Page 39 of Biker's Babygirl

“Wow.” I whistle, impressed.

“Hey, thanks.” She beams as she puts my breakfast in front of me. “The guys never notice anymore.”

“I can’t imagine evernotnoticing. You… you move like you’re made of water.”

“We’re all made of water,” Ellie, ever the doctor, points out.

“Yeah, but yours is, like, magical water or something.”

She laughs as she takes a bite of eggs. “Well, thanks.”

“Where did you learn how todothat?”

“Coffee?” she asks, not answering my question just yet.

I perk up at just the suggestion, as though even the mention of caffeine is enough to give me energy. “Yes, please.”

She sets to work making it and in no time the coffee maker is gurgling. “I owned a café before Duke found me.”

My eyes round in astonishment. I don’t know what kind of answer I expected, but this wasn’t it. “Seriously?”

Ellie nods and takes a bite of buttered, golden toast. “Yep.”

“That’s incredible.”

“Duke is the incredible one. He has a rare talent for finding people and putting them where they belong.”

He found me.The thought buzzes across my brain, but before I can think too hard on it, I shake it off. “What do you mean?”

“Well, take me for instance. I was nursing a grudge against a dying patient, determined never to practice medicine again.” She’s smiling, and shrugs like it’s an easy memory, but I see the way her eyes cloud over. “And in stomps Duke?—”

“Like a big, bad grizzly bear!” I interrupt gleefully.

Ellie’s smile widens and some of the pensiveness leaves her eyes. “Exactly. He just took one look at me, and it’s like he knew my whole life story.”

My brow crinkles as I process this. “You left with him to become a doctor again after meeting him once?”

She throws her head back and laughs. “No. No, I’m notthateasy.” She winks. “We didn’t exchange more than a few words, actually. But he became a regular after that, and for all his tough bluster, I dunno.” She shrugs again. “I liked him. He opened up to me about his wife, and… I guess he recognized a kindred spirit. When I finally told him I was a doctor, he wasn’t surprised. It was like he’d been waiting on me to tell him all along.”

I nod slowly as I process this. Then a thought hits me and I look up, eager. “Hey, so can you tell me what the deal is with Elvis?”

“Oh, girl.” Ellie rolls her eyes, but she’s grinning. “Isthatever a story. But it’s a long one, so?—”

But before she can finish the sentence, we’re interrupted by the sound of a loud crash. It sounds like glass breaking.

I freeze, my heart beginning to hammer so loud in my ears that I swear it’s a sound outside my body.

“What the hell?” Ellie swears, her neck craned in the direction of the sound. She throws down her toast and tenses as she turns toward the living room, looking ready to run.

“Wait, Ellie,” I say, but the muscles of my throat have constricted, and the sound isn’t more than a whisper. “Don’t go.” I try again.

But either she doesn’t hear me, or my words aren’t enough to override her ass-kicking instincts. Because she’s off like a shot, her legs sprinting toward the noise. I’m all alone and there’s no one to see me sink to the ground like a stone.

CHAPTER TEN

Duke

The sun is going down by the time I pull my bike into its usual spot outside my house. I had expected a long day, but calls came in one after the other, and I ended up being gone for almost a week. I’m happy to finally be home and I feel bad that I’ve left Ginny all this time. She hasn’t been alone, I know that, but I feel guilty all the same. I feel even worse that for most of the time I was working, my brain compartmentalized Ginny all the way to the back, and aside from a few calls to Ellie to check in, I didn’t even think to wonder how she was doing until I was on my Harley and headed for home.

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