Page 101 of Jingle Belle's Biker

“I just take hearts.” My mouth trembles. “One. If I can.”

“And then what? Cut it up?” It doesn’t faze him, what I’m saying.

Hope rises once again.

“Only if it deserves that.”

“Belle.”

I can’t crumble, I can’t. Okay, I’ve mostly crumbled, but I can’t crumble fully. I need . . . I need . . .

“Belle, I couldn’t tell you earlier. I didn’t want to screw things up by saying something your ex could get me for. If I made it seem like I handed over anything, he’d probably fuck everything up. So, others did the dirty work for me. And?—”

He stops.

“I’m telling you the truth. But I’m also fucking lying,” he says quietly. “I got scared. You . . . you’re this shining light, you’re everything a man could want. More. And I should have told you, but then things got too late, so I came up with a way to help save this place.”

I know him. He saved it, not helped. He did this.

“And then I rode off because even bikers get scared,” he says. “And if you rejected me or didn’t feel the same way, then I don’t know. It’d fucking tear me apart.

“Which is why I’m standing here, heart on sleeve, groveling for you to give me a chance.”

I could make him get down on his knees. Or I could try. But why?

“He hired you before you met me?”

“Meeting you was a fluke. Just a random thing the fucking fates wanted to screw with. Nothing planned. You and me? Wildest fucking ride in my life. Red, I never crossed a line. What I should’ve done is back the fuck out or told you. But by the time I knew I wasn’t doing a thing he wanted me to do, I couldn’t find the words for you. And I was gonna leave, or so I thought. And . . .”

I look at him. “You thought being here helping the other tenants out was a smarter move.”

The embarrassment that blooms with his slight nod is all I need to know.

“I did come here to tell you how I felt. Because I couldn’t seem to leave. But I had another reason. One that others could’ve done. There’s some legal bullshit Sin and this lawyer friend of Hannah’s found. This place? Seems he can manage it, but can’t have it. Esther? His gran? Loved it. Wanted it to belong to the residents. Like a co-op or something? This isn’t my area.”

“She what?” Happiness spreads through every cell. But with it is the wild heat of him and his standing here, the meaning of his words, for me.

He cares.

He loves me.

He came back.

He did all this for me.

It’s worth the entire world.

“And Lance?” I ask. “I don’t care about him like that. I just . . . is he going to be a problem?”

“Hannah’s lawyer friend’s good. Seems no one will press charges if he does this round of fixes, and when he opens his Hank’s, jobs are offered to residents. If he pays for renovations needed to bring it up to scratch. Going forward, you’ll need a super, one part-time at least. The rest is being worked out after the holiday.”

My heart squeezes, and I cross to him. “Really? Who’d be the super? I’ve got a feeling this building’s going to have high standards.”

“It’s going to be a fine line. Things can be modernized without ruining the original concept.”

“That would have to be someone clever. Someone who knows people. Someone like you.”

“I’m not fucking letting you hire anyone else.”

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