MILITARY ROMANCE: The War Within Himself (Alpha Bad Boy Marine Army Seal) (Contemporary Military Suspense & Thriller Romance) (37 page)

Chapter Five

Mindy woke up with her little kitten snuggled under her neck. She pulled the blankets off her and realized she was still naked. She smiled as she remembered the night she experienced with her beautiful stranger. She looked over her shoulder and noticed he was gone. She felt a surge of panic as she started thinking that maybe he left her in the middle of the night.

She found her fuzzy sleep pants on the floor and slipped them on. She stretched the t-shirt she had worn the night before over her head, and then walked towards the kitchen.

“Good morning, sleeping beauty.” Vince’s voice was music to her ears.

“What is all this?” Mindy asked.

Vince stood in the kitchen wearing only his boxer briefs. He had pancakes, scrambled eggs, and bacon placed neatly on the table with two plates.

“I couldn’t find any coffee, so I made you orange juice. Is that ok?” he asked as he handed her the glass.

“Ok? It’s amazing!” she exclaimed.

Mindy sat down at the table and patted at the empty seat beside her. “Join me please,” she pleaded.

Vince kissed the top of Mindy’s head and took the empty seat beside her. “Baby, there is something about you,” he said softly.

Mindy felt the same way. There was something about Vince that had awaken a part of her that she wasn’t sure even existed. She was excited about getting to know this man.

“After we eat, maybe we could take a ride out to the lake?” he asked.

“I've never been on a motorcycle,” Mindy admitted.

Vince’s eyebrows rose. “You willing to try it…for me?” he asked.

Mindy smiled. “Of course,” she replied.

She was willing to try anything for this man. His tattoo-covered arms and tight chest were a pleasurable distraction from the burnt bacon and undercooked eggs. She managed to get some of the food down and then stood up. “What do I wear?” she asked as she headed back towards her bedroom.

Vince followed her and sat on the bed as she went through the items in her closet.

“Jeans and a t-shirt are fine. Boots if you have them,” Vince stated.

Mindy pulled out a pair of jeans from her closet and decided to keep the t-shirt she had on. She searched through her closet until she found a pair of black boots with a chunky heel. She held them up for Vince to approve. With a nod and a smile, he seemed pleased with her selection.

“Keep your hair pulled back, baby, so it doesn’t tangle,” he suggested.

Mindy slipped into the jeans and tightened her pony tail. Vince got dressed and then helped her with her boots. As he tied her laces he looked up at her with a warm expression. “I hope last night was ok with you. I like to take control, but I hope I wasn’t too forceful.”

Mindy had not had enough experience to know what was normal and what wasn’t. She was grateful for the direction. It helped keep her from feeling awkward and uncomfortable from her inexperience.

“I like you taking control,” she admitted.

Vince smiled and took her hand, pulling her up from the bed. “Let’s go!” 

Mindy was nervous mounting the rumbling motorcycle, but the excitement gave her the courage she needed to climb on the back of the bike. It felt good to have her arms wrapped around Vince, and the wind in her face was exhilarating. This is what she had been looking for. Finally, she had some excitement in her life.

Vince reached back several times and placed his hand on her knee. He smiled at her through his mirror and she kept her chin on his shoulder the entire ride. She was falling in love with a total stranger, and from the way he looked at her, touched her and talked to her, she was pretty sure this stranger was falling in love with her as well.

As they rode back to her apartment, Mindy was sad that the ride had to come to an end. He pulled up right to the front door, and then stopped to allow Mindy to climb off the back. He stayed on his bike and pulled her in close to him. His lips were so soft as they pressed up against hers. Their tongues found each other instantly and began to stroke one another as if that was what they were meant to do.

“You coming in?” Mindy asked.

“I have to get a few things done. Can I see you tonight?” he asked.

“I would love that” Mindy exclaimed.

“I think I could love you, baby,” Vince admitted.

Before Mindy could say anything, he pulled the bike away from the door and took off down the road.
He could love me?
Mindy thought to herself. She was pretty sure she could love him too.

She walked inside and sat down at the table. She opened her laptop and checked her e-mail out of habit. When she noticed the subject line “Art Director Position Interview Request”, her heart felt like it would explode. She opened the email to discover she had been invited to interview with one of the top galleries in New York City next week. She couldn’t believe it; she was selected for an interview.

Mindy felt like everything was coming together. Her life was finally what she wanted, what she deserved. As quickly as she lifted herself up on that fluffy cloud, she started to fall. Vince? What about Vince? She knew that he wouldn’t fit into her life of art galleries, midnight sushi, and limo rides to the opera house. She wasn’t ready to give him up, but what if she had to give up her lifelong dream for a chance of love?

