His grin was like daylight. “Really?”
She giggled. “Yeah. What time are you going? I’ll have Shelby meet me over here.”
“I think we’re heading out around eleven. We can come and get you then. Your sister can ride with Jack or Troy, whoever she wants.”
“This Troy guy has a Harley?”
He nodded.
“Yeah, she’ll go with him. I don’t think she’d be caught dead on a sports bike.” She gave him what she hoped was a beguiling smile. “Does that mean I have to ride with your brother?”
He snorted. “Um, no. You’ll ride with me. Of course.”
She laughed softly. “Of course. What was I thinking?”
Jackson came back into the room then, shooting his brother a perplexed expression. “I think it’s all figured out now,” he said to Gina. “I’m really sorry about the inconvenience.”
She shrugged and glanced back up at Hayden with a smile. “It’s no inconvenience.” There was a sparkle in his eye that she liked.
“All right, well, I’m pretty sure we won’t be bothering you again tonight, ma’am. Thank you for your cooperation.” He grabbed Hayden’s arm and started to haul him out after him.
“See you tomorrow,” Hayden called over his shoulder with a wink.
Gina waved. Outside, as the two men rounded the corner, she could hear Jackson say, “Dude, did you seriously just pick up a chick?”
“Yeah, and?” came Hayden’s response.
“Were…her lips…like purple?”
“Her lips were fine. I don’t care what color they were. Go do your job.”
She laughed and couldn’t help the feeling of giddy elation that passed through her. Her day had sucked so famously and, somehow, had turned out not so terrible after all.
She grabbed her phone and started to dial her poor mom back as she made her way into her bathroom for the third time. While the phone rang, she glanced at her reflection in the mirror and heaved a sigh. Her dark brown hair was a tangled mess and she looked really tired. And, yes, her lips and teeth really were tinged with purple.
Chapter Three
“So, is this Troy dude hot?” Shelby asked as she doused herself in about a gallon of perfume.
“How should I know? I never saw him. And, crap.” She snapped her fingers in an exaggerated fashion. “I totally forgot to get his criminal record while I was being picked up in my living room by a random stranger.”
Shelby shot Gina a scowl and Gina giggled. It was a long-standing joke between her and her sister that Shelby only went after guys who were alcoholics or felons.
Shelby bent over and dangled her long, dark blonde hair upside-down while she cemented its curls in place with about a pound of hairspray. Gina frowned. “Did you seriously have a can of hairspray in your purse?”
Shelby righted herself and gave Gina an expression that said, Well, duh. “Gina, how long have you known me now? Oh right, since birth?” She stuffed her hairspray back into the black hole she called a designer bag. She fluffed her hair a bit and made sure her clothing was in place. For all the motorcycle-riding, football-loving, jeans and T-shirt wearing, beer drinking ways of her sister, Shelby was the girliest tomboy Gina had ever known. She was the only person who could belch the alphabet and light a fart on fire one second, then take a twenty-minute shower, slather every inch of her body with some froofy-smelling lotion and go get a manicure in her favorite pair of Christian Louboutins. She was an enigma Gina doubted she would ever figure out, but she loved her.
“I can’t believe you picked a biker up in your living room while his brother raided your neighbor,” Shelby said.
Gina snorted. “After the day I had, I’m actually not that surprised. So, everything is still a go for Fort Bragg?”
Shelby nodded. “Adam said my brakes are good to go now and the car is back in shape for a road trip.”
“Awesome. At least one of us has a functioning vehicle. I was afraid our vacation was gonna bite it.”
Shelby rolled her green eyes. “Wouldn’t that just be our luck? Seriously, why does fire and brimstone rain down every single time we try to take a vacation?”
It was true. They had survived flat tires, transmission problems, cats with worms, flesh-eating mosquitoes, criminals on the loose, panic attacks, pissy friends, irate lesbians, bleeding feet, bad directions, less than hospitable weather, and drama untold. Aside from a zombie apocalypse, they had practically seen it all.
Gina shrugged. “Beats me. Makes for good stories, though.”
