“I don’t have the kind of money to pay for personal shipping like that.”
“It’d be free. You wouldn’t pay a dime,” I shook my head and chuckled. She clearly wasn’t used to dealing with real men. What man made a woman pay for something he was doing for her?
Kendra sat up and faced me. Her eyes were wide.
“Are you serious right now?” she asked, looking my face over.
“I am,” I said firmly.
“What would you want in return?” Her words were coated in caution.
“I’m not that kind of man, Kendra,” I growled and stood up. I couldn’t blame her for thinking I’d want sex in exchange, especially since we had just fucked. However, I wasn’t the kind of man to offer a woman something in exchange for sex.
“Sorry. I didn’t mean to offend you,” she whispered. I looked down at her.
“You didn’t,” I lied. “We have a truck going out tomorrow morning at five. It’s headed to Connecticut. Another truck is coming in from North Carolina the day after tomorrow. Let me know if you need anything picked up or delivered.”
She held out her hand. Without thought, I grabbed her hand and pulled her up off the floor. Her body pressed against mine. She stared up at me and I wrapped my arms around her waist.
“What if I treated you to dinner?” she smiled. I couldn’t help but laugh. Of all the things she could have said, I didn’t expect that.
“You treat me to dinner? As in you pay?”
“Duh,” she frowned. I shook my head. “Why not?”
“You’re a lady. You don’t pay for a man’s dinner.”
“What?” she asked in a whisper. She seemed genuinely surprised.
“You aren’t paying for dinner, sweetheart. But you can come over to the clubhouse and I’ll cook you dinner. We can discuss business then. How does that sound?”
“Sounds like I’ll bring dessert,” she smiled wickedly at me.
I’m fucked. This woman was trouble with a capital T.
307
Kendra
It wasn’t typical for me to have dinner with a guy. After a few bad relationships, I decided it was better to do quick hookups to take care of my sexual needs and move on. The truth was, I’d always been mostly a loner. My family moved around a lot while I was growing up because of my dad’s job. So, I’d learned early on to only depend on myself. Friends and boyfriends just cluttered up my life.
Besides, I had my uncle’s shop… Well, I really should start calling it my shop – the deed and the loan I had on the place said it was mine. Over the years, I’d gone from one shop to another, always working for someone else, it was nice to finally be the boss. Even if my uncle left me a mess to clean up. I sighed and looked down the street.
Only another mile and I’d be at the address Roark had given me but all I saw were trees. I knew I was close to the river but other than that I’d never come out this way.
“Am I really doing this? Going to some unknown location I had to GPS which is surrounded by woods?” I mumbled out loud as I reached up and pushed my long, dark hair back away from my face. I’d left it down and the slight waves fell to mid-back – I was going to need a haircut soon. And, my red streaks needed to be touched up.
“Damn it!”
I slowed my car in the middle of the road and balled my hands against the steering wheel as the GPS announced to turn right at the next road. This wasn’t me. I didn’t get nervous. Why the hell was I nervous? It was dinner. A meal before discussing business and, hopefully, another bout of amazing sex.
The gate crossing the drive forced me to stop and brought my attention to the large man currently walking towards my car. The male was huge with pale white-blond hair. He had a thick beard and piercing blue eyes that pinned me in place.
When he stopped at my door. I gasped as I tried to believe.
“I’m an idiot. Why did I agree to this?” I mumbled.
“Miss, can you roll down your vindow?” His thick Russian accent caused my eyes to widen in shock.
Pressing the button, I lowered the window only a few inches.
“Vhat is your business?” he asked.
“I’m Kendra Niles. Roark invited me. I’m not sure I have the correct address though. But the GPS said t–”
“You’re at right place. I’ll open gate.” He turned on his heel and walked back to a small building that I hadn’t seen until he entered it.
The gate was electronic and it began to slowly roll open.
Once the drive was clear I slowly moved forward.
“Just follow the drive and park by the first building,” the man called from his building as I passed.
Flight or fight kicked in. I began to pant as I fought for air and I gripped the steering wheel tighter. Thoughts of human trafficking popped into my head. Did Roark enjoy our bout of sex so much that he decided to sell me off?
The road came out of the trees and into a wide-open area. Several buildings surrounded a large gravel area. I could see semi-trucks over to my right at a large warehouse looking building. To my left there appeared to be a garage. It was the building closest to me and I automatically headed for it. The Russian had said the first building.
Once I had my car in park and the ignition switched off. I held my keys and looked off to either side. This place could be a small town all on its own. That’s how large the Dark Leopards MC was. A few men walked past my car. They were large, muscled, and wore black leather vests with an emblem of a leopard on the back. Other patches could be seen on the front. However, when they caught me looking, I turned back around and stared at
