The Dating Plan(74)
Daisy dodged the drifting cloud. “I’ll go check it out.”
“So what’s the deal with her?” Hamish took another drag of his cigarette as he opened the small door that secured the cash area. “Seems a little uptight. You sure she’s the one?”
“It’s complicated.”
Hamish made an amused noise. “Nothing complicated about getting a hot piece of ass on the back of your bike. Still waters run deep, my friend.” They joined Daisy beside a wall of leather jackets. Hamish grabbed a metal hook and lifted a jacket from the top row.
“Try it on.” He handed the jacket to Daisy. “See if it fits. Elbow, shoulder, and back armor are built in. If you don’t like the leather look, you can still get good protection with a GORE-TEX jacket with integrated armor, but I wouldn’t recommend it. My friend Chains bought his old lady a GORE-TEX jacket for a bike trip to Montana. He took a curve too sharp and they went straight down the side of mountain into a ravine. Chains was wearing leather and got off with a couple of broken bones, but his old lady . . .” He sucked in a rattling breath. “Jacket shredded like paper and her skin was sheared right off her. She paid for the skin grafts out of the divorce money.”
“I’ll take the leather.” Daisy pulled it on, her shoulders rounding with the unfamiliar weight.
“I knew you would.” He shot Liam an amused look. “Cool on the outside. Hot on the inside.” He reached for the zipper. “Just like you.”
Liam’s hackles rose, a surge of jealousy flooding his veins. What the fuck was wrong with him today? Hamish, twenty years older, with his shirt stained and his breath reeking of smoke, was hardly a threat, but some long dormant possessive instinct didn’t care.
With a soft growl he batted Hamish’s hand away and took over zipping up the jacket.
“This one has the most aggressive riding fit,” Hamish said, seemingly unaffected by Liam’s posturing. “It protects your spine and vital organs in the event of a crash. My friend Skeeter wore one of these. He was knocked off his bike by a transport truck, flew thirty feet through the air, landed in a ditch, and after three years of physical therapy he can now lift a hand to drink a beer. If he’d been wearing GORE-TEX, he would have had no arms left.”
“Do you actually sell anything with that pitch?” Daisy walked over to the mirror. “Or do most of your customers run away screaming?”
“Only the pussies.” Hamish handed her a pair of leather pants. “You’ll need these, too. They’ll protect your legs. I got this friend Wheels. He was pinned between two transport trucks. Doc said if he’d been wearing leathers, he might have had legs today . . .” He trailed off, his eyes growing misty. “We don’t call him Wheels anymore ’cause he doesn’t ride. We call him George.”
“Give her the heaviest leathers you’ve got with the strongest armor,” Liam snapped. “Full steel if you’ve got it. I want her to be safe.”
Daisy disappeared into the changing room. Liam could still see her through the three-inch gap left by the ill-fitting curtain. With a growl of annoyance, he stood in front of the curtain, blocking the view of anyone in the store. What the fuck was wrong with him today? It was like someone had flicked on a protectiveness switch and he was seeing danger in every corner.
His phone buzzed and he checked the message. He had to read it twice before the words sank in. Kevin Mah, one of Evolution’s senior partners, wanted him to return to New York to discuss partnership. The day had finally come. It was what he’d been working toward since he’d joined the firm. It was the culmination of a dream. Proof that he wasn’t the failure his father had always thought he would be.
Moments later, the curtain rattled open and Daisy strode out, a vision of hotness in head-to-toe body-skimming black leather. She’d taken out her ponytail and her hair lay loose and wild around her shoulders.
“I’m badass,” she whispered, staring at herself in the mirror. “Look at me.”
He was looking. And he was wanting—wanting with a ferocity that took his breath away.
“Hamish! Quit gawking at my girl.” He had a decision to make. But right now, all he knew was that he had to follow his heart, and his heart was strutting in front of the mirror, wrapped head-to-toe in black leather.
Hamish snorted a laugh. “I don’t think what you two have going on is complicated at all.”
* * *
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PLASTERED against Liam’s back, her hands tight around his waist, the motorcycle rumbling between her thighs as they raced south on Highway One along the beautiful Pacific Coast, Daisy wondered what the hell she’d been thinking when she’d agreed to the ride.
The fastest she’d ever gone on the San Francisco streets was the day her family had taken Sam to Oracle Park to propose to Layla. Jana Auntie had pulled her Giants hat down low and raced her van through the busy streets to get him there on time. But even that stomach-churning ride was nothing compared to the total and utter lack of control she had as a pillion rider, or the sheer terror of being perched on a wedge of suede-like material about the size of a fluffy breakfast pav.
With zero space between her seat and Liam’s, her chest was pressed firmly against his back. Not a problem when they were cruising through the city streets at 15mph. Romantic, even. But when they hit the open road and he applied the acceleration, she couldn’t hold on tight enough, terrified of toppling backward into the exposed giant rear wheel, despite the little backrest Hamish had installed for extra security.