AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Jimmy got up, looking relieved. “Thanks. Well, I guess I better get home. My dad said we could order pizza tonight.”
“I see. I have my work to do too.”
Jimmy started to go, then stopped. “Do you like Kayla’s uncles?”
“Like them?”
“I saw you talking with them.”
“Yes. They seem rather nice, and Kayla likes them. That’s a good recommendation. Why do you ask?”
“Because I saw the way they looked at you, and I think they like you a lot.”
“You do?” She wasn’t used to the kids teasing her about men, and this struck close to home. She’d noticed both men were polite, though Jett had practically sizzled with flirtation—something she thought he did as naturally as breathing—but if they were looking at her in a way Jimmy noticed… “So, what do you think of them, Jimmy?”
“I think they’re a little scary,” said the boy with admiration. “I also think they’re really cool. I wish I could ride on the bikes.”
She laughed again. “Jimmy, I think you nailed it—you and I can agree they’re scary but cool.”
And very sexy.She’d noticed that about both of them.
Jimmy gathered up his things, and she watched him head home. His explanation of his father’s issues concerned her. He was an extremist of some sort and obviously didn’t trust the government. That would explain why he didn’t make it to the parent-teacher conference or do anything else with the school. He didn’t approve of their agenda.
Eventually she would find out what was going on. Then maybe she’d be able to help the boy.
Maybe she’d even figure out how to help herself.
Chapter 2
As he pulled awayfrom the school with his beloved motorcycle throbbing between his legs, Ronan let himself think of Kayla’s teacher, Ms. Tessa Lee. Kayla had told him she was good-looking, and the girl was unfailingly honest, even blunt, but seeing her had still surprised him. He probably carried old stereotypes of what a teacher looked like in his head from his own school days, thirty or so years ago. Although he racked his brain, he couldn’t remember having any teachers who looked like this one. He’d been precocious, like Kayla, and he was sure he would remember.
More to the point, most women he met, even attractive, sexy women, didn’t grab his attention immediately the way this one had. He felt embarrassed thinking that it had to have shown in his face from the moment he took her hand. At that first touch, he’d lusted after her. And then when she’d spoken, he’d felt something else, something potent and powerful.
They’d talked about nothing, just the commonplace, yet it felt intimate. An intimate encounter even with Jett there. Far more intimate and interactive than the one-night stands he’d had since his wife died. And that shocked him. Tessa Lee had woken something in him that had been long dormant. Something more than lust.
How could it be?
Ronan pulled to a stop at the garage, and Kayla hopped off the back of the bike and eagerly tore off her helmet. She gave a cheerful wave to a huge, big-handed man with dark, wavy hair, slightly heavy features, intense dark gray eyes, and a bit of scruff to his chin. He wore his biker colors and stood by the door with his arm around the waist of a small but curvaceous woman.
“Hey, Slash; hey, Vanessa.”
“Glad to see you’re here, Grease Princess,” Slash said. “My bike needs some of that mechanical magic. It’s running like shit.”
Kayla frowned. “You know I can’t work on bikes until after I do my homework.” She looked in Ronan’s direction. “I’m not allowed to. I would if I could.”
Ronan shook his head slowly as Jett said, “Priorities, kid.”
Ronan nodded his support and held out his arm with his index finger extended to her designated workspace. With a huff, she dragged herself over as he turned to Slash and Vanessa. “So, Slash, what terrible thing did you do to your bike now?”
“Me? I rode it. Vanessa and I were going fast down the highway with Choirboy. That’s what I did to it. I rode it. So there we were zipping down the Pacific Coast Highway, passing Nissans and Toyotas and all those American cars, just digging the way the ocean gets all blurry if you go fast enough, and then, all by itself, my bike decides that slow is almost as good as fast. Vanessa and I don’t think so—I want fast again, Clutch. Fix my machine. Convince it of the right working of things.”
Ronan smiled. “We can do fast, man.” He walked over to the bike and squatted beside it. “Where’s Jake?”
“Waiting for us at the motel. We’re supposed to be doing a… job for Chief,” said Vanessa with a small, coy smile.
Slash squatted beside him. “See anything?”
“Not yet. My x-ray vision takes time to warm up.” He looked up at Jett. “Are you helping?”
