“Told you I’d be here, didn’t I?”
“Yes, you did. But sometimes things come up.”
He grinned. “I’m never that busy.”
“So what do you do for a living, Crush?” Even though she already knew his background from the intel they got, she wanted to hear it from him.
“This and that. Mostly mechanical stuff. My brother and I own a garage, so we work on cars and things.”
“Really. And that gives you a lot of free time for riding?”
“Plenty. He’s the hard worker.”
“And you’re just the investor?” she teased, hoping he’d reveal something about his financial situation.
Crush laughed. “I work when I want to. But my brother likes to stay put. I’m more of a wanderer. So I pour a lot of my share of the profits back into the shop, and he’s content to do the labor.”
“While you ride.”
“Exactly.”
“Sounds like a perfect life, as long as you can afford it.”
“What about you, Jessie? Can you afford to ride when you want?”
She shrugged. “I make do. Pick up jobs here and there. I don’t have much trouble making ends meet.”
He looked her up and down. “I’ll just bet you don’t.”
She felt Diaz’s presence behind her.
“What’s up?” he asked.
“Just talking,” Crush said.
“We’re discussing how we manage to have free time to ride,” Jessie offered, then told Diaz about Crush’s ownership of a garage with his brother. She hoped Diaz would grab a clue that she was fishing for information.
“Ah. Nice gig.”
“What about you, Diaz? What do you do?” Crush asked.
“I’m independently wealthy. I don’t need to work.”
Crush arched a brow, studied Diaz for a minute, then tilted his head back and laughed. “That’s a good one.”
He’d been purposely vague. Crush probably appreciated it. And if Crush was, in fact, involved with the survivalists hiding out in these hills, that would be a perfect answer to give. Diaz had played it well.
They rode east for half the day, stopped at a burger joint to eat, then rode back. By then it was past nightfall and they enjoyed the festivities put on by the bike rally sponsors. It was well beyond midnight by the time Jessie, Spence, and Diaz escaped from Crush and his gang, with the promise they’d meet up in the morning and ride again.
When they got back to the hotel and parked their bikes, Spence said, “Look. There’s a girl who’s pretty tight with the upper echelon of Crush’s gang. She used to be the girlfriend of Rex, who’s Crush’s second in command or something. Anyway, she’s put her eye on me, so I’m going to follow up on that.”
“For business or for pleasure?” Diaz teased.
Spence flashed a wide grin. “A little of both, probably.”
Jessie laughed. “More pleasure with you, isn’t it, Spence?” “Hey, there are always perks to the job, babe,” he answered with a wink. “But the word is that Crush and the others think the two of you are a couple.”
“Why?” Diaz shot out.
Spence shrugged. “No idea, but that’s the way it’s going down. So you should play it out that way. And anyway, it’s protection for Jessie so she isn’t alone.”
Oh, she’d love to hear Diaz’s answer on that one. Now he was on the spot. He couldn’t very well back away from it.
“Sounds like a good idea to me,” she said.
Diaz frowned. “I guess.”
“We should share a room, then. Couples don’t have separate rooms. I’ll check out of mine while you notify the front desk we’ll be bunking up together.”
Before Diaz could object, she said good night to Spence, who said he was going to ride back to the main street and hook up with Stephanie. Then she went up to her room to pack. By the time she opened the door to her room, Diaz was standing there.
“What?” she asked. “I was just coming over.”
“I changed rooms.”
She cocked her head to the side. “Why?”
“My room only had one bed.”
“So?”
He rolled his eyes and grabbed her bag. “Come on.”
When he opened the door to the new room, she smothered her laugh.
Two double beds. She tossed her bag on one of the beds and turned to him.
“What’s the matter, Diaz? Don’t trust yourself to sleep in the same bed with me?”
He stalked over to her, one slow step at a time while she admired the way he moved. When he stopped, he was mere inches away.
“Jessie, if I was in the same bed with you, there’d be very little sleeping going on.”
Oh. My. God. There it was, exactly what she’d wanted to hear. Her heart slammed against her chest and her entire body went liquid. She couldn’t catch her breath, and she was pretty certain her toes curled. And didn’t it just figure, he’d tossed out the perfect line and she couldn’t find her voice for a comeback.
“Oh.”
That was it? That was all she could manage?
His eyes, so dark and sexy and giving her that look . . . that look . . . spoke volumes. But then he backed up a few steps and turned around, breaking the sensual spell he’d wound around her.
She finally exhaled.
Well, that seemed like a good start. But he’d stopped, and that wasn’t good. Time to step things up a bit. She unpacked and grabbed a couple of things. “I’m going to take a shower.”
From the look on Diaz’s face one would think she said she was about to perform brain surgery on herself in the bathroom. He looked a little green. She closed the door to the bathroom, undressed, and turned the water on, taking her time washing up, hoping Diaz was out there thinking about what she was doing in here.
She even hummed a tune, making sure he could hear her, that she had his attention and he wouldn’t forget about her and where she was. She finished her shower, dried off and dressed, then grabbed the lotion bottle and stepped out of the bathroom.
Diaz was at the desk, his back turned to her. She moved to the bed, came around to the side closest to him, and sat, setting the lotion on the table. She poured some lotion onto her hands and spread it over her legs.
It didn’t take long. Diaz lifted his head, inhaled, and took a slow glance over his shoulder, almost as if he was afraid what he might see.