ROMANCE: MC BIKER ROMANCE: Hooked (MC Biker Pregnancy Romance)(Bad Boy Motorcycle Club Romance) (Contemporary Military Romantic Suspense Thriller) (41 page)

At His Demand

Chapter 1

“Tilly, will you get that customer for me please? I need to get that invoice number from this guy and he put me on hold again.”

Tilly nodded and went from the back of the small bookstore. It was the only one in town that wasn’t a big box store, still small and intimate in the Chicago area. Most of the smaller bookstores had been closed down during the turn of the economy, but somehow she had kept the family store in business. It was no small feat, but it was their new focus on ancient texts that she gave the change to.

With full time classes that she had to keep above a 3.5 gpa, it was not easy to keep up with everything. If it wasn’t for great employees like Marla that had been with the family for years, Tilly probably would have sold out to the developers years ago. But she hadn’t, so there she was on one of her two days off, trying to make sense of the invoices that all needed to be paid. The store was staying afloat, but just barely most of the time.

Focusing on the boxes of books that had to be put up still, she made her way to the front and to the back of a man in a suit. “Hi, can I help you Sir?”

“Took long enough.”

He turned around, his dark eyes taking in the slight girl. “Wow that was rude. Would you like to start again?”

His lips raised in a smile as his eyes took her in. She could feel the heat of his gaze and it made her blush slightly before she remembered herself. “What can I do for you?”

Thomas was a little taken aback by the way the girl was talking to him. She couldn’t have been very old and his mind instantly went to today’s youth. “Does your boss know that you talk to potential customers that way? It doesn’t seem to be good business.”

She shrugged. “Would you like to tell her?”

He shook his head that he wouldn’t. “Good, you probably would like her even less.” Her eyes waited for him to say something. He seemed at a loss of words, but he was quite handsome in his own way, if he didn’t talk of course.

“Yes, I hear that you have the best ancient book collection in the city, so I guess I am just here to look around.”

Tilly smiled finally. If he was a customer, the least she could do was muster a semblance of politeness. “Right this way. I will show you where they are and if you are looking for anything in particular, I am sure that we can find it for you if we don’t have it. Or try anyways.”

“Thank you….”

“Tilly.”

“Thank you Tilly, my name is Thomas Longhairn.”

She nodded, but he looked at her expectantly, like she was supposed to know who he was. She didn’t, so she left him to it. He watched her leave, his dark eyes taking in the curve of her bottom as she walked away. He had not come there with any other intention but to check out the books. Now his mind was more on the smart-mouthed girl behind the counter.

“Ms. Tilly, Carlos is on the phone. He wants to know if you are running the ad budget same as last month?”

Tilly knew that she should, but unless they had a really good end of week, they would not have the money for it. “Go ahead and tell him that I will give him a call later. I need to go through the sales first to see.”

Marla nodded and the older woman went back to the back and the newspaper rep on hold. The store had been running the same ad for twenty years, her mother before her. But it seemed that it may be the first month that they did not. That in and of itself, would be a big let-down to her. It was like it was going to be the beginning of the end. She needed to worry about her English test the next day, but all she could think about was Ripley’s Way.

She went to the boxes in the back hallway, dragging one out so that she could fill in the front display. Tilly started to put them up, going to her knees to start from the bottom shelves. Her skirt was just over her knees to keep her from flashing anyone, but she still had to seat herself just so, so that didn’t happen. Thinking about all of the bills that still had to be paid, she sent a little pray heavenward, hoping for a good weekend of sales. There were a few flyers out, as well as posters for a ten percent off weekend, so she was hoping that it would drum up some extra business.

“Tilly?”

Surprised to hear the dark voice behind her, she looked up to see the man from before, Thomas she thought she remembered. “Did you need something?”

There was a spark in his eyes and then it was gone. “Do you have baskets or something that I can put these in?”

She noticed the large stack in his hands. “You want all of those?”

“Yes and there are a few more, but I didn’t see any carts or anything.”

“Well this isn’t really Wal-Mart. I don’t think most people buy like that. Here let me take them and I will put them up at the front.”

She stood up and he still towered over her like when she was sitting down. He was just a very large man and he made her feel even shorter than her five foot, four inch height. Grabbing them out of his hands, she walked towards the register and set them down. Reading the spines as she went, she found his choices interesting. “Are you taking a trip to Peru soon?”

“I am actually. How did you know?”

