****
Smokey knocked on his date’s door and waited.
He wasn’t going to take no for an answer. She’d love one of these parties, he was sure of it. If not, he’d get his answer about the kind of woman she was. He didn’t want a fucking prude, and no matter how badly he wanted to fuck her, there would be limits to what he was willing to do to get her in his bed.
Like now.
He wanted to party.
The brothers were all back at the clubhouse enjoying good food, sex, and beer. Probably all in that order.
It had been a trying couple of weeks for the club, especially as the Italian mafia picked a new Boss, not to mention the waves that had been caused with the Twisted Bastards MC. The fact Ryan had allowed some of the fuckers into his bar a couple of weeks ago, and was known to have been doing business with them, pissed him off.
He’d been too distracted by shit going on at home to look at the bigger picture. That shit wouldn’t happen again, which was why he’d arranged a meeting with the Twisted Bastards MC President, Creed. Tonight, he wanted to spend time with Ava. The curvy baker had gotten under his skin, and the only way for him to work it off was to fuck her.
Ava opened the door. A fresh smile on her face, and she wore the cutest black dress he’d ever seen. It molded to her curves and flared out at her thighs, giving it a whoosh effect.
“Damn,” he said.
“I’m being frank here. I don’t know what kind of sexy we’re going for. This is the closest I’ve got.” She wrinkled her nose. “I know it’s not great.”
He wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her close. “Who says it’s not great?”
“I did.”
Smokey ran his hand down to the curve of her ass. “I like it.”
“Good.”
He stepped back to reveal his bike.
“Hell, no,” she said.
“Excuse me?”
“I’ll take my car to your clubhouse. There’s no way I’m getting on the back of a bike.”
“Babe, get your ass on the bike.”
“Er, no. This babe doesn’t get told what to do and obey.” She walked to her car. “I’ll drive. It’ll be good this way. I can come home without having to stop you from having fun.”
“You’re doing this to piss me off,” he said.
“Why would I do that?” She gave him a little chuckle, but she’d already climbed into her car.
Two could play at this game. Straddling his bike, exceedingly disappointed in the fact she wasn’t seated behind him, he reeved his engine and glared at the offending car. Most chicks wanted to be on the back of his bike.
Ava was … totally different, and he was going to have to get used to that.
Still, he liked that she didn’t back down. Ava wasn’t a doormat. However, if she thought she was going to get away from his party easily, she was very much mistaken.
Smokey took the lead, driving with her following him. The guys were going to laugh their asses off when they saw him, but he didn’t care. He’d have the prettiest girl at the club.
Riding to the clubhouse, he’d hoped to use the vibrations of the machine to turn her on and to get as close to her as humanly possible. That wasn’t going to happen.
Arriving at the clubhouse, he cut the engine as Ava picked a spot. A couple of the guys were already drinking. The scent of barbeque was heavy in the air, and music covered any wave of laughter.
Ava climbed out and he took her hand holding the keys.
“Hey, what are you doing?” she asked.
“I’m making sure you don’t run off from me tonight. You need these keys back, you’ve got to ask nicely.”
He put the keys into his jeans pocket.
“You’re not playing fair.”
“Neither are you.” He pressed his lips to hers. “But you don’t see me complaining.”
“I barely know you.”
“And you think I know a lot more about you?”
She glared at him. “Are you telling me you didn’t run some kind of background check on me?”
He paused as he looked at her.
“Yeah, you think I’m stupid? Suddenly knowing where I work. My ex. All topics I’m pretty sure I didn’t cover.” She smiled at him. “I also happened to notice Ryan’s Place is closed until further notice and your knuckles are bloody, like they hit someone. Am I getting hot so far?”
He had no idea an intelligent, observant woman could turn him on so much. Most of the women he knew turned a blind eye to the happenings within the club. Ava took it all in.
“Did you like what you found?” she asked, hand on hip.
“Do you think you’d be here if I didn’t?”
“Fair enough. I need a drink. Are we going to get this party started or are we going to stand outside and chat about how unfair you are?”