Southern Shifters: Stick Shifter (Kindle Worlds Novella)

by Moxie North

  Sliding on his jacket, helmet, and gloves, he straddled his bike and started it. The vibration and rumbling purr soothed his cat. They liked the power of the bike; it was like running and thrilled both man and animal. Better than the anticipation of the ride was the fact he was going to get his mate.

  Delaney had braided and re-braided her hair twice and debated makeup or no makeup. She had been too nervous to eat once she woke up. Sipping a glass of water was the best she could do along with a few antacids. She stood in front of a full-length mirror, turning one way then the other, checking for lumps in her white leather jumpsuit.

  The suit had been an impulse purchase when she’d saved up enough money for her Ninja. The bike was white and perfect and the motorcycle she’d always wanted. The kid that had talked his parents into buying it originally had only ridden it once before he scared the shit out of himself attempting Highway 129 for his first ride. Amateur. Delaney had gotten a sweet deal on it and had christened her new ride Lilly when she got her home. She’d saved so much money on the bike that she’d splurged on the all white jumpsuit with matching white helmet. The helmet had two green racing stripes to match the green pinstripe on the tank of her bike. It was subtle and just a tiny bit feminine.

  Delaney knew that she could do anything a man could do; hell she was the best mechanic around. That didn’t mean she couldn’t look pretty doing it. Now she was feeling a tad self-conscious in her jumpsuit. What would Will think? Would he like it? White was a daring choice. Granted she had been feeling very saucy when she bought it. Now she wished it was black. Black could hide the wide hips and the little bump on her belly that was completely due to her love of jelly donuts. She refused to give them up, therefore living with her Buddha belly was something she had come to terms with.

  “Delaney Jane, you have no other option. Go downstairs, wait for him, have your ride and enjoy the day. Maybe there will be a little making out to look forward to,” she said out loud, trying to cheer herself up.

  She decided after a night of fitful sleep that was full of sexy dreams about William Klein, a little fun wouldn’t hurt. There was a great spot they could look out over Fontana Dam and if she gave him the “look,” she was sure to get a kiss. If she played her cards right, she might get a little nookie before the gorgeous man drove off into the sunset.

  “Into the fray, Delaney Jane.”

  One last look at her butt and she shook her head knowing there was no way to ride without her suit. Closing the door, she turned her face up to the sun, letting the rays soak into her skin. One of her favorite things about living in the mountains was that with all the tree cover near the shop, the sun filtered through the leaves providing a pleasant bit of shade. She could feel the breeze trading with the heat of the sun. It made her soul lighten whenever she took a moment to appreciate where she lived.

  Giving up the moment, she skipped down the steps and came around the front of the building. She half expected to see William already waiting for her, but the front drive was empty.

  Heading into the office, she found her dad sitting with his feet propped on the desk reading a newspaper.

  “Dad, what are you doing here?”

  The paper dropped a few inches and her father stared over the top. His eyes scanned up and down her frame.

  “I’m manning the shop. It appears you aren’t going to be here today. Going for a ride?”

  “Yes, that guy with the Mini? William Klein? He’s taking me out.” Delaney felt a funny sense of guilt that made no sense as she told her dad she had sort of a date.

  Ray folded the paper on the desk and looked at her with one of those hard fatherly looks. “I don’t want you to see him. He’s not the right man for you. There are things about him that would make a relationship with him more trouble than its worth.”

  Delaney scoffed, “How would you know? You met him once.”

  “Trust me; I know this type of guy. He’s complicated and he could put you in danger. There are lots of boys around here that have shown interest. Why not one of them?”

  Delaney could see part of her father’s dislike of Will was the fact that he lived so far away. The other reason for not liking him she didn’t get.

  “Because none of them have ever made me feel the way he did the first time I met him. I like him, Dad. He’s nice to me, he listens to me, like really listens. He doesn’t think my job is weird and we have tons in common. Granted, we haven’t gotten to all possible topics, but we still get along really well. I appreciate your concern and your fatherly warning, but I’m going for a ride with Will and that’s all we have planned today. No reason to get your undies in a twist.”