THE END

A Biker Romance Story

Protected by the Alpha Biker

Kendal took a long sip from her vodka soda and looked around the smoky room at all the drunken people laughing and enjoying the company of their friends. She glanced up at her best friend sitting across from her and was instantly grateful for the fact that she didn’t have to make fake pleasantries with anyone else. It truly got exhausting. That was why after all the things she had recently been through, she had found a deeper appreciation for the one true friend that had stuck with her through it all. 

“Are you okay?” Lexy asked as she waved her hand in front of Kendal’s face. 

“What? Oh, yeah. I’m fine. I was just thinking about how lucky I am to have you.” Reaching across the table, Kendal gave her hand a little squeeze. 

“Aw! Well, I’m pretty lucky to have you too.” For a moment Kendal remembered back to their childhood and all of the memories they had made together since birth. Even now, twenty-nine years later, they were still closer than ever.  

The girls had grown up on the same block and had even been born in the same hospital only a month apart. With each of them being an only child, they were the closest thing to siblings either of them had ever had. They went to all the same schools when they were younger and even attended the same college after graduation. They had of course roomed together, and as fate would have it, they were back to being roommates now after all this time. 

Lexy’s eyes grew in size as she looked past Kendal, toward the door, and let out a sigh.  

“What?” 

“A group of bikers just walked in,” Lexy said as she swallowed the rest of her drink and raised her hand, signaling the bartender to bring them another round. 

“Great… Just one more drink, okay? Then we can go home?” 

“Yeah, just one more.” Tipping the bartender, she handed Kendal her drink and let her eyes longingly follow him as he walked back behind the bar. 

“For God’s sake, why don’t you just go talk to him?” 

“Who?” Lexy’s cheeks turned pink with embarrassment. 

“You know who I’m talking about: the bartender you drool over every time we come here. Why don’t you just go and talk to him?”  

Lexy looked between her and the man she had had a crush on for months and let out a hesitant laugh. “He’s like way out of my league.”  

“Shut up. He is not! Just go and talk to him, you baby,” Kendal teased. 

“Okay, okay. I’ll go over there, but you can’t make fun of me when he shuts me down.” Swallowing down the rest of her drink to gain some liquid courage, Lexy made her way over to the bar and sat gracefully on the edge of an old, worn-out leather stool. Kendal smiled to herself as she watched her run her hands through her hair and lean flirtingly close to the dark-haired man on the other side of the carved island.  

“Friend of yours?” a deep voice asked from beside her. She snapped her head to the side in fear and saw a man standing to her left, hovering over the extra chair where Lexy had previously sat. 

“What?” she asked, confused by the interruption. The tall blond man nodded toward Lexy, making his meaning apparent. “Oh, yeah.” Kendal couldn’t help but notice how attractive he was. He had a perfectly chiseled jawline and deep blue eyes that seemed to see only her. 

“Well, they seem to be hitting it off pretty well.” When she didn’t say anything else, he reached out his hand, hoping to break the awkward tension. “I’m Luke.” 

“Kendal.” She put her hand loosely in his and gave it a lazy shake. Luke flashed her a bright white smile. As he lifted his arm to run his hand casually through his curly blond hair, muscles rippled under his fitted white T-shirt, sending butterflies fluttering through her stomach. Although he was extremely cute, she lost all interest in talking to him when she saw his leather vest.  

“You come here often?” Luke asked, trying to create conversation. 

“Sometimes.” Kendal didn’t even allow herself to look at him. 

Disregarding how hard she was trying not to talk to him, Luke found her oddly alluring. “Our first time here, my friends and I,” he said, gesturing to the other bikers scattered around the bar. “We usually go into the city. We heard good things about this place, though. It’s a little low key, but the rumors about the beautiful women that hang out here are proving to be true.” 

“How nice.” The sarcasm dripped heavily from Kendal’s tongue with each word. 

“Can I buy you a drink?”  

She had to give it to him for being persistent. “No, thank you.”  

“You’re here with someone?” His voice was deep and smooth like velvet.  

“No. You’re just not my type.” Kendal tried to ignore the pang of guilt she felt as she saw the hurt in his eyes. She had to consciously remind herself that she was over constantly feeling bad for something she shouldn’t have to feel bad about. She wasn’t sure when it became a woman’s responsibility to stroke a man’s ego, but over the past year she had decided she no longer cared. She no longer cared to put someone else’s feelings above her own. 

So she didn’t play the dating games anymore. She would no longer put her feelings to the side to save someone else’s. For years she had put someone else ahead of herself, and look where it had gotten her: alone in a bar at twenty-nine years old. Tonight would not be the night that she changed that just for an attraction that would surely fade out before morning. 

“Not your type?” He let out a forced laugh. “You don’t even know me.” 

