“I was at Natalie’s house,” I reply, ignoring his wide-eyed reaction. “It was just late when we got back, so I crashed there. You ready to go?”
He nods, and we get into our car and drive to the garage. “You going to give me a rundown on your antics yesterday?” my brother asks on the way.
“I’m still processing what happened yesterday. Thanks for picking up my slack while I was gone.”
“No problem. I know you like this girl, but fuck. I’ve never seen you pull any of the shit you pulled yesterday before. You literally walked out of work under the guise of helping a customer just so you could, what? Spend time with her? Work your way in?”
“I know, and I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have left like that. I don’t even know why I did it, and I only just realized that I must like her.”
He blinks. “You only just realized? Are you kidding me?”
“I know. I thought I just wanted to sleep with her—”
“You’re an idiot. I’ve never seen you be such an asshole to a woman before, and I knew it was because you were disappointed when she said she wouldn’t date a biker,” he replies in a dry tone. “And then you literally drove her two hours away there and back just to spend more time with her.”
“I know,” I reply without any shame. “My mind is all fucked up; I don’t know what is going on.”
“That makes two of us,” he grumbles.
“Hey, it’s cool, though, right?” I realize that Aries did meet her first and hit on her. “That I’m into her?”
He gives me a what-the-fuck-are-you-talking-about look. “Since when do you have to ask my permission to date someone?”
“You did see her first.”
With that, Aries swats the air. “Forget about that. Yeah, I wanted to take her home for the night, but I did not want to put her on the back of my bike. Don’t worry about me, bro.”
And thank fuck for that.
Everything about Natalie spells trouble.
I should walk away, now.
But I know I can’t and won’t.
Chapter Nine
Natalie
“You look lovely today, Natalie,” Cole says as he enters my office, breaking me from my flashbacks with Atlas last night.
Fuck, the man knows what he’s doing.
His tongue, his hands, his cock.
I’m impressed.
“Oh, thank you,” I reply, clearing my throat. “Is there something that you needed?”
“Actually I was wondering if you’d like to go out for a drink after work today,” he says, shifting on his polished leather shoes.
Is he asking me out?
Well, when it rains, it pours.
“Um...”
“It’s my birthday,” he continues. “And I’ve been wanting to catch up with you out of work for a while now.”