Making the Cut (4 page)

I made my way back to my car on cloud nine and started the herculean task of unpacking. My Mercedes was full to the brim, even with a lot of my stuff being sent ahead. What could I say? I’m a girl, and a buyer. I have a lot of shit. I opened my trunk, inspecting the sheer volume of bags for a second before trying to gather as many as I could into my arms.

“Need some help?” A deep voice asked from behind me.

“Holy fuck!” I dropped all of my bags, nearly jumping out of my Manolos.

I began to glare at the owner of the deep voice that scared the bejesus out of me but stopped short. In front of me was a picture of pure male perfection. Well maybe not so pure. Tall, like really tall, I only came up to his shoulders and I was in 6 inch heels. Rippling muscles threatened to rip the arms of his t-shirt, and tattoos covered every inch of those impressive arms. His face was chiseled like a Greek Gods, with a square jaw and cheekbones to die for. Midnight black hair brushed his sharp jaw, he looked like Chris Hemsworth’s identical twin, well his dangerous black haired identical twin. A familiar intensity wafted off him, an air of menace in the way he held himself. Uh oh, this one was trouble, like serious trouble, the kind I swore off a year ago.

The hunk brought his hands up like I was pointing a gun at him, a grin highlighting his too kissable mouth, very kissable in fact. How could I guy who looked like he could bench press a car while making Vin Diesel cry have lips like that? I bet he could do some things with those lips, wait…
shut up ovaries!

“Whoa darlin, didn’t mean to scare you, just saw you with an arm full of bags and those are dangerous looking shoes to be carrying that amount of stuff on.” He explained gazing down at my (fabulous) shoes. His gaze traveled up my jean clad legs to my top which I now decided showed way too much of my modest chest. He finished at my eyes and we stared at each other. His gaze was hungry, and very male. I was mesmerized for a moment and felt an ache between my thighs, I snapped myself out of it. Quickly. I didn’t need a man in my life, and definitely not a man like this.

“Well thanks for your concern but I’m very capable of unpacking my car, by myself, and for your information I could run a marathon in these shoes.” I replied sharply.

A full on grin lit up Thor’s evil twins face, and he looked down at various bags strewn between us then back up at me.

“It’ll be much faster if I help, I’m not the kind of man to leave a woman in need, I’m also a sucker for an accent.” He flirted. His voice was rough and threatened to make me spontaneously combust.

I really hoped he couldn’t see my nipples through my shirt. The man was some kind of crazy sex wizard. He stepped forward, and I slammed back into my car. My heart pounded at my rib cage, anxiety replacing the lust I was feeling moments ago. He noticed my reaction and immediately stopped in his tracks, a frown marred his beautiful face.

“I’m not going to hurt you.” He told me carefully, eyes connecting with mine.

“Thank you for the offer but I don’t need any help, and if you don’t mind I have a lot to do.” My voice shook as I dismissed him.

He continued to frown at me, I felt uncomfortable under his dark gaze. This guy was intense.

“Okay then if you’re sure. I’m Cade by the way. I’ll be seeing you round.” He promised.

Not if I see you first.

He paused for a moment eyes still locked with mine before he turned, strutting (okay maybe not strutting but how can a man move his ass like that without strutting. I swear he’s a wizard) over to a black SUV across the road before I could reply. It’s only then I noticed the cut, one that was far too familiar. It had different insignia on the back. A skeleton, riding a Harley brandishing a sword. The top rocker read: ‘Sons of Templars MC’. I braced myself against my car once again, struggling to stay up. My breathing was shallow as I tried to chase away the horrible memories I had of men wearing vests just like that one.
You’re fine Gwen, he didn’t hurt you, no one’s going to hurt you.
I took a second to pull myself together before I began to pick up my bags scattered along the ground. I squinted up to see Cade was sitting in his truck having witnessed my whole meltdown. I quickly peered down again and heard his truck drive off.

