Slow Ride (Riding with Honor) (5 page)

Time would tell but her head warned her that heartache was just ahead where this baby was concerned and she shouldn’t get her hopes up.  It had been wonderful holding the baby even with the screams…and she’d enjoyed holding Gretchen too.  In a perfect world she would have the baby
and
Gretchen.  She didn’t live in a perfect world.  Tommy McMurray did, he just didn’t know it.

As she made it to her car and began digging in her purse for her keys a sick feeling hit her stomach.  Looking through the window she saw them dangling from the steering column.  Praying
, she tried the door.  Yep, locked…
great!
 

Walking around to the passenger side she tried the other door.  Also locked, and cupping her hands to peer in through the window she noticed her cell phone lying on the seat. 
Seriously?

Between a stressful first
day on the job, the unexpected disappointment over the baby not being a long-term adoption possibility, the heartbreaking visit with the infant, and now this… it was too much.  Hot tears made their way down her cheeks… angry tears, sad tears and tears of disappointment seemed to unleash in a torrent.

The more
tears that fell, the more were made to replace them.  She leaned against the car finally and gave in to them.  Hearing a door open and eventually close didn’t even slow down the torrential downpour of emotions.

“Are you ok?” Tommy asked quietly from beside her.

She jumped at the sound of his voice and turned her back to him and swiped at her tears.  After a couple of seconds she said, “Yes, I’m fine.  Thank You.”  Then the tears turned to hot anger that was clawing its way out of her heart. 
This was his fault!  All of it!

The stressful day was because of
his
poor parenting skills where his daughter was concerned.  The baby she had been unable to keep from being overly excited about had been jerked out from under her because of
him
.  The baby was sick because
he
obviously spent his time with women of ill repute who could just pop out babies with no problem and didn’t appreciate the gift they had been given. 

In her hurry to get to the hospital
, in an effort to help
his
baby, she’d lost focus and look where that had got her!  No keys and even no phone to call for help! 
Stupid, hopelessly cute bastard!

Whirling around to face him she said angrily
, “This is your fault so please just leave!”

A look of pain crossed his face briefly only to be replaced by anger.  Glancing at the truck that sat parked next to her locked up car, she could see Gretchen sleeping in
a booster seat.

“I would but you’re blocking my door
,” he said hotly.

Feeling rather stupid, she backed up away from his door so he could get in his truck.  Looking at it again, how had she not realized she’d parked right next to him?

“You shouldn’t hang around out here.  This isn’t exactly the best neighborhood,” he said, opening up the driver’s door and turning to climb in.

Knowing she could either suck up her anger and ask to borrow his cell phone or walk all the way back into the hospital and hope to get help there she said
, “I locked my keys in my car.”

Turning back to her
, his face was angry and his eyes were expectant.

“I locked my cell phone in there too
,” she offered.

“That’s surprising considering I figured
you
didn’t make mistakes,” he said sarcastically.

“You know what?  Never mind
!” she said hotly as she tried to push past him to head back into the hospital.

“It bothers the hell out me to see her like that.  You may think I don’t care… but I do.  I can’t undo past mistakes but I’m here for her now so you can think bad of me all you want.  I don’t give a shit
,” he said angrily.

His words stopped her in her tracks.  “That’s the problem
,” she said. “You’re here for her
now,
so I won’t get to be.  At least not for much longer once your test results come in.”

With that she started walking again and more tears burned behind her eyes.

“I may not be an upstanding kind of guy, at least not in your eyes, but I’m a good dad.  So why don’t you worry about yours and I’ll worry about mine,” he said a little louder but with no less anger.

Molten hot anger scorched her cheeks and her feet seemed to carry her back to where he stood on their own. 
How dare he?  He didn’t know anything about her!
  She raised her hand as though to slap him but he caught her arm and pulled her up against his chest.

“Did I say something bad
Ms. Atkinson?
  I need punished for my poor choices, but no slapping.  How about a sound spanking instead?” he said smartly.  Looking down at her, his eyes moved from hers to her mouth.  His gaze was like being stroked by fire. 
God help her!

He was breathing as heavily as she was.  Pressed up against him
, her entire body seemed to tingle.  His face was too close to hers and his eyes changed from a dark brown to more of a honey color right before he slowly lowered his mouth to hers.

His lips were soft but his kiss was firm as he slowly moved his mouth against hers.  This was
wrong
on
so
many levels and she needed to stop it… but the shivers his kiss caused... 
Delicious.
  He released her arm and slid his hands down her back spreading fire along the path they took.

His hands cupped her bottom and pulled her into him and she could feel that part of him pressing hard against her lower belly. 
Was he aroused by her? That couldn’t be…could it?

Dana slid her hands up his chest with every intention of pushing him away when he moaned against her lips and slowly released them.

“Mmm…you taste so good it makes
me
want to be a better person,” he said against her mouth.

Dana started at hearing her own words and pulled back from him. 
Was he making fun of her…mocking her?

“Please stop.  That’s not very nice
,” she said.

He gave her an odd look and said
, “Give me a second and let me see if I can get a hold of my buddy Chuck.  He can get you in your car in no time flat.”

