Page 37 of Bedding the Biker Next Door

“Where’s the conference?”

“Staples Center. It starts in four days, lasts three days, and he wants to meet with you early morning the day after tomorrow.”

The hand he’d been using to caress Jill fell still. The day after tomorrow. With the conference starting soon after. It sounded like he’d only be gone less than a week, but the thought of being away from Jill even that long bothered him.

Which in itself bothered him even more.

He’d obviously grown too attached to her. And that was a big problem. Since when did the thought of leaving a woman make him hesitate for even one second to take a job? He had to pull himself together. That wasn’t the kind of relationship he had with Jill. Being tied down to one woman, being tied down to any particular place, wasn’t what he wanted or needed. So he forced himself to say, “That’ll work.”

“Cole—”

“Luke, Jill’s here and I want to get back to her. I’ll call you later and get the details for the meeting.”

He heard his friend sigh. “Talk to you then.”

He disconnected the call, then glanced at Jill, who’d sat up. “Looks like you have a great job waiting for you,” she said. “I’m sure it can only speed things along and get you to San Francisco all the sooner.” Though her voice trembled just slightly, she wasn’t being sarcastic. She sounded happy for him, or at least she was really trying to.

He braced himself on an elbow to look at her. “I don’t want to cut our time short. This has been amazing. You’re amazing.”

She smiled sadly, and it broke his heart. “You’re amazing, too. But we both knew this was coming.”

He reached out to brush her top lip with a finger, then traced her bottom lip too before leaning over to gently nibble it. The sweet kiss turned into a fast, heated one, but before things got out of control, she pulled away.

“I’ve got to head to my place, but we can finish packing tonight.” She got out of bed and grabbed her shirt off the floor.

“I’ll call a storage company. See if they can have a truck here in the morning.” He forced himself to smile, but Jill was getting dressed, avoiding eye contact, and talking about the day of work ahead. She was in self-preservation mode, already putting distance between them, laying down a stretch of blacktop for him to ride down and disappear forever.

And normally, with any other woman, that would have been just fine.

But Cole knew, after the time he’d spent with Jill, nothing about him would ever be normal again.

* * *

Jill slogged into her house, flung her purse onto her bed, and fell onto the comforter with a huge sigh. Comforter was the right word, because there was nothing like being in her own room, on her own bed, to bring reality and familiarity back. She had so many things to do today. She just needed some time to think.

Or not think.

Cole would be leaving tomorrow. And clearly he wasn’t planning to come back given he was calling movers to pick up boxes and put them in storage tomorrow morning.

Jill watched the ceiling fan go round and round above her, much like how the contents of her brain refused to stop swirling. She had to face facts—in only a few days she’d fallen hard, despite her own warnings. Too hard. And soon, she was going to pay the price.

In a way, she already had. Because surely the reality of Cole being gone couldn’t be any worse than the anticipation of it.

After showering and preparing for the day to come by setting out art supplies and building blocks, she sat at the kitchen table with her coffee, stirring her creamer in absent-mindedly. Liz came in, hung her key on the wall, and paused when she saw Jill.

“Holy crap, what happened to you?”

She smiled tightly, knowing she probably looked like she was grieving the loss of something important. It was how she felt. “I went out last night.”

“With the biker next door?”

“With Cole, yes.”

“Oh, he’s Cole now.” She smiled, pulling out a chair and plopping down, then folded her hands politely.

“He’s always been Cole,” Jill said, sipping her coffee but not really tasting it. “And tomorrow, he’ll be that guy I once knew for about three days. He’s leaving and he’s not coming back.”

Liz winced, dropped her head a bit, and peered up into Jill’s fallen face. “I’m sorry, Jill. I know you tried not to get involved. I so didn’t want you to get hurt.”

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