Thor (Riptide MC #4)

Chapter One

Janet

Some men are thick-headed, and Thor takes it to the extreme. Why couldn’t he just accept the fact that I was not into commitment?

For one thing, I’m old-fashioned in that regard. Commitment meant I had to be honest with him. And being honest could ruin a perfectly good relationship. Honesty meant telling him about my family.

“Are you ashamed of me?” Thor looked magnificent when he frowned.

Of course, he looked magnificent most of the time.

Kind of like a modern-day Viking with his shaggy blond hair reaching down to brush his shoulders, and those striking blue eyes.

All those muscles didn’t hurt either. And the full sleeves of tattoos? They made my mouth water.

I shook my head. “No. I’m not ashamed of you. But commitment changes everything. People look at us differently. We look at each other differently. There are expectations.”

“Such as you not fucking other men? Those kinds of expectations?” His voice had a dangerous edge to it.

“That’s not the issue and you know it.” My mind flashed back to the extremely satisfying sex we’d had less than an hour ago. “I’m not looking to be the club sex toy.”

He relaxed. Not a lot, but it was something. “Then what? Is it Riptide? You don’t want to be one of the old ladies?”

“Well, I’m not thrilled with being called an old lady, but you know Sophia’s my BFF.” I toyed with the tiny umbrella in my drink. “I already feel like I’m part of the club, in a way. Why can’t we just go on like we are?”

Thor scowled. “Because I want everyone to know you belong to me. Off limits. Do you have any idea how tough it is not to react when Tiny flirts with you? That needs to stop.”

“So, tell him to stop.” I failed to see the issue.

He shook his head. “Can’t do it. Unless I claim you as my old lady, you’re fair game.”

“You know Tiny doesn’t really want me. He’s all talk. I think he does it just to bug you. He’s never even tried to kiss me.”

His scowl deepened. He looked cute when he scowled. If I didn’t know him better, I’d think he was dangerous. “He’d better not. Brother or not, I’ll take a round out of him.”

I tried not to let my exasperation show. “We haven’t exactly been secretive. Tiny must know we have a thing for each other. Surely that’s enough.”

“Nope.” Thor sat back and crossed his arms on his massive chest. “I want my cut on you. I want the world to know you belong to me.”

I raised one brow. “Belong to you?”

“Don’t try to change the subject. You know what I meant. I want the world to know we belong to each other.”

I sighed. I really did care about him. A lot. But my family had money. Power. Influence. And not necessarily in a good way. I’d walked away, but I wasn’t stupid. I knew they’d let me go. For now. And I also knew they could make life extremely difficult for anyone they didn’t approve of.

It didn’t take a genius to figure out they wouldn’t approve of Thor.

“Can we just let it go for now? I promise I’m not going to bed down with anyone else. I just don’t want to do the whole till death do us part thing.”

His lip twitched, and I knew he was trying to suppress a laugh at my phrasing. “Till death do us part? I’m not asking you to marry me.”

“No. You’re asking me to be your old lady, and that’s a whole lot more serious.”

He nodded. “True. But it is just as binding on me.”

I shook my head. We’d argued this around in circles before, and it always ended the same. Neither of us were willing to give in. Time to change the subject. I looked over at the bar. “They serve food here? I haven’t had anything to eat since lunch, and that was a long time ago.”

That brought a grin to his lips. “Something help work up your appetite?” His hand caressed my thigh under the table.

I rolled my eyes. “You should know. You were there.”

“Yeah, I was.”

The door opened and I glanced over to see a familiar face. Joker. With a girl on his arm. I didn’t recognize her, but that didn’t matter. It was enough to get me out of this line of conversation for now. I raised my arm and waved.

Joker waved back, pausing to say something to the girl with him before heading over to our table.

Thor stood up and the two bikers clasped arms, slapping each other on the back. “We were just going to order something to eat. Want to join us?”

“Sure.” Joker glanced down at his companion. “You okay with that?”

She nodded, giving him a shy smile. “I’m Cassie,” she said by way of introduction. “Joker and I were just out at the races.”

“Sorry.” Joker looked sheepish. “Forgot the introduction part. This is Cassie. We met at the tattoo parlor a couple weeks back and kind of hit it off.”

“Nice to meet you, Cassie.” I scooted over, and Thor slid in beside me, leaving the other side of the booth for Joker and Cassie. “What kind of races?”

