Road to Passion (3 page)

“Fuck me,” he breathed out, but I
could tell he was trying not to smile. “Polite meter?”

I bit my lip. God, I was an
idiot! “I’ll just go back to my friends.”

I turned and made it about three
steps before I heard, “Babe, wait.”

His voice was so low, I thought
I’d misheard him, but I turned and he hadn’t moved, his expression conflicted
and his eyes on my leg. “What the fuck is that?”

I followed his gaze and frowned.
The bruise from my fight with my patient peeked out from the bottom of my
skirt. “Um... ”

Mack closed the distance between
us and raised my skirt a little. “Did that happen here?”

“No,” I answered immediately.

He glanced at me. “Did someone
fuckin’ hurt you, Darien?”

He remembered my name? I couldn’t
focus, considering his fingers were gently touching my leg.

“Darien?”

 I licked my lips. “Huh?”

“Did someone hurt you?”

“Oh.” I shook my head. “No. It
happened at work.”

He frowned. “Someone hurt you at
work?”

“No!” I said a little more
forcefully. “I whacked it on a piece of furniture.”

“Babe, you need to fuckin’ tell
me what happened.”

Because I’m Dork Darien, and
because he smelled so delicious, all I could think about was licking him (no
joke), and I told him everything that happened at work.

Mack stood with his arms crossed
as I filled him in, but when I was done he sighed. “Fuck me.”

“Now? ’Cause I don’t really know
you,” I retorted.

He stared at me for a second or
two and then laughed. The sound made me shiver... in a really good way, and I
couldn’t stop a smile.

“Go back to your friends,
sweetheart.”

I nodded and high-tailed it out
of the hallway and back into the club. I nearly slammed into Millie who grabbed
my arm with a frown. “Where did you go?”

“Nowhere, it’s fine,” I said.

“Are you okay?”

“Yep, fine. Just went through the
wrong door.” She studied me, but I was glad she let it go. “Are we dancing?”

Millie shook her head. “Huh-uh,
we’re back upstairs. Booker bought us drinks.”

“Okay, cool.”

I followed Millie back upstairs
and tried to put my weird interaction with the sexiest man on the planet out of
my head. Admittedly, I failed, but I fell back into my comfortable belief that
a man like Mack would never want a woman like me. I was safe there.

O
N A BUSY Friday morning almost three
months later, I rushed into the locker room at work where I slipped out of my
scrubs with a shudder and stepped into the bathroom. I needed to shower first,
then I’d take care of the vomit-covered protective wear. Ugh. So gross. One of
the residents was close to the end of his life and wasn’t keeping down any
food. We still tried, but unfortunately, it didn’t work.

I sighed as the hot water covered
me. I really hoped my book would become a bestseller so I could justify
quitting. I liked my job just fine, but I’d rather write, and if it meant
writing smut, I was
so
okay with that. Especially since I’d gotten my
first royalty check for almost two hundred, sixty-two dollars and four cents...
my monthly total. It was a bummer, because it wasn’t enough to quit, but even
so, people were buying the book, so I couldn’t complain.

* * *

Saturday
afternoon, I took Barney down to the little shopping center near our apartment.
Outside of my job, it was my first venture past my front door in a week.
Considering I’d been so tired from work, I’d barely had the energy to walk
Barney to the communal yard and back upstairs.

One of the things I loved most
about Portland was its super dog-friendly attitude, so Barney was typically
welcome most places. This particular day, however, I just wanted to sit at one
of the outdoor tables with a strong cup of coffee and use my Kindle as a cover
to people watch.

As I set my coffee on an open
table and took a seat, securing Barney to my chair, I pulled my Kindle out of
my bag just as a familiar face came running towards me. My heart raced as Mack
caught sight of me and his mouth spread into a slow smile. He was in shorts and
a tight, white T-shirt, and even in work-out clothes, he was beautiful. He
slowed to a walk and I took a deep breath as he closed the distance between us.

“Hey, Darien.”

“Hi,” I replied. He’d remembered
my name again and it made my heart race. “Out for a run?”

Yes, Dork Darien, of course he’s
out for a run. Obvious much?

“Yeah. Havin’ coffee?”

