Chapter Twelve
“I only have one set of forms,” Elena said, looking frantically around her desk to see if she’d somehow missed another stack of papers. Her first day had been filled with chaos so it wouldn’t surprise her if they were hiding under the avalanche of random shit that had piled up in front of her. “Give me a sec.”
Her new boss was amazing, but the woman had to be on speed or something because she never stopped moving. Taffy was like an ADHD tornado, spinning around the office and offloading random tasks without taking a breath. Writing as fast as she could had given Elena a hand cramp, but she’d managed to catch all the miscellaneous requests and notes—or so she’d thought. Her workspace was a mess; every inch of space covered with sticky notes…but not a damn one of them was helping her right now.
The men in front of her were annoyingly distracting.
They were also mind-numbingly gorgeous, completely unattainable, and the last thing she needed right now.
Elena had spent most of the afternoon trying to get her head on straight and the minute she saw them, it went spinning again. She wasn’t the type to sit and daydream about a man, but today, she’d been doing exactly that— times three . The little bits of time she’d been around them had made a surprising impact. She hadn’t been able to get them—or the way they’d made her feel— off her mind no matter how hard she’d tried. On their own, each of them had made her heart beat a little faster. Together, the trio had it pounding so hard she worried it would fly straight out of her chest and land at their feet. She was a goddamn mess.
Despite the ick that had hit her when she'd peeped the dirty picture of Tanner and his friends, she couldn’t help but imagine herself in that same position with the three hot bikers. She hated to admit it but deep down, she was jealous of their mystery woman. Stupidly jealous. She didn’t know why; the four of them had literally just met. She had no claim over them but that didn’t stop her from wanting to tear that lady’s hair out.
The green-eyed-monster had been lurking in her thoughts all day long, grumbling its discontent every time she thought about it. Along with being angry at herself and her stupid feelings, there was also a whole lot of confusion mucking shit up.
She hadn’t imagined the chemistry between the four of them—and that was a teensy bit frightening on multiple levels. First, they all worked together. Second, she was in completely unfamiliar territories. She wasn’t an ogre or anything but never in a million years would she have imagined the three men in front of her looking at her the way they were now.
It was almost enough to make her pinch herself.
Stuff like this didn’t happen in real life and if it did…it sure as hell didn’t happen to people like her. She was pretty but she was also fat. She wasn’t the acceptable type either where the pounds were evenly distributed. Nope. Elena wasn’t a plump Jessica Rabbit, instead, she was round in the middle with untamable thighs, big tits, and a double chin that liked to wave hello when she got too animated. And while she’d learned to accept and love the body she lived in; it was not the type that got picked to be the filling in a biker sandwich.
Despite that reality check lingering in the back of her mind, it was still hard to ignore the tingles her three bikers had zinging through her.
Pax had been the first to give her shivers, but her reactions to Tanner and Vinyl were just as potent despite their brief interactions. Her sex drive, which had been happily on vacation for the last few years, was back with a vengeance. Elena had been walking around in wet panties all afternoon.
The damp distraction was just another thing to add to her growing pile of worries. It was not only uncomfortable, but also a physical reminder of her attraction to the three men in front of her. Which she didn’t need.
No matter what her vagina thought.
She had to keep her eye on the ball and her mind off the balls of the men eying her up and down. This job was too important for her not to.
“I only have one packet. Maybe she left the other two in her office,” Elena mumbled. No matter how much shuffling she did, she couldn’t find more paperwork needing to be signed.
When Taffy had come through earlier, she’d been running around like a chicken with her head cut off. Her boss had been in such a hurry; Elena hadn’t had time to process most of what she’d said before the woman disappeared out the back door.
Now she couldn’t help but worry that she’d missed something major.
Tanner stilled her busy hands where they’d been shuffling things around. “We’re not here to sign anything.”
“Oh,” she breathed. That was a relief, but also confusing. “Why?”
“You know why.”
Elena’s eyes shot wide at Pax’s growl as he moved closer.
“We’re here for you,” Vinyl added, his eyes locked on her.
