Black and White (Storm's Soldiers MC Book 1) by Paige Notaro Page B

effort not to look.
    “Kiara,” I said. “This one’s you.”
    She started to groan until she saw him. “Ooh, I wouldn’t mind slipping out of my shirt for him .”
    One good thing about dark skin is it hides you when you flush. “You sure?” I said. “They don’t look like they’re playing at being tough.”
    “I like tough,” she said. “Tough and rough and sinewy and all the other words that only work on a proper male specimen.”
    She wiggled her hips and went over. The guy who’d scowled at me melted into a puddle as Kiara crouched next to them, and my crush-for-the-night leaned into her head. I burned with envy again and shoved out to the patio to trawl tables for more orders. I didn’t get any so I just chilled and let the cool air sing down on me. The summer heat had finally cut off for good, and the nights were starting to get downright comfy. It’d be a nice walk back home. A lonely walk, though.
    Some of the smaller wooden tables around held couples on dates. By this time, the failed ones out had bailed, so these pairs were all in various stages of getting frisky: hands whispering through hands, exaggerated laughs that showed off the way their mouths could move, legs twining under the dark shadows of the wood.
    Maybe I would go out after my shift ended. We shut down kinda early for Little Five Points. I could head to one of the last-call places, see if there might be any handsome college guys around. I’d given myself enough time away from dating. It was time to get back to solid food.
    Just not at work.
    A table called out and I slipped back into the hustle. I chanced a look when I went back in and saw the two bikers sipping at cheap beer. What had even made them come to this place if all they wanted was a low cost buzz? Maybe they were just passing through, though if it was on business, I didn’t want to know what.
    The tall one took an extra-long draw and I watched his jaw thrust and his thick, graffitied neck ripple as he gulped. It looked like art, not that I’d been much interested in art before this.
    Maybe I wasn’t as invisible as I thought, cause he perked up and looked around the room. I ducked away, but not before I caught a shimmer of those translucent blue eyes finding me.
    Save it, Meg. I reminded myself. If I kept looking I’d end up disturbing the peace, both the bar’s and mine.
    When I came back in from another round outside the two were playing pool. They sipped intently at fresh beers and the short guy saved his glares for the cue ball. The taller one had his jacket off and his back to me. His t-shirt rippled with every twitch of him.
    “Hey baby, you going to stick around a bit after we close?” Marissa asked as she dropped off a tray.
    “I think I’ll go find someplace a bit more lively,” I said.
    She followed my gaze. “Ah, Miss Meagan finally wants a bit of danger.”
    “No,” I sighed. “I just want to have a life again.”
     

CHAPTER TWO
    Vaughn
    “Bitch can’t stop looking,”
    “I’m not blind, Thurge,” I said.
    “She must be in heat something fierce.”
    “Yeah.”
    “It’s not her fault, you know. Can’t control it any more than a dog could.”
    “Just shut up and take the goddamn shot.”
    Thurge grunted under the swaying cone of light and tweaked the pool cue another degree or so. I sipped at the beer to keep my anger in check. I didn’t even know why he was getting under my skin tonight. He wasn’t saying anything he hadn’t said a hundred times before.
    He pumped the stick once and the table clattered with motion. I pieced together the angles and saw myself lose two solids right before they sank into the pockets, along with the white cue ball. Thurgood fished it out and nodded to it like he were its commanding officer before handing it over.
    “Is that what you were waiting to see, pretty boy?” he asked, as he sauntered over to his beer.
    “Savor the moment,” I said. “You won’t be feeling it for long.”
    I stalked around