Chelle smothered a nervous giggle as they got closer to the curb and the man she’d had two orgasms with last night. In the dark, behind the shed, with most of their clothes on.
Daisy had run up to him yelling, “Hey! Can I ride on your sled?” so loudly, they could hear her on an orbiting space station.
Sled?
“That’s not a sled, honey, that’s a motorcycle,” Chelle corrected the six-year-old as she caught up to her. Shawn’s dark sunglass-covered eyes met hers and held.
Even without seeing his almost black eyes, his quiet stare made her tingle in quite a few places of note. Which was not appropriate in front of a six-year-old, the girl’s mother and a whole elementary school full of children.
After a few more intense moments, he dropped his gaze from Chelle to the blonde whirlwind standing next to him with a hand now planted on his denim-clad thigh.
Of course, if Cassie was a part of the same club as Shawn, then Daisy would know the members well. So, it shouldn’t be weird that the girl was touching an adult male who was not related. If so, Cassie would be stepping in. Right?
Maybe they considered themselves family, just not in the traditional way.
Family or not, she wondered why he was there. Certainly not to see her?
“Not thinkin’ your momma’s gonna want you ridin’ with me,” he finally answered Daisy in his typical slow speech.
Cassie seconded that. “That’s correct. Her momma does not want her on the back of your sled. Not because I don’t trust you, Sh— Shawn,” she grimaced, “but—”
“Who’s Shawn?” Daisy interrupted with a scrunched-up face. “Shade’s name is Shade, Momma! You’re silly!”
Shade? That was a weird name. Chelle noticed the name matched the embroidered lettering on a rectangular patch sewn onto the front of his black leather vest. Another one said, “Manning Grove.”
“Yes, your momma is very silly.” Cassie peeled Daisy’s hand from Shawn’s thigh and tugged on it. “Okay, let’s go.”
Of course, Daisy dug in her heels. “Where’s Saylor? Why didn’t she pick me up?”
“She needed a break from all your questions.”
Chelle turned her face away to hide her smothered laugh.
“She did not!” Daisy insisted. “Do I ask a lot of questions?”
When Chelle turned back, she realized the little girl had asked the man straddling the motorcycle.
“Yeah, baby girl, you do,” Shade answered, his lips twitching.
Daisy laughed, not caring one iota that she did.
“Asking questions gives you answers to most of life’s mysteries,” Chelle told her. Not always, but it sounded good. She never wanted a child’s curiosity to be dampened by being told not to ask questions. It was one way they learned.
“As long as you aren’t demanding those answers and stomping your foot when you don’t get them fast enough.” Cassie tugged on her hand again. “C’mon, little miss curious, let’s go.”
“I wanna ride with Shade to the doctor’s.”
“We already had that discussion. He doesn’t have your helmet with him, anyway. Judge told everyone they had to follow that rule no matter what. You don’t want to get Shade,” she shot a quick glance at Chelle, “in trouble, right?”
Daisy pursed her lips like she was actually debating the answer.
Cassie rolled her eyes and tugged again, finally getting the girl to move.
As they turned toward their SUV parked ahead of Shade’s bike, Chelle asked, “Why are you here?”
“Escortin’ them since her ol’ man’s busy.” He said that as if it wasn’t out of the ordinary.
“Why would she need an escort?” She wondered if that was typical in an MC. She needed to do more research when she got a chance.
When he didn’t answer, she wondered what she was missing in that scenario.
Manning Grove was a safe family-oriented town. The police department was good. For the most part, the town’s folk were friendly. Needing an escort made no sense. Even if Cassie and Daisy needed one, no matter the reason, why wouldn’t they just ride in the same vehicle?
He muttered, “Gotta go.”
Fine. He didn’t want to answer and, truthfully, it wasn’t any of her business, anyway.
She stepped back onto the curb. “See you Tuesday... Shade.” She’d ask him about that nickname then.
If he was even willing to answer.
Shawn’s head twisted toward Cassie, who was rounding the back of her SUV after strapping her daughter into the back seat. The tall, curvy blonde stopped dead and glanced over her shoulder to mouth to Shawn, “Tuesday?”
His jaw shifted sharply and he frowned.
With a sly smile, Cassie jumped into the driver’s seat of her vehicle and started the engine.
“Gotta go,” Shawn grumbled again and hit the starter on his motorcycle. When it rumbled to life, the loud exhaust vibrated through her center.
She wondered what it would feel like to ride a powerful motorcycle like his, even if she was only the passenger.
“Tuesday,” was the last thing he said as he used his boot to shift the bike into gear, gave it some gas and then followed Cassie.