I blushed and nodded. “Do you
live around here?”

He knelt down and captivated my
dog with behind the ear scratches. Barney’s favorite. “Yeah. About six blocks
north.”

“Oh, that’s close to me,” I said.

He smiled again.

I cocked my head. “Do you want to
join me?”

“Sure. I’ve got a few minutes.”
He rose to his feet and took the chair across from me. “Any more work
injuries?”

“Huh?”

“The bruise on your leg.”

“Oh.” My hand went instinctively
to my thigh. “No. I’ve been injury free for a couple of weeks now.”

He frowned.

“What about you?” I continued.

“Not in the habit of gettin’ work
injuries, babe.”

“Yeah, you let your bouncers do
the dirty work,” I grumbled ungraciously.

Mack studied me. “Train’s been
dealt with, Darien.”

“I’m sorry?”

“Look, babe, he was doin’ his
job, so I won’t apologize for him protecting club patrons, but the other shit
he said to you...?” His face grew hard.

“Yes?” I prompted.

“Well, he’s been dealt with.
Chalk it up to a recruit who got a little eager about doin’ a good job.”

“Am I really never allowed to
come back?”

Mack sighed. “You want it that
bad, Darien?”

“Well, no. Not life or death
bad.” I shrugged. “But it was fun.”

“Give me your phone.”

I narrowed my eyes in suspicion.
“Why?”

“You wanna come some weekend, you
come when I’m there.”

“You’re not there every weekend?”

“No.”

“Why do you have to be there,
then?” I challenged.

“Someone has to keep an eye on
you.”

“Stalker much?”

He raised an eyebrow. “You can
try and come another time, Darien.”

“But I won’t get in,” I deduced.

He held out his hand. “Give me
your phone.”

I fished it out of my bag and
handed it to him, leaning my chin in the palm of my hand. “How did you get so
bossy?” I wondered aloud.

He smiled and handed the phone
back to me. “Lots of practice.”

“Yeah, I’m guessing that.” I
chuckled. “Dani said her husband was part of a motorcycle gang. Are you as
well?”

“Holy shit, Darien.” Mack dropped
his head back and laughed. “Motorcycle gang?”

I slumped in my chair, feeling
very self-conscious. “That’s not the right term?”

“No, babe. We got a club.
Dogs
of Fire
.”

“Is it like Sons of Anarchy?”

“The motorcycles, yeah. But we’re
not part of the one percent, which means our club and businesses are clean...
mostly.”

I sighed in disappointment. “So
no Jax Teller.”

Mack smirked. “You know he’s not
a real guy, right?”

“When I’m awake, yes, but at
night in my dreams... now, that’s another story.”

“You’re fuckin’ funny, Darien.”

I smiled. “What about you?”

“I’ve been known to be funny,” he
retorted.

I giggled. “What do you dream
about?”

He leaned forward. “You, baby.”

I let out a rather inelegant
snort. “Wow, you’re good. No wonder Pauley says you’re a who—”

“A what?”

“Nothing, never mind,” I said.
Calling him a man-whore was not only vicious gossip, it wasn’t nice and I was
better than that.

“Well, this has been fun,” he
said, and stood.

“Wait, I’m sorry. I don’t know
you. Neither does my sister, really, and her view towards good-looking men is a
little askew.”

He smiled and bent down to pet
Barney again. “You want into
Blush
, Darien, you let me know.”

And then he was gone.

I internally groaned. God, I was
not only a dork, I was kind of a bitch. I grabbed my stuff, unhooked Barney,
and headed back home... then I obsessed. After about an hour of contemplation,
followed by massive spiraling, I showered, dressed in my best pair of jeans,
ankle boots, and off the shoulder cutesy sweater. I pulled my hair into what I
hoped would be a sexy ponytail, not a ‘crap, I don’t have time to wash and dry
my hair’ ponytail, spritzed a little perfume on, and grabbed my purse. I had
precious little time to do what I needed to do, but I was going to give it my
best shot.

* * *

Mack arrived home
and tossed his keys on the counter before heading to the shower. He’d done a
shit job of getting his pixie out of his head and he was pissed at himself. But
then she appears right in front of him as if to taunt him? He realized he was
now officially fucked.

