"Did you do it?"

"I"m here, aren"t I?"

"I suppose that"s true." Hilary inched away from the table a little bit, a frown on her heart-shaped face. Thomas reached out and placed his hand on the back of hers, trying to put a comforting smile on his face.

"I"ve never hurt anyone since that night. Since I took over the club. We"re not that type of club. There will be many of that will beat you up if you miss a payment or if you rat them out. Here we having nothing to worry about; we don"t deal in drugs. We simply sell the best whiskey that your money can buy."

"You just sell whiskey? I would have a.s.sumed that you sold drugs or were money launderers."

"Most clubs are like that, yes. So was this one until I took over it three years ago. I sat the whole club down and told them that I am not selling drugs or fake money, and whoever didn"t like that could leave. I lost almost half of the club that night but it was the best decision I had ever made because I had insured people"s security."

"Why did you want to change the club? Why not keep it like it was?"

"I watched my brother die from a drug addiction. I couldn"t have it on my conscience that I could possibly be ending someone"s life."

"That"s all I need for now. Thank you, Thomas." Hilary smiled and stood up, pushing all of her belongings in her bag. Thomas stood with her, a frown on his face at the thought of her leaving so soon. She had only been there a little under an hour.

"Wait; let me take you out for dinner?"

"Why?"

"Am I not allowed to ask a beautiful woman out for a meal? I usually get what I want." Thomas winked at her and had the satisfaction of watching her cheeks flush as she nearly dropped her bag.

"I"ve got a lot to do, really."

"I won"t keep you out late, I promise. Just let me take you to dinner; it"s the least I can do."

"Uh, okay."

"Good. Tonight, then. Around seven?"

"Tonight isn"t a good idea. Try tomorrow." Hilary hoisted her bag up further on her shoulder and made her way out of the club, keeping her head down.

"At least tell me where you live?"

"I"ll meet you here."

Thomas had no choice but to watch her walk away. He wanted to follow her, but he didn"t want to appear like he was stalking her. He was worried about her being in this area alone; it wasn"t the best neighbourhood to live in.

"Did you manage to persuade her to go out with you, then?" Rich appeared again, a smirk on his scarred face.

"Of course I did. I get whatever I want." Thomas grinned before heading back inside the club. He was sure Hilary was going to be more of a challenge to get into his bed, but he lived for challenges. Life was never any fun unless there were challenges.

Hilary spent the rest of that day and night in front of her computer before making the drastic decision to delete everything she had written. She selected the contents of the entire doc.u.ment before pressing the backs.p.a.ce b.u.t.ton and closing her eyes, picturing the club in her head as her fingers moved over the keyboard.

By two in the afternoon the next day, she had written the entire scene between her and Thomas into her story-with a few name changes of course. She had yet to write the erotic scene, however, because she couldn"t figure out where she had been going wrong with her writing. She took a deep breath before cracking her knuckles and returning back to the keyboard.

Hilary hadn"t realized how engrossed in writing she had been until an alarm she had set on her phone blared angrily at her. She snapped out the writing daze and saved the doc.u.ment before jumping in the shower. She had promised Thomas one date, and that was what he was going to get. She had to admit to herself that going on a date with Thomas wasn"t the worst thing that she could do. He was handsome and stunning. He made her feel things that she hadn"t felt in a while.

Hilary wasn"t sure where this wonderful man was going to take her, but she wanted to dress to kill. While she wasn"t as slim as she wanted to be, she knew that she had some good attributes-her b.r.e.a.s.t.s included. She made sure to choose a dress that was just below her knee and showed enough cleavage to be enticing, but not s.l.u.tty.

Hilary expected Thomas to be c.o.c.ky and big-headed, but so far what she had seen and heard of the man had been only kind and helpful. He appeared to care about what happened to other people and not just himself. When she had encountered other bikers or even read about them they had appeared gruff and mean, but Thomas was different from all of them. Something she was insanely delighted about.

Hilary brushed her hair once more before heading out of the door of her apartment and making sure that she locked it behind her. She walked to the club and smiled when she was beckoned forward by the security guard, sliding in beside him. She kept her head down and took a seat at the bar as she waited for Thomas to make an appearance.

"What can I get the pretty lady? The same bartender from the other night smiled at her.

"Just an orange juice, please."

Hilary turned her back on the bar and looked around the club at the various patrons. On first inspection she would have a.s.sumed that it was in a bikers-only club, but there were many different people inside.

She saw Thomas come out of a room behind a row of armchairs and couldn"t hold back her chuckle as he lifted his arm up and gave a discrete sniff. If she wasn"t watching him she wouldn"t have noticed it, but because she inherently seemed to know when Thomas entered the room she had turned to look immediately. Her whole body felt as if it was on fire when Thomas stepped foot in the room.

