I’ll be drenched on a bike, sure. And once I see the shape of the man riding it as he pulls up a few yards ahead of me, I get a very different feeling.
A pleasant feeling.
The smell of leather, gasoline, and man, along with his cologne mixed with the rain in the air is pleasant enough.
But the size of him, the shape of him, before I even see his face. Those eyes.
I think my prayers might well have just been answered.
His strong hands grip shining brakes in the rain, and an even stronger leg steadies his ride once he brings it effortlessly to a halt.
A few thrusts from the throttle send a chill up my spine.
The man is a god, I can see that from his outline long before I even reach him, which isn’t long.
Something inside me is pulling my body towards his.
The thoughts of my dad, the argument.
They don’t matter now.
Its gleaming chrome and steel, with a huge V-shaped torso straddling what I can tell, is his pride and joy.
His ride.
A ride I know in a second I’m going to climb on the back of.
The ride I know somehow will take me somewhere to be his own.
He doesn’t even have to tell me anything, I’m already his. I know it.
The command of his throttle as it echoes through my whole body tells me I’m already his.
In total silence I walk over, hooking my arms around his waist once I lift a leg over and settle myself right behind him, he finally speaks.
“How old are you?” he asks, and our eyes meet in the shining rearview mirror of his powerful bike.
“Twenty-two,” I tell him, almost defiantly as he shakes his head slightly, showing two rows of perfect white teeth through two day’s worth of stubbled on his gruff face.
“What’re you doing out in this weather then? Let’s get you home,” he grunts.
“I… I’m actually trying to get out of Valor,” I stammer, noting the low growling sound coming from him.
His eyes shifting to my thickening chest.
My hands find his muscular, taught waist by reflex and he groans with satisfaction, reaching for the only helmet on the bike.
“Put this on, I’ll take you home,” he says with conviction.
“I don’t want to go home. I just want…” I trail off.
His steel jaw turns to face me in the silver light of the wet night as he nods with another low grunt.
“Then I guess I’ll take you someplace dry,” he adds, his lip curling into a wry smile as I realize he’s not wearing a helmet.
“I’m Rose,” I tell him, figuring he’s never gonna ask my name.
The rain beads in his dark hair, glossing his whole body which is cover in leather under my tight grip.
Like a wild animal letting me pet it.
A wild thing I feel is about to tame me, or maybe push me past the limits of tame?
Exactly what I know I need, deep down.
“My ride, my rules,” he says gruffly.
“Put the damned helmet on and let’s get you somewhere safe already.”
He doesn’t need to ask me twice.
I slipped the helmet on and already I feel safer than I ever have in my whole life.
My arms grip his waist tighter, and the thrill I feel inside once he pulls away is something that makes me shudder.
Wanting that feeling, him inside me, more than anything.
I can feel his heart, his whole breathe once he tears away back onto the road into town.
I nestle my face against his back, his whole body protecting me from the rain, from the cold.
Suddenly protecting me from everything.
Chapter Two
Thorn
For the Men of Valor MC, times are getting harder.
Harder to keep up with weeding out the filth of corruption and violence. The drugs it’s brought in.
The awful things that it all brings.
For the criminals of Valor, the ones me and the club are working to clean up, business is booming.
But we’re working harder, redoubling our efforts.
It won’t be long.
I’m riding out of town to check on a lead myself when I stop. I stop when I see her, thumb out in the pouring rain.
I have to.
Another young girl, hitching a ride with nothing else but the clothes on her back.
It’s something I don’t like to see in Valor, not in any town.
Young women running away from problems they shouldn’t even have.
My work’s in security, so it’s natural I actually give a damn when I think folks might be in trouble.
Walking in the rain on the only road out of town with your thumb out isn’t a hobby, I’m assuming.
As I slow my ride off the only road out of Valor, I can see at once this girl is gonna be more than just trouble.
I feel something in me shift.
Really move.
Like I’ve never felt before.
I hear myself asking how old she is, just to make sure what I’m feeling makes sense.