the room, he noticed it was a bit smaller than his from last night was. There was no living area
or kitchen area. The chair he was currently sitting in was part of a small sitting area just off the side of the bed. His chair actually faced the bed and sliding glass door that looked to lead to a small balcony. The tiny dining table in the opposite corner was paired with the mini fridge.

Rylan followed his gaze. “It’s not much. But it’s better than the bunks in my RV.
Especially with half the crew in there. Jamie and I always get a room.” She paused and shook her head. He understood what she was saying and didn’t take it as though she and Jamie used the room for anything other than sleeping.

“That’s cool.
How, uh, how many guys have to stay in your RV?”

“Well the team owner bought everything
, and she pays for the room and board of the crew and all. I try to keep the cost down for her; she’s done so much already. I try to get four or five of the guys to stay in the RV. Jamie pays for the room out of her salary.”

“Who’s your team owner? I hadn’t heard of MJL racing until this year.”

“The team solely sponsors and supports me. Until this year, you wouldn’t have heard of them. They like to keep their privacy.”

“I understand. Who’s Jamie? I mean I’ve met her
, but I have no clue who she is to you.”

Rylan laughed and Cole’s heart did that thing again, where it want
ed to jump out of his chest.
God! She has a beautiful laugh,
he thought as he took in her sparkling green eyes and full glossy lips. Cole tore his lust-filled stare away from her, closing his eyes and taking a long drink of his beer. His mind wandered to a time when she had strawberry lip gloss on, and after kissing her, he teased her that she’d have him smelling like strawberries and shining with pink glitter.

She brought him back to the present when she spoke. “Jamie is my best friend and manager. She helped get me into the races needed to get me here. Before I met her in
California, I was chasing a pipe dream and trying to follow a man that was gone.” She shook her head as if she had said too much and forced a smile to cover up the pain he saw flash in her grimace.

“Wow, lucky you found her. You’re a great rider. I watched your heat yesterday and you had an amazing finish for your first Daytona
pro race. Congratulations.”

“Thank
you, and congratulations on your big win.” She held her beer up for him to tap in cheers.

Cole chickened out. He couldn’t just tell her, and
since she had made it this far without him, she needed to continue without her tie to him. He finished his beer and sat it on the table, and when he stood, Rylan followed. He stepped up close to her, taking in her diamond piercings and lips again as he closed the distance between them. “I like your piercings. They’re very…” He trailed off looking for the right word.

Rylan helped him out, “
Dainty?”

Cole chuckled as he brushed the side of his thumb against one in her dimple. “I guess dainty works,
but I was thinking feminine. Either way, when you smile they make your dimples more pronounced. It’s sexy.”

Rylan inhaled deeply at his touch and her eyes bore into his, as if she was searching for something she said, “Everyone says dainty. I like feminine and sexy.” Taking the last step between them, she closed the small gap, reached up and held onto his neck with her fingers, her thumb softly stroking under his ear. She paused as if she was waiting for his permission. Cole’s stomach was twisted in knots
. He held his breath as he tipped his head forward, giving her the signal she was waiting for. Rylan softly kissed the corner of his mouth before gliding her lips over his to press a kiss to the opposite corner. Cole hesitantly placed his hands on her hips. When she didn’t pull away, he trailed them softly up her sides to the top of her waist as he pulled her to him, completely claiming her mouth and taking over the kiss. He pulled away an inch, long enough to draw in a lung full of air and release it on a sigh as his lips met hers again.

Rylan took control of the kiss, slightly teasing his closed lips with her tongue, asking for entrance. When Cole opened his lips, her tongue slid into h
is mouth, teasing his. He was in a state of shock by her forwardness. He quickly recovered and absolutely recalled every inch of her mouth, nibbling on her tongue and sucking the pain away. Her hands ran up into his hair, knocking his hat off his head, and she tangled her fingers in his grown-out crew cut.  Cole moaned into her mouth as he backed away, placing a sensual closed lip kiss on her partially opened mouth before kissing the tip of her nose, out of habit, and resting his forehead against hers.

That was the kiss I’ve been searching for. I love you, Ry. I’ve missed you like nothing else. I’m sorry. Shit, I shouldn’t have done that.
Cole thought about all the things he wanted to say, all the things she should have said and the one thing he shouldn’t have done. He had to make a choice to either stay so they could both confess to knowing each other or leave and never make this mistake again. If he stayed, he knew everyone would think she was trying to sleep her way to the top. Worse, that she was a race groupie that happened to be a racer, too. If anyone found out about this, they would think badly of her and that is the last thing Cole wanted.

He lifted his forehead and looked into her eyes searching for the answer. He kissed her nose again, something he used to do when she’d get mad at him when they were younger. Meeting her stare he whispered, “Ry…”

He felt her reaction to him calling her what he use to. Her whole body stiffened and her eyes widened before she recovered, shaking her head like the thoughts playing in her mind were nonsense. “Look Cole, that was… intense… incredible…indescribable…something like that, but I don’t think it should happen again. I know I started it. Ever since the little ghost of a kiss on the table during the body shot, I couldn’t get it out of my mind what it’d be like to kiss you. Then you showed up here. There’s no way I couldn’t
not
kiss you. I apologize. We can go back and act like
that
never happened. If people see us together… I just don’t need the rumor mill flying with fresh rumors about me.”

“It was just a kiss.
An intense, incredible, indescribable kiss. I agree you don’t want your name involved with mine when it comes to the rumor mill. So we have a deal—no awkwardness, we just go back.”

She stepped toward the door to let him out. “Well
, thanks for the apology. I’ll see ya around the track tomorrow, I’m sure.”