Bringing Home the Bachelor

by Sarah M. Anderson

  “Who puts you first?” Maybe he was selfish. Maybe he just wanted to keep her in his bed. But he wasn’t going to let guilt ruin this. No way in hell. “That’s all I want to do—put you first.”

  “What will people say if it doesn’t work?”

  “To hell with them—I don’t care.” Was she really worried about—what, her reputation? Or was she worried about his? Didn’t matter. “If it doesn’t work, then it doesn’t work. But I know this—I won’t regret trying. I’ll only regret not trying.”

  She closed her eyes and nodded before breaking out into a watery grin. “No regrets.”

  He kissed her again. He’d never cared what anyone thought about him.

  Until her. She was a good, sweet, thoughtful woman. Maybe she was too good for him. Maybe she’d realize that, sooner or later.

  He had to show her—he could be good for her. Bacon and eggs and tea—it could all keep. Right now, what he needed was the woman in his arms. He picked her up, pausing only long enough to turn off the kettle.

  “None,” he told her as he carried her back to bed.

  There was no way he could regret this.

  No way he could regret her.

  *

  At first, it wasn’t easy. Billy wasn’t the kind of guy who liked to talk on the phone, so their conversations were mostly about when they could see each other again.

  But in person, he was a different man. From the moment Jenny saw him until the unavoidable moment they parted, Jenny felt like she was the center of his world. She hadn’t agreed to spending another night at Billy’s house with Seth in tow, but they’d had a few dates. She’d left Seth with her mom and driven into the city. He’d bought her a new dress—a luscious red number with a little shawl—and taken her to the theater to see Annie Get Your Gun. He’d worn his suit again and had even made reservations at a super-fancy restaurant.

  He was spoiling her. She let him do it. No one had ever spoiled her before.

  He’d also come out to the rez and met Jenny’s mom. That time, he’d taken her on a wind-whipped ride. They’d had sex on a blanket out in the middle of nowhere. Jenny had been on top for that one. The memory still made her smile.

  Bobby had gotten his television deal and, as a result, was no longer filming the webisodes while the show was in preproduction. Jenny didn’t know much about it—only that Billy wasn’t on camera all day long and that made him happy. And Billy happy was an extremely good thing.

  As far as she could tell, Seth was okay with her seeing Billy. They hadn’t really talked about it much, so when Seth asked, “Are you and Billy going to get married?” one morning on the drive into school, he totally took her by surprise.

  “I don’t know,” she admitted. There was still a lot to work around.

  The drive between her house and his was almost an hour and a half, but she wasn’t going to give up her job at the school to move in with him. She couldn’t leave her mom, who was getting older, her students or her TAPS girls. She couldn’t push all of those people aside because being with Billy made her happier than she could ever remember being.

  And that was the other problem. She was starting to think it wasn’t just happiness. She was starting to think it might be love.

  “Not anytime soon,” she added. That, at least, was 100 percent true.

  “Would he be my dad?”

  Now how was she supposed to answer that? So she hedged. “Sweetie, we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”

  It wasn’t like Billy was replacing some dearly departed father. But he and Seth were, well, bonding in a way that even she couldn’t turn a blind eye to. A couple of times, she and Seth had driven in to the Crazy Horse Choppers shop on the weekend, where Billy and Seth worked on designing a new bike together—one that would be for Seth when he turned sixteen. Then Seth would go hang out with Ben and Josey while Billy and Jenny had dinner or played pool or had hot—if quick—sex.

  It worked, sort of. Seth got to hang out with Billy, who kept on him about his grades, then Jenny got Billy to herself for a while. He kept asking her to come home with him for the weekend—with Seth in tow. She hadn’t said yes yet, but she was thinking about it more and more. He was good with Seth in the shop, but Seth around the house was another thing entirely. Part of her couldn’t help but wonder what would happen when Seth left the bathroom trashed and the water running, or what would happen when she and Seth got into one of their usual fights about homework. Would Billy decide he’d had enough?

