"You ok?" I asked. She blinked back tears, lower lip still trembling, and I shifted uncomfortably. Getting a hard on here for this kid stranded on the side of the road with snot dripping out of her nose was the last thing I needed. Of course, she was hardly a kid. Hot wasn't really the right word either. Hot was for the girls I banged regularly, the ones with fake tits and tattoos. This girl was something else entirely.
She was beautiful even with vomit on her shirt. The scarf tied around her head barely kept her brown hair restrained, and pieces fell out of it, giving her this wild look. She had another scarf tied around her neck, which was really out of place, like something from a fifties movie. But what the hell did I know about fashion. She wore jeans and a long sleeved black shirt, even though it was still eighty degrees outside, but the clothes couldn't disguise her hourglass figure. I had to force myself to not picture her naked.
"I ran out of gas," she said, sniffling. She wiped her nose on the back of her hand.
I hid a smile. That's karma, I thought. But seriously, what was with kids these days? Run out of gas on the side of the road, and you're crying and puking? I'd be thumbing or hiking down to the gas station, not acting like it was the end of the world. I almost hated to offer her a ride. She obviously needed some life skills. And you only got life skills by learning how to cope when shit happened, like figuring out what to do when you ran out of gas and were stranded on the side of the road.
But then again, she was really hot.
"Okay. But are you all right?" I asked, gesturing toward the grass where she'd been vomiting, not because I was all that concerned, but because I was just having a hard time believing anyone would be this much drama over running out of gas.
"Yes." She paused, sniffling again. "No. I'm just having a really bad day."
No shit, I thought. I was about to give her a lesson in bad days, like the one I'd nearly had when she ran me off the road, but she spoke too quickly.
"I'm sorry about almost running you off the road before. I didn't see you at all. I was going to stop, but you were still riding..."
I stared at her, trying to tell whether she was just some kid having a shitty day or whether she was an entitled rich bitch who needed to learn a lesson about riding bikers off the road. Then her big brown eyes welled up again, and she blinked back tears. I groaned. Shit. I was getting soft in my old age.
I sighed. "Okay then," I said. "You want a lift to the gas station? I'm pretty sure there's one a couple of miles down the road here."
"That would be great," she said. "Thank you. I'm Dani."
Dani. It was nice. Suited her. I shook my head. No, I didn't need to think about what suited her.
"Blaze," I said.
"Blaze?"
She was about to say something, and I waited for her to make a smart comment about my name so I could ditch her here and leave her for some trucker to find. “Yeah?”
"Thanks for the help."
I nodded, and she followed me to the bike. "You ever ridden a bike before?" I doubted it. She didn't look like the type to be riding on the back of a motorcycle. More like the kind of girl you see on the pages of a magazine, yachting with her rich boyfriends.
She nodded. "A couple times."
All right then. "Hang on tight. You have to move with me."
Dani pressed her body against my back, arms wrapped around me, gripping my chest. I revved the engine to life, the motor rumbling between my legs. This bike was the surest way of picking up chicks. Better than a cute little puppy. There was something about having a monstrous piece of metal vibrating between their legs that made women wet.
Quit, I told myself. You've got no call to be thinking about this one like that. Just drop her off at the gas station and be done with her.
I felt her breasts against my back, and I had to focus on not getting hard as I rode with her. An image of Dani naked, her body pressed against my back, flashed through my mind. Get her out of your head, I thought. This isn't the time or place. I actively focused on the road, but when we got to the gas station, I still had to adjust, pulling at my jeans, trying to make sure my arousal wasn’t evident.
When she hopped off the bike, I expected this girl to give me a quick 'thanks' and jet. Instead, she stood in front of me, no longer the bundle of emotions and nerves I'd seen on the side of the road. She was giving me a once-over.
"Thanks for the ride," she said.
I nodded. "There's a payphone in there, I'm sure. Or you should have cell reception, if you want to call someone."
Dani smiled. "I appreciate it. It's not every day I get to ride a sweet Crossbones like this.”
"You know bikes?"
"A little bit. My dad has business associates who ride. I grew up around them."
"Well, you're full of surprises." The way she said business associates made me think of the mafia, and I hid a smile. Her father's business associates were probably some group of accountants who rode motorcycles on the weekend. Fucking weekend warriors.
Dani's eyes twinkled. "You have no idea, Blaze." She winked, stepping back. Not only was she not that train wreck by the side of the road anymore, she was confident. Cocky. "Anyway, thanks for the help. I appreciate it." She started toward the store.