Page 4 of Bedding the Biker Next Door

She could get a great deal on the tablets if they acted on the idea this week. It’d be good for advertising, too—daycare was extremely competitive in this part of town, and they needed every edge they could get. They were getting more and more attention for offering services above and beyond the other nearby centers, including offering flexible hours and staying open on the weekend when needed.

If a few more children enrolled, they could use the extra tuition to install more cameras and a better security system. The house she lived in was in a good neighborhood, but there had been a rash of break-ins lately and it was always best to be prepared. One step at a time toward giving her kids the best care and the attention they deserved.

“Sounds great,” Liz said, lazily sliding her fingertip over the rim of her glass. “I know the kids would love the tablets. We can deduct the cost at the end of the year, along with the wireless internet.”

“So it’s a good investment all the way around. But if even one parent is against using the technology as a learning device and reward system, we can’t offer it to the other kids. It just wouldn’t be fair.” Jill signed her credit card bill. “You ready to go?”

“Not just yet.”

Jill cocked her head. “You want another drink?”

“Nope. But if I was ten years younger, I’d order me a Tall, Dark, Tattooed and Sexy. And I’d start with Mr. TDTS sitting at the bar right now.”

Jill laughed but didn’t bother looking at the man again. She’d already taken a quick look, and he definitely wasn’t her type. Jill preferred a more clean-cut man. “Is TDTS really that much younger than you? Maybe he likes his women well-seasoned.” She put her wallet back in her purse.

Jill had met Liz Moreno in college. They’d both enrolled late in life. Liz had been forty and Jill had been twenty-one at the time. Before starting classes, Jill had worked odd jobs so she could help her mother care for her father, who’d waged a long battle against early-onset Alzheimer’s. Her father had died five years ago, and she and her mother had both known the end was near. What Jill hadn’t been prepared for was her mother dying a few months later from a heart attack. Jill had thrown herself into her studies, putting friends and fun on the back burner, graduating magna cum laude with a Bachelor’s degree in Education. Liz had returned to college after her daughter graduated high school. They’d hit it off, become friends, and started the daycare together six months ago.

“Some men do, honey, but in this case, I’d say the guy likes the looks of you. Oh shoot, he just turned away to order another drink.”

Jill glanced over again for another look. Mr. TDTS gave new definition to the word “big.” He was more like a one-man NFL team. Dark hair, black T-shirt with short sleeves that showed off big, muscular well-defined arms covered with colorful tattoos. His jeans were well worn, and damn, did he wear them well.

Abruptly, he turned, and they eyed each other again. Something in his eyes this time—whatever he was thinking—made a flurry of electric shocks run through her body. Heat coiled low in her belly. She glanced down and away, struggling to keep her expression cool and composed. She couldn’t help it and looked again.

He was still staring!

Then came his smile—slow. A shade shy of cocky. And bordering on conflicted.

Suddenly, she was so overcome by desire she couldn’t think straight, and that whole lust-at-first-sight thing wasn’t something that had happened to her in…well, never. But here was this man, zeroing in on her when it appeared he didn’t even want to. She wasn’t sure what to do about that.

His expression dimmed, and he swiveled back around on his seat to face the bartender. She kept looking. Checking him out. Considering both him and her own reaction.

His face sported a day’s worth of dark stubble. He definitely didn’t blend in with the crowd. Not my type, she thought once again. So what was it about him that made her do a double-take? Was it the way he sat there alone, thinking…brooding…

Didn’t matter. Whatever type he was, one thing was clear—her body responded to it. With those chest muscles rippling underneath his cotton T-shirt, he radiated masculine power.

She imagined herself standing right up and strolling over there, like the many confident actresses she’s watched in movies. Hell, like Liz herself. She’d watched her friend approach a guy in a bar a time or two. Just go on over there and tell him what you want, take no prisoners.

Whoa…the beer she’d had must be playing with her head. A guy like that, someone who belonged on the cover of a hot and steamy romance novel, wouldn’t want someone like her—plain Jane Jill Jones, who ran a daycare for a living.

Even so, the longer they’d held each other’s gazes, the more she’d imagined him taking her into a hidden corner of the bar, his hard mouth moving over hers, her fingers stroking the tattoos defining his biceps, her hand sliding down over what must surely be rock hard abs and—

Jill closed her eyes for a long second, hoping the intense need between her legs would subside. She didn’t understand it. Sure, it had been a while since she’d been with a man, and she’d never been with one who looked dangerous as this one did, but—

“Jill?”

At the sound of Liz’s voice, Jill jerked and turned back to her friend. She’d practically forgotten she was there. “I’m sorry…what did you say?”

Liz laughed. “It’s okay. I wouldn’t be thinking coherently if he’d been looking at me like that, either.”

Jill shrugged off the comment.

Liz raised her eyebrow. “Anyhow, I was just saying that I need to take off. Don’t forget I’ll be in late, and Monica will be there for a couple of hours to help out.”

“I won’t. But I think I’m going to take off, too.” Jill’s voice came out sounding too perky, even to her own ears. Maybe because she could still feel a certain man’s eyes on her—had he turned back in her direction?—and she felt halfway ready to orgasm. That would make any woman sound perkier.

“Aw, you don’t want to leave yet, Tinkerbelle.” The proximity of the male voice startled her.

She turned towards the man who’d spoken, a guy in an expensive suit wearing a cocky smile that communicated he always got his way. He seemed like an up-and-coming young executive, attractive but overdone. His hair was short, spiky, and crispy with styling product. His friend was almost an exact replica. They’d been standing near Jill and Liz, playing darts for the past half hour, occasionally throwing a comment their way. Despite the fact the clean-cut men were more Jill’s type than the man at the bar, they’d given her a bad feeling. So far, Jill and Liz had managed to ignore them.

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