Frosty the Biker (Thirteen Bikers for Christmas)

Prologue

“ H ey Mom!” I shouted down the hall. “I’m heading over to Dalton’s—he’s picking me up. I’ll be home by dinner.”

“Okay, baby. Remember, if y’all drink you call me. I’ll pick the two of you up!” she called back, and I heard the slosh of the water in her tub where I knew she was soaking away the busy day.

With a smile, I rolled my eyes. I was almost twenty-three years old and had graduated college, but my mom was forever a mom and I’d always be her “baby.”

“No problem, Mom!” I promised before opening the door. As I stepped out onto the balcony, Holly was trying to juggle groceries, hold onto her two-year-old son, and unlock her door.

With all the bags over her arms and the key in her one hand, she was struggling to keep from dropping everything. I scooped up the little boy. “Hey, Daniel,” I greeted with a tickle to his pudgy little belly. He squealed with laughter and his dark ringlets bounced. His mother shot me a grateful smile as she unlocked the door.

Holly was barely older than me and had been renting one of the five apartments above my mom’s hardware store since Daniel was about six months old. The one she rented was on the third floor with ours, the other three were on the second floor. I’d babysat for her on many occasions during breaks and over the summer.

“Thank you,” she said with a sigh. “He’s been trying my patience all day.”

“No problem.” I set him on his feet and kissed the top of his little head in time for him to dart off to his room.

“Congratulations on your graduation,” she offered with a tired grin.

“How are you doing?” I asked, knowing she’d been taking online classes with the community college.

She shrugged. “Slow, but sure. I still have two semesters before I graduate. It’s only an associate’s degree, but one day I’ll finish.” Her cheeks turned pink.

“No, it’s not only an associate’s degree,” I gently chastised with a frown. “It’s a damn fine accomplishment. You’re working full-time, you’re a single mom, and you’re going to school. I think it’s incredibly admirable.”

“You’re too sweet, Ryian.” Her blush deepened.

I snorted. “I’m definitely not sweet. I’m a realist and I’m simply telling you the truth. I think you’re doing an amazing job.”

“Thanks to your mom,” she softly added.

“Hey, she loves having company across the hall,” I joked.

“We all know she could rent these apartments for at least five times what she charges us. We’re in the French Quarter with off-street parking. These apartments are prime real estate,” she argued as she propped her fists on her hips.

It was my turn to shrug. “The building is paid for, and she makes enough to live comfortably. What she does by renting to you guys fulfills her.”

“Well, there’s no amount of thanks I could offer that would be enough.”

I smiled. “You being able to have a safe home and better yourself means more to her.”

Her eyes watered and she blinked quickly.

Wanting to let her put her groceries away, I stepped back toward the door.

“I’ll be seeing you around,” I told her with a wave.

As I went down the stairs, I couldn’t help the smile that stretched across my face. Knowing I’d be seeing Dalton again did that to me though.

Dalton and I had been dating off and on since we were fourteen. We broke up at least once every six months back then. We were kids after all and very emotionally immature. We didn’t truly know how to navigate a relationship.

My entire senior year everything was amazing. He had graduated the year before me and he worked at Chambers, the local grocery store. The owners, Bob and Justin Chambers, really liked him and Bob had hinted at him working his way up to a shift supervisor position.

Then I graduated. When I left for college, things started to go downhill. We were both mentally and physically exhausted—me from school, him from working a lot of overtime hours with more responsibility. Our communication became sporadic due to our schedules. Tempers grew short.

We broke up after the first month I was there because he thought it was better for me. He thought he would be holding me back from life. Little did he understand, he was my life. I was sure he had met someone else, though he denied it.

The rest of the year was miserable, but I buried myself in my books and studied my ass off. I dated a few guys, but there weren’t any real sparks with them, and one hated that I rarely wanted to go out because I would rather study.

Over the summer between freshman year and my sophomore year, I went home. Like magnets, Dalton and I were drawn to each other again.

We spent every moment we could together. We’d been maintaining a long-distance relationship while I was in school. It wasn’t always easy.

I’m ashamed to say I was a very jealous girl back then. Okay, I still struggle with it.

When I reached the door on the first floor, I practically burst outside. Seeing Dalton was worth the sticky humidity that was already hitting us. Thankfully, I’d put my hair up.

Dalton’s beat up truck was waiting, and I pulled the door open.

“Hey, baby,” he greeted with a grin that matched my own. His sandy-blond hair fell over his forehead, but it didn’t cover those beautiful blue eyes of his.

The truck might look beat up, but it ran like a dream. He was incredibly handy like that. He could figure most things out on his own with the help of Google or YouTube.

