Chapter 6
“Mom, what’s taking you so long?”
Joci looked up to see Gunnar waiting for her at the end of the row. Joci had been daydreaming about Jeremiah again and didn’t even notice she was just standing there looking lost.
“Sorry. Coming!”
She quickly walked down the row of bikes to Gunnar and, together, they walked to a group of her friends.
Joci’s best friend, Sandi, and Sandi’s husband, Jon, were standing in the group, as well as a few others.
Sandi was a beautiful woman with long, brown hair pulled back in a braid.
She was the most vivacious person Joci knew, with a personality that rivaled the sun.
“Hey, there! How are you guys?” Joci asked as she hugged Sandi.
“We’re good. I haven’t seen you this week. Busy?”
Joci nodded. “You know, getting all the items needed for tomorrow and the tickets and such ready, I had to keep at it so I could finish on time and enjoy tonight.”
Joci hugged Jon. “Hey, big guy. How are you?”
Jon was a great-looking man, about six feet tall, with short dark brown hair and laughing blue eyes. Sandi was madly in love with Jon, and Jon was madly in love with Sandi. Joci envied their relationship. She had always hoped for a relationship like theirs.
“Doin’ good, Joci, but you have to stop being too busy to have lunch with Sandi. She likes her girl time!”
Jon leaned in a little closer to Joci. “She drove me crazy wondering where you were and how you were doing.”
Joci laughed. “Sorry, Jon, I promise to keep in better touch with Sandi.”
Sandi and Joci had lunch once a week to touch base and catch up. It was something they started doing years ago when the kids were little.
Joci looked at Sandi and hugged her again. “Everything is fine. I’m fine. Gunnar is fine. But I do need to talk to you. Jeremiah asked me to leave with him tonight.”
“Mom…I’m headed over to see the guys.” Joci smiled at Gunnar as he started to walk away. With a wave, he was off.
Sandi absently waved at Gunnar, quickly turning back to Joci and said, “Tell me. What did you say? You better have said ‘yes’ this time.”
“Hello, Joci. You look beautiful.”
Oh, Gawd! His voice made her shiver. Shit, her body reacted to that man before she could even put a thought to it. Joci slowly turned to see Jeremiah standing next to her and handing her a bottle of water. Taking a deep breath, she looked into his eyes.
“Hi, Jeremiah. Thank you. How are you?”
Jeremiah leaned in close to her ear and whispered, “You look beautiful, Joci.”
She looked at Jeremiah and blushed. He chuckled, and her face flamed a bright red. Great!
Sandi said, “Hi, Dog. Looks like we’re going to have great weather tomorrow.”
Jeremiah looked up at the sky. “It sure does. That means more riders, which means more money for the cause. Gotta love that.” They bobbed their heads in agreement.
* * *
Joci undid the cap on her bottle of water and took a long drink as he watched her. God, she was beautiful—stubborn as hell, but so beautiful. She took his breath away.
He knew he affected her. He watched her when she was near.
He could see the muscles in her neck moving with each exaggerated swallow.
When he spoke to her, she licked her lips and looked him in the eye, not blinking.
God, if she only knew what that did to him.
His cock twitched every time he thought about her.
And when he saw her, it had a life of its own; his stomach flipped, and his breathing became unsteady.
She had been avoiding the inevitable, though.
This morning, things changed. Jeremiah looked at his watch. He hated walking away from Joci, but he was anxious to get this meeting finished to begin his time with her.
“We’d better get this show started. If you’re ready, come on over to the side of the building.”
He nodded at Sandi and Jon, gave Joci a little wink, and walked away. Joci needed to sit down. God, that man affected her whole body, her whole nervous system. Her knees were weak, and she was lightheaded. Sandi laughed at her.
“Gawd, Joci, tell me you gave up and decided to go out with that man. He obviously wants you, and you obviously want him.” Sandi leaned in a little. “And just think of all the fun you could be having…after hours.”
Joci swallowed to moisten her throat. “Sandi, we’re going out tonight.”
“Finally. For crying out loud, Joci, he’s been circling for almost a year.” Jumping up and down a couple of times, Sandi shrieked, “I’m so excited!”
Jon shook his head at his lovely wife. Nodding to Joci, he said, “Okay, ladies, let’s go hear what’s up for tomorrow.”
