Kade: Santanas Cuervo MC (17 page)

“Whew!” she sighed when they finally made it back to her lab. “I’m not going to get anything done today.”

“Maybe you should just call everyone together and give them the story all at once. Get it over with.”

She thought it over. “Maybe. You don’t think that’s a bit over the top?”

“Rather than repeating the same story a dozen times?”

She giggled. “Maybe you’re right. I’ll think about it.”

An hour later, after two more people stuck their heads in wanting to hear the tale, she called a thirty-minute meeting. When her staff had assembled, she gave them a thumbnail of what had happened, minimizing the danger and maximizing the efforts of the Santanás Cuervo. She also introduced Kade, and she smiled as the women in the office seemed enthralled by him as he nodded politely but said nothing, playing the strong, silent type to the hilt.

They returned to the lab and she pulled him to a corner, out of sight of the window in the door, and quickly kissed him as she giggled. “Nobody is going to get a thing done today for all the tongue wagging that’s going on. Especially the women.”

“What about the women?”

“Oh, come on! You didn’t see how they were looking at you? Everyone woman in that room was jealous, wondering if we’re sleeping together, and if you are good in bed.”

“I didn’t notice.”

She giggled at the obvious white lie and gave him another quick kiss before stepping back. “Whatever you say.”

For the next three hours, he watched Winter move about the lap with practiced ease. He helped where he could, but he spent most of his time sitting on a stool, watching her work, as she prattled way about things he didn’t understand such as
void fraction, permeability
or
hydraulic conductivity
.

She cut the cores into thirds lengthwise,
slabbing
she called it, carefully recording and labeling each piece, before storing one of the slabs in a huge room full of other such cores and then boxing up the second for shipment to the government as part of the conditions of their drilling rights. She then subjected the piece of the core she retained in the lab to a few tests, washing the samples with various solvents and looking at them under black lights.

They paused for lunch in the employee cafeteria, Winter recounting, again, her exploits to a different group . The rumors were already spreading and her exploits were becoming larger than life. Depending on which rumor you believed, she’d either driven the RV out herself as Kade, Bickers, Duck, and Big Dick engaged the cartel in a running gun battle; she’d removed a bullet from Big Dick’s leg while under fire; or, the most outlandish of all in her opinion, she’d engaged in the gun battle herself, picking off bad guys using Juice’s rifle after Big Dick, Duck and Bickers were out of the fight.

“Don’t fight it,” Kade chuckled as Winter tried, again, to set the story straight. “Just go with it.”

“Sniping people from the RV? Really? Who would believe something like that?”

Kade chuckled harder. “Probably nobody. But don’t minimize what you did. You very well may have saved Big Dick’s life and you did help me get the RV moving. I obviously didn’t know what I was doing.”

“Yes, well, they make it sound like I saved everyone there single-handedly.”

He grinned at her. “It’s because you’re one of their own and they have a bit of hero worship going on. Enjoy it while it lasts.”

She ginned as she leaned back in her chair. “I guess. It just feels so weird having people stare at me all the time.”

He leaned forward on the table and motioned her in close. “Don’t be too hard on them. I can’t keep my eyes off you, either,” he said so only she could hear.

She grinned. “The difference is, I like it when you look at me, especially the way you are looking at me now,” she whispered before she leaned back again.

***

After lunch, while she worked in the lab, he took a cab back to her house and retrieved his motorcycle. He’d drive a car or truck when he had to, but given a choice he’d rather be on his bike, and retrieving his bike now would mean one less vehicle to deal with later.

“Done!” she said.

He glanced at the clock. It was just before four. “Already?”

“For today. I was mostly prepping the samples today, but what I saw looks good. The cores confirm what I expected to see from the soundings. Now, when we hit the oil-bearing shale, we’ll see if we actually find oil.”

“What do you think?”

She grinned. “I think there’s oil down there, and a lot of it. But we won’t know for sure until we get there. You know how it is. You drill, too.”

“Yeah, but there’s water everywhere if you go deep enough.” She arched eyebrow at him. “Okay, nearly everywhere,” he amended with a grin.

“Jeep and dinner?”

“Sounds good to me,” he replied.

“Okay, but before we go,” she purred, leading him to the side before pulling him down into a kiss.

“Aren’t you afraid someone will walk in and see us?” he breathed as their lips parted.

“Do you care?”

“No, but I don’t work here. Besides, being seen kissing you is good for my reputation.”

She smiled at him, her arms still around his neck. “Well, what’s Dad going to do? Fire his own daughter? Besides, you’re not technically an employee of the company.” Her smile spread. “I hope someone does see us, and I hope its Barbara or Pam.”

“Why them?”

“Because in twenty minutes the entire company will know and then
all
the women will be jealous of me.”