“Well, all of those sights are in Peru, so I figured so. It is a place on my bucket list. When I finish school, I am planning on going out that way for a few months. Plus, you can’t beat the beaches in South America.”

“You go to school?”

“Yeah, the business school over by the museum.”

“And you manage this place?”

“Well I own it now, but yeah. It keeps me busy and away from tramping in the jungle like I want to. What do you do?”

“I, um, well I run a business as well.”

“Yeah you looked like one of those corporate sharks. Could see it in the suit as you walked in.”

The very distain that she seemed to have for his type, made him want to say that he was someone else. He had never had the sensation before, always proud to be who he was and to come from one of the wealthiest families in Illinois. But to have her look at him in that way did not suit Thomas at well and he found himself lying.

“I wish. I am a small business man. It is rented.”

Why was he humbling himself for this woman? He didn’t know the answer to the silent question in his head, but he knew that he liked the softening of her features. “Good, because those types are what is wrong with America. Thank goodness, because you are too smart and good looking to be another mindless droll looking to make your next billion.”

“You seem very…passionate about it.”

“Well someone has to be.”

It was as good an answer as any. He walked back to the section and grabbed the last couple of books that he had found on Machu Picchu. The woman was jarring to his senses and when he looked back, she was already back to her own work and he was out of her mind. It was not the type of reaction that he was used to getting from women. He had never been turned down by one yet, but he wondered if Tilly would. He kind of thought she would and for some reason the challenge made him want to anyways.

Going back up to the front, he picked up one of her business cards and slid it into his pocket before she walked up behind him. “Did you find everything you were looking for?”

“Almost.”

“Anything I can help you find or maybe order?”

“No I don’t think what I want can be ordered.”

“You would be surprised what I can get my hands on.”

Her innocent answers were almost as bad as the overwhelming need to kiss her full lips. What was wrong with him today, he thought to himself? “No, this will be all, thank you.” Thomas groaned at himself, he had the perfect opportunity and instead he passed it up. He was being lame like the young men that he made fun of that would be tongue-tied by a pretty girl. There was something about the curvy, little blonde that made him pause more than once.

“Okay, well it seems you have enough to keep you busy for a while. You’ll have to come back in and tell me how it went. I still have another year and a half till I finish my Masters. It seems like forever right now.”

“I will definitely be back.”

He went to his wallet as she rang up his order. Thomas almost pulled out his black card, but instead, just paid the hefty bill in cash. It probably raised her eyebrow that he had several thousand in cash on him for books, but she didn’t say anything. The black card would have been worse, everyone knew what it meant and he was not supposed to be a corporate droll as she so aptly put it.

“Do you ever get a day free with your busy schedule?”

Tilly looked up. “Are you hitting on me?”

“Definitely.”

“Well, not really, but you are cute. You are just not really my type.”

His smile was quick. He was right and the fact that she had turned him down made him want to chuckle. “Ouch. That was harsh. What is your type?”

Tilly was not expecting the question. She had expected him to see it as the nice no that it was, but he was not reading through the lines. “I don’t know.”

“Wow, even worse. Just not me huh?”

She pushed the bags that had his books in it and smiled. “Look, I am sure you are really nice and all, but I don’t date men like you.”

“Like me?”

“You know, come in here with your suit that cost more than my old family house, buying up a couple grand in books. I mean, don’t get me wrong, you paid for my advertising for the month and for that I am grateful.”

“But?”

“But that doesn’t mean that I want to date a guy that throws money around so easily. I don’t know what you do, but I doubt it has anything to do with small. They don’t rent those kind of suits Sir.”

Thomas couldn’t hold back his laughter. He was pegged but he would not concede to her. “Sometimes you have to look away from the routine, to find what you are really looking for.”

“I suppose. Sounds like a fortune cookie to me.”

“I will see you again Tilly. Have a great day.”

He left the store feeling strangely invigorated. Looking down at his overstuffed bags, her words made a little sense. How many people would just go buy all the books on one subject, just because they could? Shaking his head, he tried to forget about the quick-witted girl in the bookstore that had a tongue sharper than his.

***

While Tilly had tried to appear not afflicted by the encounter, it was hard to when he left. She could feel her palms partly sweaty and her heart still beat hard in her chest. It was a good thing that all of that could be hidden, because it would have been embarrassing if he would have known. What a strange day it was turning out to be.

“Marla?”

“Yeah.”