He stripped down and stepped
under the cool water, wondering what Pauley would have told Darien. Right about
now, he wished he’d been a little less happy to give his body to a few of the
women he’d “enjoyed,” but that wasn’t something he could change.

God damn it, Darien was just as
gorgeous as he remembered. Probably more. He picked up on her inability to lie,
but thought her need to not make him feel bad was kind of sweet. He was gonna
need to figure out what to do about her, because now that he’d seen her again,
he wasn’t prepared to let her slip through his fingers. He’d get the shit with
Blush
sorted, make sure it didn’t touch her, then she was his.

He smiled to himself as he turned
off the shower and dried off. She didn’t stand a chance.

P
ULLING UP TO the back parking lot for
Blush
,
I climbed out, grabbed the gift bag I’d brought with me, and headed up the
outer stairs to the ‘employee only’ entrance. I’d noticed someone try to open
the front doors as I was driving in, and they appeared locked, so I hoped this
would work.

I banged on the door and
waited... and waited some more. No one came, so I banged one more time. With a
force I wasn’t expecting, the door slammed open and I let out a shocked squeak.
A tall, tatted man glared at me as he stood in frame of the door. “Yeah?”

“Um, sorry. I was wondering if
Mack was here.”

His face showed surprise. “You’re
here to see Mack?”

I nodded holding the gift bag
closer to my chest. “Yes. If he’s available. If not, that’s fine. I can come
back.”

“Babe, you’re not getting one
foot inside this door.”

“Well, can you tell him I’m here
at least?” The man was incredibly intimidating, with his bald head and smooshy
features, but I had a mission and Mr. Clean wasn’t going to stop me.

“Damn it!” he breathed out and
lifted a walkie talkie to his lips. “Mack, you got a visitor.”

“No time for visitors,” came the
reply.

Baldy shrugged. “You heard him.”

“Right. Can you please tell him
it’s Darien? If he can’t see me, that’s fine. But I have something for him.”

“Fuck me, lady, do I look like a
secretary?”

“Well, no, you kind of look like
Mr. Clean went and joined a motorcycle gang, but if you could just tell him all
the same, I’d appreciate it.”

The side of his mouth went up
slightly and he raised the walkie to his mouth again. “The visitor says her
name’s Darien and she’s got somethin’ for you.”

There was a brief pause, and
then, “Bring her back, Pug.”

Wow, the guy really did look like
a pug... and not the cute puppy kind, but the sniffly, slobbery kind. He had
really nice eyes, though.

“Come on,” Pug said, and waved me
inside.

I shuffled behind him, feeling
suddenly self-conscious, but I’d come this far, so I kept moving forward.

“In there.” Pug pointed to a
closed door and kept walking, which meant I was left standing alone in a dimly
hallway alone.

I gave a tentative knock and the
door opened.

“Darien,” Mack said.

“Hi. Oh, wow, I forgot how
gorgeous you are.” I blushed. “Crap, I mean—”

“You’re gorgeous yourself,
Darien,” he said with a chuckle.

“Sorry. I don’t mean to be a
bother, but...,” I held out the gift bag, “I wanted to apologize.”

“Sweetheart, I appreciate it,
but—”

“I know you’re busy and I’ll go,”
I continued, talking over him. “I just felt bad about earlier and I needed to tell
you that.”

“Darien, shush.”

“Sorry,” I mumbled.

I pressed my lips into a thin
line and he smiled. “What I was going to say, is you don’t have anything to
feel bad about.”

“But I was rude,” I countered.

“You were?”

“No?” I asked, nodding.

Mack laughed. “Come in,
sweetheart. I’ve got a few minutes.”

“No, it’s okay. I’ll go. I don’t
want to keep you.”

He took my arm and pulled me
further into his office, kicking the door closed. Reaching into the bag, he
pulled out the book I’d bought him and stared at it. It was a full color,
coffee table book titled, “Ultimate Harley Davidson.” I’d made a quick run to
Powell’s Book Store, which typically never ends up to be quick, but this time
it was, considering the book was on one of the first tables I passed.

“It’s nothing big,” I said. Mack
opened it and I suddenly regretted my rash purchase. “Do you already have it?
Ohmigod, it’s lame.”

