“I didn’t get their numbers because they’re not single, Mom,” I lied.
“Oh. Well, shit.” I could hear the disappointment in her voice, but I knew that wouldn't stop her for long, especially if she was drinking.
I wasn’t going to let my mother sink her talons into those three. They had seemed like decent guys. I’d been around some nasty bikers in my time, and these guys weren’t that.
“Well, maybe they’ll be back.” my mother said.
“Can’t you just respect people’s boundaries for once?” I asked.
“What? They’re men. They aren’t married, right? Girlfriends come and go.”
“So do booty calls,” I said under my breath.
“I heard that. The bar open tonight?” she asked.
A thought crossed my mind, and I grinned as I eyed Lindy.
“What?” Lindy asked.
“Can I stay at your place tonight?” I asked while I covered the phone with my hand.
“Of course. What’s up?”
I held up my finger before I cleared my throat.
“Yeah, Mom. The bar’s open tonight. Booker is trying something new out. He’s theming nights now.”
“Theming nights? The fuck does that mean?”
Lindy clapped her hand over her mouth, stifling the laughter pouring from her lips.
“It means some nights have a theme now. Tonight is ‘leather and lace.’ Men are in leather. Women are in racy lace,” I said.
“It’s about damn time that boss of yours did something to get more men in there. I gotta go shopping. See you tonight.”
“I’m not working, but have fun,” I said.
“Always do, sweet cheeks.”
“You are so bad,” Lindy said as I hung up the phone.
“Serves her right for being a bullshit mother,” I said.
“I would love to see the look on her face when she shows up all dressed up, and there’s no one there,” she said.
“Thanks for letting me stay at your place. But we’ll have to go home soon so I can pack.”
“Yeah. She’ll definitely lock you out of the house for this one,” she said.
“Did you get us a time for the tour tomorrow?” I asked.
“Yep. The realtor said she can do anytime, so I told her three in the afternoon. We can sleep, eat, then go, prepared to walk around for a while.”
“I knew there was a reason why I liked you,” I said.
“Smart ass.”
CHAPTER 4
I having a feeling I might just blow up from excitement.
Even as I stood behind the bar serving drinks, I couldn’t get my mind off the warehouse. Lindy and I had gone to see it the day before, and it had been better than the pictures portrayed it to be. Plenty of space, with rooms on the inside already divided by walls. The loft upstairs spanned the entire length and width of the building, which gave me over three thousand square feet of space to set up a new home for myself.
I could see everything as I walked into that place: the themed rooms with different sets of outfits, a room where Lindy and I could work on fixing up other people’s items, a shoe room, and a boot room. We could set up a denim room and a leather room, and another room for women’s nightgowns and extras to spice up their hookups and shit. It made me both thrilled and impatient for this new venture ahead.
And putting an offer in on the place meant I was one step closer to my dream.
We told the realtor of offer we wanted to put on the place: ten thousand below the asking price, at one hundred and forty thousand. She said she would put it in and get back to us on what the owner said, but she had a feeling he would be more than willing to offload the burden onto us.
The building wasn’t a burden. The building was a beacon for a new life Lindy and I could make for ourselves.
“Five beers, please.”
I was pulled from my thoughts by a familiar voice. When I looked up, I was met with those dreamy icy blue eyes and shaggy black hair. I grinned as Jacob stood in front of me, his chiseled physique leaning against the bar.
“Fancy seeing you again,” I said, grinning. “Five beers? Aren’t there only three of you?”
“Nope,” Jacob said.
I watched as four other men appeared at Jacob’s sides. They were all wearing the same leather jackets, and they were indeed navy blue. They each had a different shade of piercing blue eyes, ranging from Jacob’s icy gaze to Adam’s deep ocean blues. I nodded toward Nick as he bowed his head to me, but there were two men I didn’t recognize, though they looked like the rest of them.
Except these two were identical fucking twins. Could this family get any fucking hotter?
“I don’t think we’ve met yet,” one of the twins said. “I’m Tanner.”
“And I’m Tyler,” said the other.
“It’s nice to meet you both, and now I see why Jacob here needed five beers,” I said.
“Yep. He said he was going to get the drinks tonight, but I didn’t realize he was also going to be hogging the most beautiful girl in this room,” Tanner said.
“And we weren’t going to let Jacob have all the fun tonight,” Tyler said.
“Well, I see charm runs in the family. What kind of beer do you guys want?”
“Got a special going?” Nick asked.
“Two fifty for all long-necked Coronas,” I said.
“Sounds good to me. Five Coronas, five limes, please, Emma,” Adam said.
Then, all five of them sat down at the bar in front of me.
“Five Coronas with lime coming up,” I said, still tingling all over from the sound of my name rolling off Adam’s tongue.
As I looked around the bar, I noticed there were a lot of men in here with the same leather cuts. They had on the same navy-blue material, and I figured their entire club had come in for drinks. I slid beers to each of them and watched as their large, strong hands caught them languidly. Five sets of long, thick fingers curled around their beers.
Fuck, there wasn’t a damn thing about these men that wasn’t attractive.
“So, I haven’t seen you guys around town,” I said.
“Our club is relatively new to the area. We all just came from a meeting,” Adam said.
“I suggested this bar,” Jacob said.
“He’s the VP,” Nick said.
“Well, aren’t you important?” I teased with a smile. “What’s your club’s name?”
“Road Warriors,” Tyler said.
“How long have you guys been out this way?” I asked.
“About six months,” Tanner said.
“Moved this way from the Lodi area,” Tyler added.
“You been around Lucas Corner long?” Adam asked.
“Born and raised,” I answered.
The conversation went on like that for a little while; we bantered back and forth as I ran from one end of the bar to the other serving the crowd.
The twins, Tyler and Tanner, didn’t stay for very long. They finished their Coronas, then got up and left. I was disappointed they had gone so quickly, but they left me a twenty-dollar bill for their measly beer.
Each.
“Hell of a tip,” I said as I shoved the bills into my pocket.
“Hell of a woman,” Jacob said, grinning.
“So, what’s a woman like you doing working in a bar like this?” Nick asked.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“You’re obviously intelligent. You can keep up a conversation. I’m sure your dream isn’t to work in a bar your entire life,” Jacob said.
“I’d be interested to know why you started working in a bar in the first place,” Adam said.
“Okay, okay. One at a time,” I said, giggling. “I started working here when I was—young.”
“We catch your drift,” Jacob said.
“It was a job. I hated school and didn’t want to go, and my mother couldn’t have cared less. I was hired here as a bartender with absolutely no training, but it gave me the money I needed to save up for my store.”
“Your store?” Adam asked.
“Yeah. I’m opening my own biker clothing shop. Maybe have a clothing line, eventually. I figure with all the clubs here and in the surrounding area, I can drum up a pretty decent sized clientele and make a good living for myself. Plus, it gets me out of my mother’s house.”
“What’s wrong with your mother’s house?” Adam asked.
I rolled my eyes. “Well for starters, my mother lives there,” I commented, at which all the guys laughed.