Making the Cut (6 page)

Cade gave an attractive chuckle. “We both know that isn’t true, I can bet your panties are dripping right now, cause I can’t be the only one feeling this.” He gestured between us.

“I assure you any attraction you feel is one sided, now please leave.” I lied, my nose was going to be as big as Pinocchio’s at this rate.

“This ain’t one sided and you know it.” Cade barked. “You are going to be mine, and in my bed.” Without another word, just another intense stare he turned to leave.

“Don’t hold your breath…oh no wait please do.” I called sweetly to him just before he walked through the door.

He stopped, fixating on the alarm panel beside the door. “I want the door locked, and this armed after I leave.” He commanded.

“Don’t tell me what to do you...” I paused, trying to think of an effective insult.

“Just fucking do it.” He snapped. “I won’t leave the porch until I hear the door lock.”

He strolled out closing the door behind him and I heard his footsteps stop. “Fucksake.” I mumbled under my breath, hopping over to lock the door and arm the alarm, only then did I hear his heavy footsteps walking down the porch steps.

What an infuriating arrogant asshole
, I thought, trying as hard as I could not to feel any warmth over the fact he wouldn’t leave until he knew I was secure inside the house.

Chapter 3

After finally getting to sleep after four, only after to taking care of the dull ache in between my legs while unwillingly thinking of Cade, I woke up and looked at my phone.

“Fuckstick.” I muttered in my sleep zombie voice.

“Well hello sleeping beauty.” Amy chirped, leaning against my door, looking fab in her white sundress with a huge turquoise necklace, and matching wedges, two coffee mugs in her hand.

“I thought I might have to organize a herd of elephants to storm through here to wake you from your slumber.” She joked, coming to lay beside me in bed and handing me sweet sweet coffee. I groaned as the previous nights events washed over me.

“I was supposed to go into the store today and sort things out for the opening next week.” I started to stress, taking a huge gulp of the precious nectar in my cup, letting it soothe me.

“It’s Sunday girlfriend, day of rest and hangovers.” Amy laughed. “Lets just chill out today, go grab some brunch or more definitely late lunch, explore the town a bit more and enjoy a carefree day.” She jumped out of bed and waltzed towards my wardrobe.

“Now you grab a shower and I will sort you an outfit.” She ordered.

“Okay.” I sighed, pulling the covers back to get out of bed, forgetting about my foot until the pain reminded me.

“Shit.” I cursed, hoping Amy wouldn’t notice the bandage.

No such luck.

“What did you do to your foot?” She asked with concern.

“Ummm” I tried to think of some convincing lie, even though I knew Amy would sniff it out a mile away, we never lied to each other.

“Ohhh I smell something interesting.” Damn, our unnaturally close bond. “Spill.” Amy demanded.

“Fuck it.” I grumbled. I then proceed to relay the events of last night, in detail. After I finished Amy sat at the end of my bed wide eyed.

“Well fuck me.” She breathed and didn’t say anything else.

Wow, I think my best friend was actually lost for words, that was an absolute first. She always had some response in any situation, even when we bumped into Karl Lagerfeld in the Hamptons one summer. She managed to get us invited to dinner with him. It was
awesome
.

“FUCK ME!” She yelled and I jumped, her tone bringing my thoughts back from the Hamptons.

“No thanks you’re not my type.” I mumbled back.

“Yeah sounds like your type is more tall dark and delicious.” She replied sarcastically. “This is amazing, I seriously can’t believe you were having some kind of scene out of a fucking romance movie right downstairs while I was asleep.” She looked at me with a smirk. “I mean…shit.”

“There is nothing to smile about Ames, last night was a huge fuckup and I am going to make sure I never see him again.” I decided, wondering how the hell I was going to avoid the sexy biker in a town this small.

“Newsflash babe, we are in Siberia you can’t exactly avoid him, he is like 1/10
th
of the population,” She argued reading my mind.