“Call Carlos back and tell him to put up the usual. I will send him a check later this evening.”

“Okay.”

Yes, what a strange day indeed.

Chapter 2

Her day got a little better after such a large sale and she was able to take off a little early to get some studying in. While her roommate Bree was getting ready for a party, she was stuck reading literature from hundreds of years ago, trying to memorize as much as possible for the test in the morning. She was stressed out about school, the bookstore okay for the moment. If it wasn’t one thing it was another.

“Why don’t you come with? You don’t have to stay all night. You can come for an hour and then come back here to study. You have to have some fun in college because before you know it, you are doing nothing else but working anyways.”

Tilly laughed. “After college I will still work, but won’t have classes. I will probably have more time.”

“Fine, don’t go. I am just saying, your body is only going to look that way for so long. Why waste it?”

Tilly giggled again. “You’re right. Give me a few minutes and I will come down for a bit. Only a couple of drinks though. Not going crazy like New Years. I wouldn’t even make it to class for the test.”

Bree smiled and pushed the short black hair out of her face. She wasn’t ready either, so she went back to the bathroom. Tilly was a lot less of a primper, so she merely changed into a short dress and shoes, brushed her hair and slid some lip gloss over her soft lips and she was done. It was she that had to wait for Bree to finish with her third coat of spackle. “Are you about done?”

“Almost.”

“Don’t you think that is false advertising?”

Bree stopped what she was doing and looked at her in the mirror. “You say the craziest things, you know that right?”

“What? I am just saying Bree. You are gorgeous without all that craziness. I just don’t have time for it.”

“Yeah and you don’t have time for sex either, so obviously your priorities are way off.”

Laughing, she agreed. “Obviously.”

***

The party was much like she expected from a college party. Tilly swore that graduates partied harder than most of the four-years did. When she got there, most of the people were already three sheets to the wind. She looked around and found the kitchen. She grabbed a beer out of the fridge and turned around to her roommate gone. She had already took off and left her. Tilly cursed her under her breath but it wasn’t like she didn’t figure she would anyways. Bree couldn’t be bothered once she had her eye on something. When she finally found her in the crowd, it appeared that a man had pulled her from her friend. Sighing, she looked around for other familiar faces.

Seeing a few friends from her Law class, Tilly talked to them for a while. A couple of guys asked if she wanted to dance, but she just politely turned them down. If she was going to turn down a hot, rich guy like Thomas from before, she certainly did not have time for a half-drunk pair of goons.

After telling them no nicely a few times, she had to get more firm and they eventually went away with a comment about her being a bitch. It wasn’t the first time she had heard it. There was also the names of prude and tease, but it was only because she was not as willing as most of her school mates to hook up with some guy right after meeting them. It wasn’t like she was still a virgin, but Tilly seen sex as more than just a physical moment. It could be transcending, but only when it was the right person. She just didn’t have time for anything less and what she wanted was a tall order to fill.

She searched the moving throng of people and didn’t see Bree’s bright red top. She had probably taken off with the guy she had just met. Tilly never judged her friend, she even wished she could be so free-spirited at times, but instead of staying around, Tilly found herself out in the cool night air, walking back towards the small house she rented with Bree. She knew her friend would be along after a while, so she didn’t worry too much about her.

It was dark on the walk home and she almost had herself skittish from the change to quiet around her. Something about it was almost unnerving, making her walk faster from invisible things behind her. She finally breathed easy when her house was in sight and she went in, starting on the studying with a slight buzz from the few drinks she had. It was only ten and still early, but she was in bed by midnight, wanting to get a full night sleep for her eight o clock class in the morning.

She didn’t usually stress so much about school, but Tilly found it impossible to make the professor happy and she was getting a B in the class. She had to keep it up for her scholarships, so the test in his class was far more important than usual.

***

Bree was in her bed when Tilly went into to check on her before she left for class. The young woman was sprawled out on her bed passed out and the bit of drool coming out of her mouth made Tilly chuckle. At least there wasn’t a man in there with her, she thought to herself. Sometimes Tilly would come home from class or wake up in the morning and there was some stranger in their kitchen with boxers on.