“Hey good-looking. You going my way?” I teased.

He chuckled. “Baby, I’ll go any way you want me to go. Hop in.”

I wasted no time doing just that.

We drove to our favorite little diner and grabbed food to go. Then we drove back to his apartment. Right before we reached the entrance to his small parking lot, a car pulled out in front of us, and Dalton slammed on the brakes.

My hands hit the dash and my seatbelt locked. My purse toppled and the few things I had in it fell out.

“You stupid fucker!” he shouted. “I’m sorry. Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m good. I hope the food’s okay.” I glanced in the backseat to see it was still in one piece. Thankfully, he’d set it on the floor and not the seat.

He reached over and lightly squeezed my leg. I rested my hand over his. I’d get my stuff picked up after we parked.

When he shut the truck off, I got out and gathered my chapstick, wallet, and the pen I had in my purse. As I checked to make sure I got everything, something gold caught my eye. I grabbed it and froze.

“What the fuck is this, Dalton?” I demanded, holding the gold lipstick tube up when he reached me with our food in hand.

“Umm, is this a trick question? Your lipstick?” He appeared confused.

I snapped the top off and twisted it up. The hot pink product had obviously been well used—and it wasn’t worn down the way my lipsticks ended up. “This isn’t my color, and this isn’t my lipstick wear pattern,” I snapped.

“Maybe Yasmine dropped it when we gave her and Caleb a ride,” he offered with a shrug.

“Hmm, let’s call her,” I airily insisted, and I made a production of pulling my phone out of my back pocket and finding her number. I put it on speaker and waited for her to answer.

He rubbed the back of his neck.

“Hey, Yasmine,” I started when she picked up. “Did you lose a hot pink lipstick in a gold tube?”

“No way. I don’t wear hot pink,” she replied. “Why?”

“Nothing,” Dalton jumped in. “Thanks!” He reached out and ended the call. His cheeks flushed and my eyes narrowed on him. He looked guilty.

“What the fuck are you doing?”

“She said it wasn’t hers. Let’s go inside. Our food is probably getting cold.” He turned and walked toward his apartment and unlocked it. He waited for me in the doorway.

Simmering, I finally followed him inside. He closed the door, then set the food on his little two-person table.

“If it wasn’t hers, then whose is it? Why are you being so weird about this? What are you hiding?” I asked and crossed my arms to wait for his explanation.

He sighed. “I’m not hiding anything. I gave a coworker a ride home because her car wouldn’t start. I had honestly forgotten about it, but I knew it would sound bad now because I didn’t tell you.”

“Well, why didn’t you just say that instead of lying and saying you thought it was Yasmine’s?”

“I did think it was Yasmine’s,” he insisted.

My jaw ached with how hard I was clenching my teeth.

He approached me and wrapped one arm around me as he tucked an escaped tendril of hair behind my ear. “Baby, there’s no one else for me. It’s always been you. Even when we did stupid shit and made terrible decisions when we were kids. It was always you. I don’t want anyone else. I promise.”

I gazed up at him and unclenched my hands that had been fisted against his chest when he pulled me in. His heartbeat thumped under my right hand. “Just don’t lie to me. I can handle a lot of things, Dalton. There’s two things I can’t stand and that’s lying and cheating. I promise you, if you cheat on me again, I’m gone. Lying will undermine my trust and that will eventually destroy our relationship as well.”

“Ryian—I was sixteen. Nothing really happened. I just talked to her. I thought that was water under the bridge. It was almost ten years ago, and I was a kid. I like to think I’ve matured since then—just as you have,” he firmly countered.

I sighed. “You’re right. Let’s eat. Our food is probably getting cold.”

We ate, then watched a movie on his TV. Halfway through, he leaned over and kissed me. What started as a sweet connection, quickly grew heated and he pulled me over to straddle his lap.

His hands slipped under the back of my tank top and eventually slid around to cup my breasts. My head fell back, breaking the kiss. He simply trailed his teeth down my jaw until he nipped the tendon in my throat, then his lips found the soft sensitive skin of my neck.

I tangled my fingers in his dark blond hair as I tilted my head to encourage him. There was something about him kissing and nibbling up and down the slope of my shoulder that gave me goosebumps. I loved it and he knew it.

“I love you,” he murmured against the side of my throat.

“Mmm, I love you too,” I replied.

He lifted my shirt, and I raised my arms so he could take it off. Thanks to having smaller than average boobs, I wasn’t wearing a bra. Which he took full advantage of by wrapping his hands around my sides and dropping his head to latch onto one nipple at a time.