I turned to flee, but found
myself gently pulled back against his hard body. “Darien.”

I dropped my head back and
swallowed. “Yes?”

“You know you could have called.”

“I know.” I bit my lip. “But I
wanted to bring you that.”

He smiled and my stomach did a
weird swirly thing. “Which is sweet, but you could have called and I would have
picked it up.”

“But what’s the point of an
apology gift if I make you come to me?” I countered.

Mack chuckled. “Do you always
apologize with gifts, or am I special?”

“I try very hard not to do
anything I have to apologize for, honestly, but when I do screw up, I apologize
with gifts. Um, but that doesn’t mean you’re
not
special.” I grimaced.
“Do you hate it?”

“Darien, there’s never been
another woman who’s brought me an apology gift to apologize for something she
didn’t actually do.” His arm slid around my waist. “Truth be told, there’s
never been a woman who brought me an apology gift to apologize for something
she
did
do.”

“That’s not really what I asked,”
I mumbled.

He grinned as he set the book on
his desk and turned back to me. “It’s thoughtful, it’s sweet, and it’s
something I’ll treasure. I love it.”

I let out the breath I didn’t
realize I was holding. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah, baby, I’m sure,” he said.

“I’m so glad.”

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” I smiled. “Is
your bike in there?”

Mack picked the book up again and
thumbed through it, careful not to bend the pages. When he got to the Fatboy,
he pointed. “Mine looks a lot like this.”

“Oh, wow, that’s really pretty.”

He chuckled. “Bikes aren’t
pretty, Darien.”

“Oh, sorry.” I giggled and did my
best Cheech impersonation. “It’s like totally cool, man.”

Mack laughed again.

“Do you have a real name?” I
asked.

He slid his hand to my neck and
stroked my pulse. “A real name?”

“Yeah. The name on your driver’s
license. I feel weird calling you ‘Mack.’”

“You do?”

I nodded.

“How come?”

I blushed. “Because you’re too pretty
to be compared to a semi.”

He chuckled. “Logan Reed.”

“Of course it is,” I ground out.
“Couldn’t you be a Myron or something?”

Before he could respond, a voice
came over the walkie. “Mack, got a delivery question. Need you out front.”

“Be right there, Knight,” he
answered back.

“I’ll let you get back to work,”
I said.

“Why don’t you come meet some of
the guys?”

“I really didn’t mean to
interrupt your work. I should go.”

He reached out and took my hand
with a smile. “Stay for a bit.”

“Are you sure?”

“I wouldn’t say it if I wasn’t.”

“Okay. But kick me out if I’m in
the way, okay?”

Mack nodded. “Whatever you say,
baby.”

I squeezed his hand and sighed.

“What?”

“Can you try to lay off the
endearments a little?” I requested.

“I didn’t mean to offend you.”

“No, it’s not that.” I felt my
face grow hot again. “I just find them very distracting and it makes me want
to... ohmigod, never mind.”

“What, Darien?”

I shook my head. “Okay, look, I
have this thing... this problem, if you will. I tend to say what’s on my mind
and it gets me into trouble. It drives my sister batty, but I’ve never been a
good liar, I don’t really know how to play games, and I tend to wear my heart
on my sleeve. I have this really bad habit of believing what people tell me, so
when you call me ‘sweetheart’ or ‘baby,’ it makes you more attractive to me,
and my sister says you’re dangerous. With your reputation, I know you know your
affect on women, and I’m unfortunately not immune to that affect. But I like
you. You seem nice and I like to be around nice people, but I have no illusions
as to what kind of women you like.”

“I don’t think you have any idea
what kind of women I like.”

I rolled my eyes. “I’m pretty
sure they’re not dorky red-heads who have no filter, so if you could just cool
it with the endearments, I’d really appreciate it. I don’t want to run the risk
of falling in love with you.”

“And what about you?” he asked.

“What about me?”

“What will you do so I don’t run
the risk of falling in love with you?”

I groaned. “This is exactly what
I’m talking about. You’re gorgeous, you have this super sexy name, and I find
you a tad bit irresistible.”

“You don’t think that goes both
ways?”

“No, I don’t think it goes both
ways.”

