| |
“Sloane,” Dove called.
“Where the hell have you been?” I laughed. I struggled not to drop the twenty books in my arms.
Dove held up an empty shot glass and plastered a loopy smile on her face. “I was in Shot Row.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Over in that corner,” she flailed her arm behind her, “your author people are handing out shots like they are shots.” She stopped and closed her eyes. “Candy. Passing out like candy.”
“Girl,” I laughed. “How are you going to help me get all of these books back to our room when you can’t walk a straight line?” I had already made one trip back to the room with a load of books, and I had at least two more trips to make.
“We’ll get the wagon,” Dove chirped.
“We’re not allowed to have wagons in here, Dove.” I was not about to break the rules and get kicked out of the signing before I had all of my books.
“I’ll pull it to the door, and we can load it up from there.” She looped her arm around my shoulders, and I could smell the Fireball on her breath. “Jaime Russell is my new best friend. Super nice, and she gave me three shots of Fireball.”
“Good, honey,” I laughed. I couldn’t be mad at Dove. I was glad she was having a good time, though I wished she could have waited to have a good time until we got my books back to the room. The signing was winding down, and I needed to get my butt moving.
“Do you think I could take a nap before dinner?” She laid her head on my shoulder and leaned heavily on me. “I’s tired, Sloane.”
Lordy.
“Let’s head up to the room, and you can lie down while I get the rest of my books,” I sighed. My helper was about to be down for the count in a few short minutes.
We made it to the elevators and up to the room, where Dove promptly flopped onto the bed. “Just give me five minutes, and then I’ll help you,” she slurred.
I stacked more books on the dresser and grabbed the wagon beside my bed.
Dove’s light snoring drifted around me, and I knew I would be on my own for the rest of the night. Hopefully, Dove would rally in a couple of hours, but she was out like a light right now.
“And then there was one,” I muttered.
At least with the wagon, I should be able to get everything back up to the room in one trip.
The signing was still winding down, and I was thankfully allowed to keep my wagon right by the entrance and load it up.
There was a line to get on the elevators, and it took me ten minutes before I was the next in line to get on. Most people had given up and either took the stairs or decided to go get a drink and try later.
I couldn’t take the stairs because of the wagon, and I didn’t have any more money with me to grab a drink and wait for the crowd to die down.
“Took them long enough to get our rooms ready,” a man behind me muttered.
“Eh, they’re obviously busy. At least they had rooms for us,” another man sighed.
I glanced over my shoulder and was shocked to see two men with motorcycle cuts on.
Holy crap.
I snapped my head back around to the elevators and tried not to hyperventilate.
This had to be a dream. I must have fallen asleep, and I was dreaming.
Had to be.
I pinched my arm and yelped when it hurt.
“Are you okay?” one of the men behind me asked.
Oh my god. Now I had done it.
Not only did I have two hot MC guys behind me, but I had also drawn attention to myself.
I was a wallflower, not someone who looked for attention.
“Ma’am?” he called again.
I glanced over my shoulder but kept my eyes turned down to the floor. “I’m good. Just pinching myself.”
What? Why on earth did I tell them that? I could have just said I was fine. No need to explain what a tool I was.
“Uh, okay?” he laughed.
I needed the elevator doors to open now, or I needed a hole to magically appear so I could jump in it.
“It’s been a long day, and I, uh, just wanted to make sure...” I didn’t know what I wanted to make sure of because I was not a good liar on the spot. Obviously.
“Make sure what?” the other man asked.
They weren’t being rude to me.
If anything, they were rightly concerned about me yelping out loud and not being able to string a complete sentence together.
If I were them, I would have thought I was drunk or having some type of medical emergency.
“Make sure you were awake?” the first guy suggested.
Yeah, I would like a hole to magically appear and swallow me whole. Please.
The elevator doors slid open, and I darted inside. The wagon banged into the half-open doors behind me, and my body jerked back.
I twisted around, and instead of my butt hitting the floor, strong arms wrapped around my waist, and the potent smells of leather and mint surrounded me.
“Easy, babe,” the voice attached to the arms around me cooed. He pulled me into his arms, and I dropped the wagon handle. My head tipped back, and I was face to face with the most handsome man I had ever seen.
It should be illegal for this guy to even be alive; he was that good-looking.
I knew beauty was in the eye of the beholder, but I was the beholder, and I forgot how to breathe; this man was that handsome.
Woo-wee!
His hair was long but slicked back, and his face was covered with a dark, well-groomed beard. His eyes were a dark brown, and a small smile played on his lips.
“You okay?” he asked.
My eyes darted to his name on his chest.
Aero.
Was I transported into one of my romance books, and I was suddenly the dorky book nerd meeting her prince charming?
“Babe,” he called again.
I needed to get my head together.
“Yes?” I asked.
He looked me up and down, and that small smile exploded into a full-on grin. “I know I’m kind of scary looking, but normally, people don’t run from me.”
I wasn’t running from him. I was running away from saying something more stupid than I already had. “You’re hot.” See, that was what I was running from. Stupid was the only thing that seemed to come out of my mouth when this man was around.
When Aero was around.
I assumed that was his name. I had read enough MC books to know what the patches on his cut meant.
My eyes darted to his chest and scooped out the other patches.
Iron Fiends.
Aero.
Member.
The elevator doors tried to close again and hit the wagon and Aero’s arm.
“We staying or going?” Aero’s friend asked.
Going. We were most certainly going.
The time for me to make a fool of myself was coming to an end.
Thank god.
My eyes traveled up Aero’s chest and connected with his. Oh my god. How was this man so good-looking? His dark, chocolate-colored eyes pierced into me, and I couldn’t even tell you what the question was.
Aero settled me on my feet and grabbed the handle of the wagon. “We’re going.” He nudged the wagon in the elevator and pulled it beside us.
