Mess Me Up (Bear Bottom Guardians MC 1)

She flipped him off.

Grinning, I gave Wade a look. “Don’t tease my girl. She’s scared. This is her first official pull over while driving, and you damn well know the only reason you did it was because it’s her.”

“You didn’t.” She turned accusing eyes on Wade. “You wouldn’t do that, would you Wade?”

Wade’s eyes were full of mischief. “Being a cop is so much fun.”

“Being a cop is not so much fun!” Izzy stomped her foot in anger. “Cops are dumb!”

My lips twitched. “Your brother’s not dumb.”

Izzy paused. “My brother did dumb stuff like this to me all the time, too. One time he came up behind me while I was running and did that loud siren thing right on my ass. I didn’t hear him pull up because I had my headphones in. Scared eight years off my life, and I fell down. That’s how I got this scar.” She held up her wrist and showed us both. “So, he’s included in that blanket statement.”

Her stubbornness and anger combined to make me want to wrap her up in my arms and fuck the attitude right out of her.

But, before I could think much more on the subject at hand, a loud whooshing growl had me reacting before I could think.

Seconds later, both Wade and I had taken Izzy down to the ground as a black truck passed by so fast and close that the vehicle nearly took Izzy out.

Hearts pounding, I stared down at Izzy who was wincing.

“Owwww,” she cried. “Did both of y’all have to do it?”

Wade got up and reached for the mic at his shoulder, calling in the truck’s description in case someone happened to be in the area.

“I’m sure he didn’t mean to almost kill me.” Izzy sat up with her hand on her head. She had little asphalt pieces stuck to her skin where we’d both pressed her down, but luckily none of them had actually torn her skin. “Jesus Christ, y’all are fast. I kind of always wondered what it’d feel like to be taken down by you, Rome.”

I hadn’t.

I never wanted to experience that again.

My heart was in my goddamn throat, and I was finding it hard to breathe.

“Jesus,” I growled.

“It’s against the law to ride that close to a police officer’s vehicle when it is pulled over on the side of the road for a traffic stop,” Wade explained. “Either you change lanes or you slow down fifteen miles per hour below the posted speed limit. Fucker broke the law.”

Wade’s grumbled words had Izzy smiling. “You kind of like me, don’t you, Wade?”

Wade rolled his eyes. “Only because you make my brother happy, honey. Don’t allow your head to get too big now.”

Izzy giggled. “Let’s go eat. I’m starved. I need caffeine to make my head feel better. And a cookie. Possibly a slice of cake, too.”

Wade and I both snorted.

“I’m down,” Wade said. “It’s my lunch break anyhow.”

And that was how we ended up back on the road, but this time we were traveling at a much faster rate of speed than the road we’d been on when Wade pulled us over because the posted speed on this road was sixty miles per hour.

“There.” I pointed. “Let’s go there.”

I gestured to a restaurant across the street, and she looked at it with dismay. “I’ll never be able to pull out in that traffic. They’re going sixty-five, Rome!”

I chuckled.

“Pull in there, and we’ll grab something to eat,” I suggested. “When we’re done, I’ll drive home if you’re not comfortable pulling out into fast-moving traffic like this.”

She sighed and put on her turn signal, then eased over into the turn lane.

“The key to this is to go fast enough to get you into the parking lot without anyone hitting you, but also with enough control that you don’t ram into the building,” I teased.

She flipped me off, but I could tell that she was nervous.

She didn’t like traffic, especially when it was moving at a higher rate of speed, but it was also something she’d have to learn to get used to.

“The driver at the DMV will take you out on the interstate.” I paused. “And the speed limit there is seventy-five. You’re going to have to get used to this, honey.”

She sighed, her shoulders slumping. “Maybe. But it won’t be where I drive every day.”

That was true.

“There’s an opening coming up, get ready to go. Ease your foot off the brake…good. Ready…go!” I ordered.

Zero hesitation, and the perfect amount of speed on her end.

“Perfect!” I said as she pulled across traffic. “Now, back into that spot.”

She looked at the spot warily and then did as she was instructed. It only took her three tries to get it in there perfectly.

“See!” I squeezed her still shaking hands. “You’re a natural!”

Before I could so much as prepare myself for her, she launched herself over the center console and started peppering my face with kisses.