Page 2 of The Biker's Hidden Obsession

“I don’t know… you have a reputation.”

“My buddy told me that’s why you wanted me there. I’m here to scare the questions away.”

That is true. I did say those exact words.

“Besides,” he continues, “I thrive in chaos. Point me to the soul-crushing, side-eying mother from Planet Zargo, and I’ll perform accordingly.”

I narrow my brows. “Accordingly… how? I’m not sure we have the same idea ofaccordingly.”

A flicker of a smirk lifts his face. “Intimidation is a language I speak fluently. Also, for your personal knowledge, I’m more than whatever shit this town is saying.”

“Oh yeah?”

He nods and readjusts his baseball cap. “I was a military medic for years.”

I tilt my head to the side, studying this big, rough, massive man in front of me. That wasn’t in the rumors going aroundtown. Truthfully, it’s hard to believe this is the kind of guy that would care about anything enough to save it.

“So… when did you change out the scalpel for a switchblade?”

“Oh, you’re a smart-mouthed one. I like it.”

A shock of energy presses between my legs as his deep voice rumbles through the air.What the hell is wrong with me? This man is in his late forties and he’s clearly pretending to be a doctor. I need to steer clear. Really, really clear. Or… jump on him now, get it out of my system, and move on with my life.

I think I like the second option better.

“I have family that was in the military. What branch did you serve?” This should make him nervous.

“Army.” He says it with a pause, and I swear his shoulders tighten. Maybe I’ve caught him in a lie. “I started out in pursuit of medical school, but it didn’t work out the way I’d planned.”

My phone rings, interrupting my full-scale operation to catch this guy in a lie. I glance down at the screen instinctively. It’s my cousin. I’m sure she’s freaking out. We’re two days from her wedding, and I know what’s on the other end of that line is a bomb. A bomb I need to let explode over the phone or it’ll come crashing into my shop. “Sorry, it’s my cousin. I have to take this.”

“You do your thing.” He scratches his number down on the back of a pamphlet for the inn that I keep sitting on the counter. “Text me later and we’ll work all these details out.”

I answer my phone as I stare the man down. I knew he was a big, rough guy when I asked my friend to set me up with him. This is what I wanted. But now that he’s standing here, this whole thing is a little more intense than I expected.

“Hey, Mae. What’s up?” I say, as the giant who scribbled Tennessee over his number leaves the building. Is that his name or is he telling me what state he’s from?

This guy is weird.

“Have you gotten any of my texts?” Her voice is biting, and though it’s not an abnormal sound to hear from a bride two days before a wedding, I’m not as prepared for it this morning as I should be.

“Yeah, sorry. This morning was weird. I had this guy in here and—”

“I don’t care!” she shouts. “I just need you to tell me that everything is going to be okay.”

“Why wouldn’t everything be okay?”

“Because I’m making so many last-minute changes, my dress won’t be ready from the tailor until the morning of the wedding, and I have like three hundred million things on my mind. Not to mention your assistant quit, didn’t she?”

“What?”

“You weren’t going to tell me?”

“How do you know?”

“She sent me an apology text last night.”

My cheeks heat with fire. “It’s not that I wasn’t going to tell you. I just hadn’t gotten around to it yet. Plus—”

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