He dialed
a number and attempted to nonchalantly adjust himself and she felt a blush hit her cheeks when, after touching himself quickly, he looked at her mouth again.

“Hey where are you?”
he said into the phone.

After a pause he said
, “Can you drop by the hospital parking garage fourth level?  I need help getting into a car.”  Another pause and then, “No one you know.”

After hanging up the phone he stared at her again for several seconds until she had to look away.

“I’ve got to try that again just to make sure it wasn’t some sort of fluke thing,” he said.

“Try what…?”
she asked.

He was on her before she got the rest of her question out.  This kiss wasn’t as gentle as the first one but was still achingly slow
, as though he really
was
savoring the taste of her.

She’d never been kissed like this in her life.  She was breathless from it and hot…
sticky
even.  His hands found their way down to her hips and he pulled her against him and then moved her back away from him and then against him once more.  His hands on her seemed to simulate…

Oh God!
  Dana broke the kiss and turned away from him.  Her body was on fire, her nipples hardened points against her blouse from the feel of him and she struggled to breathe normally.  And in the parking lot too!
Why did she let him do that?
  Anyone could have seen them!

They stood in silence for what seemed like a lifetime until the sounds of a motorcycle could be heard.  When it headed up the ramp of the garage and then pulled up in front of Tommy’s truck she finally looked around.  A young man in his early twenties and a woman in her thirties got off the motorcycle and headed towards them.

The younger guy had short blond spiky hair and both arms were covered in tattoos.  The woman, in sharp contrast to the guy, wore designer jeans with a light blue silk blouse.  Her hair was pulled back into a low pony tail and as they approached, she smiled at Dana.

“Does Bobby know you have her on the back of your bike?” Tommy said as the younger man approached them.

“He told me not to let her out of my sight…so here we are,” the younger man said as he and Tommy headed over to the driver’s side of her car.

“Hi
, I’m Lilly,” the woman said, holding out her hand. 
The infamous Miss Lilly.

“Dana Atkinson.  I’ve heard a lot about you
,” she said, shaking the woman’s hand.

“Don’t believe a word Tommy says
,” Lilly laughed.

“No
, from Gretchen.  I’m her preschool teacher,” she replied with a smile.

“Oh! It’s nice to meet you.  You truly
are
a saint.  I love her dearly but she is a handful sometimes.  Are you coming to her birthday party on Saturday?” Lilly asked.

“Umm I doubt it, I… today was her first day and…no probably not
,” she finished stupidly.

“We’d love it if you could come.  I’m planning a special outing with her in an effort to try and get her to be a little more ‘girly’
,” She laughed. “If you change your mind just call Tommy or the shop.  I could use all the feminine influence I can get where Gretchen is concerned.  Plus I’m new in town and don’t have many women friends yet and taking a bunch of bikers to a salon…I’d rather not.”

Dana didn’t know what to say.  The woman was
practically too nice and so friendly that she almost
wanted
to go with her.  She was right that Gretchen did need some feminine influence.

Tommy watched Lilly work her charms on the woman who had him in knots at the moment. 
Good God!
  He hadn’t thought her much to look at when he’d met her earlier this morning while dropping off Gretchen, but being close to her…kissing her had set him on fire like nothing he had ever experienced before.

He watched as Chuck used a special tool to unlock Dana’s car door.  Looking up at him Chuck said
, “Dude… her hair is like the bomb!  Imagine
that
all wrapped...”

“Don’t
even
go there…” he cut him off. 
As if he hadn’t thought the same thing just this afternoon.

“You should take that for a spin man
,” Chuck said with a knowing smile and a wink.

“It’s not like that
,” he lied. 
He’d like it to be like that.
  “She’s Gretchen’s preschool teacher
and
the baby’s foster mom.”

“Oh, sorry
, man,” Chuck said seriously as he popped the lock. “There you go.  I’ve got to get Lilly back before Bobby gets there or I may not live to see another day.”

Chuck and Lilly got back on the bike and drove off
as he watched Dana make a beeline for her car.  She only glanced at him before she drove away. 

He didn’t get her at all.  She’d responded to his kiss with enough
passion to scald him, yet she acted as though she had no interest in him whatsoever.

That was probably for the best since in some respects they were on opposing teams as far as the baby was concerned… or so it seemed. 

She was being responsible and not letting anything happen between them.  He would do the same…no more kisses and no more images of her dressed in nothing but her hair. 
Yea right.

The following morning as he walked Gretchen to her class he noticed that she seemed excited as she skipped along beside him holding his hand.  She even said good morning to the other two teachers who
managed to be awaiting his arrival each morning.  Subtlety was obviously not their strongest character trait. 

As they entered Gretchen’s classroom
, he eyed Dana on the floor of the play area on her hands and knees pulling books off of a bookshelf that sat low to the ground.  Her slender ass swayed as she moved.

That was an image his mind
didn’t
need considering how he’d had to take care of business himself this morning for the first time in a long time, thanks to her.

“Oh
, Gretchen, good you’re here,” she said, sitting up and shaking her hair back behind her shoulder. 

He turned away and attempted to fight his body’s strong reaction to her movements.  This was ridiculous… he was a grown man and should have better control over his thoughts and reactions...and his dick.