  “Don’t wear undies and you know it. Just be careful and don’t leap before you look. Promise?”

  “Scout’s honor,” Delaney said, throwing up her salute.

  “Girls can’t be scouts,” her father grumbled while he picked his paper up and shook it out.

  Shaking her head, she opened the door to the bay and walked to the back. Her bike was under a cover in one of the storage rooms off the back. Pulling off the cover, she unveiled her beauty.

  As she wheeled her baby out into the sunlight, she saw someone from the corner of her eye. A woman, tall, brash, wearing the highest heels she’d ever seen. The woman was dressed more for a nightclub than for her garage.

  Dropping the kickstand, Delaney turned to the woman and shielded her eyes. “Can I help you?”

  The woman looked her up and down and gave a smirk. “I’m here to meet my Will. I was sure he’d be here picking up his car. He promised me a ride today. In more ways than one, if you know what I mean.” The woman said this with a joyful glee that held just a smidge of venom.

  “Well, I don’t usually discuss clients with strangers. You can wait if you’d like, but I plan on leaving soon. There are no pick-ups scheduled today.” Delaney did not want this woman hanging around her shop. As for her claim on Will, well that wasn’t something she was sure about. She really didn’t know the man that seemed so interested in her. For all she knew he was attached to this other woman somehow.

  “Well, I’ll just stay if you don’t mind, of course,” the stranger purred.

  Chapter Twelve

  Deciding she didn’t have much choice, she took up a casual pose against her bike with her arms crossed. If Will was seeing someone else, she’d be damned if she showed it affected her. Hopefully, he would have a good explanation when he showed up. Delaney didn’t have to wait long before she heard the rumble of a bike coming down the road.

  What she had imagined didn’t do any justice to the sight before her. His strong body was encased in black leathers, and his red bike growled under him. Delaney couldn’t help her body’s response to the sexy image that pulled up next to her bike. The man had her pussy clenching just watching him slickly maneuver his ride. He looked like a hungry panther prowling towards her. It made her think of what he would look like prowling towards her in the bedroom.

  Pushing the thought away, she tried to control her breathing as he kicked down the stand and leaned the bike to its side. She was coaching herself to breath normally as he pulled off his helmet. How that man didn’t have helmet hair was beyond her. Instead, he looked more delectable than she remembered.

  Once he swung off his bike, he set his helmet down and pulled off his gloves. He strode over to her and gave her a smile that was brighter than the sun. His smile faded as his gaze traveled over to the woman who was trotting towards him in her heels.

  “Willy! I’m so glad I caught you. I was just telling this person that I was here to get a ride from you. I didn’t think I’d be riding on your bike. This is going to be fun!”

  Will couldn’t help but look at Sybil like she was insane. His cat was telling him that whatever had transpired between Sybil and Delaney was something he needed to rectify and fast.

  “I don’t remember mentioning any kind of ride with you today or any day, Sybil. As you can see, I’m here to ride with Delaney today. I
’m sorry you didn’t ask before showing up, but I’m clearly unavailable to you.”

  Sybil flicked her gaze between Will and Delaney. She didn’t like being turned down in front of another woman.

  “I could have sworn you mentioned taking me for a long ride, Will,” she said trying to sound seductive.

  Will let out a snort. He folded his arms across his chest. “Sybil, when have I ever given you the impression I was interested? I’m thinking you heard about Delaney from Artie and thought you had to come over here and try to claim turf that never belonged to you. I’ll make this easy for you. See that woman over there?” he said, pointing to Delaney. “That is the woman I am interested in. I would go so far as to say that is the woman I have chosen. I would never look at another woman when I can look at her. I’m not interested in you, and I never was. We could have avoided this ugliness if you’d listened to me the first time. Now, I suggest you head back to your room and think about setting your sights on someone that can appreciate your… attributes.”

