Page 3 of The Biker's Hidden Obsession

“No! I don’t want you to wrap this in some pretty little bow, Sienna! This is bad. Really bad.”

It’s not great that I don’t have an assistant anymore. In fact, it’s kind of horrible. Now I’m responsible for everything all at once, at the most important event of my career, and since I stepped away from my parents’ fortune, I have a whole lot of nothing, with everything to prove.

My heart hammers hard against my chest and my throat goes dry.What the hell am I going to do?

“Hello?” Mae presses. “I can call your mom. She’ll hire someone to help and—”

“No!” My mother is the last person I’d ask for help. She’s sitting on her mountaintop waiting for me to fail. I glance downat the number the biker scratched on the pamphlet for the inn. “I just hired someone. That’s who I was talking to.”

I can almost hear the wrinkle in her forehead. “What?”

“Yeah. It’s a, ugh, my boyfriend. He’s really big and strong, and he offered to pick up the job for me. So… we’re good.”

“Your boyfriend? This is the same biker guy you’ve been talking about for a month now?”

“Yup. Same guy. He’s the best!”Why is my voice so sunny?“I’ve gone over everything with him this morning and we’re solid gold.” I clear my throat to make room for another lie. “He’s on his way to fix that fountain issue right now.”

“Seriously?” Mae’s voice finally relaxes. “Oh my God, I love you! I’m sorry. There’s just so much going on.”

“It’s cool. Trust me. It’s tough being a bride, but I’ve got everything under control. Okay?”

“Okay,” she sighs. “Thank you. I appreciate you so much. Sorry for the way I—”

“Girl, don’t worry about it. I’ll update you later, okay?”

“Okay,” she echoes. “Thanks again.”

The second she’s off the line, I stare blankly at the wall, and my lungs seize like they’ve forgotten how oxygen works. Why did I lie? What was I thinking? What the hell am I going to do?

I stare down at the biker’s number that’s daring me, begging me to press it, taunting me to set this whole circus into motion.

My thumb hovers over the call button. Maybe he won’t answer. Maybe he walked outside and felt like he dodged a bullet. Then again, maybe that would be for the best. Maybe that’s the universe’s way of throwing a wrench into my chaos before I get the chance to mess everything up.

That said, he answers on the first ring.

“Damn. You cracked fast. I thought I’d have to show up again tomorrow.” His voice is impossibly deep, and the gritty rasp behind it only lends to more throbbing between my legs.

Clearly, I need to get a grip.

“I need to hire you. You said you’d be my assistant. I need that.” Complete sentences would be nice, but like I said, my brain isn’t functioning right now.

“Assistant. Sure. You tell me what to do and I’ll do it.”

“There’s pay involved. It’s not much,” I sigh. I should’ve thought all this through before I picked up the phone. “It’s about five hundred for the event. I can go over the details with you tomorrow if you have time.”

“Sounds good.” He pauses for a second and I hear the low hum of an engine on his end of the line. “Breakfast by the lake? I’ll bring the pastries. You can tell me everything you need.”

The lake? I love the lake, but this is a business transaction… sort of.

“Breakfast here at the shop is probably best. I need all my materials to show you. You do coffee?”

“Black with two sugars… if you’re trying to butter me up.”

That was easy enough. Maybe I should tell him he’s my date, too. It’ll be a lot easier to say that over the phone than to explain it in person. Then again, I can’t summon boldness more than once a day.

“Two sugars it is. I’m thinking eight a.m.”

“Perfect.” He settles into the role steadily without teasing or commentary, easing the anxiety that’s been sitting on my chest since this morning. “I’ll be there.”

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