Chapter One

Chapter One

Tara

"I can't help."

"What do you mean you can't help?" I hissed into the phone. "You're my best friend, Kelly. This moment right here is the reason why I picked you as my best friend. I'm at my worst, and I need you."

"I am in Texas, Tara. Remember? My sister is having her baby and asked me to be in the delivery room."

I remembered, but it was horrible timing. "She couldn't have waited a couple of days?" I grumbled. "It's not like I have daily emergencies. I can't even remember the last time I needed your help."

Kelly chuckled. "I'll let her know you don't appreciate her scheduling to be induced on the same day you lock yourself out of your house."

I looked around frantically and huddled to my backdoor. "It's not only the fact I locked myself out, Kelly; I also happen to be only wearing bikini bottoms and nothing else," I whisper shouted. "Thank god it is the middle of the day, and everyone is working." I owned a two-bedroom bungalow in Cape Coral in a sleepy subdivision on the south side of town. The weather was damn near perfect year-round, save for a few hurricanes, though I sometimes missed the changing seasons. I had moved here six years ago from the mid-west and would hop on a plane to Wisconsin when I needed weather other than sunny and sometimes rainy.

"You're going to have to call a locksmith, Tara. Try to find something to cover up with and call them."

"I don't have anything to cover up with," I explained. "I popped out here quick to set up the record player and then was going to go back in to get my towel and stuff."

"I love that you were just walking around your backyard topless, setting up your record player," Kelly laughed.

"There is a fence, Kelly, and I was just on my deck. No one can see me on my deck."

"Sure," she drawled. "I don't know how right you are about that."

If my neighbors could see me, none of them had complained with the cops or HOA. "I need help, Kelly. What the heck am I supposed to do?" I was seeing firsthand the drawback of having only Kelly as my friend. She was out of town, and I was SOL.

The roar of a motorcycle sounded in the distance, and my stomach dropped. The roar neared and slowed in front of my house. Actually, in front of my neighbor's house. "Oh no," I gasped.

"Please tell me I just heard Hottie McBiker pull in," Kelly called.

I shushed Kelly as if my neighbor could hear her and held the phone to my chest. What the hell was I going to do? I needed help, and my neighbor could more than help me, but I was also topless, almost naked, and he was, well, hot. I had nicknamed him Hottie McBiker and was not off base at all.

The motorcycle rolled up his driveway on the other side of my fence.

"Tara!" Kelly hollered into the phone.

I held the phone to my ear. "What?" I demanded. I was in the middle of a freakout.

"I will hang up, and you will ask your neighbor for help. Cover your tits, and man up, woman." She laughed loudly. "And maybe next time you'll rethink being freaky and sunbathing topless." She ended the call, and I squeezed the phone in my hand.

"I don't want tan lines," I hissed.

I set the phone on the patio table and edged toward the top of the stairs that went into my backyard.

While I lived in a small two-bedroom bungalow, my backyard was rather large. Off the back of the house was the deck where I had been attempting to sunbathe, which opened up to my narrow but long backyard.

Hottie McBiker's driveway ran along the other side of my fence and into his garage. My garage was on the other side of my house, along with my driveway.

I could see bits and pieces of him as he moved on the other side of the fence.

He moved toward his house and glanced over his shoulder in my direction. His eyes connected with mine, and my stomach dropped to my ass.

A squeak escaped my lips, and I hit the deck, literally.

He saw me.

Kelly was right.

Even though I had a fence, people could see me when I was on my deck.

"You good?" he called.

Good? I was nowhere near good. I was in the pits of hell, and Hottie McBiker had a front-row seat.

"Uh, well," I hedged. I peeked at the fence and wasn't surprised to see he had moved to it and was looking over it. At me.

There really went my thinking that no one could see over my fence.

"You good, baby?" he asked.

I was flat out on my deck, my breasts squished to the warm wood, and my bikini-clad ass up to the sun. "I seem to be locked out and lost my footing," I called. Lost my footing? Had I been transported back to the 1800s?

"So you fell?" he chuckled.

I rolled my eyes and laid my cheek on the deck. "Uh, well, no." I fell because I wasn't ready for Hottie McBiker to see my boobs.

"You need help?" he asked.

"No," I spat. I closed my eyes and bit my bottom lip. I could figure this out on my own, right? Kelly would only be gone for a couple of days, tops. I could survive out here until then.

"Whatever you say, baby."

I lifted my head and watched him move away from the fence.

My only chance of getting back into my house was walking away.

Shit.

"Wait!" I shouted.

He turned back to me. "Yeah?" The timber of his voice sent shivers down my back, and I really wished I was meeting my new neighbor differently.

Yeah, he was new.

He had only moved in a month ago, and I hadn't been exactly neighborly. We had waved at each other in passing but never spoke. Bringing over a plate of cookies as a welcome to the neighborhood offering was on my to-do list, but I hadn't done it yet.

I lifted my head and pasted what I hoped looked like a friendly smile. "Uh, do you know anything about picking a lock or breaking and entering?" I asked. "Uh, not that you look like you would know anything about that; it's just that is what I need right now." I didn't want him to think that I was profiling him. "I'm locked out, and the only person with a key is in Texas, and she's not going to be home until a baby is born."

"That was a lot, baby," he chuckled.

My god, his voice was low and just rumbled right through me. "I'm kind of a lot," I sighed.

"You wanna explain why you're lying on your deck with just a pair of underwear on?" he asked.

"You can see that, huh?" I asked.

"Yeah, baby, I can see that."

I squinted at him. "Uh, I like to sunbathe when everyone is at work during the day."