  “William Klein, you’re a dick!” Sybil snarled at him.

  “Maybe, but I’m honest. Try it sometime. You might get a better response from a man you’re interested in.”

  Will’s dismissal made Sybil seethe. She turned and bobbled on her shoes before stomping away to her car. She slammed the door when she got inside and revved the engine. She spun out in a spray of smoke and gravel, leaving Will and Delaney staring after her.

  “Well, that was enlightening,” Delaney mused. She couldn’t help but feel fan-freaking-tastic that this man had told off white trash Barbie for her. She was feeling pretty puffed up at his words.

  Will moved towards her and didn’t stop until his feet were straddling her legs that were crossed at the ankles.

  “Good morning, beautiful.” This was followed with him cupping her jaw and placing a closed mouth, but freaking hot, kiss on her lips.

  Delaney froze when he’d started to approach. His proximity took her breath away. The kiss wasn’t even something she could have anticipated after the uncomfortable conversation with that woman. Morning kisses were for people that had been dating casually at least for a week. One day and a picnic didn’t usually qualify for kisses and cuddles territory.

  When he pulled away, his smile was soft and crazy sweet.

  “What the hell was that?” Delaney was trying to get her brain to kickstart. She should have smacked him or at least pretended to be offended. Sadly for her, even with a closed mouth, it was a good kiss. He smelled so good, and her mind was a big pile of cuddly bunnies. Just a fluffy happy bunch of joy in a big mound of soft furry bunnies.

  “That was a good morning kiss, Monkey.” Will kept his hands on her face as he gazed into her cute confused upturned face.

  “Monkey?”

  “Yeah, like grease monkey. You don’t like it? I could use kitten, princess, turtledove…”

  “Turtledove? What is this, eighteen fifty-three? You’re one of those nickname guys, aren’t you? You probably call your employees pal, skipper, and big guy, don’t you?”

  Will paused and let his eyes tip up as he thought about it. His smile got bigger as he looked back at her. “That is only partly true. I only make up nicknames for people I like. Pretty much if I don’t like you, I’ll call you by your name formally. The arrogant aquarium guy that likes to make appointments with me to talk about algae? I call him Mr. Thompson. Never would I throw him a buddy or a slick. Nope, that dick is Mr. Thompson. You, on the other hand, are my cute little monkey. Unless it offends you. There are other names that might get thrown in occasionally. We’ll see how it goes.”

  “See how it goes? How what goes?” Delaney was trying to remember her plan of making all the calls today. That was out the window. Now it seemed like she was thinking a weekend with the cute, rich tourist was looking pretty insignificant compared to what he had planned.

  “Will, how do I say this without coming off like a tramp…” She took a breath and continued, “I’m cool spending time with you this week. I get all the conditions that come along with it. I’m a big girl. I’m not naïve. We can have a good time, and maybe next year when you come back, we can, uh…hook back up?”

  Delaney ended her little speech with much more of a question than she had planned. Worse she expected, well, she wasn’t sure what she expected from Will. The indulgent smile was not one of the options she’d predicted. In her mind, she was going to be all casual and tell him it was totally fine to have a fling with her. She was a big girl and could go with it. He was supposed to give her a “sweet, you’re so cool. Let’s totally have a hot few nights together. I’ll go back to my ritzy life and never think of you again.” Or something like that.

  “Oh, Monkey. You’re a riot. This isn’t a hookup.” He moved his hands from her face to pull her hands into his.

  “It’s not?”

  Bringing her hands to his mouth, he placed a kiss on the back of each hand. “Nope, I don’t do hookups. In fact, I’ve never had a one-night stand, and I’m not about to start now. Let’s go for a ride, and I’ll explain things to you.”

  “You’ll explain things? This isn’t a hookup?” Delaney knew she was just parroting back to him what he was saying, but it was the best she could do.