She shut the door quietly behind her and went to the door. She grabbed her backpack and lugged it onto her shoulders. Tilly couldn’t wait for the day that she no longer had to carry that dreadful thing around with her. Waving at one of the neighbours, she headed out on the ten block walk to the campus. Cars were almost useless in a place that you had to pay as much to park your car, as you did to pay rent. Everything was close enough for walking and public transportation, but it was the cold, winter mornings that really made her wish that she had a vehicle. In early September, the air was crisp in the morning, but more of a prelude to the heat to come later in the day.

Tilly made it to class a few minutes before and the professor gave her the same fish-eyed look that he always did. Not only was he a jerk to most everyone there, he was also a tad lecherous and she could always feel him checking out her cleavage. Chris didn’t even bother to pretend that he wasn’t an old perv, so she didn’t bother to hide the fact that she found him disgusting.

“I hope you all did your studying, because I would hate to see some of you fail because of a test. It is worth 40 percent of your grade, so keep that in mind.” His dark green eyes trained on her and the look made her want to sink down in her seat. She was nowhere near failing, but she would lose a fifteen percent scholarship is she got below a B on any class.

The bell struck for the beginning of the period and Tilly was pretty relaxed as she went through the test. She sighed when she saw the last page was an essay question. Anything that he could mark wrong he would, so anything passed multiple choices was problematic. She hoped it wasn’t too much of her grade. Tilly told herself that if it was too bad, she would just report him to the school and battle it out with him. It was never good to start something with a teacher, but every term, there were small injustices or that one that she didn’t mesh well with.

She was finished before anyone else and she even went through it again, scanning it for mistakes. Finally she stood up and put it on his table. “Can we just go afterwards or?”

“Yes, that will be all for today. Homework is written on the board.”

Chris watched her leave. She was cocky and he wanted to fail her for his own personal reasons. There was always a method to the madness and as he went through the test, he was actually disappointed when she didn’t miss any of the multiple choice answers. She had been paying attention.

When Chris got to the essay part, he stopped and read the sentence over and over again.

“You are going to fail this part anyways, so have at it.”

It was signed with a little smiley face and he didn’t know if he wanted to smile or be pissed. Tilly was just showing once again that she was rude and didn’t care about authority. The final straw in his mind and he did just like she suggested. The essay was a large amount of the score and he was satisfied with the results. He knew that the grade would get him the after-class meeting that he was looking to have.

Tilly made her way back to her house. She had a class later that evening, but at least the test was done and over. Bree was still sleeping, so Tilly made herself a sandwich and went to sit down. Her mind went to the bookstore and she called Marla to see how things were going. “Hey hon. You guys having a busy day?”

“Not really, but there was a gentleman here to see you earlier.”

“Oh? Who was it?”

“I am not sure. I haven’t seen him before and he didn’t leave a name. He said he would come back another day.”

Tilly thought of Thomas, the man she had met the day before. “What did he look like?”

“My, aren’t you interested?”

“Marla…”

“Okay fine, just having a bit of a laugh, that’s all. You are so sensitive nowadays.”

“The guy…”

“Yes, well he was real tall, with dark hair and really nice brown eyes. He looked a little foreign, but real handsome. Wasn’t he in here yesterday too?”

“Yea, it sounds like the guy that bought all those Peruvian site books. Well I wonder why he came in again? He must be looking for another book or something.”

Marla made a sound, conveying that she did not really believe her take on it. “Well, whatever he was in here for, do you want me to get his number if he comes in again?”

“No Marla really. You know I don’t have time for all of that.”

She made a disparaging remark. “You need to make time Tilly. You aren’t going to be young forever.”

While Tilly loved Marla and she had known her all of her life, she was at times exasperating. Marla had taken over as her watcher when her mother died and like her mom, she wanted to see her settled with a nice man. Tilly tried to remind her that it was not like it was when she was single, but they didn’t want to hear it. Marla wanted to hear it as much as Tilly wanted to hear that she needed one.

She hung up and thought about the man that called his self, Thomas. Tilly remembered that he had given her a last name, but she couldn’t for the life of her think of what it was. His large body and smiling face came to mind and made her smile. He seemed like a really nice guy, but there was something not quite right about how he acted, as opposed to who he said he was. A man that carried himself like that was not in her league or rather she was not in his.

Tilly wondered why he had showed up again and she wondered if she had been there, if he would have asked her out again. The bigger question was if she would have agreed to it that time. While she knew that he wasn’t her type at all, he was actually the type of guy that she stayed away from. There was something about Thomas and the way his dark eyes had looked at her. It made her insides want to melt and there was not much else she could but have a few wistful thoughts about him.