He stuffs my bag into his saddle bag and takes the shopping bag as well. He looks at the Babyland bag and I can tell he’s about to ask questions, so I cut him off.
“Do you know the Wild Times Hotel in Wild?”
“It’s the only hotel in town.” He frowns. “It’s above the bar. Not a nice place for a girl like you.”
I fold my arms and study him. He has no idea what kind of girl I am, but I appreciate the concern. Maybe a little too much.
“Get on, and I’ll take you there.”
He pulls the helmet off his head and slides it onto mine. His fingers adjust the catch, and when his fingertips brush my skin, heat skitters across my body and my pulse ramps up a notch.
His eyes meet mine, and there’s a mischievous glint to them as if he knows exactly what effect he’s having on me.
“I didn’t catch your name?”
There’s no way I’m giving out my name, not until I get what I came for. I match his grin, going for a flirty tone.
“I don’t give out my name to strangers.”
It doesn’t quite come out as lighthearted as I intended, but he chuckles anyway, and I’m relieved when he doesn’t press me.
“You been on a bike before?”
I nod, and he frowns. Is that jealousy I see flash across his features? In a moment it’s gone, and the jovial smile is back. I must have imagined it.
“Hold onto me and enjoy the view.”
We peel out of the overlook lot and onto the road that heads out of town and into the mountains. I cling to his waist, breathing in the heady scent of leather and mountain pine.
I must be crazy. I know I’m crazy. This entire scheme of mine is crazy, the act of a desperate woman. I don’t think I was thinking straight when I left home this morning.
But as I cling onto Grant, my head feels clear. Whatever happens this weekend, at least I got a ride on a motorbike behind a hot biker.
3
GRANT
There’s only one thing better than riding a bike on the mountain road, and that’s riding a bike on the mountain road with a gorgeous woman behind me.
The stranger is full of secrets. She hasn’t even told me her name, but the press of her body against mine as we swerve around the corners is all I need to know she’s mine. Her breasts brush up against my back, giving me a permanent hard-on.
I’m full of questions about who she is and why she’s here, but for now I’ll let her keep her secrets to herself. If I push her she might retreat, and I don’t want that.
We pull up outside Wild Times Hotel & Bar, the only bar in town with a few rooms to rent above it. It’s the middle of the afternoon, and there’s loud music coming from inside and the sound of male laughter.
There is no way I’m letting this woman stay here. But if I take off back to my place, she might freak out. She seems flighty enough as it is, and I don’t want to scare her. I need to make her see for herself how unsuitable this place is.
I park my bike out front, hoping none of the drunk clientele are stupid enough to touch her. I glare at the men who eye us warily as we dismount.
There are a few I recognize, local men who work at the sawmill.
“Shouldn’t you be at work?” I ask John, a man in a wide hat with a red face who I recognize as one of the foremen at the mill. I cut most the men’s hair in Wild and get to know everyone’s business.
“Closed for maintenance.”
Well, that explains why it’s so busy in here today. He gives us a lopsided smile. “Join us for a drink?”
He holds up his empty glass, and I shake my head. “No thanks.”