  She wanted to think that wouldn’t happen, but she knew there were limits to Seth’s star behavior. Sooner or later, it might come down to Seth or Billy.

  She was falling for Billy.

  But her son had to come first.

  She’d cross that bridge when she came to it.

  *

  Billy was excited. This was the first Saturday that Jenny had agreed to come spend the night with him—and she was bringing Seth. If things kept moving in this direction, it might not be that much longer before she wanted to stay with him all the time. Permanently.

  Because he was thinking about something permanent. He wasn’t getting any younger and after finding a new kind of freedom in Jenny’s arms, he sure as hell didn’t want to go back to being lonely.

  Everything was better now. His old man didn’t bug him as much. Now that Bobby had his big production deal, he was spending more time in New York and there were no cameras on Billy, so that was a huge victory. It made it a hell of a lot easier to have Jenny meet him at the shop after school and have a date. He discovered he liked dating—taking Jenny out and making her feel special. He had the money. He’d never felt comfortable spending it on himself, but spending it on Jenny? Seeing the way her face lit up when she’d unwrapped the red dress alone had been worth the price tag.

  Even work was smoother. Ben had hired some new guys and a full-time salesman. The bikes were selling, but they were meeting their production schedule. Billy had to admit, Bobby’s plan to make Crazy Horse Choppers a national brand was working.

  He didn’t know if Jenny was what made it all work, but she made it all worth it. Recently, Billy had found himself looking at property halfway between the shop and the school—a place where they could meet in the middle. He wasn’t married to his house, after all.

  But the problem was, he wasn’t at the point where he wanted to buy a house for her—and her kid. Because a woman like Jenny wouldn’t want to shack up with the likes of him, not without a ring. And he wasn’t sure he was the marrying kind. Getting married was something responsible grown-ups did. Sure, he ran a successful company and, yeah, he paid his bills but…wasn’t he still the same guy who’d hit bars and got thrown into the drunk tank until he sobered up?

  Wasn’t he?

  Lost in this train of thought, the door to the shop opened and Lance, the new salesman, stuck his head in. “There’s a woman here to see you, Mr. Bolton. I mean, Billy.”

  “She can come on back,” he said without looking up from the schematics of Seth’s bike. The kid wanted something low and sleek that wasn’t a crotch rocket. And it had to be something that Jenny would actually let him ride. Needless to say, they were still in the designing phase.

  The first thing he noticed was that the sound wasn’t right. Instead of Seth and Jenny talking about school, all he heard was the clicking of heels on concrete. Jenny didn’t wear heels if she could help it.

  The scent was the second thing. Suddenly, the shop was filled with a heavy floral perfume that clung to his nose.

  But the final tip-off was the voice. “You’ve done well for yourself, Billy,” a throaty woman’s voice cooed.

  It was probably supposed to sound seductive, but Billy heard a distinctive hard edge underneath. The hair on the back of his neck bristled.

  Not Jenny. But there was still a chance this was a customer, so he vowed to keep things polite. Moving slowly, Billy pivoted on his stool. Standing about six feet away was a petite woman with big blond hair and huge heels
who looked vaguely familiar. “Thanks,” he said, purposefully keeping it short. “Can I help you?”

  The woman’s eyes narrowed even as she smiled and shifted her weight on those heels. She looked as though she were waiting for him to say something. Well, she could keep on waiting. Finally, she said, “You don’t remember me.” The hard edge in her voice got more distinctive.

  The way she stuck a hand on her hip and jutted out her chest… “You were at the bachelor auction, right?”

  That was a hell of a vicious smile. “You never were terribly bright, but I thought you’d remember me.”

  Was this some sort of psycho-fan who’d seen all those webisodes and thought she “knew” him? And what sort of woman walked into his business and accused him of being dumb?

  Not a very smart one, that much he knew. “We don’t give tours. If you want to buy a bike, Lance is the salesman on duty.” He pointed through the door.

