“You gonna explain yourself?” He crosses his arms over his muscular chest and then lifts his chin to the guy behind me, who immediately lets me go, causing my feet to hit the ground hard without warning, making me stumble.
Once I right myself, I turn around quickly to face the guy that just dropped me and get up on my tiptoes, even though that is not even close to reaching his face, and growl, “That was rude.”
Then I swing my body to face the scary, hot biker dude. “First of all, I didn’t want to kill a poor, innocent bird, so I swerved to miss it. I apologized for almost hitting you, but then you proceeded to chase me down like this is an episode of Sons of Anarchy, which it is not, I might add,” I yell, flinging my arms around. I hear someone chuckle, but I’m too caught up in my own tirade to pay any attention to how crazy I might appear.
“You flipped me off,” he says.
I look at him and my eyebrows pull together as I reply, “I totally did not flip you off.” I’m pretty sure that I didn’t flip him off. Did I flip him off? I ask myself then shake my head. “I did not flip you off,” I confirm out loud.
“This bitch is crazy.” I turn my head and come face-to-face with a guy who is at least a foot and a half taller than me. He’s slim, and kind of cute in that ‘I just got out of prison. Wanna take a walk on the wild side?’ kind of way.
I swing around in a circle, stating, “The next one of you assholes who calls me a bitch is going to get tasered.” I stop on skinny cute guy and hold the Taser out in his direction, causing him to suck in his already thin stomach.
“Watch it,” he complains, but I swear I see his lip twitch.
“Stop fucking around,” Hot Biker Dude says, grabbing the Taser from my hand.
“Hey,” I protest, and turn to face him, holding out my hand while putting my other hand on my hip. “Give it back.” I wiggle my fingers and he looks me over, making every inch of me tingle. “I’m not kidding; give it back. It was a gift from my dad.”
He looks me over again then looks over my head, and says, “Lets roll.”
“What?” I look at him then all the guys walking away and getting on their bikes. I don’t know why I’m not happier about them leaving, but I swear I want to run up to that guy, jump on his back, and wrap myself around him. I shake my head at my stupidity and yell, “Good riddance!”
That comment must have come too soon, ’cause Hot Biker Dude slips off his bike and comes back to me. I think he’s going to be a jerk, but instead, he hands me my Taser and mutters, “Be safe, babe.”
I watch him walk away; his ass in jeans is like nothing I have seen before. He lifts his leg and straddles his bike, and I stay in place, watching his arm muscles flex from behind. “Holy shit,” I whisper as they all pull off. I get on my bike quickly and head back towards the area I saw the bird. I finally find the poor guy off the side of the road near the edge of a field. Once I have him in my hand, I get back on my bike, and that’s when I hear the sound of pipes once again. A shiver slides down my spine, but I ignore it and focus on what I need to do.
I unzip my leather jacket and unfold the bird’s wing so that I can tuck it closer to his body. Once I have his wing adjusted, I place him near my belly with one hand.
“What are you doing?” a dark, rich voice asks, and I startle almost dropping the poor bird, so I lift my head and glare.
“He broke his wing.”
“It’s a bird,” Hot Biker Dude says, looking at the tiny animal in my hand.
“I know that.” I roll my eyes and zip up the lower part of my jacket so the little bird is secure against me, with his miniature head sticking out the top of the zipper.
“What are you doing with him?”
“Taking him to my office, where I can hopefully get him fixed up.”
“You a doctor?”
I lift my head and our gazes connect. This time, without the visor, I can see his eyes are green, a green so light that they remind me of mint chocolate chip ice cream.
“You gonna answer, or just stare at me?”
What the hell is wrong with me? “I’m a vet.” I feel my face pinking from being called out. “Sorry about earlier,” I murmur, picking up my helmet from behind me and slipping it on, feeling instant relief when he’s blocked out. I lean forward and start up my bike, being careful of the bird that is now sitting close to me. I look at Hot Biker Dude one more time and lift my chin. He smiles, crosses his arms over his chest, and leans back in his seat. I know right then that if I ever see him again, I’m screwed.
Chapter 1
“Hey, Dad.” I smile, walking into my parents’ house. My dad lifts his head from the papers in front of him on the island and smiles as I slide onto the seat next to him, leaning my head on his shoulder.
“Hey,” he says, tenderly pressing a kiss to the top of my head then wrapping his large arm around my shoulders. I set my bag down on the counter and lean forward, picking up the coffee cup in front of him and taking a sip. “What’s going on?”
I let out a shaky breath, set the cup down, and lean back so I can look at him.
“There was another dog left on the hospital’s doorstep this morning,” I tell him, and anger instantly fills his features. “I hate it, Dad,” I whisper. “I hate knowing someone is fighting dogs and getting away with it. I hate that when they get to me, they are so badly broken I don’t have any choice but to help them pass peacefully.” I feel tears sting my nose, but I fight them back. You can’t cry in front of my dad. He doesn’t deal well when his girls cry.