Biker's Virgin

I glanced at Jennifer. “I think for your sake, I’d better make myself scarce.”

Trent gave me a conspiratorial wink and waved goodbye as I walked away. I headed up to my office, thankful to be free from Jennifer’s accusing gaze. I made a mental note to avoid Trent and his party for the duration of their stay.

My office was empty when I walked in, so I took the opportunity to pour myself a strong cup of coffee. I sat down and swiveled around to face my fantastic view. My thoughts rewound back to four years ago when Jennifer and I had first begun dating.

She hadn’t been quite so blunt during that period. In fact, she had been extremely fun. We had great chemistry, and the sex was pretty good, too. But inevitably, my work had kept me so busy that I started to bail on her more and more often. I’d been forced to cancel dates, disappear right after sex, and cut short dinners because of some emergency or another.

Now that I thought about it, Jennifer and I hadn’t even been together that long, four, five months tops. And yet, she’d had certain expectations. I’d realized later that she had earmarked me as the man she was going to marry. She had just forgotten to factor in how demanding my work really was, and after a while, she started getting impatient about playing second fiddle to my career.

When she had confronted me about it, I had told her that if I had to choose between her or my work, I would choose my work any day. In hindsight, I probably should have softened my words a little, but I’d had a hard day and was frustrated and annoyed.

She had stormed out of my penthouse apartment, and we hadn’t spoken for several days. When Jennifer appeared on my doorstep about a week later, I realized that what I had thought was a breakup, she had assumed was simply a fight. So, I’d had to make it clear to her that I wasn’t interested in continuing a relationship with her. She had left in a storm of anger, but not before breaking a few of my things. I was extremely glad to be an un-sentimental person that day.

My thoughts wandered from Jennifer to Molly. There were days when I felt I was finally growing up and changing, and there were days that I felt like the same wayward college kid who could never commit to one woman. Things felt different with Molly, but I wasn’t sure how long that was going to last.

Molly had been in love with me since she was fourteen years old. A part of me was intensely flattered by that, but it also terrified the life out of me. What if I ended up hurting her like I had hurt every girl that had come before her? The pressure was building, and I wasn’t sure if it was coming from her or me.

I was ruminating on my current circumstances when my phone distracted me. The moment I saw the name Emma flashing on the screen, I groaned. Just what I needed, I thought, another conversation with a woman who very likely had a problem with me.

“Hi, Emma,” I said, picking up. “It’s been awhile.”

Chapter Twenty-Four

Molly

“Where are we going?

” I asked excitedly.

We had spent fifteen minutes in a car driving along Oahu’s lesser-traveled roads. All the while, Tristan had refused to tell me where we were heading. It was nice to sit in the front seat of his convertible, with his hand wrapped around my shoulders. We probably looked like a still out of an old movie, and the thought amused me.

“You’re not going to tell me?” I asked.

He laughed. “I had no idea you were so impatient.”

It was a glorious Sunday, but it was the first time in weeks that I’d gotten to enjoy a weekend. Tristan and I had been working around the clock, and when I did manage to carve out a little free time, he was always busy. So this morning when I had woken up, I had been surprised to see him sitting at the foot of the bed with a huge smile on his face.

He had told me to get dressed because he had a surprise for me. Twenty minutes later, we were driving away from the resort in Tristan’s vintage blue convertible. He had kept quiet about where we were going, and a part of me was intrigued and excited to be left in the dark.

“I can be sometimes,” I nodded.

“Well, you won’t have to wait long now,” he said as he pulled up on the outskirts of the beach.

We got down, and he walked around to me and took my hand. “Ready?”

“We’re going down to the beach?”

“I suppose we are,” he nodded, as he led the way.

“Are we swimming?” I wondered out loud.

“This particular side of the beach is not ideal for swimming,” he said as we stepped onto the soft, warm sand.

Thankfully, I had chosen to wear my flip-flops and a comfortable sundress. “I’m not sure I packed my swimsuit,” I said, biting my lip.

“You won’t need a swimsuit,” he assured me.

We walked down the sloping beach where the waves were lapping against the shore. There were a couple of locals wading in the clear blue water next to a bright yellow motorboat.