“I still––“ Again, Marie shot me a look before she took the beer I had been nursing and handed me the new one.
“That’s warm.” She smiled. “Now go do something with your life, Austin.”
“Do something with my life?” I chuckled, trying to lighten the mood. “I don’t know if you’ve heard, but I’m part owner of the brewery in town.”
“Fancy man, serving beer while being the talk of the town.”
“Talk of—“ I started to ask, but she cut me off.
“Heard Onyx bit the dust.” She grinned. “With the Kane girl. And Bash hooked up with Onyx’ little sister... Honey, I don’t know if you realize this, but that means you’ve just become the most eligible bachelor of Moonlit Pines along with that rich guy who helps run the ski resort, Harrison something.” I groaned because she wasn’t the first one to tell me this. Rita, the new manager at the brewery, had said she’d heard a book club of ladies saying that exact thing.
“I don’t think so. What about Shep and Boyd?”
“Baby, love your brothers, but those boys are hardly ever in town. How many years has it been since Shep’s even stepped foot into town?”
“Love isn’t for me.” The words tasted bitter, but I had been saying those words for so long, they rolled off my tongue as easily as breathing.
“I don’t know,” she said with a sneaky smile just as the front door of the bar opened, letting the last of the daylight stream in. “Never say never,” she continued before I could argue.
“Never say never,” I muttered, and when I looked up toward the old TV in the corner, it wasn’t the game that caught my eye. Nope. It was the bombshell of a woman standing beneath it that made me reach for my chest.
She was gorgeous.
Stunning.
Mine,a voice inside my head shouted, and I swallowed hard.Mine,it repeated. My heartrate picked up to an almost alarming pace. I watched as the sultry dark-haired vixen moved from the door and spotted an empty seat at the bar.
Fortunately, or unfortunately, I hadn’t really decided which yet, she sat across from where I was. I watched as Marie went over and smiled, then nodded before she reached for two shot glasses. Surprise sparked through me as this beautiful woman downed to shots of tequila like they were water.
Without making a grimace or a face.
Not an expression over her flawless, beautiful face.
Marie handed her a Modelo in a bottle and left to help a party at the other end of the bar. But fuck me, I couldn’t stop staring at her.Mine.That voice in my head spoke a little louder, and my body more than agreed with it.Mine. My cock was hard, almost throbbing behind the denim of my jeans. I wondered if Marie would be pissed if I talked that gorgeous bombshell into going to the bathroom for a quickie.No,that voice growled like an animal.Mine. Forever. Always.
Forever and…I shook my head and tore my eyes from her. I couldn’t claim her. I’d just been thinking about that damn curse. When I glanced around, it wasn’t lost on me that every other man, biker or not, was watching her.
She was new here.
I’d never seen her before.
The thought of someone else walking up to her, taking her and claiming her, made me look around again. I knew every biker saw it, too. When Griffin, one of the bikers I knew, who came in from Vegas, got up, I knew he was going to approach her. And fuck me, I couldn’t let that happen. I wasn’t stupid. I had eyes. Griff was a good-looking guy. I’d seen him with the ladies. Hell, just a couple of months ago, we’d been each other’s wingmen for a set of sisters that had come in for a drink and were staying at the ski resort in town for a wedding.
I knew just how well he did with women.
My girl’s attention drifted up to the screen of the old TV, watching the game with little interest, almost like she was killingtime. Her lips were painted a pretty red color, one I wanted to smear with my fucking mouth. I wanted to wear her lips on my skin.
No, this woman wasn’t his. She was mine. If even for just a night. The thought left a bitter taste in my mouth I wasn’t going to overthink.
Without a plan, I hopped off the barstool. I’d done this countless times. Approaching women had never been tough for me. Every step I took towards her felt poignant. Life changing.
Life changing?That made my steps falter, and I froze.
Life changing?There was nothing life changing about approaching a woman.
I wasn’t that kind of man. Never had been. Couldn’t be. Not when I was cursed. Yet… I swallowed in that instant. Only six feet from her, I stared at the beautiful yet clearly exhausted woman. Jesus, she was pretty. There was a softness around the hard-ass edgy tough girl vibe she radiated I wanted to protect. Shield from the world. I felt possessiveness wash through me like never before.
Shit. What is this? Am I getting the flu?It had to be. Anything else, like love at first sight, would be fucking asinine for a man like me. She must have felt me because she turned, and without an expression, our eyes connected, and just like that, I knew life would never be the same.