  “You really don’t remember me.”

  She sounded like a broken record, as if repeating the same thing over and over would help. “No clue, lady.”

  “And after all we went through in high school.”

  Everything stopped—breathing, thinking—everything. “Ashley?”

  No, no, no. This was not happening. He prayed to God that he’d gone momentarily insane and was having the worst hallucination ever, because even insanity would be preferable to seeing this woman again.

  When he said her name, Ashley’s features softened. “You do remember.”

  Like he’d forget the woman who ripped his heart out of his still-beating chest.

  “You look different.” Which was true enough.

  “Better, I hope. And you! You filled out. Quite the tank now, aren’t you?”

  Had he ever been in love with this woman? Because the woman standing in front of him barely matched up with the girl he remembered. Short, yes—and still curvy. But nothing else seemed right. Hair, face, clothes—all different.

  But her dismissive attitude toward him—was that so far off from the girl who’d slammed the door in his face? No. Same person, damn it all.

  “What do you want?”

  “You’re quite famous now, you know that? I’ve seen all the episodes of your little show. And now you’re going to have your own cable TV show? Very impressive, Billy.”

  He didn’t like the way she said his name, and he really didn’t like the tone of her voice. All it did was make one thing painfully clear—she wanted something, and it sure as hell wasn’t him.

  He needed to get her out of here, fast. If Jenny came in—and Ashley recognized her as the woman he’d taken home from the auction—things could get ugly.

  “Why are you here?”

  “We were good together once, remember?” She preened. Probably trying to look sexy, but he wasn’t falling for that. “We had a lot of fun back in high school.”

  “I was young and stupid then. What do you want?”

  That wasn’t the right thing to say. Anything friendly or fake about her disappeared, and he found himself looking at a viper in a woman’s body. “Do you know that every time I have to fill out all those doctor forms, I have to put down that I had an abortion? Every single time.”

  “I didn’t want you to get the abortion. You did that without asking me. Without even telling me.”

  “You weren’t the pregnant one,” she snapped back, looking frustrated. “I was the one who was scared and hurting and I’m the one who had to live with it.”

  “It was my kid, too.” Too late, he realized he’d put his hand over his rose tattoo. “You took that away from me.”

  “And be stuck with you for the rest of my life?” She looked mad enough to spit bullets, but then everything about her changed again and he supposed she was trying to look warm and inviting. It didn’t work. “I never thought you’d make it this far, that’s for damn sure. If I had, well…” She pivoted and took in the shop. “I’m impressed. Truly.”

  This was about money, he realized. She saw that he had some and felt entitled to a share, all because he’d gotten her pregnant a long time ago. “How much?”

  She smirked. “Never were one to beat around the bush, were you? Although I do recall you punching some walls.”

  “How much? That’s what you want, isn’t it?” He’d figured her out. She wanted a payoff or she’d tell everyone what she’d done seventeen years ago—but she’d make it sound like his fault.

  He didn’t like that smile, not one bit—because it said that he’d hit the nail on the head. “I didn’t want it to go like this. I tried to buy you at that auction, see if we could rekindle the spark.”

  “See if you could get on the show.”

  She wiped a manicured finger down the side of her mouth, as if she’d tasted something spoiled. “Look at you, catching on so quickly. Maybe I didn’t give you enough credit.”

  “How much to never see you again?” Because right now, that’s what he wanted more than anything else in the world.

  “Fine. Have it your way. Fifty thousand dollars.”

  His mouth fell open. So this was what blackmail felt like. This was exactly why he was never comfortable with money in the first place—as soon as you had some, people came out of the woodwork, looking for ways to take their cut.

  He never should have let Bobby put him in front of a camera.

  She waved her hand around. “Come on—what’s the problem? Some of your bikes go for more than thirty thousand. Just build a couple more and sell them.”

  “It doesn’t work like that. All that money is tied up—locked up tight.” Hell, if he were able to start cutting checks for fifty grand, he’d have just written one to Jenny’s school.