“Maybe a slight exaggeration Amy.” I rolled my eyes, gingerly testing out my foot, the pain wasn’t bad enough to stop me wearing heels.

“You get the point.” She waved her hand. “Anyway why would you want to avoid that delicious hunk of stud? I mean this is brilliant, you have come out of nunnery.” She exclaimed clapping her hands and disappearing into my closet.

I followed her and sank into the chair I had in the middle of my closet.

“This is most certainly not brilliant.” I groaned. “Don’t you remember last night? Not to mention the last time I hooked up with a sexy biker? Didn’t end so well.” Amy flinched and I regretted my harsh tone.

“For starters,
Cade
.” She moaned his his name. “Is like a zillion times hotter than He Who Shall Not Be Named, and you can’t just automatically assume everyone who rides a motorbike is a psychopath. Just like you wouldn’t stop wearing Prada if they came out with one bad collection.” She flipped through my racks, pulling out a Givenchy tee.

“Well men who are in outlaw motorcycle groups certainly aren’t involved in church circles or neighborhood watches.” I informed her.

“Honey.” Amy said softly looking up from my shoe selection. “You do not know this man, or anything about his club, and from what you’ve told me he seems decent. Now I am the first one to want to protect you from ever getting hurt again, but don’t let what happened to you turn you into someone who judges someone before you even know them. That isn’t you.”

Her words cut me deep, I knew she was right, I shouldn’t be so bitter. But I also knew bikers and their gangs were trouble, Amy didn’t see what I saw so she couldn’t know.

“Lets just forget about last night for now and not let a man complicate my first proper day in my new town with my girl.” I gave Amy a smile.

“Okay.” She agreed. “But life would be no fun without men to shake things up now and then and as much as I love my B.O.B nothing compares to the real thing.” She advised before throwing my no doubt fabulous outfit at me.

The late afternoon sunlight kissed the horizon, beginning to disappear behind the hills as Amy and I enjoyed a cold margarita on the back porch. I relaxed into my chair and let my head fall back, feeling the most content I had in a long while.

“That was an awesome afternoon girl, just what I needed.” I told Amy keeping my eyes closed.

We had had a delightful lunch at a cute little café, then proceeded to walk up and down Main Street perusing all the little shops along the way, and generally just enjoying the town’s atmosphere. And to my delight, we did not once hear the telltale rumble of Harley pipes nor see a broadly built man donning a leather cut, so all in all a great day.

“Yeah it was actually kind of great, wasn’t it?” Amy replied. “This little hole in the road is actually kind of growing on me.”

I laughed. “That’s great to hear, since we might be here for a while, owning a home and business here.”

“Oh I almost forgot.” Amy continued. “I got us invited to a party, well the closest this town does to party anyway, a barbeque? Tomorrow night, hopefully there will be some man candy there.”

“What?” I spluttered. “When did you find the time to get yourself invited to anything? I was with you most of the day!” I sat up, turning to look at her.

“Remember when I went to get us some coffees when you were burrowed away in that bookstore?” She asked and I nodded. “Well I got talking to the chick behind the counter, awesome girl and massive babe, she invited me and you to her barbeque tomorrow, you know since we are new in town and in desperate need of some friends?”

“I guess it couldn’t hurt to get to know the locals.” I pondered, wondering what kind of people we would encounter at this barbeque, and feeling kind of excited since I was, well before the incident, a social person.

“I wonder if any of those delicious cops we saw today will be there?” Amy was referring to the three handsome lawmen we saw having lunch at the same spot as us today.

I had a bit of a soft spot for men in uniform after my rescue, I always felt safe around them. Maybe I could go for a more sensible option in a man. My mind wandered to sandy blond haired policeman with a strong jaw, who was tall and very muscular. But my attention kept going back to a scruffy black haired biker, with even more muscles than the toned policeman.

Urrrghhh get out my mind!!
I screamed mentally at him.

“Um earth to Gwennie??” Amy waved her hand in front of my face.

