In the Moment: Part One

In The Moment:

Part One

Rachael Orman

Editing by
Adrian J. Smith

Cover Design by
Phycel Designs

In The Moment: Part One

Copyright 2015 by Rachael Orman

All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without prior written permission of the author.

The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the Internet or via other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.

In The Moment: Part One
is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental

Chapter 1

Alicia

Wringing out a towel, I cringed as I watched the brown water drip from it into the clean bucket of water. It was midnight, but I was nearly done. I opened the bar, which was my preferred shift. Nothing appealed to me about driving around after the bar closed, too many drunks out. I watched too many people sit at the bar and put them away for hours before climbing into their cars. If I noticed they were drunk, I would cut them off or call the cops to get them home before they killed someone, but it wasn’t always easy to tell. Everyone had a different tolerance anyway, so some could put away much more booze than others.

Moving back around the bar, I finished wiping down the empty tables. It was unusually empty for a Tuesday night. Then again, there were always people who drank every night of the week. Some just wanted company they couldn’t get at home. Either way, I made a decent income serving them, but had no desire to hang out with most of them once I was off the clock.

Once all the tables had been wiped off, I gave the empty parts of the counter another wipe down before tossing the cloth into the water and picking up the bucket. I took it toward the back where the bathrooms were as well as the small room that stored all the cleaning supplies. Taking the nasty water into the women’s bathroom, I dumped it into one of the toilets before flushing it away. I knew some of the others poured it down the sink, but the idea turned my stomach.

I washed my hands then picked up the empty bucket. Exiting the bathroom, I kicked open the door to the room across the hall. As the door swung open and illuminated the room, I gasped, the plastic container falling from my grip.

Right in front of me was a man on his knees pleasuring another man. The man on his feet had his head tilted back with his hands clasped around the other man’s bobbing head. Either the light or my gasp drew his attention though. Lowering his head and meeting my gaze, the man on his feet simply smiled at me as he encouraged the other man to continue what he was doing.

Another gasp nearly escaped when recognition struck me. My jaw surely fell open. I didn’t know Ace was gay. Then again, he could just be happy to be getting a blow job. Either way, I doubted the other men in the motorcycle club he hung out with knew where he was or what he was doing.

His thick, muscular arms bulged as he groaned and dropped his head back again. I should leave, I knew it, but I couldn’t seem to force my feet to move. Just watching the movements of the pair had a fire igniting inside me. I’d never seen two men together before, and it was hot.

The leather vest Ace wore framed his fit torso as his abdominal muscles flexed in time to the man on his knees bobbing head.

“Well, are you going to join in? If not, leave,” Ace finally said bringing me out of my frozen state. My head snapped up, and I realized I’d been staring at the man who was still intent on pleasing Ace as his arms moved in time with his bobbing in front of his own hips.

“Uh…” I stuttered and tripped over myself as I attempted to back out of the room. I ended up slamming my shoulder into the wall across the hall and crying out in surprise.

“Everything okay, Alicia?” Trevor, my co-worker, asked, peeking his head around the corner.

“Oh, uh, yeah. Just my two left feet,” I said, rubbing my arm and giving him an embarrassed smile before glancing through the still open door to see Ace was giving me a large grin, showing off his dimples. Glaring at him, I grabbed the doorknob and yanked it closed. He could’ve only gotten in there when I’d unlocked it to get the bucket, which meant he was watching me and waiting for the opportunity to sneak in with his friend.

Jolting my shoulder against the wall had brought my senses back. I would be talking to Ace the next time I saw him. It wasn’t acceptable to be having quickies or hook ups in the back room. He didn’t work there. He didn’t own the place. He was simply a customer. He was a big dude with both arms covered in tattoos, but I wasn’t going to let him intimidate me. I would, however, address him personally because if I took it to the manager it could turn into something stupid.

I had worked at the bar for as long as I had been in town — about six months. Before moving, I had lived a couple states away while working in a place that wasn’t much different. I’d seen how quickly the entire biker club could turn on someone when they wanted to, and I didn’t want to risk it. Ace was always nice enough toward me and I didn’t think he’d have issues with me asking him to keep it in his pants while there.

My arm still stung a bit from where I bumped the wall, so I kept rubbing at it as I moved to grab my purse. Trevor gave me a nod from farther down the long countertop as I waved bye and headed toward the door.

Stepping out into the cool night air, I wrapped my arms around myself and ducked my head, walking quickly toward my SUV parked across the street. Employees weren’t allowed to park in the bar’s parking lot because it was so small. I always forgot to bring a jacket because when I arrived at work it was still lukewarm outside; it was once the sun went down that it turned to damn near freezing. Okay, maybe it just felt that way because I was wearing a tank top and jeans, but when working I got too hot to wear much else. Hell, most nights I could get away with wearing shorts because it was that warm running around filling orders.