  Disappointment flashed over her face, but it was buried beneath a predatory glare. “I wanted to keep this between us, Billy. I tried to buy you with every last dollar I had. I didn’t want it to come to this. But I need the money.” For a quick moment, she looked scared—and tired. But then it was gone. “And if you won’t give it to me, well, there are other people who’ll pay for a good scoop.”

  He needed Bobby here to negotiate—because that’s what this was, a negotiation. But he was on his own. “You wouldn’t.”

  “I would. Oh, not right away—I’d let the show get started, let you get more exposure—then the online gossip sites of the world would be willing to fork over a pretty penny for the whole story. Think of the headline—Biker Reality Star Abandoned Pregnant Teen Girlfriend.” She waved her hands in front of her face as if she were seeing the title in lights. “I’ve heard that the head of your new cable network is a real stickler for conservative values. It’d be a damn shame to get your new show canceled after only a few episodes.”

  A part of him was tempted to let her go right ahead and do that—get it over with. But he knew that, even if the show got canceled, it wouldn’t be the end of it. Tabloid stories fed on other tabloid stories. The show would go away, but he’d never have a moment’s peace.

  Ashley said as much. “Just think—once they get their claws in you? How many women have you slept with, Billy? How many of them would share all the details to get their picture in a magazine? I’m doing you a favor here—offering you a clean break with none of the photographers hiding out in your bushes.”

  He knew she was right. He also knew that later, he was going to punch Bobby. If his brother hadn’t put Billy on camera, none of this would have happened.

  Ashley must have interpreted his silence as disagreement. “You got me pregnant, Billy.” The hard edges melted and she looked ten—no, seventeen—years younger. “You freaked out, punched a wall and disappeared for days. What was I supposed to do? I was scared, and my parents…well, they never trusted me again. Mom sends me birthday cards, but we don’t really talk.” She cleared her throat, and Billy could tell she was on the verge of tears. “So I ended it. I had to. And I couldn’t stand to face you. I know I said some horrible things, but I was upset and in pain and I…I didn’t want to be t
he reason my dad didn’t love me anymore. That meant you had to be.”

  “You should have trusted me. I would have taken care of you.”

  She shook her head, blinking hard. “We were so young. Couldn’t take care of ourselves, much less a baby. I don’t want to ruin your life, Billy—not any more than mine’s already been ruined. I just need the money, then you’ll never have to see me again. I promise,” she added, sounding like she meant it.

  The guilt was so heavy that Billy felt his shoulders bowing under it. She was right, damn it all. He’d scared her, then left her all alone. If he’d only…well, no amount of what-ifs were going to change the past. He’d been a jerk. If this was how he had to atone for his sins, so be it. Then he could let go of her and the lost baby.

  He needed to let go. And then the rest of his life could be for Jenny and the kid she’d kept.

  “Okay.”

  “Really?”

  He stood and motioned her back to the waiting room. He didn’t have any checks, but Ben did, up in his office. He wanted to get one written and get Ashley out the door before Jenny got here.

  Lance was sitting at the desk, looking nervous. “Stay here,” Billy told Ashley. “And don’t let her talk to anyone,” he added. Especially not Jenny.

  He took the stairs to Ben’s office two at a time and fumbled his key into the lock. Ben had some computer program that generated checks for the guys. When he’d started using this system, he’d walked Billy through it in case Ben couldn’t be there to make payroll.

  That had been three years ago—and Ben always made it to work on payday.

  Frantic, Billy struggled to get the computer on and find the program. The whole process felt like it was taking hours. Finally, he got the program open and typed out Ashley’s information. He had to assume her last name was still the same.

  Fifty thousand dollars. Ben was going to kill him for taking this out of the company funds. Hell, the whole family was going to take turns beating the hell out of him. He’d pay the company back, of course, but there wouldn’t be any way to hide this from them. As long as it stayed in the family, though…