Chapter Seven
Tanner owed Pax a beer for not believing him the other night when he’d been going on and on about his mom’s new assistant. He’d thought his buddy was exaggerating, but boy was he wrong. His friend had hit the nail on the fucking head when he’d described the luscious female who Tanner was staring at right now.
Elena was a goddess.
“You are?” she asked with a shy smile.
“Tanner,” he stuck out his hand, grateful he’d washed up before leaving the shop. He didn’t want to get her dirty— at least not yet .
The moment their hands touched; they both froze. The connection was electric.
“I’m Elena.” She cringed. “Which you already know, so I’m not sure why I’m telling you again.”
“It’s nice to finally meet you.”
He couldn’t believe his fucking luck. If he hadn’t been at the shop covering for Gates, he would have missed answering the phone when this little beauty had called.
“Finally?” She looked at him confused.
He nodded.
Pax had already filled him in on some of the details; specifically, that she was a goddess. He’d said that she was easily the sexiest woman he’d ever met—which Tanner had found hard to believe. He might be jaded but the Iron Seeds were surrounded by gorgeous women on a daily basis, it came with the territory. After a while, they all kind of blended together. They were all the same. None of them stood out.
Until this exact moment.
“I’ve heard a lot about you.”
Her eyebrows shot up in surprise and she was back to looking nervous again.
“Me?” She pointed a finger at herself as if she didn’t believe him.
“Taffy’s really excited to have another woman around the office,” he said easily. “She’s been talking about you non-stop.”
He left out the part where Pax’s mom, one of the most loving people he knew, had threatened to castrate the trio if they so much as made the new girl the teensiest bit upset. He believed every word of it too. Taffy was already as protective as a momma bear when it came to the curvy brunette, and he didn’t fault her for it. He’d met Elena only a few seconds ago and he already wanted to take care of her. He had no doubt she could do it on her own, but with him around she wouldn’t have to.
“Was she mad when you told her I was going to be late? Am I going to get yelled at?” Elena’s hands twisted anxiously in front of her as she waited for him to answer. “Be honest. I don’t do well when people yell at me. I want to be able to brace myself if I need to.”
“She won’t yell,” he promised with a gentle smile. He knew there were plenty of places that would have done exactly that, but she’d soon realize that the Iron Seeds were different. Taffy had been more worried than anything when he filled her in this morning. “She also said there’s no charge for the tow. Consider it an employee perk.”
“Awesome,” Elena breathed, looking visibly relieved to hear that. Her shoulders relaxed and the furrow between her brows disappeared. “It seems a little too good to be true but I’m not about to look a gift horse in the mouth. Especially now-a-days.”
“It’s not too good to be true,” he reassured her, keeping his eyes locked on hers. They’d circle back around to her offhand comment that hinted she might be in some sort of trouble later. First, he had to set her straight on a few things about the Iron Seeds. “Do you know how long Taffy has been looking for an assistant?”
Elena’s plump pink lips turned down into a frown. “No.”
“Six months.” He could see that this was news to her. Hell, it had surprised him when he first found out about it. It hadn’t made sense why there wasn’t at least one person wanting that job. Then the reasons had become more than obvious.
“I don’t understand,” she told him with another shake of her head. “The pay, the benefits…how was it still open?”
“Because people are assholes,” he said, summing it all up in that simple statement. “The Iron Seeds practically built this town, and everyone still talks shit about the way we love our women. The ones that applied before you, were either looking for more gossip or a member to fuck. You were the only one there for the actual job.”
“Oh,” she squeaked, visibly flustered by his answer.
“Too blunt?” he asked, worried he’d already offended her. The guys were always on him to use his brain before he used his mouth because it generally got him in trouble.
“No,” she denied, a small smile creeping up on her pink lips. “I like blunt, actually. I’d rather someone say what they mean outright instead of pussy footing around it.”
“Same,” he agreed with a matching grin. If that were the case, they were going to get along fine. “Then believe me when I say, the MC takes care of their own and now that you’re working for Taffy, that includes you. We’re like family. You’ll get used to it after a while.” He looked down at her office bag sitting on the stoop. “Do you need to grab anything else out of the car before I start hooking it up?”
“Nope.” She tucked back a curl that had escaped the chaotic bun piled on top of her head.