He smiled at her. “Let’s give them another chance, then,” he said as he bent to take her lips.

***

“I think we have a deal,” Winter said, reaching across the desk and shaking the salesman’s hand. She’d picked out a white Wrangler Backcountry with a hardtop she liked, loaded up with lower ratio axles, locking rear differential, GPS and air. It was very similar to the Jeep she was replacing and, like her previous Jeep, she’d have it outfitted with a wench, better tires, and the Kelly Oil logo on the doors.

“Thank you, Ms. Kelly,” the man said as he took her hand. “We’ll have it ready for you to pick up tomorrow after lunch.”

Kade followed Winter and the salesman to the finance manager’s office before once again taking up station outside the door as she talked about extended warranties and finance options, turning everything down and writing a check for the full amount of the vehicle, ripping the check from her Kelly Oil checkbook and handing it over.

“It’ll be ready tomorrow,” she said as she stepped out of the office.

“So I heard.”

“Let’s get out of here. Where am I taking you for dinner?”

He shrugged. “You pick. I don’t know the area.”

“Okay. What are you in the mood for?”

He grinned. “Besides you? Surprise me.”

“I know just the place. You like barbecue?”

“Love it.”

She took his arm and led him out of the showroom. “Then what are we waiting on?”

***

They arrived at Goode Company Barbecue and, as they removed their helmets, his mouth was already watering just from the smells. They walked in and the place was bustling, but she seemed to know her way around so he followed her lead as they stepped in line.

“You trust me?”

“Sure.”

As they shuffled through the cafeteria-style line, she selected beef brisket, Czech sausage, and jalapeño pork for herself, and honey-smoked Ham, pork ribs, and spicy pork for him. She added jalapeño pinto beans to his plate and Austin baked beans to hers, to compliment the free jalapeño cheese bread. She snagged a pair of beers, paid for it all, then led him outside to sit at one of the picnic tables.

He chuckled as he sat down across from here. “You must be hungry.”

She grinned. “Not so much, but fair warning, I’m eating off your plate,” she explained as she began to divide her meat, moving half to his plate then staring at him pointedly until he sniffed out a laugh and returned the favor.

“Sweet Mary, mother of Jesus, this is good,” he said as he sampled his way through all the different meats.

She giggled around a mouthful of his spicy pork. “What?” she asked as she wiped her mouth.

He snickered. “That’s something my dad says. It seemed appropriate somehow.”

She giggled again, for some reason the turn of phrase striking her funny when coming from a badass biker.

“What’s so funny?” he chuckled as her giggles began to infect him.

“I have no idea!” she cried, laughing even harder.

“Well stop it!” he sniggered.

“I’m trying!” she chortled, wiping at her eyes. “Oh God,” she finally sighed as she got her giggles under control, wiping away the tears again. “I’m having such a good time!” she cried before bursting into more giggles.

***

With much laughter and playful banter, they finished their meal, enjoying the soft breeze and the shade of the large Popcorn Tree. “Oof, I’m stuffed,” she said shoving her tray away.

“Not too stuffed, I hope,” he leered, waggling his eyebrows.

She giggled. “Right now, yes. But later I’ll probably want some exercise to help work off all this food.”

As they were heading back to her house, she tapped him on the shoulder and pointed. They pulled into a honky-tonk, Winter smiling as she stretched their evening out so she could enjoy his company and more time together.

It was a bit before seven and the place was just starting to hop. “Time for a little exercise,” she grinned as she removed her helmet and plopped it on a mirror.

It was a friendly, upscale place, full of smiling couples, cowboy hats, music and dancing. Kade was immediately picked out as an outsider, dressed in his leathers, but nobody hassled them and Winter secretly enjoyed watching many of the woman checking him out.

“Let’s dance,” she said, sliding her mug out of the way and pulling him to his feet.

He shucked his colors, led her to the dance floor before he formed up with her, bounced on his toes a moment to get in the rhythm, then began to glide her around the dance floor. There were only a couple of other couples on the large floor, so they had plenty of room. He was a strong lead, holding her in close, as they moved quickly and skillfully around the floor.

“You’ve done this before,” she said just before he gave her a twirl then pulled her back in.

“You said you wanted some exercise to work off dinner.”

“Where’d you learn to dance?”

“Britt. She loved to dance.”

“She taught you
well
!” she said, her voice rising in volume and pitch on the last word as he unexpectedly dipped her. She straightened, giggling in delight at the surprise ending. “What else can you do?”

When the next song started he switched over to a promenade dance, several others forming up on them as more couples joined them on the floor. Three songs later, she was beginning to sweat as they hoe-downed in a Texas Two Step. He had her in the cuddle and was working her hard to keep up.

“I need a break!” she gasped as the song ended.