His friend got on the elevator, and the doors slid shut.
“What floor, doll?” his friend asked.
I blinked rapidly and tried to remember where my room was.
Aero turned and stepped toward me. “Are you sure you are okay, babe?” he asked softly.
“I, uh, huh?” I whispered.
He reached up and cupped my cheek. “Did you somehow hit your head when you fell? I thought I managed to catch you before that happened.”
Hit my head? I wish I had because that would be a better excuse for why I was acting like a bumbling idiot. I shook my head and stepped back. “Seven.”
His friend hit floor seven. “That’s our floor, too,” he shrugged.
I peeked around Aero and caught a glimpse of his friend’s patch.
Throttle.
Well, all the MC books I had read in the past were pretty darn accurate.
Hot men and sexy road names. Well, most of the time, they were sexy road names. I had read some that started off as not sexy, but by the time you got to the end of the book, names like Boink or Freak were sexy as hell.
Throttle and Aero were sexy.
Aero especially.
The elevator glided up, and I tried to look everywhere but at Aero.
He was doing the exact opposite.
“What room are we in?” Throttle asked.
“Seven-twelve,” Aero called.
My eyes bugged out, and I stepped back again but bumped into the elevator wall. Oh, Jesus.
“Something tells me your room is close to ours,” Aero chuckled. “If we don’t have enough towels, maybe you can lend us some...” he trailed. “What’s your name, babe?” he asked.
I bit my bottom lip and wondered if I should tell him my name. Would it hurt if he knew it? It wasn’t like I was going to tell him my full name and social security number. “Dove,” I blurted.
Aero tipped his head to the side. “Really?”
“No,” I confessed. See? Not good at lying at all.
Throttle chuckled.
“Your name isn’t Dove?” Aero asked.
The doors slid open, and I grabbed the handle of the wagon from Aero. “No,” I repeated. I tried to step around him, but he didn’t budge. The wagon, Aero, and the wall caged me in.
“Have dinner with me,” Aero whispered.
I tipped my head back, and my eyes connected with his. “Are you talking to me?” I asked.
“He sure as shit ain’t talking to me,” Throttle chuckled. “I’m heading to the room. See you guys later.” Throttle stepped out of the elevator, and the doors started to slide closed behind him.
Aero pushed the wagon back until it was blocking the doors open. “Tell me your name, and have dinner with me.”
“I can’t tell if those are demands or if you’re asking me.”
“Asking. Though I do hope you say yes.”
The elevator dinged, and I knew it was only a matter of time before it started making a bunch of noises.
“I need to get back to my room and check on my friend,” I insisted.
“Boyfriend?” Aero asked.
I rolled my eyes and shook my head. “Friend. I made her come, and she got a little tipsy at Shot Row.”
“That a restaurant around here?”
A smile crept over my lips. “Hardly. It’s a row of rowdy authors who know how to have a good time.”
Aero glanced down at my wagon filled to the top with books. “Rowdy and authors aren’t two words I would put together.”
He really had no clue. “I’m sure if you head down to the bar, you can see some of them in action tonight.”
“What about rowdy book nerds? Are you one of those?”
I quirked my eyebrow. “Wouldn’t you like to know?” Woo! All of those romance books I read were finally helping me out! That was totally a line one of the characters would say.
“There is a lot I would like to know about you, babe, but right now, I’ll just take knowing your name.”
“I tell you my name, and you let me go to my room?” I asked. Sure, I had one good zinger of a line, but it was only a matter of time before something crazy or dumb came out of my mouth. I needed to take cover.
“Name, and I’ll step to the side.”
The elevator dinged again, but this time louder.
“What is your name?” I asked.
He glanced at his patch. “Aero, babe, but you already knew that because I saw you look downstairs.”
I had, but I didn’t think I was obvious.
“Why Aero?” I asked.
“I like flying and shit like that. I’m always trying to figure out a way to go faster, and all of that comes down to aerodynamics.”
“Aero,” I whispered.
“Aerodynamics wouldn’t fit on the patch.”
A laugh bubbled from my lips.
“Now tell me your name, babe.”
“What if I like when you call me babe?” I whispered. Holy crap! Another good comeback! I was on a roll.
“Trust me, I’ll still call you babe.” He winked, and it felt like my heart was going to fly out of my chest.
“Sloane,” I croaked.
A smirk spread across his lips. “See, was that so hard?”
Well, yes, but not really.
He pushed the wagon out of the elevator and stepped to the side. “I’ll see you around, Sloane.”
He was going to let me go that easy?
This felt like a trick.
A trick for what, I didn’t know.
I grabbed the wagon handle, and Aero stepped off the elevator behind me.
“Uh, well, thank you for....” I wasn’t sure what I was thanking him for. He had caught me when I had stupidly stumbled. “Your arms.” I closed my eyes and sighed. “I mean, thank you for catching me when I almost fell. With your arms,” I added.
“Anytime, babe.” He winked and turned left down the hallway.
I headed to the right and had to turn around once I realized I had gone the wrong way.
Aero had completely scrambled my brain, and I couldn’t even remember where my room was.
Seven-fifteen.
I hurried past seven-twelve and prayed Aero or Throttle wouldn’t pop out the door.
I managed to get my keycard in my door and pushed it open swiftly. I pulled the wagon in behind me and slammed the door.
Dove didn’t even stir on the bed, and I sagged against the door.
What on earth just happened?
It might be all of the romance books I read, but I was pretty sure a hot, sexy biker just hit on me, and I made a complete fool of myself.
I slid down the door and tipped my head back.
My eyes focused on the tiny dots on the ceiling, and I blew out a defeated sigh.
It was like I was at the beginning of a romance novel, and I had no idea what would happen next.
Oh, boy.
*