“Then let’s get you settled in the truck.” He held his hand out for her to take, pleased when she linked her fingers with his. The contact wasn’t as charged as the first time they touched but still buzzed with enough energy to make him take notice.
“I really appreciate this,” she said, climbing into the passenger seat of the big truck.
As she was turning to sit, her ass bobbed right in front of Tanner’s face. It was only for a second or two, but that didn’t stop him from thinking about the day he might have the privilege of biting that plump curve.
“Is everything okay?”
“Yeah,” he answered with a nod. Running a hand down his face, he shut the door between them.
“Thank you,” she said again, reaching out the open window to gently touch his hand.
Tanner automatically turned his hand a little to tangle their fingers before she pulled away with another one of her adorable blushes.
“We’ll be ready to go in a few minutes. Just sit tight.”
As he moved to the back of the truck, he tried to keep his focus on the task at hand and away from the gorgeous woman waiting for him.
It took more energy and time than he expected to focus on the job and not the woman sitting in his truck, but he finally managed it.
“Buckled up?” he asked once he’d climbed back in.
“Yup,” she chirped with a sweet smile.
“Let’s roll.”
Tanner’s phone buzzed in his pocket just as he was pulling onto the highway.
“Honey?” He waited until Elena looked over at him before continuing. “Can you grab my phone and see who’s texting? It’s probably Taffy making sure I found your place okay. It’s right here, in my pocket.”
He gestured with his chin to where it was sticking halfway out of his pants pocket. “I’d do it, but my hands are filthy, and my screen is already scratched to hell.”
“You want me to look at your phone?” she asked, her beautiful brown eyes wide.
“Yeah,” he nodded. He wasn’t worried about her seeing anything he had on his cell. The only thing salacious she might find is the type of porn he watched and that was only if she browsed his history. Other than that, he was pretty boring— especially since their move back to Kansas. They’d been living like monks lately. “I’ve got nothing to hide.”
“Okay.” Elena hesitantly plucked it out of his pocket and glanced at the screen. Once she looked at it, she relaxed a little. “It’s Taffy and you were right. She was checking to see if you’d picked me up yet.”
Tanner nodded. He had figured it was something along those lines.
“Will you text back that we just finished getting everything hooked up and we’re on our way now?”
“Sure,” she answered with a nod, her fingers already flying over the keyboard.
His phone buzzed again.
“She wants us to stop and get donuts for the shop on our way if you can.” His dream girl looked over at him for an answer to Taffy’s request. “She said she’ll call in the order. All we gotta do is pick it up.”
He glanced at the clock on the dash. “We’re only about five minutes away from the bakery so tell her to do it fast.”
Elena typed quickly and hit send.
His phone buzzed a few seconds later.
“She’s calling them now. Do you have any special requests?”
“Tell her to put a few apple fritters on there for me and Vinyl.”
His passenger nodded and tapped away on his phone.
“Vinyl?” she asked as she texted their boss back for him. “Like the record?”
“Yeah,” he answered with a grin. It wasn’t his friend’s legal name but the one everyone knew him by. “Exactly like the record. He’s kind of like a brother to me. We’re not related but I’m closer to him than I am to my own family.”
“That’s how it is between me and Marisol,” Elena shared with an understanding nod. “We’re not sisters by blood, we’re sisters by choice.”
“She works at Medina’s, right?” At her nod, he continued. “I think I’ve picked up an order from her before.”
“If it wasn’t me or Mamma J, it was ‘Sol. If she’s not in classes, she’s running the counter there. I’m guessing Vinyl works at the garage too?”
“Yeah. You’ll meet him soon.” Tanner was trying to play it cool, but he was excited to introduce her to the last of their trio. It was going to be hilarious. Vinyl wasn’t going to know what hit him. He had been just as dismissive as Tanner had been when Pax had tried to tell them about the woman currently sitting beside him.
His phone buzzed in Elena’s hand. “What does Taffy need now?”
When she didn’t answer him, he gave her a quick glance.
Something was wrong.
The smile she’d been wearing just a few seconds ago was gone; replaced with a look he couldn’t read.
“What?” he asked, wondering what had happened to kill the mood. “Is the bakery out of apple fritters or something?”
With a shake of her head, she gently placed the phone face down on the bench seat in the space between them.