A knock sounded on Gina’s door and they both jumped, then tried to fly out the bedroom door at the same time. They bumped into each other and Gina scowled. “Dude, get out of the way,” she said, giving her sister a shove.
“Potentially cute boy!” Shelby shouted.
Gina rolled her eyes, escaped past her overbearing sister, and got to the door only seconds before Shelby caught up. Before she opened it, she paused and turned back to her sister.
Shelby raised an eyebrow. “What?”
Gina looked down at the ensemble she had chosen to wear. She looked a bit more rock star than biker in a black tank that had a guitar with wings on it, jeans, and black leather wristbands on her right arm. Her dark hair was pulled back into a braid—practical for motorcycle riding. “Do I look okay?”
“You look fine.”
Gina glanced over what Shelby was wearing and made an annoyed noise in her throat.
“What?”
“What? Gimme a break, Shelby. Look at you.” She was in a pair of hip-hugger jeans that were practically glued to her butt and had her boobs stuffed into a leather biker vest, and only a leather biker vest, showing off her half-sleeve tattoo full of colorful butterflies.
“What?” Shelby repeated, looking over herself.
“Well, I guess I shouldn’t care what I’m wearing. As soon as I open the door, everybody’s gonna be staring at you. Your Jupiter-sized ta-tas are practically oozing out of that thing. How’d you even get them in there?”
Shelby gasped and put her hands over her breasts. “Don’t be mean!”
Gina raised an eyebrow and shrugged. “I’m not being mean. I’m stating a fact. If one of those puppies breaks free, someone’s gonna lose an eye.”
“Now you really are being mean! At least I have boobs and not two bug bites masquerading as boobs.”
Now it was her turn to gasp. She covered her breasts the same way Shelby had done in an affronted gesture. She narrowed her eyes. “That was below the belt. More than a handful is a waste.”
“Well then you’d better hope the dude has small hands. And you know what they say about small hands.”
“That’s fine ‘cause you only like guys with small brains.”
Shelby huffed and folded her arms. “Really? Come on, Gina! You’re always getting hit on, and guys have moved from out of state to come date you! This is my favorite time of year when I feel like I can really be myself, and you’re gonna rag on me for it?”
Gina held her arms out to the sides. “All I’m saying is that I may as well just go put on a burlap sack. My date isn’t gonna even notice me once you come into his line of sight. I don’t know why I bothered at all, and seriously, how practical is that outfit? If you wreck, your tattoo is going to be scraped off by the asphalt.”
Shelby gasped again, louder than before, and she hit Gina in the arm. “Why would you even say something like that? Take it back! Erase, erase, erase!”
Gina fought a smirk at her sister’s usage of one of their childhood games.
“Why are you freaking out? You look fine,” Shelby continued. “Besides, you already tried to spear the guy and he asked you out anyway. Just open the door.”
“But—”
“Open the door!”
Gina made a growling noise in her throat and spun to obey. Three bewildered-looking men stood on the other side. One was Hayden, looking all too mouth-watering in his leather jacket and jeans. He had on a necklace that looked N
ative American in design and it lent him an even more roguish, bad-boy appearance. Gina’s heart did some kind of twitterpated dance.
She opened the screen door and smiled at them. “Hey, guys, this is my sister Shelby.”
Hayden shook Shelby’s hand. “I’m Hayden, this is Troy.” He pointed to the guy on his left―tall, muscular arms, with a buzz cut and a shaggy kind of heavy metal goatee. He looked tough as nails. Right up Shelby’s alley. “And this is my brother Jackson.”
Shelby’s ears perked at that. “Jackson? Like, on Sons of Anarachy? Do people call you Jax?”
Jackson wasn’t paying much attention to any of the conversation. His eyes were too glued to Shelby’s cleavage.
Hayden frowned. “Jackson.” He snapped his fingers in front of his all but drooling brother’s face. “Jack!”
Jackson shook himself and looked up at Shelby with something close to worship in his eyes. “Hi, I’m Jackson.” He grasped blindly for her hand.
“Right, we covered this,” she said, but took his hand and shook it anyway.