  “Delaney Jane Owens, you are a lady. You deserve better than a quick fling.”

  “Really? You make a fling sound bad. I think it is a healthy way to burn off some frustration without having to, you know, pretend to be in a relationship just to get a little action.” Great, now she was making herself out to sound like a trampy backwoods slut.

  Will tilted his head to the side giving her a smirk. “I’m not judging the idea of hooking up. I’m merely saying that is not what this is. I don’t plan on hooking up with you, having a fling with you, or anything else so short term. Strip you bare and make long hard love to you, yes. But that will not be a onetime event over in an evening.”

  “You realize that I’m totally lost with this,” she said, urging him to see she was not on the same page as him.

  “That’s okay. I can lead you in the right direction.”

  His words were loaded with unsaid nuances that Delaney was sure had deeper meaning for him.

  “I don’t need to be led anywhere. I’ve been managing just fine on my own for a number of years now,” Delaney said, her pride finally piping up.

  “I get that. Looks to me you’ve been running your dad’s business for quite some time. Doing a good job at it too. Your personal life, well I don’t really care to know too much about that. I don’t care about the past. I only care about your future. Your time is precious to me. It’s not lost on me that you might not get my meaning. I’m telling you that I will help you understand. You aren’t a hookup, a one-night stand, or anything like it. I’m declaring right here and now that you are more important than that to me, and I’ll be treating you that way. I can’t hedge around it, and I won’t. It will make more sense to you by this evening, and we can move forward from there.”

  It was Delaney’s turn to tilt her head to the side in confusion. She started shaking her head no, not that she wasn’t agreeing with him, because she didn’t understand it to say a firm no. Her shaking head was just her way of showing him that that his words were heard but not understood.

  “Come on, Monkey. How about you show me what that pretty bike of yours can do?”

  That earned him an affirmative head nod. He gave the tip of her nose a quick kiss then reached for her helmet. He helped her on with it even though she probably didn’t need his help. His cougar wanted to make sure the safety equipment was on appropriately, and it was something they didn’t need to worry about.

  It also helped him focus on calming himself down so he could keep his attention on maneuvering his powerful machine through some very dangerous curves.

  Thinking about curves made him want to groan. As he had pulled up to the shop, the vision in white leaning against her motorcycle was hands down the sexiest thing he had ev
er seen. It was better than any hot rod pin-up or swimsuit edition of a magazine. She was leaning casually against her white Ninja, wrapped in a white leather one piece that hugged every curve and slope of her body. The only thing that saved Will from stepping off the bike with a raging erection was the fact that the bike usually numbed out that region of his body from the vibrations.

  Now that he was off the bike, he just hoped she didn’t notice he was sporting a serious hard-on. He hadn’t planned the kiss either. That was pure reaction to seeing her look so fucking amazing. His cougar and himself for that matter were proud as hell that their mate was so hot. Sure it was a little superficial, but Will guessed that no matter what his mate had looked like, he would have thought she was the most beautiful girl in the world anyway. He was just lucky she actually was.

  Making sure her gloves were tight over her hands, he stepped back so she could swing her leg over her bike. She started it and revved the engine a bit before turning to him and cocking her helmeted head to the side. The visor was still open, so he could see her cute little raised eyebrow.

  Giving her a dashing smile, he returned to his own ride and pulled his helmet and gloves on. He was anticipating the moment she leaned over and put her bike in gear. He was guessing it was going to be a burned in memory for him, and he didn’t want to miss it.

  He was right.

  Delaney kicked the bike into first and leaned over the tank to ride out to the road. The action of leaning over stretched that white leather over her ample ass, and Will was grateful he could let out the growling moan, and she couldn’t hear it. That ass was his now, and he was going to buy her leathers in every color so he’d have a rainbow of memories of that sweet ass leaning over her bike. Maybe some pictures too; he knew the best photographer in Vegas. He could just imagine a life size picture of her on the bike above their bed.