The Biker and the Loner (Oil and Water #3)- S. Ann Cole Page 0,31

you. Can’t you see how crazy I am about you?

I block her path as she climbs the steps. She looks up at me, but her eyes are hidden. "I'm here. Happy?"

I reach down and remove her aviators, exposing those beautiful whiskey-brown eyes. Buried inside them are sadness, pain, and loneliness. "Are you happy?" I redirect.

Lowering her gaze to my throat, she thrusts the Subway bag at my chest. "Just so you don't go around telling people I starved you today."

She's not supposed to be feeding me. Should be the other way around. But she’s Ley—a giver, not a taker. For as long as I've known her, she’s always been giving. Onyx told me that every Christmas eve she would drive onto the compound and dole out gifts from her trunk like she was Mrs. Claus or something.

I take the sandwich. "Thanks, Peach."

"So? Are you going to let me pass?"

Fist under her chin, I tilt her face up so I can better see her eyes. "You good?"

She chomps down on one corner of her plump lower lip. "I'm fine, Scratch."

"I don't believe you. But I'm gonna let it go for now ‘cause I've got a meeting to get to."

"Perfect. Can I pass now?"

"Can your man get a kiss before he goes?"

Her desolate eyes fall to my mouth. She swallows. Licks her lips. "No."

While her mouth says no, her body language is singing yes. But when a woman says no it ought to be respected.

"Okay." I move aside to let her pass. "Be back in a bit. Cookie gave us some stuff. Got the prospects to clean it all down, polish the cupboards, pack out the kitchen wares, hang the curtains…"

She frowns. "Then why am I here?"

"Because you live here." I jog down the steps and toward my Harley. After stashing the sandwich in the storage compartment, I rev up and begin backing out.

"Scratch, wait!"

I stop at once, wondering if I was about to run over someone’s pup or something. But when I glance up, Ley’s running down the steps toward me, her tits bouncing, long hair in the wind.

She runs right up, throws her arms around me, and presses her soft, lush lips to mine. I hang back and let her lead. This is hers. Her kiss. And she's the sweetest goddamn thing I've ever tasted. Dammit if I'm not lost about this girl.

She pulls back and bites her lips. "Hurry back." As her hands slide from around my neck, they pause to finger the necklace she gave me. Her father's necklace. "And be safe."

Well, damn if that doesn't hit me straight in the gut. Who's ever cared enough about me to tell me to “be safe”?

"Survived five years for you, Peach. What's another day?"

~

Judge glances up when I walk into his office at The Metal House, his booming auto repair shop. Rough irritation flies across his features before he realizes it's me.

He barks something into the desk phone then slams it down and trains his glare at me. "For shit's sake, you got any idea when your lovesick sister is coming back?"

"Kenny?" I shrug. "She said two weeks, but I wouldn't count on it. That nerd's got her good."

Judge sighs and rubs a hand down his face. "Shit's goddamn chaos when she's not here. I could shoot somebody right now. Goddammit!"

I take in the stacks of folders, envelopes, cash, receipts, and balled up papers on his desk. "What’re you gonna do if she doesn't come back?"

"Put a hit out on that little pissant she’s with. That'll bring her back."

Though I know he's dead serious, I chuckle. Judge would put a hit out on the nerd. He still hates Toni’s guts, blames her for Grunt leaving the club and The Metal House. But Kendra’s far more valuable—she’s behind the success of his business. She runs this place like no one else can. For him, to lose Kendra is to lose money, and that’s something he'd kill for if he had to. He might be getting up there in age, with an almost fully gray beard, sagging neck, horrible crow’s feet, and the beginnings of a hunch to his back, but he’s still as lethal as he was ten years ago.

He plucks out a cig from the pack on this desk and lights it up, eyeing me as he takes a drag. "We were supposed to meet days ago."

Moving to the lone chair in front of his desk, I shrug. "Just got the time."

"Hmm." He sucks back more nicotine. "Heard you're moving