“We usually call him Jack,” Hayden supplied. “I don’t think he’s ever watched Sons of Anarchy.”
Gina shrugged. “That’s okay, neither have I.” It was Shelby’s favorite TV show, all about a biker gang. The lead character was her “future-baby-daddy,” as she referred to him. Too bad the actor didn’t know that.
“Are you going to ride with me?” Jackson asked.
“Jack, the girl wants to ride on a motorcycle, not on your toy bike,” Hayden nettled.
Jackson bristled. “How about I give you a ride down to the station?” He shot his brother a scathing glower. “I’m sure I could come up with some fake charge for them to hold you on.”
Hayden raised an eyebrow and folded his arms. “Yeah? Try it and I’ll tell your captain about your Keystone Cops routine last night.”
Jackson’s average-handsome face flushed with color and he averted his gaze to the ground while Shelby sidled over to Troy. Hayden chuckled and bent toward Gina’s ear as she exited her apartment and locked the door. “You look wonderful,” he practically purred. “And for the record, those are definitely not bug bites, and more than a handful is a waste.”
Gina’s eyes widened and she looked up into his playful blue eyes. “You guys heard all of that?”
He chuckled, causing his dimple to deepen. “Every word.”
She groaned and heat flooded her face. “I should just ride with Jackson. We’re probably the exact same shade of red.”
“Close,” he said with soft, sexy laughter. “And his bike is red, too. Fitting. So…looks like your sister likes my friend.”
Gina watched as Shelby engaged in an advanced level of flirting with Troy while Jackson kept inserting himself into the conversation and trying to inch closer to her. The poor guy looked rather out of place in his long-sleeved, button-down shirt and blue jeans. Even the hole in the knee looked strategically placed. Why in the world was he wearing long sleeves in the first place? It was supposed to be somewhere around eighty degrees. And it was black, no less. She could understand Hayden and Troy’s leather gear. That was a statement. But Jackson’s wardrobe choice was lost on her. “Yeah…well, Troy is definitely her type,” she finally said. “Is he single?”
“I think so.”
“Criminal record?”
“I think he had a misdemeanor for failing to show up to a court date regarding a parking ticket.”
Gina shrugged. “I imagine that’ll be good enough for her.” At Hayden’s raised eyebrow, she giggled. “Long story. We ready to go?”
He nodded and clapped his hands. “Come on, girls, we’re burning daylight!” His brother shot him a glower, Shelby jumped up and down while declaring how excited she was, and Troy shifted his weight in this lazy, nonchalant movement, but he didn’t actually say anything.
Gina looked up at Hayden, who was smiling down at her.
“You ready?” he asked.
She loved the roguish twinkle in his eyes. “Ready as I’ll ever be.”
“Do you trust me?” His dimple deepened as he teased her.
She arched an eyebrow. “Strangely…yes.”
“Excellent.” He held his hand out to her while flashing her an irresistible smile. “Let’s ride.”
Chapter Four
Gina knew she’d enjoy riding on the back of a motorcycle. She had loved the freedom of the wind against her face and the feel of the sun on her skin when she’d ridden with her dad, but she hadn’t really anticipated how much different the experience would be riding behind Hayden. It was one thing to clutch onto her father while they zoomed around the Reno streets, but another thing entirely to wrap her arms around the waist of a completely hot man while twisting and turning up a rural, two-lane highway that slithered up a mountain. Especially when said man kept leaning back into her at every available moment.
She resisted the urge to rest her head on his shoulder for two reasons. Number one, she would miss the wild desert scenery going by. Number two, regardless of how attracted she was to Hayden—or how good he smelled—she wasn’t going to fawn all over him like she’d never seen a man before. So what if her heart was pounding at the virile, masculine nearness of him for the entire ride? He didn’t need to know that.
They arrived at Virginia City an hour or so later. The Old West-styled streets were lined with bikes, and men and women in leather and chaps could be seen in every direction. Gina climbed off Hayden’s bike and removed her helmet, attempting to smooth her hair so it didn’t look horrendous.
