“Yeah, we’ll watch ourgirl.”

While Gage jumped onto his bike, Istrolled back to hop onto mine. Then we followed the girls back tothe garage, the rest of the guys falling in line. After pullinginto the back lot, I parked my bike and walked over to the SUV.Leaning my arm on the window, I smiled in at the girls. “I’m gladyou had fun at least until the ride home. Do you have mychange?”

Angel smirked at me. “I was going tohold onto it for next time.” Reaching into her purse, she pulledout some bills and slapped them into my open palm.

“Don’t worry; there will bea next time. You don’t have to hold my money hostage to ensurethat. We’ll figure things out. And I’ll fund that trip as well.” Ishifted my gaze to Sage. “It won’t be that much fun; but do youwant to hang out with me while I finish up here?”

“That will be okay. Can weinquire about a job when you are finished? That way I’ll have otherthings to do while you work.” Opening the door, Sage slipped out ofthe back seat.

Giving Angel and Misti a short wave, Igrabbed Sage’s hand before realizing what I was doing, but thenjust went with it and walked around to the front of the building tohead a few doors down to grab myself a sandwich at the nearby deli.“Did you get to eat lunch?”

“Yeah, we went to a cutelittle Italian pub inside the mall.” Sage eyed our joined hands fora brief moment and then gave me a dazzling smile.

Shit, I really shouldn’t have graspedher hand in mine. I was such a bastard; I was sending her mixedsignals. “I’m going to grab myself a sandwich; do you want anythingto snack on.”

“No thank you. I have towatch my girlish figure.” Her smile turned playful.

Choosing not to respond with the factthat I was constantly ogling her figure and saw nothing wrong withit, I winked. “I’ll grab some sort of chips or something and I’llshare if you change your mind.”

After grabbing lunch from Sal’s, Sageand I strolled back to the garage. Thankfully, I stopped myselffrom taking her hand so I wouldn’t have to dismiss any morequestions. But I did walk with her on the inside of thesidewalk.

“Everything okay, Ryder?”Boots greeted the two of us when we walked inside.

“For now. We’ll get thingsstraightened out. Thank you for agreeing to tail the girls, but Ihad to alter plans when new information presenteditself.”

“Anytime,Ryder.”

I led Sage to the back bay and pulleda crate over for her to sit down on. Then I perched myself on thecreeper and pulled my sandwich out of the bag. After taking a fewbites, I tore open the bag of chips and held the bag out toSage.

Giving me a shy smile, she reached inand grabbed a few. “Thank you for buying me some new clothes andfor the cell phone. I will find a way to pay you back at somepoint.”

“It’s not necessary. I wantto take care of you. So don’t worry about it.” I wouldn’t take anymoney from her. That wasn’t what I was expecting. Although, I wasrather clueless exactly what I was imagining with this arrangement.For now, it was easier to ignore it.

Her brow furrowed in thought. “I’llsee where we are after I’ve been working a bit and like I said Ican help around your house with cleaning and cooking. It will helpme to not feel like a free loader.” She eyed the chip for a moment.“I’m not really hungry but watching you eat is making me want to dosomething with my mouth too.” Then she popped it into her mouth andcrunched, oblivious to her accidental innuendo.

But of course my brain dove right onthat juicy tidbit about what I’d like for her to do with her mouth.And it involved her lips around my dick. Grabbing my soda from thefloor, I unscrewed the cap and took a long drink. She didn’t eatany more of my chips and I finished my lunch while her eyessurveyed the room.

However, when I stood to starttinkering with the engine again, Sage sidled up right beside me andpeeked inside. “Do you do a lot of refurbs here?”

“Surprisingly, we do. I’musually the one in charge of them, but when we get really busy withother customers I help out front until we are caught up.” I brushedmy arm against hers when I moved to grab some tools from the tableand the electricity between us zinged along my skin.

She had to have felt it as well, butdidn’t react. “Do you mind if I watch you work? I always thought itwas so impressive to be able to take a car that didn’t work andtransform it into something you could drive.”

I stared at my hands for a moment. “Itdoesn’t bother you that my skin is stained?”

“Not at all. You smellincredible after you shower and your hands just show you know howto work and aren’t afraid to do something that is challenging. Sodid you always want to be a mechanic or did it just kinda happenwhen you joined the MC?”

I ducked back into the engine beforeanswering her question. “I would help my dad with cars all of thetime when I was growing up. I guess it was just something that camenaturally to me and I found it really interesting. And then when hestarted working on bikes, fuck I thought I had gone toheaven.”

“Do you still see your dad?You don’t have to answer if that’s too personal. And actually Ithink you’re the type to tell me to mind my own business if youthought I was prying. I just wanted to get to know you a littlebit.”

I swung my gaze to hers. “You can askme whatever you like as long as it isn’t club business. But youalready know that. I brought you home with me; you have a right tobe inquisitive. And I don’t think I already said this, but Iappreciate your trust in me. I won’t allow anything bad to happento you. And I won’t hurt you either.”

Her lips curled into a beautifulsmile. “I know you won’t. I really appreciate everything you havedone for me and are continuing to do for me. And I hope we canremain friends after all of this goes away.”

I had to swallow down mydisappointment at her words which was ridiculous. I wasn’t in anycondition to start a relationship with her. “In answer to yourquestion; I do still see my family just not as often as I wouldlike. Big holidays are usually the only time we can get together,but I do call or text them once a week. My dad, mom, and youngerbrother still live in Colorado. My dad is a brother in the chapterthere, so is my brother.”

Her smile widened. “I’m glad to hearyou are close with your family. But how did you end up here inSouth Carolina if they are in Colorado? Did something happen?” Shetugged her bottom lip between her teeth and bit downlightly.