I was my store the next day, trying to sort through all my merchandise, humming to myself, delightfully content. Apart from my little incident with ‘Cade’, yesterday was a great day. I managed to get all my unpacking done and spend a wonderful night in my beautiful new home. I smiled to myself, thinking of how settled in I felt already. My speakers played Bob Dylan his voice weaving through the air, contributing to my feeling of zen. I looked up when the little bell over the doors rang, Amy leaned against the frame with a huge smile painted on her face.

“Jesus fuck Gwen, I think I may like it here. I just went to grab us coffees from next door.” Gesturing with the two takeaway cups in her hands, “And there was the most fuckable looking men sitting having coffee, I swear I almost came. What I would do to be those coffee cups…” She trailed off, sounding breathy.

“It’s good to something in this town is to your liking Amy.” I stated sarcastically.

She set the coffees down and hugged me, enveloping me in a cloud of Chanel no 5.

“I’m glad to be here Gwennie, anything to help you get back to your old self.” Her eyes glistened.

“No, we are not having sad or depressing thoughts in my wonderful new store, or our wonderful new home for that matter,” I decided. “We are starting fresh and there will be no mention the dickwad, evil prick, okay?”

“Sounds good to me girl, now lets get this place sorted, go home get changed and go see if we can find somewhere to get a half decent cocktail.” Amy replied.

I gave her a blinding smile. This was why she was my best friend.

“Don’t you think we are a bit too dressed up?” I questioned Amy, looking down at my outfit self-consciously. I had a tight printed Prada skirt on with a white blouse that showed
way
too much cleavage and Amy’s black strappy Manolos.

“Bite your tongue Gwen Alexandra,” Amy scolded. “There is no such thing as being overdressed. Ever. You are not changing who you are just because we’re not on our little island anymore, now lets go.” She swatted my bum, strutting past me to the door.

Her outfit made me look like a nun. Her little black Gucci dress was halter neck, displaying her ample assets, was skin tight and had an open back which dipped to almost her butt. With red lipstick, red shoes, and her red hair tumbling past her shoulders, she looked amazing. If I swung that way I would totally hit that. Alas, my taste appeared to be sexy sociopaths.

We arrived at a restaurant called ‘Valentines’ it was out of town a bit on a hill where you could see a view of the twinkling lights below, and the ocean beyond that. A friendly man working in the bookstore had recommended it to me. The place was amazing, it had an open plan layout with a few booths scattered around. It was on two different levels, decorated in black and white with splashes of red. Floor to ceiling windows which gave an amazing view of the ocean. It also was buzzing with people. Once we were seated by our young matre di, who’s eyes popped out after seeing Amy, we ordered our cocktails.

“So how do you like Amber Ames? Everything you could have ever wanted?” I teased.

“Well since we spent most of the day in your store getting it ready, I haven’t really seen much of it, well scratch that, I took a walk down main street for about ten minutes so I guess I have seen it all.” Amy answered, sarcasm dripping from her tone. “And I did see those orgasms on a stick in the coffee shop so I am not writing this place off completely.”

I smiled and sipped my cocktail, assessing the people around the room. More than a few were trying to sneakily stare at us, which I could understand in a small town were newcomers were sure to stand out.

“I think we have sparked some curiosity.” I smiled at a few people, coming from a small town I knew a smile would go a long way to stop people thinking I was an uptight bitch.

“Of course we have girl, a town this small, and women that look like us?” Amy rolled her eyes, taking a huge gulp of her drink.

“I’m so glad you’re so modest.” I told her dryly.

She flipped her hair. “I can’t help that I am beautiful,” She winked at me. “I wonder who I call to order a night with those Greek Gods from the café today?” She pondered.

“I do not care, nor do I even want to think about men ever again, I will be quite happy living with you for the rest of my life.” I smiled sweetly at Amy while picking at some bread sticks.

Amy slapped my hand away. “Um, carbs girl? No. Drink your calories instead. And as much as I love you, and I really do, you will not keep me warm at night. Or give me mind blowing orgasms, so I think I am going to have to find a man toy to replace my B.O.B.” Amy patted my hand tenderly, as if she hadn’t just slapped it.

