He was right. I didn’t. But a girl could pretend.
I straightened because we had a customer. Thank God for Fox—he’d opened up this morning and had taken care of almost all the customers so that I could rest and feel sorry for myself over how damn hung-over and sick I was.
“You okay on your own for a bit while I do this tat?” Fox asked after chatting with the guy about what he wanted.
“Yeah.” I didn’t even have it in me to talk much. Everything I did or said exacerbated the headache.
He narrowed his eyes at me. “You sure? It looks like you’re getting worse rather than better.”
I waved him away. “It’s a slow day. I’ll be fine.”
With some hesitation, he left me, and I sighed with relief as I settled into the chair we had at the front counter and rested my head again. The day had been a waste. I’d achieved none of my goals, but at that point, I didn’t have it in me to care.
Fifteen minutes later, my headache eased a little thanks to the silence. I was beginning to drift off to sleep when a deep voice rumbled, “How’s that head, sugar?”
I’d know that voice anywhere. It was the voice of sin and sex. Well, at least, that was what it made me want to do. However, it was also the voice of danger, and it set alarm bells ringing all over the place. Hyde was a biker and best to avoid when it came to sex.
Without lifting my head, I mumbled, “How do you think?”
His chuckle filled the room, and I cursed him silently for being so damn sexy. “Gotta say, I’m surprised to see you here. Figured you’d stay home and sleep it off.”
I was beginning to wish I had, too, as my memory reminded me of what I’d said to him last night. Not to mention the fact I’d fallen on my ass and stumbled all over the place. Sure, I was a woman who liked to flirt with men, but I usually refrained from doing that with men who could bring trouble into my life. It was okay to have Storm around in the form of Nitro, but I didn’t want to invite one of them into my life on a regular basis. And yet, I’d pretty much invited him to pop on by for a quickie when he was next in the neighbourhood.
Reluctantly, I met his gaze. The heat I found there caused my legs to squeeze together. Shit. “Look, about last night, I was so drunk I hardly remember any of it, but I do remember you helping me into my house. Thank you for that.” I prayed hard that he’d let me off the hook and not bring up anything I’d said to him.
His eyes firmly held mine, but his face gave nothing away. I couldn’t tell what he was thinking. Finally, though, he nodded. “No worries.” Then, glancing around the shop, he said, “Is your workmate in?”
I could have kissed him for not pushing the point. But, kissing him was off the table. Must remember that. “Yeah, but he’s with a customer. He’ll be a while. I could get him to call you when he’s finished.”
Those dark eyes of his found mine again. With a shake of his head, he said, “No, I need to speak to him now.”
I lifted a brow. God these bikers could be pushy. Nitro sure as hell was, and it seemed Hyde had the same bossy streak. “So when I said he’s busy, I meant he can’t speak with you now.”
“I won’t be long.” With that, he walked away from the counter and towards where Fox was working.
Oh no he didn’t.
“Hey, this is my business, dude. And when I say that one of my staff members is busy working and can’t see you, I mean it. So back the fuck up and turn your ass around.” My headache returned full force, which only made me crankier. I wasn’t sure exactly what caused me to snap at him, but it was probably the fact I felt so ill combined with the fact that it annoyed me when men didn’t listen to me.
He came to an abrupt halt and turned to face me. The heat in his gaze had disappeared completely. In its place was a dark expression that, along with the hard set of his shoulders, told me I’d pissed him off. Well, fuck him. He was the one in the wrong here. Not me.
Taking a step towards me, he said in a low voice, “You care to repeat that?”
I crossed my arms in front of me. “No, not really. I’m fairly certain you heard what I said.”
“I heard it, but I didn’t fucking like it.”
“Do I look like I care whether you liked it?” This conversation was going downhill at a rapid rate of knots.
“You should care.”
“Yeah, so I’ve heard. But I’ve had a long day and am in too much pain to even think about caring. All that matters to me at this point is that my guy finishes the tattoo he’s working on and that my customer is happy with the work. I’ve got bills coming out of my ass, so I kinda need the cash from that job so I can pay them. You barging in there demanding Fox’s time could piss my customer off, which may mean I can’t pay my bills. You see where I’m coming from?”
He watched me in silence for a few moments. I couldn’t tell if he was calming down or getting more worked up. He still looked angry, but his body language told another story.
Just when I was beginning to settle in to go another round with him, he said, “I’ll leave my number. Get him to call me.”
“God, could you be any more bossy?” I muttered before stalking back to the front counter. Locating a pen and paper, I shoved them at him when he joined me there, and said, “And just so we’re clear on something, that invitation to come back to my place for sex no longer stands.”
I couldn’t be sure, but I would have sworn he almost smiled. He jotted down his number as he said, “I see you remember something from last night.”
I snatched the paper from him when he was done. “It just came back to me, so I wanted you to know I’m actually not interested. It was all that damn alcohol I drank that made me say shit I didn’t mean.”
Resting his hands on the counter, he leant over it so our faces were close. “Just so you know, that vibrator of yours has got nothing on my cock.” He tapped the piece of paper with his number on it. “You change your mind, you use that.”
Without another word, he exited my shop, and I stared after him, unable to process the thoughts rushing through my mind. He had me so worked up and so damn confused. On the one hand, I never wanted to see him again. The absolute nerve of him to come to my business and try to tell me how things were going to go down. But on the other hand, the man was hot as hell, and I was more attracted to him than any man I’d met in a long time.
I looked up at the roof, towards the heavens.
Why God?
Why is the only man I want to sleep with a moody asshole?
Chapter 9
Hyde
Women.
Fuck.