If I were smart, I would walk away. Hell, I might have to move away. I should wash my hands of her, once and for all.
Immediately, the thought of what to do with those clean hands turned into a vision of exploring Claire's hot little body. Taking my time. Making her squeal with pleasure.
Making her beg me to do all kinds of filthy, naughty things to her.
Of course, I'd have to get past her defenses first. And the prickly little miss had NORAD level defenses. If I hadn’t seen the few missing links in her armor, I might not have known she was feeling it, too.
I’d never bothered to try to get a woman before. And I’d never smelled danger like this before. Not even overseas.
But those eyes, man. Jesus. Huge, thick lashes, bright blue stars throwing daggers at me. And the color. I'd never seen anything like it. Beauty wasn't everything, though. The girl might be as smart as a whip, but she was also as cantankerous as a mule.
She certainly didn't care for me. She clearly did not approve of the outlaw biker lifestyle. No matter what the sight of that tight little body was making me want to do to her. With her. But I never messed around with girls that innocent, educated or not. No matter if I knew the sex would be explosive.
She had no idea the filthy things I wanted to do to her. The girl would flip a switch if she had even a hint of the images going through my mind. Come to think of it, I would like to watch her pop off. She’d been holding back for her granny’s sake. I’d love to see her really let loose.
I grinned to myself and bit into a muffin.
Yes, sex with Claire would definitely be explosive, and not necessarily in a good way. The girl would probably try to kill me if I laid a hand on her. But then, after I'd gentled her with a couple of mind bending orgasms, then she'd unleash that passion on my body.
And then she'd really kill me.
I took another muffin from the tray and inhaled.
To hell with it. I wanted her. I was going to get her. My mind was made up. It would probably be worth the claw marks and banshee level screams once I got her in the sack. I heard her slam her door. Hard.
It would definitely be worth it.
That was it. It was a done deal. Little Miss Claire would soon be mine.
Chapter Six
Claire
I lifted my head from my book. I'd dozed off again while studying. A little stickiness on the side of my mouth told me I'd been drooling.
Nice, Claire. That’s attractive.
I stood and stretched, grabbing my hoodie. A walk around the block would do me good. Fresh air was all I needed.
I stepped outside into the cool spring day and stopped in my tracks.
A vision straight out of hell greeted my eyes. Or heaven, depending on who you asked. I was sure a lot of women would drool over his tall muscular frame, chiseled good looks, long hair, and tattoos. I, however, was not one of those women.
Hunter. In the flesh. And what a lot of flesh it was.
Fantastic. Of course, he was outside again. Hunter was on his back under his bike with tools spread out around him. He still managed to notice me immediately.
Boy, did he ever.
The man did have a pretty nice set of bedroom eyes. Even I had to admit that. The kind of eyes that made it clear that any time spent in his bed would not be lying down. Not for long, anyway.
A shiver went through me straight to my you-know-what.
I tossed my hair and walked past him, ignoring the heated look he was giving me. Scratch that. The look he was giving my legs.
Jesus.
Did he have to look at me like I was something good to eat? I’d never imagined what it would be like to be a filet mignon. Of course, now I didn’t have to imagine it. I knew. Worse than that, did he have to look like he was starving?
Not for food. For me.
It might be flattering coming from anyone who was not a dirtbag criminal!
I tossed my head and ignored him. I was outside to go for a walk. So that was what I would do. Mr. Bedroom Eyes could eat my dust.
We'd been playing this little game for over a week now, ever since the day I'd first come home. He would stare at me lasciviously. I would ignore him.
And every night, I'd lie awake with my body feeling like it was on fire. I would toss and turn till dawn, trying not to imagine what would happen if I said yes . . . and that was just from his eyes.
I wondered what his hands would do to me. Or his mouth. Or his . . .
I shook myself mentally and focused on where I was walking. It was a nice quiet day. In fact, they were all nice, quiet days. Even quieter than things had been before Hunter moved next door.
Other than the occasional revving of his motor, the man was pretty much an ideal neighbor. At least in terms of quiet. And he was doing plenty to fix up his house, and Gran’s along with it.
Gran said there was something about having him around that made the rest of the neighborhood behave a little better.
It suddenly occurred to me that if that was true, maybe I was being too hard on him. He might have some redeemable qualities after all. He’d done a lot more than fix Gran’s squeaky front door, from what she had told me. So, he wasn’t a completely horrible person. Other than the fact that he clearly wanted to take me to ‘pound town’, as my friends from college liked to call it.
Jesus, what was wrong with me? Even my thoughts were full of innuendo. I’d been having naughty thoughts all week. I did not like it. I needed to focus on studying and getting a damned job, not getting serviced by the stud next door!
Get a grip, girl. He's just forbidden fruit. Fruit that you do not want a taste of!
I turned up my music and walked faster. I was not going down that road. If I ever gave in, I’d have to deal with his smug face right next door. And that stream of pretty women Gran had mentioned.
No, thank you! I will not be another notch on that man’s belt. No way, no day. I have too much self-respect for that.
I hope I do, anyway.
There's a reason they call them bad boys, I reminded myself. They were bad for you no matter how good they looked. Just because something was off limits, didn’t mean it was worth the risk.
I wanted to run into the house when I came back around the block. I forced myself to walk slowly. To act like I didn’t feel his eyes on me. To ignore the still and silent man completely as he stood and slowly wiped the grease from one of his tools, his eyes never straying from my face, the curve of my hips, my legs.
I could feel those eyes against my bare skin for the rest of the night.
Chapter Seven
Hunter
I put the cap back on the oil gauge, which I'd checked for the tenth time this month. I loved my ride, but now I was working on my side piece while Jaken dealt with Lady. This was getting ridiculous. All the same, I had my reasons for the overzealous maintenance.
Hell, I needed a reason for hanging around in my front yard. I’d already painted the outside of the house and pulled out all the overgrown bushes. I’d replanted shrubs along the side of the house and put down landscaping fabric covered in mulch. I was spending as much time as possible outside for my own nefarious reasons.
It was all just an excuse to see her. The gorgeous girl next door who had somehow wiggled her tight little ass under my skin. I was obsessed. I hadn’t felt like this about a woman in my life. I hadn't stopped thinking about her since that day in the kitchen.