He’s so surprising.
We pack up our bags and leave for the elevator to check out. If I thought he was bad with paying for everything before last night when he made us official with the club, that doesn’t even come close to this morning when I reach into my purse for a stick of gum, already knowing that he wouldn’t let me pay for the room, and he growls at me. I pull the pack of gum out, holding it up for him to see.
“You want to put it in my mouth?” I ask cheekily and the heated glare he shoots my way scorches my panties.
“That’s hot,” my sister says.
“That’s annoying,” I answer, not exactly meaning it. “Do yourself a favor and go for an accountant.”
My biker cuts a glance at my sister. “Little sister shouldn’t be going after any man. Might need to have a talk with her dad about getting her into one of those convent places for her last years of high school.”
Misty’s mouth drops open. “We’re not even Catholic, genius. And I’m not going to a convent.”
“We’ll see.”
“You saying bikers aren’t good enough for me?”
“Not if that’s not what Danni wants for you.”
“Danni doesn’t get a say. Bedding a biker is good enough for her—”
Green’s face turns absolutely hostile. “The fuck you talking about bedding anyone? You’re, like, sixteen… Any man you get with needs to keep his dick in his pants until your wedding night when you’re twenty-five.”
My sister laughs one of those scoffing laughs. “Twenty-five? You hit your head?”
I lean in. “Twenty-five is older than I am now, Darry.”
“But you weren’t a virgin when I met you.”
“And are you sure my sister is?”
“She better damn well be.”
I shake my head, patting his shoulder. “Let’s change the subject.”
He starts mumbling under his breath. “Damn right change the subject… She should be playing with Barbies and shit…”
“Barbies?” My sister and I ask at the same time.
“Slow your roll there, fella,” Misty says. “I haven’t played with Barbies since I was, like, nine or ten.”
I’m shocked when he glares at her. Like this is really bothering him? He just met my sister last night. “Maybe I’ll buy you one.”
“Maybe,” I say, pressing up on my tiptoes to kiss his cheek, “you should feed me because I’m super hungry.”
Thankfully, he takes the hint and lets it drop so we can get moving. Misty leads our tiny caravan to a diner she likes to go to with her friends. Normally, I’m a pancake kind of girl, but I’m in Texas and Green is paying, so it’s chicken fried steak and eggs with buttermilk biscuits this morning. And coffee. If we want Danni to play well with others, I need my coffee.
After breakfast, we drive to my sister’s house to ask if she can accompany us to clean out my apartment. I’m not ashamed of Green being in an MC, the opposite. I’m proud that the man who chose me to be at his side is part of the Horde. Not all people see it that way, though.
And this is what makes me fall even harder for Green. He recognizes that people have prejudices about motorcycle clubs and strips off his cut when he exits the car to walk up to the house with me and Misty to introduce himself.
Misty lets herself in, holding the door open for us. “Dad,” she yells, “you here?”
Her dad walks out from the kitchen wiping his hands on a towel. He’s a sergeant with the PFD and has always been built. I remember being a little girl and having him carry me around places like the mall or wherever there was a lot of walking. He’d made me feel safe back then. Tallish, handsome face, and he has that same dark brown hair that I remember, only now with a bit more gray mixed in and a few more wrinkles around his eyes. Today must be his day off. I know he does a stretch of so many days in a row and then he’s off for a number of days. Or, at least, that’s how I think it goes.
“Danni,” he greets me, and with a kind smile. We’d gotten along fine over the years. He never married our mom, so it wasn’t like I had the right to think of him as a dad figure in my life. But if any man had the potential to be a dad figure back when I could’ve used a dad, he had it in spades. His wife, however, I find unbearable. His eyes cut to Green. “Who’s this?”
Green holds out his hand. “Rob Green, but everyone calls me ‘Green.’ I’m Danni’s man.”