Free Shooter (Burnout) by Dahlia West Page A

bike, he straddled it first and pulled down the passenger foot pegs for her. She was shivering either from the cold or the scene in the parking lot or both. “Come on, honey,” Chris coaxed. “Let’s get you home.”
    He sighed inwardly in relief as she put her hand in his and climbed on the back. Without having to be told, she put her arms around his torso and gripped him hard but he didn’t complain. He kicked the stand up, turned the engine over, and left the parking lot not sparing the Buzzards a backward glance. At the first stop light, he patted her hands reassuringly and she loosened her hold on him slightly. When he finally pulled into his driveway, he parked the bike and killed the engine. “You survived, babe,” he declared. Hayley didn’t move. He sighed. “Slick, as much as I like your arms around me, it’s late and we’re both tired. Let’s pack it in, okay?”
    Reluctantly she sat up straight and peeled her arms back from his waist. She wobbled a little getting off and he held her arm to keep her from falling.
    “Thanks for the ride,” she finally told him. “And for…the rest.”
    The look on her face and the fact that if she bit that bottom lip any harder she was going to draw blood told him that Slick knew exactly what a house mouse was. He smiled at her. “Well, no one’s gonna bother you now. Not the Buzzards, anyway. I guarantee it. But there are still some unsavory characters at Maria’s every now and then so from now on every night you close, you’re on my bike,” he told her. Hayley’s eyes widened. “Slick” he said, voice full of warning.
    “Okay,” she finally agreed.
    “That’s my girl.”
    ***************************
    All the tension that had been roiling in Hayley’s belly came to a complete standstill at his words. My girl. My girl. She thought of the blond the prospect had mentioned the night before and wondered if she really was his girl. For one instant, Hayley was insanely, inexplicably, intolerably….jealous? But she clamped down on that feeling. Hard. That was not a thing she needed to look at closer. Not at all. In fact she needed to just nip all that right in the bud.
    She snorted, rather unattractively she thought, if she did say so herself. “House mouse,” she muttered. “I’m pretty sure I remember saying adamantly that I wouldn’t sleep with you.”
    He laughed and swung his leg over the bike, standing up. “Only you and I will know the truth.”
    Before she could stop herself, she blurted out, “What about the blond?” When Chris raised his eyebrows at her she quickly amended, “I don’t want some biker babe coming into Maria’s looking for me ‘cause she thinks her man’s cheating on her.”
    To her relief, he shook his head. “Blond’s just a friend. She’s got no claim on me and she won’t come looking for you if she hears about our little ruse.”
    Hayley eyed him skeptically. “Well, okay,” she told him, teasingly. “But if you’re lying and I have to go all Crouching Tiger on some poor misguided woman, I’m gonna come to your garage and go all Hidden Dragon on you .”
    Chris laughed uproariously. “Slick, soaking wet you still wouldn’t outweigh my boots .”
    She grinned. “Maybe that doesn’t matter,” she told him. “Maybe I have mad kung fu skills that you don’t know about.”
    He grinned back at her. “No, you don’t.”
    She sighed. “No,” she agreed. “I don’t. But I will come to your garage. And cry. Like a lot .”
    He scowled. “Now that would be scary. I hate to see women cry.”
    “Thanks again,” she told him.
    “No problem, Hayley.”
    Chris waited until she got inside her little blue house and locked the door. Hayley leaned against it and closed her eyes. She needed a bath. And to not think about the blond. Or being Chris Sullivan’s house mouse, fake or otherwise. She suspected only one of those was a sure thing.

     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter 7
     

    Chris sat bolt upright in