Just as Cole rose to enter her c.u.m-soaked body, an alarm sounded loud in her ears. She groaned and rol ed over to find not only had it al been a dream, but it was time to get up. She shut off the alarm and rol ed out of the bed to find that she was soaked between her legs. She raised her hand to her nose and knew she"d m.a.s.t.u.r.b.a.t.ed while asleep. f.u.c.k, she needed to get laid. And she guessed she knew just the men to do it.
Zack groaned and rol ed over when the phone rang, alerting them it was time to get up. He hadn"t slept wel . Erotic dreams of Tina had woken him several times during the night. He final y reached across and grabbed the phone up and then slammed it back in the cradle. Cole stirred and cursed.
"What the f.u.c.k was that?" he asked.
"Our wake-up cal . It"s six thirty." Zack swung his legs out of bed and sat up al in one motion.
Cole did the same, rubbing his chest as he did. "Man, I could sleep til noon."
"We"l do that when we get home."
"I don"t think I want to do another construction job for a while. That last one nearly did us al in. f.u.c.king corporate espionage." Their last construction job had been sabotaged by the mayor and aldermen in the town where they were building it. They"d also lost two of their Dirty Dozen to a little waitress. They were moving back to Dal as, so they"d stil see them, but they were going to rent a U-Haul and pul the bikes behind them so they could take her car and her things.
"A vacation would be nice," Zack acknowledged.
"Wonder what our chances are at getting Tina to spend some time with us?" Cole stood up and stretched before grabbing his jeans and heading for the bathroom.
"We can hope."
They finished getting dressed and Zack knocked on the connecting door. He didn"t hear anything at first, then the door opened. She was completely dressed in a snug pair of jeans and a T-shirt that was just shy of being tight. He liked it. He liked it a lot.
"You about ready?" he asked, looking her up and down.
"Eyes on the face, buddy." She grinned at him.
"Hey, I can look." He chuckled.
"Yeah, I"m ready. Just need to check out and put my stuff in my bike."
"Meet you at the office then."
He and Cole loaded their things in their saddle bags then walked down to the office. A few seconds later, Tina joined them. Zack watched her walk into the room and al heads turned. She was worth watching, that was for d.a.m.n sure.
She checked out first then started back to her bike. Zack let Cole check them out so he could fol ow her. He real y didn"t want to take his eyes off of her.
She looked over her shoulder at him and grinned. He wondered what that was al about.
"Where do we get breakfast?" she asked.
"There"s a diner around the corner. We"ve eaten there several times. It"s pretty good." Zack watched as she checked her bike over then climbed on it and waited for everyone else.
"So, what do you do when you"re not riding?"
"I"m a travel nurse."
"No s.h.i.t. So you like go from hospital to hospital and work?"
"Basical y, yeah. I have an agency I work through. I pick and choose what cities I want to go to and they look for openings there and I fly or bike there. I ship my clothes ahead of me. They provide the apartment for me to live in while I"m there. I haven"t decided where to work next, so I"m just exploring right now."
"Man, that"s a pretty d.a.m.n good life."
"So, what do you guys do?"
"Not a lot different from you except we do construction. We have a couple of contractors we work with and when something comes up we"re interested in, we go."
"That"s amazing. I mean, amazing that we work so similar." Tina shook her head.
Cole returned as did several others. Zack could see that she was trying to put faces with names. He wondered if she"d get riled if he introduced her to al of them again. Probably.
"Ready to ride, everyone?" Cole asked.
There were h.e.l.l yeahs al around. They climbed on their bikes and started them up with a roar. Zack loved getting started in the mornings. Right now, though, he was starved. He pul ed out after Cole and hoped that Tina was right behind them. He wanted the gang around her to keep her safe. He wasn"t sure why he suddenly felt that way, but he didn"t want anything to happen to her.
They arrived at the diner and were greeted by their usual waitress. She welcomed them in then blushed when they al hugged or squeezed her. She was a good fifty-plus years old, but they liked her because she had treated them nice the first time she had seen them. From then on, they always stopped there when they were out this way on their way home.
"What can I get you guys, oh, and gal. You"ve added a new member. Oh, and what happened to Kyle and West?" she asked with a knit in her brow.
"They"re getting married, and this is Tina, she"s riding with us to Dal as." Zack made the introductions. "Tina, this is Myrtle."
"Good to meet you, Myrtle. I take it you don"t mind it when they descend on you."
"Nope, don"t mind a bit. They tip wel ." She winked at them.
Zack smiled and waited his turn as she took everyone"s order. He was surprised when Tina ordered a big breakfast. He was used to women eating light meals to keep their figures. He didn"t think there was a d.a.m.n thing wrong with hers. She had curves made for riding.
"So, what are you going to do when you get to Dal as? Got a nursing job lined up?" He fil ed Cole in on what she did for a living. He nodded at the similarities to what they did.
"Nope, no job lined up right now. I just wanted to see Dal as and see if I might like to work here sometime. I"m not sure when I"l hook up another job. I"m enjoying a few weeks off."
"Sounds good." Cole glanced Zack"s way. He knew what he was thinking. He gave a short shake of his head. He didn"t think it was time yet to talk to her about staying with them. Especial y not around the other guys.
They ate their breakfast and then, after settling up, got back on the road. They stopped for lunch at a truck stop about four hours outside of Dal as. They were closing in on home. He couldn"t wait and hoped they would have Tina with them when they arrived.
"I"m going to run back out to my bike for a second and get another shirt. This one is tight across my neck." Tina stopped Zack as they were getting ready to pay.
"Okay. We"l be right out."