“We’re all gonna have helmet head,” Hayden said as he tossed out his own golden waves. “Don’t stress about it.” He flashed her a playful grin, then turned to Troy and Shelby, who were also dismounting. Jack came zipping in a few moments later.
“Finally, you get here,” Hayden nettled. “I thought you were supposed to be on the fast bike.”
Jackson pulled his helmet off and wiped the sweat from his forehead with the back of his sleeve. “Dude, did you even see those hairpin turns? I thought I was gonna go straight off the mountain and into a ravine.”
Shelby raised an eyebrow. Her hair was still immaculate despite the helmet—courtesy of the twenty tons of Aqua Net. “Has he been riding long?” she asked, aiming her question toward Hayden.
“No, I haven’t,” Jackson spat. He wiped his face again. “And what is it, like five hundred degrees? Oh my gosh, I’m baking.”
Hayden snorted. “You’re the Einstein who decided to wear a long-sleeved, black shirt. What is the matter with you?”
Jackson scowled, but remained silent.
“All right, I’m hungry,” Gina declared. “I barely had a breakfast.”
“I know a place that’s decent,” Troy finally said.
“Lead the way!” Shelby exclaimed. She fell into step with Troy, trying to engage him in more conversation, and Jackson trailed behind, trying to throw in his two cents, much like he had been doing back at the house.
Hayden sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “This should be interesting,” he said, glancing down at Gina. She laughed softly as they started after the others. “You know, I don’t really remember him being so silent.”
“When was the last time you saw him?” Gina asked.
“High school,” he replied with a chuckle.
“Oh, well that might explain it. Time changes everyone.” He frowned thoughtfully at her words and grew quiet. She wondered about that reaction, but didn’t press the issue.
They ate at a hole-in-the-wall restaurant where Hayden and Troy caught up a bit and Shelby tried in vain to catch Troy’s interest while Jackson tried in vain to catch Shelby’s. Gina had never seen anything quite like it outside of a high school and it started to give her a headache. She couldn’t figure out why her sister seemed so taken with Troy. He was shaping up to have the personality of a potato, and he spent most of lunch on his cell phone in some form or another. He claimed it was business-related, but Gina still th
ought it was kind of tacky.
And Jackson’s puppy eyes were almost as nauseating as the way Shelby kept overcompensating for the fact that Troy was ignoring her by being as loud as possible. Although, Troy’s eyes didn’t seem to be able to look at any other part of Shelby’s anatomy aside from her boobs so maybe her shouting at him was necessary.
All Gina knew was that when Shelby suggested they all take a train ride after lunch, she was all for it. Shelby could deal with her man-sandwich and Gina and Hayden could have some one-on-one conversation. As much as she hated to admit it, she was desperate for a bit of alone time with him. All through the meal, all she’d been able to think about was the heat resonating off of his body and the smell of his mouth-watering cologne that kept wafting her way and taunting her nose every time he moved or the waitress walked by and stirred the air.
They boarded the steam locomotive that took them from Virginia City to Gold Hill and back again, and the tour guide started to drone on about the history of the area. Gina already knew the history, having been born and raised in Reno. She’d gone to Virginia City and its outlying areas every year she was in school from sixth grade onward. Heck, she could probably give the tour herself. Silver, Comstock Lode, crusty old miners, yadda, yadda…
Hayden must have known all the facts also because he turned his attention to her instead of the guide. “So,” he said with a smile, “tell me about you.” He slipped his arm behind her to rest it along the back of the seat, and he turned slightly so that he could look at her without craning his neck.
Gina tried to seem nonchalant even while her heart tripped over itself at the sudden nearness of him. “What do you want to know?”
“Well, I know you collect medieval weapons, and try to stab unsuspecting people with them in the dark.”
She laughed. “That was so your fault.”
He chuckled. “Yeah, probably.” His gaze traveled over her face for a moment before a gentle smile settled on his sculpted lips. “What do you do for a living?”
“I’m a personal assistant for a bunch of very wealthy ladies.”
Ride a Rebel Wind Page 3
