Chapter One
Reva
“Barbara! Pssst! Get over here.”
Barbara raised her head to look at me but didn’t budge.
“Get over here right now,” I demanded. My tone was firm, and I meant business.
Barbara tipped her head to the side.
“Get your ass over here, Barbara. I am not playing with you anymore.” I didn't know what the hell had compelled her to go traipsing over there, but she needed to get her ass back over to me.
She stared at me for a second longer and then turned away.
“Hey!”
Oh, shit. I hung my head. This is what I was trying to avoid. Slinking around the backyard of the local motorcycle club was something I normally didn’t do. “This is all your fault, Barbara,” I grumbled.
“Who the hell are you talking to?”
I glanced over my shoulder. The low, intoxicating voice was attached to a tall, tattooed man with a black leather vest over a white t-shirt. His long legs were encased in a pair of light denim jeans with a hole in the right knee. Dark sunglasses covered his eyes, and his lips were turned down in a scowl. He was handsome. Too handsome.
“Uh, Barbara?” Apparently, I wasn’t too sure of my answer. Maybe because this wasn't how I pictured my day playing out.
I didn’t think it was possible, but he scowled even more. “There’s two of you back here?”
I peeked back over my shoulder at Barbara, who had moved further into the backyard. “Well, yeah.”
“You know this is private property, right?” He dropped his arms to his sides and moved toward me.
“Yeah.” I had figured that out when I pushed open the gate that had a large yellow sign with black block letters that boasted NO TRESPASSING.
“So you wanna tell me why you’re back here?” he grunted.
I hitched my thumb over my shoulder. “Barbara.”
“Is she drunk or something? Can’t read?” The guy stalked toward me.
I shrugged. “Uh, or something?” I turned back to Barbara and moved further into the backyard.
“That’s a dog.”
I glanced back at a tall, dark, and tattooed man. “Astute observation.”
Barbara lifted her head at the guy’s voice. She panted heavily and bound across the yard toward me. Finally.
She leapt into the air and landed squarely in the guy’s arms. “Oof,” he grunted. “What the hell?”
Maybe he wasn’t a dog person, but Barbara didn’t seem to care about that. “She likes you,” I said simply.
She licked his face wildly and panted.
“She thinks she’s a lap dog or something,” he grumbled.
That was the damn truth. Barbara was a standard size poodle who was spoiled rotten, and I swore she thought she was human. “I’ll take her. I was in the middle of dealing with Hopper when she ran out.”
This guy obviously hadn’t been too happy to find me in his backyard, so it was probably for the best to grab Barbara and run.
“You really named her Barbara?” he asked. He rubbed her head and actually gave her a half smile. Her tongue lolled off to the side, and she rested her head on his shoulder.
I scoffed and shook my head. “No.”
He quirked his eyebrow.
I sighed. “I own the groomers across the street. She’s supposed to be getting a cut and shampoo today.” I reached out and petted her head. “She obviously had other plans when she got dropped off.”
“Who the hell names their dog Barbara?” he scoffed.
“Uh, well, they always request she gets a cut that looks like Barbara Walters’ hair.” I cleared my throat. “It’s really uncanny how much she looks like her when I’m done with her.”
The guy busted out laughing.
Yeah, it was true. Barbara’s owners were a bit on the kooky side and didn’t care how crazy it seemed to not only call their dog Barbara, but to also give her a haircut that mimicked her namesake.
“Now that is something I’d like to see.” He shifted the dog in his arms, and Barbara sighed.
Yeah, girl. I’d be sighing too if I was lucky enough to be cuddled up to this guy.
“So, you need help taking her?”
I blinked. “Uh, who?”
“The dog.”
Oh, right. Barbara. I pulled out a leash from my back pocket. “Uh, I should be okay.” I reached out and hooked the end of the leash on her collar. “You can put her down.”
He bent over and set her paws on the ground. Barbara leapt up and about knocked the guy over trying to get back in his arms.
“I think you’ve got an admirer in Barbara.”
He pushed her down and petted her head. “She’s a good girl, aren’t you, Barbara?” he cooed to her.
I watched him fawn over the dog and smiled. Who would have thought the suave looking biker would be an animal whisperer? “Uh, well, we better get back to the shop, Barbara.” I tugged on her leash, but she didn’t budge.
Her tongue lolled out the side of her mouth, and she stared lovingly up at the guy. Totally smitten. Same, girl. Same. Three minutes with this guy and I was jealous of the dog he was petting.
He crouched down in front of her and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Time for you to go get your haircut, pretty girl.”
Ugh. Majorly swoon worthy.
Barbara whined and scooted closer to him. I was never going to her away from him at this rate.
“Come on, Barb. You can have a couple of cookies.”
She didn’t even glance at me. Normally, the word cookies sent Barbara into a tizzy, and she would do anything to get one.
Not today.
The guy stood and turned to me. He held out his hand and smiled. “I’m Hero, and I think you might be needing a little help here.”
I clumsily shook his hand. “Uh, I’m Reva.” I held onto his warm palm and kept yanking it up and down like it was a damn water pump. Up, down, up, down. I tried to wrap my head around his name. If his mother had named him that, it was one hell of a moniker to live up to.
Hero laughed and set his other hand on top of mine. “I think that’s good, Sunshine.”
I laughed nervously and extracted my hand from his. “Uh, sorry about that.” Apparently, touching the tanned, tattooed hottie turned me into an idiot. Lovely.
He grabbed the leash from my other hand. “I can walk her back over, if you want. I think that might work better.”
Barbara stared up adoringly at Hero. “She seems to have taken a liking to you.”
Hero shrugged and headed toward the gate he had left open. I followed behind sheepishly.
A laugh escaped my lips at the hilarity of Hero walking Barbara.
The biker and the poodle. Now if that wasn’t a lame title to a romance book, I didn’t know what was.
Hero opened the gate wider and held it for me. “Something funny?” he asked as I walked past. My shoulder brushed against his chest, and my heart kicked up a beat.
“Nope, nothing at all.” I smirked. I would keep that thought to myself. No way was I going to tell Hero that he looked slightly ridiculous and also sexy as hell with a poodle following his every step.
I led the way around the back of the clubhouse and onto the gravel driveway.
“How long have you worked at the groomers?” he asked.