“Sorry, was away with the fairies, what did you say?”

“I said you have to make those brownies your are so famous for, that will make us some friends for sure. You might even get marriage proposals with those things.” She joked, talking about my special brownies I only make once in a while, because of their ridiculously high calorie count and my ability to polish off a whole batch without blinking.

“Well that means we will have to be up nice and early so we can go into the store and get things ready for the opening Wednesday night,” I ordered sternly.

Amy giggled, then saluted. “Yes sir.”

I smiled and sipped my margarita, enjoying the company and the fuzzy feeling created by the drink, thinking I might be enjoying life again.

I woke up for once enjoying a blissful, nightmare free sleep. I rolled over to look at the time, 6am. We weren’t planning on going into the store until 8, so I had plenty of time for a quick morning run. I needed it after how much I had been indulging over the past few days. I quickly donned my running gear, some short spandex shorts with a pink band at the top and a pink muscle top with a shelf bra, I completed the look with some pink Nikes. I slipped out the door with my headphones playing and began my run, getting lost in the music and the burn in my legs.

Exercise had been hard to get back into after all my rehabilitation, running became a major part in getting me back to myself, a time when I could just escape into my own mind, my blaring music stopping my thoughts from wandering into dark places. After running for a good 30 minutes I stopped at a street corner to stretch and give myself a breather. I gazed around at the nicely kept houses and wondered where the fuck I was. Maybe getting lost in my music while running in unfamiliar territory wasn’t the best idea. Well that’s why God invented iPhones. Music still blaring, I tapped into my map, realized where I was, and began to run in the direction of home. Not paying attention, I slammed straight into a hard body, proceeding to fall flat on my ass. Confused, I squinted up to see the sexy cop from yesterday, looking down at me with his mouth moving, but due to my music I had no idea what he was saying. I yanked my headphones out of my ears.

“What?” I kind of yelled, sounding more than a bit unladylike, but I guess that ship had sailed when I fell on my ass.

“I just asked if you were okay, sorry darling, but I just didn’t see you until you slammed straight into me. You fell pretty hard, are you alright?” He asked with concern and extended a muscled arm towards me.

I took it and he hauled me up. I checked him out, closer I could appreciate him in all his glory. He was sweating from his own run, wearing cut off sweats, and a tight NYPD t-shirt that clung to chiseled abs. I peered into his blue eyes and almost swooned. I am not kidding, he was one beautiful man. A shadow of blonde stubble covered his sharp jaw, his face had a kind of all American handsome look, apart from a slightly crooked nose, which only made him more endearing. Sweat beaded down the thick column of his neck and I followed it with my eyes, down to his seriously muscly chest. I shook myself out of it, what is it with this town and the men? Is this where male models came to retire and get badass jobs?

The sexy lawman was also blatantly checking me out, it didn’t help my top had ridden up showing a far bit of midriff. I yanked it down.

“I’m fine, thank you. Sorry I got a bit lost and wasn’t paying attention, completely my fault.” I explained, slightly breathless. I tried to straighten my ponytail, knowing I was a sweaty mess. I wasn’t one of those girls who looked unruffled and amazing after a workout, I was reasonably sure I looked like a panting dog.

“No ma’am I should always be on the lookout for beautiful women running towards me, you’re obviously new in town, and Australian?” He guessed wrongly.

I barely suppressed a frustrated sigh, I was so sick of Americans of assuming I was from Australia, a pet hate for all Kiwis.

“No I am from New Zealand.” I said rather tightly. “And I have been in the States for almost five years now, legally I promise.” I joked putting my hands up in mock fear.

He laughed, and what a great laugh he had, he was the man I should be attracted to not Cade. Not that I didn’t feel attraction towards this man, you would have to be dead or gay to not want to jump his bones. But it wasn’t the same kind of desperate intensity I felt with Cade. It was official, I was totally fucked up, more attracted to the criminal than the man who locked them up.