"Topless?" he asked.

I nodded. "Tan lines are a bitch, am I right?" My god, I sounded dumb. I did hate tan lines, but I wasn't some bubblehead who laid around on her deck topless all day. It was only for half an hour after I got done with my morning clients.

"You got a man, baby? Or someone?" he asked.

Odd question. I think. "Um, no. I live alone." Should I have just told him I live alone? Though he would have figured it out eventually since he lived next door. "Why?" I asked.

"Because if you were my woman, you wouldn't be out here sunbathing topless for all the world to see." He stepped back and disappeared.

"I have a fence," I whispered. And there went my chance at getting help. Hottie McBiker walked into his house, and I rolled onto my back. "I just want to get in my house," I whined. I cupped my breasts with my hands and watched an airplane fly overhead.

Now, it was possible the whole world could see me.

I sat up and blew my hair out of my face. Maybe I needed to be resigned to the fact that I would have to live on my deck until Kelly returned from Texas.

"Coming over, baby."

My head jerked to where Hottie McBiker had been, and I was surprised to see him walk out of the house. "Your gate open?" he asked.

"It should be open. I never lock it." It was more meant to deter people from staying away. I leaned forward and watched him until he was out of view. Maybe I wasn't out of luck.

Ten seconds later, he appeared and walked up the steps. My head slowly leaned back until he was standing over me. "Hello," I whispered.

His deep green eyes traveled over my body, and I returned the favor.

Hottie McBiker was hot. I knew that from the few times I had seen him, but he was even better up close. He looked a bit older than I had first thought, though. Still hot.

His tight across-the-chest white t-shirt, ripped blue jeans, and chunky black motorcycle boots screamed bad boy biker. His dark brown hair was tousled from the wind, and tattoos peeked out from his shirt"s collar and arms. He was well over six feet, and he oozed confidence.

"Yeah."

I shook my head. "What?" I was so caught up trying to see him all at once that I hadn't noticed what he said.

"I asked if you wanted to cover up."

I needed to cup my hand over my eyes to shield the sun away, but if I did that, I would fully expose myself. "Uh, it would be nice, but I don't have a towel or anything."

He crouched in front of me. "I brought you a shirt, baby."

"Oh," I whispered. "That was really nice."

He held the black shirt out to me. "I'm Red, by the way."

I wrinkled my nose. "Uh, I'm Tara, and if you could just drop that in my lap, that would be great." That shirt was exactly what I wanted, but I wouldn't reach for it. I had made it this far without flashing Red and would keep it that way.

And that is when Red knocked my socks off. At least he would have if I was actually wearing them.

His. Smile.

My god.

It should be registered as a weapon.

A gun to my head would have had the same effect as his smile.

He could have smiled at me and asked me to jump off a cliff, and I would have.

"What?" I asked.

Red's eyes darted to the left and then to the right. "I didn't say anything, baby."

"Tara," I whispered as if I didn't like him calling me baby. He could have called me Bologna, and I would have swooned.

"Put this on while I try to get you back into your house, Tara."

My ovaries did a flip at the sound of my name. "Okay," I choked.

He dropped the shirt in my lap and turned to my door.

I glanced at him to ensure he wasn't looking and quickly pulled the shirt over my head.

The smell of musk, leather, and even exhaust enveloped me. I needed to bottle this scent and drown myself in it.

"How did you manage to lock yourself out?" he asked.

I pulled my hair from under the shirt and stood. It hit my knees, and I felt like a kid wearing their dad's shirt. Except I had no dad-like feelings for Red. All my thoughts and feelings for him leaned more toward ‘Daddy, I've been a bad girl and need to be punished.'

"I just quickly ran out with my record player to set it up, and the door closed behind me. I forgot to unlock it this morning." I cleared my throat and leaned to watch what he was doing. "I like records," I muttered.

Red crouched in front of the handle and eyed it closely. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a folding knife. "I can get you in, but you might have to get a new lock."

If he ripped the door off the hinges, I would be a happy clam. "Whatever you need to do. I wouldn't even know what to do to break the lock."

Red fiddled with the lock, sticking his knife here and there until the handle turned. The door swung open, and I raised my hands in the air. "Thank you, Jesus!"

Red chuckled and stood. "You can just call me Red, baby." He closed his knife and shoved it in his pocket.

His eyes gazed at my exposed legs, and I lowered my arms.

I should be skeeved out with him looking at me so much, but all it did was stir up the butterflies in my stomach.

"Thank you," I smiled. "I don't know what I would have done if you didn't come home when you did."

"I'm sure a locksmith could have gotten you in without messing up your lock like I did, but I'm glad to help." He tipped his head to the side. "I guess that's what neighbors are for, right?"

"Right," I smiled softly.

"I'll let you get back to your plans." He moved to step around me, and instead of moving out of his way, I moved in the same direction he did.

"Oh, uh," I grunted.

We both tried to move the opposite way, still blocking each other.

"Let's dance," I joked. Could I be more awkward with the lame dad jokes?

"Baby," he chuckled. He grabbed my arms and looked down at me. Did I mention he was tall? At least ten inches taller. I wasn't short by any means, but Red certainly made me feel that way.

"I'm sorry," I whispered.

"You're more than good. I'll see you around, Tara." He dropped his arms and stepped around me.

I stared at the backdoor, listening to him walk across the deck and down the stairs.

The squeaky hinges on the gate sounded, and then, finally, his door closed.

I closed my eyes and dropped my chin to my chest.

Never in a million years would I be able to look at Red.

This was my sign to become a hermit and never step foot out of my house, right?