Once I crossed the parking lot, I used my remote to start my car so it could warm up as I waited for a break in traffic. Finally I was able to cross the street and climb in. Rubbing my hands together, I shivered and let my body heat up. As I waited for the last of the chill to leave, I spotted Ace walking out the front door.

The way he walked looked more like stalking than walking. His gait was long and smooth as he moved. He ran a hand over the short hair on top of his head as he headed toward his bike parked on the side. The movement made his muscles flex and my mouth water. I couldn’t help but enjoy the play of his muscles as he moved. I’d been watching him for months when he came in with his club. The bar flies were always all over the bunch of them. I’d seen him leave numerous times with one or another of the sluts that hung around, hoping they’d find someone to take them home. Hell, most were lucky to make it that far. Usually the men took them down the street or around back into the grove of trees.

Throwing a leg over his bike, Ace fired it up, and it made my windows rattle. Just as he pulled out of the parking lot, the door opened and another man I didn’t recognize exited. His eyes followed Ace for a few moments before he headed deeper into the parking lot, and I lost track of him. I couldn’t prove it, but I would bet he was the man who had been in the room with Ace. Then again, quite a few people watched when Ace walked by or at least took notice of his beautiful bike.

Since I was no longer cold, I turned the heat down a notch and reached to put the truck in drive when there was a rap against the driver window. My heart nearly jumped out of my chest as I snapped my head to the side to see what caused the noise.

Next to my truck and the source of the sound was Ace.

How I didn’t hear his bike approaching I’d never know, but somehow he’d managed to turn into the parking lot and get up next to me without me realizing.

When I didn’t move, he knocked on the window again.

“You gonna roll it down or get out?” he asked through the glass.

Taking a fortifying breath, I left the engine on and opened the door. “Can I help you?” I asked. I simply turned in the seat to look at him, unwilling to leave my warm spot. The open door let in the cold but the heater helped make it not so bad.

“I wanted to talk to you about what you saw,” Ace said, his eyes flashing across the street before returning to me.

“Listen, I don’t care if you are gay, and I’m not going to tell anyone if that’s what you are worried about,” I uttered the first thing that popped into my head.

“That’s not what I’m worried about. And I’m not gay.” He sniffed and shrugged as if it was no big deal.

“Okay, well then whatever you are. I won’t say anything about it, but you can’t do it again.” I crossed my arms over my chest, wishing I had stood instead so I wouldn’t feel so trapped.

“Hey, not my fault you left the door unlocked. I simply took advantage of the free space.” He smiled, showing me his dimples as he crossed his arms over his chest.

“Okay, well, I’ll start making sure I lock the door.” The fact he had no respect for me or the bar pissed me off, so I couldn’t help but add, “Then you’ll have to find somewhere else to take the men who suck your dick.”

“I. Am. Not. Gay.” He dropped his arms and stepped closer to me, pushing the door open wider. “I just needed to get off, and he was there.”

“Sure. Whatever you say,” I scoffed.

His hands moved quicker than I could follow and were buried in my hair, yanking me out of the car and up against his firm, hot body. I didn’t feel the blistering cold wind, instead I only felt the heat coming from his bare torso under the leather vest.

He was kissing me.

The fact that he went from practically growling at me to having his lips pressed against mine caused every other thought to vanish. All I could feel was his body against mine, his hands in my hair, his tongue pushing into my mouth.

I brought my hands up and shoved against his chest as hard as I could. He didn’t move though so I clamped my lips shut as hard as I could and tried to step on his foot.

“What on earth are you doing?” he asked finally pulling back from me.

“No, what are
you
doing? You don’t just yank someone to you and start trying to kiss them!” I pushed at his chest again.

“Why not? You wanted it.” He shrugged and dropped his hands from my hair.

“What? Where did you get that idea?” I threw up my hands in confusion.

“Every woman wants me,” he said as if there was no doubt in his mind.

“Nope. Not all of them. I don’t,” I denied. He might be damn good looking, but that didn’t make up for kissing me not long after I caught a man giving him head. It just didn’t. That’s not the kind of woman I was. Men had to earn my kisses, not steal them.

“Liar.” He laughed, stepping back from me. “And for your information, I’m not gay. I’m bi. It’s not the same. I’m an equal opportunity fucker — no discrimination here babe.”

“Wow, that really makes me want to go wash my mouth out with bleach. So romantic. Who knows where your lips have been.” I wiped my arm across my mouth for emphasis.

“I’m clean baby. I make sure of that. Always use protection and get tested. Don’t need little me’s running around all over the place.” He showed me those damn dimples again.

“Oh, yes, that is much better.” I scoffed and slid back onto my seat. “If you’ll excuse me now, I have to get home and take a hot shower to wash you off me.”

“Sure. I’ll be seeing you.” He winked before shutting my door and walking away.

Rubbing a hand over my face, I sighed. I refused to admit that his cockiness, his forcefulness turned me on. It really wasn’t sexy for a man to be so damn confident, then again he was probably right about practically every red blooded female wanting him. There was just something about him.