As they rounded the corner to the side of the building where the pre-ride meeting was being held, there were about one hundred and forty people sitting and standing around waiting for the meeting to start.
All the proceeds from tomorrow’s ride would go to area veterans who were in need.
Medical assistance, work on their homes to make them more user-friendly to a disabled veteran, educational assistance for returning veterans, or any other sort of need that came up.
Jeremiah was a veteran of the Gulf War, and both his sons and all his brothers served in the military.
It was with love and pride that he held this ride every year.
Last year, they had over seven hundred riders and over twelve hundred people who attended.
This year, they expected it to be much more.
Joci loved stuff like this, and she adored this cause. Her own family had served in the military. Both her parents and her sister Jackie’s husband, David, were veterans as well.
As Joci, Sandi, and Jon rounded the building to the back parking lot, Joci saw that the stage had been constructed for the festivities tomorrow. Some volunteers had been working on it today.
“Mom, Sandi, Jon…over here!” Gunnar had a spot ready for them at the front table with her sister, Jackie, and brother-in-law, David, and some of their friends.
Connor was there as well. Connor was the best friend of Keith, Gunnar’s father.
When Keith had left, Connor stepped up and helped Joci with Gunnar.
As they approached the table, Jackie and David got up and hugged Joci. She waved at their friends.
“Hi, Connor. How are you? I haven’t seen you in a few days.”
Connor stood and hugged Joci. “I’m good, Joci. Had a busy few days at work, but everything is fine. You look beautiful as always.”
Joci smiled at him. Connor swept his hand to the side and offered her the seat where he had been sitting.
“If I could have your attention, please. I’d like to get this meeting started so we can relax and enjoy the rest of the night. We’ll all be working hard tomorrow,” Jeremiah spoke into the microphone.
She loved the deep timbre of his voice as it floated over her whole body, covering her like her favorite sweater. It revved up her senses like nothing else in the world. She could almost imagine him whispering in her ear as he made love to her.
She looked up at Jeremiah as he stood at the edge of the stage with a microphone in his hand.
He looked perfect up there. He was confident, strong, in control, and sexy, sexy, sexy!
He was wearing tight jeans and a black sleeveless shirt that showed off his perfect arms. Both his upper biceps were tattooed in beautiful scroll designs.
And in the same scroll pattern, he had dates tattooed on the back of each of his wrists.
God, she could look at him all day. He glanced down at her, but he was scowling.
“First of all, I want to thank a few people before we get down to the nitty-gritty. Deacon, once again, the hard work and effort you give to this cause each year astounds me. Thank you for so much dedication and time on your part to keep this ball rolling.”
Deacon stood up and gave a thumbs-up to Dog as the crowd clapped and cheered.
“Gunnar…you have really impressed me with your organizational skills and your ability to think outside of the box. You’ve helped us solve so many of our issues with space and parking. Thanks, man; we all appreciate it.”
Gunnar had a smile from ear to ear. David slapped him on the back, and Joci smiled proudly at her son.
He had his dark hair pulled back into a ponytail, and his bright, blue eyes twinkled.
Gunnar looked over at his mom; she could tell he was very proud of himself.
Joci winked at him and clapped louder than anyone else in the crowd.
Jackie let out a loud whistle for Gunnar.
“Joci. Thank you for designing the best logo we’ve ever had and putting together the marketing plan of the century, along with the website.
In the eight years we’ve been doing this ride, nothing has come together like it did this year due to your designs and marketing ideas.
Because of you, this ride will be the biggest ride we’ve had to date. Thank you, baby.”
The crowd cheered. Joci did a double-take. Had she heard right over the cheering? Did he call her ’baby?’ God, he had. He called her baby! Joci felt someone bump her shoulder and looked at Sandi, whose smile was spread across her face as she gave Joci a thumbs up.
Oh. My. God. Joci thought she would like to just spontaneously combust right now. As she looked around at everyone, she saw Gunnar look at her with a smirk on his face, and Jackie looked at her with a smile and a wink. Jon was grinning as well. Connor was frowning at her. Then Joci saw LuAnn.
LuAnn was looking at her like she wanted to kill her.
Joci was plain by LuAnn’s standards. The men always commented on LuAnn.
They positively drooled when she walked by.
Over this past year, as Joci worked with the crew on this ride, she heard so many guys saying very crude and rude things about what they would like to do to LuAnn.