“I know your group, the ‘bikers’ who come into these bars. You’re all the same.” She spat the words like fire from her mouth, anger and resentment rising inside her. 

Luke’s brow furrowed as her words struck him. “That seems a little harsh, don’t you think?” Suddenly Kendal was filled with memories of a leather vest hanging over her as she was struck again and again by an angry fist. The vest that hung from the body of a man she had once loved and trusted. “To lump us all together like that?” 

“No, I don’t.” 

“Well, I don’t know who you’ve dealt with in the past, but we’re not all the same. Some of us are nice guys.” Although he had every right to be defensive, Luke remained levelheaded and spoke calmly, which angered her even more. She wanted him to be angry. As irrational as she knew it was, she somehow thought it would affect the nightmare from her past each time she lashed out at someone like him.  

She hoped it would somehow hurt him each time she gained the courage to speak out against someone like him. Show him that she was stronger now. That he hadn’t broken her.  

“That’s what they all say.” Grabbing her purse, Kendal pushed past him and made her way toward the bar without looking back. As she marched up to her best friend, she couldn’t keep her emotions from boiling to a breaking point. 

* 

Luke 

Luke leaned against the bar and scanned the room as he took a sip of his beer. "Just go talk to her," his friend James said.  

"What?" He blinked hard as James’s voice snapped him back to reality. 

"The girl. The one you've been staring at for the past five minutes. Go talk to her, dude." 

"I haven't been staring at her." 

"Yes, you have. Just buck up and go over there." 

Luke rolled his eyes but swallowed the rest of his drink anyway. "Wish me luck." Taking a deep breath, Luke made his way to her table. She was watching her friend flirt with the bartender with the most beautiful smile on her face. He was instantly entranced with the spirit that radiated from her. Luke stood beside her for a moment, hoping she would notice him. 

"Friend of yours?" he asked, trying to break the ice. At the sound of his voice, she turned hastily in his direction with fear in her eyes. 

"What?"

Luke was caught off guard by how gorgeous she was. She had long brown hair that laid in effortless curls across her shoulders, and which complimented her deep hazel eyes. Luke found himself speechless. The best he could do was nod in the direction of her friend. 

"Oh, yeah."  

Regaining his composure, he said, "Well, they seem to be hitting it off pretty well." Luke tried to break the awkward silence between them by extending his hand to her. "I'm Luke." 

"Kendal." She put her hand loosely in his and gave it a lazy shake. Luke nervously ran his hand through his curly hair and prayed he would think of something to say to her. As he lifted his arm, he saw Kendal see his leather vest. He could see something inside her close off. It was as if she built a wall right then and there between them. 

Luke wanted so badly to bring him back to her. He wanted to prove to her that he was worth her time. "You come here often?" The second the words left his mouth, he cursed himself for being so cliché. 

"Sometimes." She didn't even lift her eyes when she answered him. 

"Our first time here, my friends and I," Luke spat without thinking.  “We usually go into the city. We heard good things about this place, though. It’s a little low key, but the rumors about the beautiful women that hang out here are proving to be true.” He couldn't stop the nervous words from sliding off his tongue. 

"How nice." Kendal's words were full of sarcasm in response to his lame attempt at a pick-up line. He couldn’t even blame her, but he wasn't ready to give up quite yet. 

"Can I buy you a drink?" 

"No, thank you." Even as she was turning him down, he couldn't focus on anything but how beautiful she was. 

"You're here with someone?" Luke felt his stomach drop at the thought that he would never have a chance with her. 

"No. You're just not my type." 

"Not your type?" He let out a forced laugh. "You don't even know me." Luke had been shut down by more women than he could count in his past, but for some reason this one hit him harder than most. He had no idea why he was letting this bother him so much. For all he knew she could be an awful person. 
Oh, but those eyes.
 

“I know your group, the ‘bikers’ who come into these bars. You’re all the same.” She spat the words like fire from her mouth. 

Luke’s brow furrowed as her words struck him hard. “That seems a little harsh, don’t you think?" Luke felt a sadness in him that he had been unaware could be accessed so easily. He didn't know why he felt the need to prove himself to her, but he did. “To lump us all together like that?” 

"No, I don't." Luke could hear the hurt in her voice. Kendal's eyes carried a sadness that he wanted desperately to take from her.  

“Well, I don’t know who you’ve dealt with in the past, but we’re not all the same. Some of us are nice guys.” Luke wanted to convince her that he was different. He wasn’t just any other guy.  

"That's what they all say." Grabbing her purse, Kendal hastily made her way to the bar, leaving him behind her without as much as a second glance. Luke stood in confusion as he stared at the place where Kendal had previously stood. He vowed to himself in that moment that he would take another chance to talk to her, no matter what it took.