Free Southern Shifters: Stick Shifter (Kindle Worlds Novella) by Moxie North Page A

into his.
    “It’s not?”
    Bringing her hands to his mouth, he placed a kiss on the back of each hand. “Nope, I don’t do hookups. In fact, I’ve never had a one-night stand, and I’m not about to start now. Let’s go for a ride, and I’ll explain things to you.”
    “You’ll explain things? This isn’t a hookup?” Delaney knew she was just parroting back to him what he was saying, but it was the best she could do.
    “Delaney Jane Owens, you are a lady. You deserve better than a quick fling.”
    “Really? You make a fling sound bad. I think it is a healthy way to burn off some frustration without having to, you know, pretend to be in a relationship just to get a little action.” Great, now she was making herself out to sound like a trampy backwoods slut.
    Will tilted his head to the side giving her a smirk. “I’m not judging the idea of hooking up. I’m merely saying that is not what this is. I don’t plan on hooking up with you, having a fling with you, or anything else so short term. Strip you bare and make long hard love to you, yes. But that will not be a onetime event over in an evening.”
    “You realize that I’m totally lost with this,” she said, urging him to see she was not on the same page as him.
    “That’s okay. I can lead you in the right direction.”
    His words were loaded with unsaid nuances that Delaney was sure had deeper meaning for him.
    “I don’t need to be led anywhere. I’ve been managing just fine on my own for a number of years now,” Delaney said, her pride finally piping up.
    “I get that. Looks to me you’ve been running your dad’s business for quite some time. Doing a good job at it too. Your personal life, well I don’t really care to know too much about that. I don’t care about the past. I only care about your future. Your time is precious to me. It’s not lost on me that you might not get my meaning. I’m telling you that I will help you understand. You aren’t a hookup, a one-night stand, or anything like it. I’m declaring right here and now that you are more important than that to me, and I’ll be treating you that way. I can’t hedge around it, and I won’t. It will make more sense to you by this evening, and we can move forward from there.”
    It was Delaney’s turn to tilt her head to the side in confusion. She started shaking her head no, not that she wasn’t agreeing with him, because she didn’t understand it to say a firm no. Her shaking head was just her way of showing him that that his words were heard but not understood.
    “Come on, Monkey. How about you show me what that pretty bike of yours can do?”
    That earned him an affirmative head nod. He gave the tip of her nose a quick kiss then reached for her helmet. He helped her on with it even though she probably didn’t need his help. His cougar wanted to make sure the safety equipment was on appropriately, and it was something they didn’t need to worry about.
    It also helped him focus on calming himself down so he could keep his attention on maneuvering his powerful machine through some very dangerous curves.
    Thinking about curves made him want to groan. As he had pulled up to the shop, the vision in white leaning against her motorcycle was hands down the sexiest thing he had ever seen. It was better than any hot rod pin-up or swimsuit edition of a magazine. She was leaning casually against her white Ninja, wrapped in a white leather one piece that hugged every curve and slope of her body. The only thing that saved Will from stepping off the bike with a raging erection was the fact that the bike usually numbed out that region of his body from the vibrations.
    Now that he was off the bike, he just hoped she didn’t notice he was sporting a serious hard-on. He hadn’t planned the kiss either. That was pure reaction to seeing her look so fucking amazing. His cougar and himself for that matter were proud as hell that their mate was so hot. Sure it was a little superficial, but