Page 31 of Loco

I glanced around, not sure that there was anyone there I wanted close enough to get his lips on me. Unless…no, I wouldn’t think about Loco and his lips on me. It was bad enough that my dreams were filled with the big biker. I was wasting time on thoughts I had no business thinking.

Lissa made introductions, and then the server came over to ask what we wanted. I ordered a beer. V and Lissa followed suit.

“I hear you’re pregnant,” V joked, directing her comment to Jolene.

Everyone laughed.

“Pregnant and ready for this boy to make his appearance.” Jolene rubbed her belly. “So is his daddy.” The sparkle in her violet eyes clearly revealed her feelings for LD.

“So, Viola, you work with Lissa?” Annabelle asked in a friendly tone.

Annabelle was the youngest one at the table. She was very petite, with big brown eyes and strawberry blond hair. Her lowcut dress revealed a thin scar. I could tell that it was old and didn’t seem to bother her. She lifted her glass for a drink, and the large diamond on her ring finger caught the light.

V nodded. “Someone has to,” she joked. “And I love your ring.” Apparently, I wasn’t the only one who had noticed the sparkling jewel. “Congratulations, by the way.”

The compliment brought instant color to Annabelle’s cheeks. “Thank you.”

“What do you do, Millie?” Lulu asked me.

I’d just been sitting there taking in the crowd and listening to their conversation, but Lulu’s question pulled my attention back to our table. Her smile was the kind that made you smile in return. The friendliness in her brown eyes led me to think that we could become really good friends. We already had something in common.

I gauged her to be somewhere in her late twenties or early thirties. Her long, auburn hair was pulled up into a ponytail, her makeup flawless. She had what I’d always considered to be the perfect hourglass body shape, and she was showing it off in her sexy, skimpy outfit.

“I’m a professional animal sitter,” I explained proudly. “I used to say dog and cat sitter, but nowadays I’ll take care of just about any animal.” Except snakes.

“A woman after my own heart. I love animals. I’ll be a vet tech in about four months.”

“Will you be leaving the Desert Rebels?” Lissa asked, sipping her beer.

That’s right,I thought to myself.She’s a club girl.

Lulu shook her head with a smile. “I could never leave the Desert Rebels. They’re my family. I just won’t be preforming the same, um,dutiesthat I’ve provided all these years.” There wasn’t an ounce of embarrassment in her tone. Just a confident woman stating a fact.

“Oh! Oh! Looks like we have some stalkers, ladies.”

I followed Jolene’s gaze toward the bar to where a group of hot men were sitting and showing no signs of guilt at being caught staring. Lord, the men of Desert Rebels were all big and sexy. Their scruffy beards, tattoos, and even their scars took a woman’s breath away. They looked like warriors who’d been to battle.

Bull was with them, and I glanced at V to see what her reaction would be at seeing him. She could deny it all she wanted, but I knew that she was interested in him.

Loco wasn’t with them. I tried not to let my disappointment show. It’s not as if I’d been expecting to see him. I wasn’t even sure that Iwantedto see him again. Yeah, I was sure. I wanted him like a fiend, but I didn’t want to want him. I was a mess!

“Is that your soon-to-be husband with the guys?” V asked, her eyes returning to Annabelle.

I guessed that she was talking about the man who looked so different from the others that he was sitting with. He was handsome in jeans and a pullover, and looked slightly out of place conversing with a group of rough, leather-clad bikers.

“Yep. That’s Danny,” Annabelle confirmed with a bright smile. “The best thing to ever happen to me.”

“He’s not a biker?” V asked.

“No. He helps the club out once in a while, but mostly he runs his family’s lighting business, which is right next to the club’s construction office.”

“Convenient for them,” Lulu laughed, shooting Annabelle a wink. “For those afternoon quickies in the stock room.”

Annabelle blushed scarlet. “I’ll have you know that we don’t—”

Jolene cut in. “Save your breath, honey. No one is going to believe you.”

“So when is the wedding?” V asked.

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