“Well, you’re wrong, Darien.” He
studied me for a minute and then smiled. “From the second I met you, I haven’t
been able to get you out of my head. See, I have this thing for girls with
boys’ names. Always have. I think they’re adorable and when they’re attached to
the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen, it kind of throws me off my game.
Follow that up with the fact that said woman is sweet, thoughtful, and funny as
hell, it drives home the reality I’m not good enough for her. And when she’s
standing in front of me, all I want to do is kiss her, but I know I have to go
slow because I can’t scare her away.”

“Logan,” I whispered.

“I guess what I’m trying to say,
Darien, is that I like you too. But it’s you who’s irresistible, and it’s me
who’s scared to death of falling in love with you, especially when you bring me
gifts for no reason, lookin’ sexier than should be legal. But it’s when you
whisper my name... the one no one but you will ever call me, and I’m gone.”

With that, he leaned down and
kissed me. Slowly and sweetly like I was the most precious thing on earth. His
hand came to my neck and his fingers stroked my cheek as I opened my mouth to
deepen the kiss. I was done. In that second, I needed him like I’d never needed
anyone before and I finally understood what Pauley had been saying. That
someone like him could break someone like me.

I broke the kiss and shook my
head. “I can’t do this.”

“Why not?”

“Because if we do, I’d want
something exclusive, and I know that’s not your thing.”

“How do you know that’s not my
thing?” he challenged.

“Because Pauley and Kim both said
it’s not.”

He sighed. “How about we take
some time to get to know each other and while we’re doin’ that, we’ll be
exclusive?”

This time it was my turn to study
him. “Are you being serious right now? Because remember what I said about
believing people when they tell me things.”

“Babe, I can’t make any
guarantees about anything, but I haven’t been with anyone since the night you
came to the club.”

“What? Why?”

He laughed. “Because I can’t get
you off my fuckin’ mind. You want a confession?”

“I don’t know,” I said.

“The reason Train was draggin’
those guys off the dance floor was because I told him to.”

I gasped. “You did? Why?”

“Because I couldn’t stand the
thought of another man touching you.”

“Oh,” I whispered and bit my lip.

“Yeah, oh.” He leaned down to kiss
me again. “Come and meet some of my brothers, then we’ll talk some more.”

“Don’t you have to work?”

“I’ll work better if you’re
here.”

“How so?”

He got nose-to-nose with me.
“Because instead of finding my fantasies getting away from me, distracting me
from my job, I’ll have the real thing close by.”

I laughed, patting his chest.
“Oh, you’re good.”

“We’ve got close to five hours
before we open, so we’ll sort out the deliveries, have dinner, and then you’ll
go, yeah?”

“What if I want to stay the whole
night?”

Mack took a deep breath, sliding
his hand to my neck again. “It’s not a good idea for you to stay tonight,
Darien. If you want to come back another time, I can arrange it, but I have a
shit ton of work to do tonight and we wouldn’t get to spend any time together.”

“Maybe I should go now, then.”

He shook his head. “Right now,
I’ve got time, so I’d love it if you stayed.”

“Okay.”

Taking my hand, he guided me out
of his office and to the front of the club.

“Yo, Mack!” A tall, incredibly
good-looking dark-haired man was attached to the booming voice.

“Hey, man, what’s the problem?”

The man handed Mack a clipboard.
“Supplier shipped the wrong fuckin’ amount again.”

Mack released my hand and scanned
the pages. “Okay, I’ll deal with it. Knight, meet Darien.”

I reached my hand out. “Hi.”

Knight took my hand with a smile.
“Nice to meet you.”

“Give me a second, babe,” Mack
said, and left me standing with Knight as he pulled out his phone and walked
away.

“You’re Pauley’s sister,” Knight
remarked.

“I am. Do you know her?”

“Met her a few times when I go in
to the restaurant to see Kim.” Knight smiled. “You and Pauley look alike.”

I chuckled. “You’re sweet. My
sister’s gorgeous.”

“So are you.”

I blushed and dropped my head
slightly. “Sorry, I don’t mean to act weird; I just don’t hear that often.” I
raised my head. “And I’m not saying that to try and get a compliment, just so
you know.”