They paid their tab and walked over to the convenience store side to grab some water for the road. They had just paid for the water when one of the guys ran inside cal ing for them.
"Man, get out here. Someone tried to grab Tina, and she"s shaken up."
"f.u.c.k, I shouldn"t have let her go outside without us," Zack cursed.
Cole was right behind him as they al ran outside. She was sitting on the ground next to her bike with several of the guys standing around her. They parted as soon as Cole and Zack walked up. They both bent down to check on her.
"Hey, baby. Are you okay?" Zack could tel by the tears that she wasn"t.
"I"l be okay in a minute. I got scared." Her voice was husky.
"I don"t blame you. Let me look at you. Did he hurt you?"
"Just my throat. He grabbed me by my throat and tried to pul me over to a van. When I final y managed to break his grip on my neck, I screamed and he ran."
"Let"s see what he did to you." Cole lifted her chin and cursed.
"Hel , he left bruises, Tina. He could have strangled you. I"m sorry, baby. We shouldn"t have let you come out alone."
"It"s not your fault. It"s f.u.c.king daylight. I wouldn"t have thought anyone would try something in broad daylight like that."
"Your knees are skinned, too." Cole looked up at the men. "Someone go get something to clean them with."
"I"m okay, it"s just a sc.r.a.pe. My jeans kept them from getting much damage." She started to get to her feet, but Zack stopped her. "Don"t move til we get you cleaned up. Are you hurt anywhere else?"
"No, real y, I"l be okay." She stil had a difficult time talking.
Zack didn"t like that. If she hadn"t been able to break his hold, he would have had her.
"You realize we need to report this to the police. They need to know about a near miss and the area he was last seen in." Cole pul ed out his cel phone.
"That"s going to put me behind getting to Dal as. I don"t want to ride there in the dark by myself."
"You won"t be by yourself. Cole and I wil ride with you. The others can go on ahead of us."
"Hel no," Shane said. "We ride with you. We were out here talking and just about let the b.a.s.t.a.r.d get her."
"See, you"re not alone," Zack told her.
"Okay, they"re sending a highway patrolman to take your statement." Cole put his phone away.
"I"m sorry, guys. I"ve caused you al a lot of trouble." Tina looked near tears again.
Zack knelt on the ground and gently cleaned her knees with the cloth Drew brought back for him to use. He"d wet it in warm water. He could tel it stung because she jerked when he wiped it across the sc.r.a.pes.
"Look, when we get to Dal as, did you already have somewhere to stay?" Zack asked.
"No, I planned on finding a hotel once I arrived."
"Stay with us. You"l be safe and you can heal up after this."
She swal owed and winced then nodded. "Thanks. I appreciate it."
Zack sighed in relief. He hated to think of her alone in some hotel room afraid to get out. He could tel this had shaken her up pretty badly.
Cole stood up and they helped her to her feet. She staggered and Cole steadied her. Zack leaned in and kissed her lightly on the lips. Cole did the same thing.
"There"s the patrolman now." Zack pointed at the patrol car pul ing into the parking lot.
A rather large man got out. He was tal er than either Zack or Cole. Zack noticed she backed into them when the patrolman walked closer.
"Was it you who cal ed to report a near abduction?" The man"s name tag said "Wilkes."
"That"s right. Tina was nearly strangled." Zack put an arm around her shoulder.
"Okay, I can see the bruises on your neck. Are you okay, ma"am, or do I need to cal an ambulance?"
"No thanks. I"m al right." Her voice stil rasped.
Zack wondered how long before she"d be back to normal.
Tina went back over what had happened and gave the man a good description of her attacker.
As soon as he"d gotten al his information including her temporary address with the guys and how to get in touch with her, he left. They al mounted up and pul ed out an hour behind schedule, but not one of the gang had chosen to go on ahead. Zack was proud of them.
They rode with her in the middle of them and Zack would drop back occasional y to see if she needed to stop for a while. She always shook her head no. He guessed she just wanted to get somewhere and relax.
He felt guilty as hel that something had happened to her after they"d a.s.sured her they would keep her safe. Would she trust them enough to stay for a while? Or would she insist on moving on toward her next a.s.signment? Zack hoped not. He realized that he was a little in love with her. He didn"t know how Cole felt, but he was thinking of long term. And he hadn"t even had s.e.x with her.
Chapter Four.
Tina struggled the entire ride to hold it together. She needed a shower. She couldn"t stand feeling his hands on her neck and her arm. He"d nearly had her. Much more and she would have pa.s.sed out, and that would have been that. Al her self-defense training hadn"t prepared her for this.
Her throat f.u.c.king hurt, and her knees were sc.r.a.ped up. She would be throwing that pair of jeans away even if they now looked like the latest fashion with the holes in the knees. It would only remind her of her near death experience. She could do without that.
They rode for the next four hours into the dark. Once they arrived in Dal as, the various gang members peeled off, heading to their homes. She stuck with Cole and Zack, knowing they wouldn"t leave her behind. She made sure to keep up.
They final y pul ed down a quiet street in a residential neighborhood. When they pul ed into the drive of a beautiful, two-story brick home, she was speechless. She was ashamed to say she had stereotyped them into a smal , lower cla.s.s house in the suburbs. This was just a bit above middle cla.s.s.
She was impressed. Construction must pay nicely.
They climbed off their bikes and waited for her. She threw her leg over the bike and nearly fel on her a.s.s. Her knees were sore as hel . Zack was immediately there keeping her on her feet.
"Easy there. I expect your knees are sore and then you"ve been on the bike al this time. They"re probably stove-up."
"They are a bit. This is a real y nice house," she said.
"Thanks, Cole and I like it."
"You both live here?" She was amazed.