“Motocross. They run them every Saturday over at the old Forman farm.” Cassie glanced up at Joker. “I’ve never been before, but it was fun to watch.”

A waitress bustled over, order pad in hand. “What can I get you two to start with?” she asked the newcomers.

Joker looked over at Cassie. “Want to split a plate of nachos?”

Cassie nodded. “Sounds good.”

Joker looked up at the waitress. “A large nachos and a jug of beer with two mugs.”

The waitress scribbled on her pad and glanced at me and Thor. “Are you two still okay?”

Thor looked at me, one brow raised.

“Can I get a burger with the works, and a side order of fries with gravy, please?” I smiled at her. Waitressing at a pub wasn’t the easiest way to make a living.

“Sure, honey.” She smiled back at me.

“Make that two. I seem to have worked up an appetite.” Thor’s hand wandered up my thigh, heading north. I slapped it down, ignoring his soft chuckle.

I watched as the waitress wrote down our order and hurried off, using the distraction to ignore the questioning look Joker threw at us.

“You two are spending a lot of time together?” He made it sound like a question as his gaze shuffled from Thor to me and back again.

Thor narrowed his eyes, looking ready to pick a fight. “Yeah, so? You have a problem with that?”

Joker held up his hands in mock surrender. “Just noticing. That’s all.”

Thor grimaced. “Sorry, man. Touchy subject.”

Shit. I did not want to do this in front of another couple .

Feeling cornered, I turned to Cassie. “I’ve never been a motocross race. Is it like a car race, with a big round track?”

She shook her head. “No, it’s more like a cross-country thing, with motorcycles instead of cars. There’s a dirt track with bumps and hills that the bikers jump over at high speeds. They can really get some air under them on those! It’s a ton of fun to watch the bikes get airborne.”

“Sounds like fun.” I grinned at Thor. “We should go watch some time.” I could tell by the laconic smile he gave me that I wasn’t fooling him. He knew I’d changed the subject on purpose. Luckily for me, he seemed willing to let it go. For now.

“So, what have you two been up to?” Joker glanced around the crowded room, then back at Thor. “I don’t see Tiny anywhere, and you two are usually together.”

“He had a family thing, so I called Janet up to see if she wanted to hang out.” Thor lied like an expensive rug, smooth and effortless in the roll out.

Thankfully, the conversation changed directions into the types of bikes used in motocross and a debate on air-cooled vs liquid-cooled engines. I looked over at Cassie, who looked a little lost. “Don’t worry. There won’t be a test at the end of this.”

“Do you understand any of it?” she asked.

I shrugged. “Enough to know I really don’t care.

Much as I like riding behind Thor or any of the guys, I can’t see me ever wanting my own bike.

Too much responsibility, and besides, I’d need to up my license and I’m not good at tests.

” I’d almost slipped up there and admitted the only one I ever rode with was Thor.

I slipped a quick look at him from under my lashes and was relieved to see he hadn’t noticed.

“You need a different license to ride a motorcycle?” Cassie looked surprised.

“Afraid so. A car and a bike don’t have a lot in common, so you have to do the whole thing over again.

Written test. Road test.” I shuddered. “I’m one of those people who suddenly forgets how to spell their own name when it comes to tests.

The only one I ever managed to pass on first go round is the vision test.”

“Vision test?”

“Yeah. My eyes don’t have a problem with tests.” I gave her a wry smile. “Lucky me.”

The waitress appeared with the jug of beer and glasses. “Your food will be out shortly.”

She eyed up my empty glass. “Another round for you two?”

I shook my head. “I better not. I have to work later.”

Thor spread a meaty palm over the top of his beer stein. “Not for me. I’m driving.”

She nodded and headed back to the bar. Joker lifted a brow. “You had that many already or are you becoming one of those respected adult kind of people?”

Thor shrugged. “Adult enough to know when to quit.”

“I’m going to hit the ladies’ room before the food gets here.” I motioned Thor to scoot over and let me out. “You want to come freshen up?” I asked Cassie.

“Sure.” She chuckled. “You can give me the scoop on Joker.”

“No secrets here.” Joker didn’t look worried. “I’m a law-abiding ex-SEAL who’s dynamite in the sack. What else do you need to know?”

I leaned over toward her and stage-whispered, “And he’s modest. Incredibly modest.”

Cassie laughed and blew a kiss in Joker’s direction before turning to follow.

* * *

Thor