“Good luck with that. Hello. Your stepmom owns a bakery.”
“I never said cupcakes were off the table, only donuts.” I didn’t completely lose my mind when I came up with this bright idea. There’s no way I’d ever be able to quit Tilly’s cupcakes because they’re the best thing I’ve ever put in my mouth.
“Okay. You’re not completely dumb, then. What else?”
I turn around to face her, giving Marvin my back. “No more biker boys.”
“I take back everything I said. Maybe you’re smarter than you’ve ever been before.”
I smack her shoulder, hating that she’s probably right. “The other one is too personal.”
“Whisper it to me.”
“There’s nothing you can’t say in front of me,” Marvin says, butting into the conversation and always listening to everything. “I won’t tell anyone.”
Alyssa and I look at each other and burst into laughter because if there’s one guy in this bar who’s a gossip, it’s Marvin.
“I’ll fill you in later. I want to get the girls back to Cheryl,” I tell Alyssa. “Can you handle things for twenty minutes or so while I’m gone?”
“Take your time. I got you, babe.”
“I plan to drop and run,” I tell her.
“Good luck. It’s Cheryl. She isn’t going to let you run.”
“I have a feeling she’s going to be too upset for company.”
CHAPTER3
TATE
The sunshine glintsoff the chrome of the perfectly polished bike as we walk up the driveway to the house.
“Dad’s here,” Hazel says as we walk by the bike.
“Crap,” Maddox mumbles under her breath.
“Please just leave us here,” Maddox begs as we climb the steps to her grandmother’s two-story brick bungalow with a perfectly manicured front yard.
The door swings open before Hazel’s foot reaches the porch, and the entrance is filled by an extremely large man.
Whoa!
And it’s not lost on me that the man is also devastatingly handsome. I may have sworn off dating hot bikers, but no one said I couldn’t gawk at them and appreciate them for the specimen they are.
The girls stop their movement as soon as their gazes travel up their dad’s body to his face.
He doesn’t look happy either. One look from him as a little kid would’ve sent me running for the hills. But as a woman, I can appreciate the hotness of the man with a scowl so wicked, he could make my panties drop with a single growl against my ear.
“Hey, Daddy,” Hazel says, breaking the silence.
Their dad hasn’t uttered a word or made a sound since he laid eyes on his girls. I don’t think my father could’ve stayed silent this long if I’d wandered away and he couldn’t find me. My family doesn’t have the ability to keep our mouths closed, but clearly, this is a skill this man practices—and well.
“Are they back?” Cheryl asks from inside the house, her voice shriller than usual.
“Yup,” he barks, moving onto the porch.
I nearly swallow my tongue as the tall drink of water steps into the light of the afternoon sun. His torn jeans, oil-stained shirt, and few days old scruff on his face have my inner biker girl fanatic on high alert.