“Speaking of man candy check this out. Seriously have all the hot guys been hiding in backwater towns my entire life?” Her face lit up, her eyes narrowing in on the newcomers.

I rolled my eyes, a smile playing on my lips, ready to sling out some sarcastic remark. The words got stuck in my throat when I turned my head.

There, at the door stood Cade, looking imposing and far too sexy to be legal. Who was I kidding? He probably wouldn’t know a law if it spanked him on his delightful ass. His casual stance exuded power, I battled against my stupid ovaries, which seemed to be tingling. His buddy’s ranked similarly on the sex god scale, meaning Joe Manganiello had some serious competition. I gave them a quick once over, yep all tall, built with rippling muscles and danger radiating off them. I started to have trouble breathing, feeling hot and sweaty as terrible images flashed through my mind.

“Gwennie, Gwennie, helloo? Earth to Gwen.” Amy waved her hand in front of my face. “Have those beautiful men stolen your ability to speak?”

I didn’t answer, my gaze was locked on the men, more specifically Cade. I was pretty sure the universe hated me because they were being shown to a table not far from ours. I tried to sink down in my seat, pulling my menu up over my face, praying he wouldn’t notice me. I was nowhere near that lucky (Fuck you universe). His stormy grey eyes caught mine and a weird spark ignited between us.
Don’t fall for it again Gwen, you know how this ends.
I shook my head and tried to focus on steadying my breathing. Amy, who had been watching me the whole time like I was having some sort of seizure, finally caught on noticing the cuts the men wore over their shirts.

“Oh shit,” Amy muttered. “Gwennie, its okay everything is fine, we’ll just leave.” She motioned to stand up.

“No!” I damn near leapt over the table to grab her arm. “I will not leave just because of them, I will not let what happened to me make me terrified to eat in a fucking restaurant and enjoy a cocktail with my girlfriend!” I hissed, adamant I would not play the victim.

“Alright lets get another round.” Amy motioned for the waiter.

I peeked past my hair to see if Cade was still looking at me and I caught his eyes once more. “Fuck.” I muttered, turning back to the table to down my drink.

“That’s my girl.” Amy cooed, “Cosmos make everything better.”

After a few (I may have lost count) more cocktails and a wonderful meal, I decided I was feeling much more confident. I had made it my mission not to gaze in his direction all night, ignoring the weird pull that tried to yank my gaze there.

Amy carried on talking, telling me some stupid joke. I was laughing when I felt it. The sizzle in the air, the hairs on my arms stood up in awareness. I moved my gaze up to see Cade and his buddies standing at our table. I gaped at Amy in a panic, the numbness of the alcohol wearing off.

“Good evening ladies.” Cade’s deep voice sent shivers down my spine. That feeling was quickly replaced by panic. Bikers were mere inches away from me. Amy saw my reaction and tried to diffuse the situation.

“Whatever you’re selling boys we ain’t buyin, so run along and tinker with your Harleys or whatever.” Her Upper Middle Class breeding had given her excellent experience in a patronizing tone.

I clenched my shaking hands together meeting Cades eyes, giving him my best snooty bitch stare.

“Well, well we have a feisty one here.” One of the men drawled. He was huge and tan with a bald head, reminding me a lot of ‘The Rock’ but a bit more rough round the edges.

“No need for the sass darling, we just seen you are new in town and thought we would come and introduce ourselves, maybe we could buy you a drink, even that girly shit.” The Rock gestured to our Cosmos.

“We are quite alright thank you, getting acquainted with the towns friendly motorcycle gang isn’t really on our to do list, and I don’t drink hooch Rambo, or whatever motor oil you think that passes for alcohol.” Amy smiled sweetly. “You have a nice night now.” Acid dripped from tone.

She turned her head to me and remained picking at the remnants of her dinner, acting as if the four (albeit beautiful) brutes were not still standing right in front of our table, dripping testosterone all over the place.

During Amy and Dwayne’s (I christened him this) conversion, Cades eyes had been on me the whole time, registering my fidgety movements and panicked stare. A frown marred his attractive face, I could only stare back and him, feeling a strange mixture of attraction and fear.