She swallowed hard—and then choked on her own spit. That was not what she’d been expecting him to say.
“Are you okay?” Pax asked, smacking her on the back as she coughed and wheezed.
“I’m—” She had the breath knocked out of her on his next wallop.
“She’ll be fine once you stop beating her to death,” Vinyl interfered with a huff, moving the other man out of the way. He rubbed her back in gentle circles as she tried to catch her breath.
“Sorry,” she rasped, clearing her throat. “Can we start over?”
“I’d love to start over,” Tanner tossed out from where he was still standing by the door. “Can we rewind all the way back to this morning?”
She blinked, a little uncomfortable. It was obvious what he was referring to. And judging by the matching expression his two friends were wearing, Tanner had filled them in on all the details.
“How about we just forget that ever happened?” she suggested, attempting to keep her tone light. Her goal was to sound as unbothered as possible despite the confusing emotions filling her up, but she had a feeling she failed miserably.
“All of it or just the pictures?” Tanner asked, watching her closely. “Because I’d like to clear that part up if you’ll let me.”
She sank down into the chair at her desk to think.
“If you’ll let us ,” Pax clarified with a step forward. “We’re in this together.”
“I noticed,” she agreed with snort, her cheeks burning hot. She fussed with the red stapler on her desk, attempting to keep her anxious hands busy. The image of their togetherness was something she wouldn’t forget any time soon.
“Just so you know,” Vinyl began, pulling up a chair on the other side of her desk. “We didn’t know those photos existed, much less ask for them. We were stupid and hooked up with her once, months ago. Since then, she’s been fixated on us.”
Elena blinked, a little stunned by his bluntness. She wasn’t sure quite what she’d expected him to say but it sure as hell hadn’t been that.
“She’s watched waaaay too much Sons of Anarchy,” Tanner added with a grimace. “The way she acts…it’s obvious she needs help.”
“Part of the reason we moved back was to put some distance between her and us. Everyone thought it might help.” Pax ran a hand through his dirty blonde hair. “We don’t know how she even got Tanner’s new number. None of our friends would have given it to her; they all know what we’ve been dealing with.”
“If we had a bunny, she would have boiled it,” Vinyl told her, his expression completely serious.
Elena eyed all three, attempting to sort through the information they were firing at her.
“You’re going with the ‘crazy ex’ excuse?” She wrinkled her nose at them. As if she hadn’t heard that one before. “That gives major ick.”
“We swear to god, we’re not making this shit up.” Pax nodded towards the huge office phone on the corner of her desk. “You can call my mom and ask for yourself. It’s not a secret why we came back. She actually helped us get things going.”
Elena’s expression turned thoughtful. “You guys are serious, aren’t you? You’ve got a fangirl stalking you?”
“Kinda,” Tanner sighed. His smile was grim. “I honestly thought she would have either gotten help or moved on by now.”
Considering what happened this morning, she believed him when he said it. The look on Tanner’s face when those pictures had come through had been genuine horror mixed with confusion. She hadn’t thought much on his reaction in that moment—she’d been too distracted by sweaty muscles and overblown titties—but since then, she remembered everything. If that man had been faking any of his reaction, he deserved an Oscar for that performance.
Not that it made any difference.
Elena had to keep reminding herself that none of this mattered. She wasn’t looking for a fuck buddy, much less three of them. Easy hook-ups had never been her thing. She didn’t judge those that indulged; it just wasn’t for her.
“Okay,” she said with a nod. Picking up Pax’s paperwork, she handed it across the desk. “Now that we got that cleared up, I just need you to sign on the highlighted areas.”
“Wait.” Tanner stepped forward with a frown. “That’s it?”
“Yes,” she said while Pax and Vinyl voiced the opposite in unison.
She glared at them both. “What do you mean, ‘no’?”
“Sugar,” Vinyl grumbled huskily. He leaned in. “We all know this isn’t finished. There’s still a lot for us to talk about.”
Elena couldn’t stop the shiver that ran down her down her back. The thick, tattooed biker invading her space sent a tingle through her body like she’d touched an electrified wire.
“I’m not sure what you mean,” she lied.