It wasn’t long before he had my panties off in one fell swoop with my jean shorts. As I returned to straddling him, I reached between us and undid his pants as I started kissing him again.

He lifted his lean hips so I could shove them down and free his thick length.

“I want to be inside you,” he whispered, his lip brushing mine as he spoke.

“Thank God,” I breathlessly replied as I swirled the head of his cock in the wetness that already coated me. Together, we worked him in until he was fully seated, and I paused, holding him tight as I allowed my body to adjust.

What started out as frantic and wild, quickly morphed to a sensual dance. Our heated breath mingled as we clung to one another through every smooth slide of skin on skin.

My nails clawed at his shoulders.

His fingertips dug into the muscles on my back.

The building tension warned of a life-altering explosion that neither of us could stop. It was like being at a cliff, knowing that with each step you were getting closer to the edge, yet not being able to slow your steps.

Finesse soon went by the wayside as we both neared the breaking point. Sweat-slicked flesh slid and slapped. Breaths became ragged and rough. We clutched at each other as if our lives depended on it.

Finally, that blissful pressure exploded, and I shattered. “Dalton!” I shouted as the universe blew apart.

He didn’t stop, he simply held me tight to his chest as he drove up into me as he chanted, “Yes, yes, yes” until he too fell over the ledge.

His low moan was smothered as he pressed his face into my neck, and his arms clutched me as if he never planned to let me go.

Like a feather caught up in the wind, we slowly floated back to earth.

“That,” he said still sounding winded, “was absolutely amazing, baby.”

“Mmm,” I agreed as I snuggled into him. He shifted us down and over to rest, tangled on the length of the couch. Then, he pulled a blanket off the back and covered us up. We fell asleep cuddled up in his living room and woke up in time for him to take me home.

As we were on our way to my mom’s, his phone rang. With his truck being so old, he didn’t have Bluetooth. He answered and it was soon obvious it was his work.

“Yeah, I can do that.” He paused and I could hear someone talking. “Okay, I’ll see you soon.”

He glanced at me with his eyes full of regret.

“You can’t come to dinner,” I guessed, a little sad. Yet I completely understood.

“I’m sorry. Paul called in sick and they asked if I could work. He has food poisoning.”

“It’s okay. Another time. Mom will be disappointed, but she’ll live.” I chuckled.

A couple of days later, I was heading over to Chambers. Dalton was working a double because Paul was still out sick.

After parking, I reached over to grab the container and bag of food I’d picked up. I was bringing Dalton lunch and fresh cookies as an apology for the argument over that stupid lipstick. After he explained and I had time to cool off, I felt like an ass for tripping out.

When I got out of my car, I walked toward the front door of the grocery store. There was a young girl with long blonde hair and bright pink lipstick, standing out front. She was holding her phone to her ear and a red apron in her hand. I recognized her as one of the cashiers. If I remembered correctly, she just graduated high school.

“I’m so excited Dalton! I love the zoo.” I stopped in my tracks as she ducked her head and twirled her hair around a finger. “Mmm, that sounds like fun. If you’re good, maybe I’ll give you a blowie in your truck again. Did you find my lipstick in your truck? I think I lost it after I reapplied.” She giggled annoyingly. “Yep. Okay. Saturday at nine. See you then, baby.”

My jaw was unhinged, but I couldn’t help it.

The little twit ended her call and dropped her phone in her purse. She passed by me and gave me a smug grin.

“Excuse me,” I called out, stopping her in her tracks.

She glanced over her shoulder with huge doe eyes. “Me?”

“Yes. Were you just talking to the Dalton that works here?” I asked, trying to remain calm. It wouldn’t surprise me if steam was literally coming from my ears.

“Yes! Do you know him? He’s the sweetest ever. I’m pretty sure he’s going to ask me to be his girlfriend soon.” The big pink smile on her face made the green-eyed monster within want to tell her it was a shitty color on her. Instead, I bit my tongue. The girl might not have any clue who I was. Dalton may just be an absolute scumbag while she was an innocent kid.

“Don’t waste your time,” I finally bit out as I dropped the food in the trash. Then I spun on my heel and returned to my car. My eyes burned and my chest hurt.

Dalton told me he worked all weekend and he’d be busy since they were short-staffed. He told me not to worry about stopping by to try to take a lunch with him because he likely wouldn’t be able to get a break.

I started my vehicle and drove home. By the time I got there, I was all cried out and I’d made my decision to leave. My cousin had been trying to get me to move to Chicago with her for several months. It sounded like a good place to start over.

If I stayed in New Orleans, I knew myself and despite my bold promise, I’d probably end up taking him back. I couldn’t keep doing this to myself. I needed a clean break and a clean slate.