Thomas made a beeline straight towards her and she felt herself smile wider. There were other women in the club trying to get his attention but he didn"t appear to be paying any mind to them as he joined Hilary.

"I have to say that you look more stunning than ever tonight." Thomas held his hand out and Hilary placed hers in it gently, allowing him to guide her from the club and out the front door. There was a car waiting for them out front and Hilary slid inside the low vehicle, holding her dress to stop it from riding up.

"Where are we going?" Hilary"s dry spell must have been causing havoc on her body, because she couldn"t think of anything apart from what it would be like to kiss Thomas or to have him spread her out on his bed and have his wicked way with her.

"Hilary, are you listening?"

"Yes, of course."

"Then what did I say?" Thomas smirked and shot a look at her before turning back to the road.

"Okay, you caught me out. I wasn"t listening."

"I said we"re going to an Italian restaurant."

"That sounds lovely. I love Italian." Hilary was fond of Italy and anything Italian since her parents were half Italian. She had a love for anything that included pasta.

"I"m glad I chose well, then." The rest of the drive was in silence, usually Hilary would have been uncomfortable with the lack of conversation, but with Thomas it didn"t seem like they had to make awkward small talk to fill the air. Thomas drove them up to a fancy Italian restaurant and held the door open for her as he tossed the keys to the valet.

"If you dent or scratch her, then you"re paying," Thomas said to the valet as he placed a hand on the small of her back and guided her into the restaurant.

"Welcome, how can I help you today?" asked the hostess inside.

"I have a reservation under the name Baker," he replied.

"A table for two. Mr. Baker, please follow me."

Hilary couldn"t help but notice how high-cla.s.s the restaurant was. The last time she had been in a restaurant this nice had been at her cousin"s bachelorette party nearly five years ago. She didn"t really get out as much as she should, but hopefully meeting Thomas would change that. Hilary wasn"t sure where the thought had come from, but somewhere inside her she knew that she wanted to see Thomas more than just this once.

"Thomas! How wonderful of you to come back-and with a lady friend this time too."

Hilary watched as a small, round man headed towards them, his arms spread wide and a smile equally as large on his face. She couldn"t help but return the smile and laugh when he took her hand in his and kissed the back of it.

"Victor, I would like you to meet Hilary. Hilary, this is Victor; he owns this place."

"Thomas has helped me many times over the past few years. He is a very valued customer. I suggest you try the special," Victor suggested. "I thought of it myself."

"It"s not some freaky thing with fish again, is it? Last time you told me to buy the special I regretted that decision." Thomas shuddered and shook his head at Victor. Obviously the memory of that special didn"t seem to sit so well with him.

"I can promise: no fish."

"Then I"ll take the special. What would you like, Hilary?"

"I"ll try the special too. If it has pasta in then I"m sure I"ll love it." Hilary watched as Victor walked away excitedly and started shouting orders at his kitchen staff. A waiter appeared with a bottle of wine a few moments later and poured them both a gla.s.s.

"I hope this place is okay," Thomas said. "Victor can be a little... eccentric."

"I love it. It feels homey, but cla.s.sy." Hilary took a sip of the wine before turning her attention back to Thomas. The candlelight of the restaurant made his cheekbones appear more prominent than usual. The white shirt that he was wearing clung to his shoulders and made her want to explore that particular part of his body with her tongue.

"It is.," he replied. "Victor has been in this place for as long as I can remember. I once came in her with my parents and had this huge pasta bowl. My mom was moaning at me that if I ate it all, I would be sick. I told her that I knew what I was doing and scarfed the whole thing down. I should have really listened to her."

"What happened?" Hilary licked her lips and watched as Thomas" face lit up as he laughed at the memory.

"She was right. We were driving home and I had to make my dad pull over. I threw up in this old lady"s trashcan. She came out of the house with a broom screaming at the top of her lungs. My mom shoved me back into the car and we drove home as fast as we could. It was an interesting night, to say the least."

"Were your parents mad at you?"

"Oh no. They had the privilege of saying "I told you," so and my dad loves to say that. He"s happy as long as he"s right." Thomas took a mouthful of his wine and Hilary couldn"t help but look at the way his Adam"s apple moved when he swallowed. It shouldn"t be s.e.xy, but somehow he made it just that.

"I take it you get along with your parents well, then?" she managed to ask.

"I did. I still get along with my dad, but my mom died a few years ago. It was pretty hard on us, but my dad is strong and dragged me out of the funk I put myself in after that happened." Thomas smiled again, and Hilary could see the sadness in his eyes. She reached out and placed her hand on top of his and felt a sizzle of pleasure as he turned his hand over and intertwined their fingers.

"I"m sorry," she said.

"It"s okay, really. It was a while ago now, and we"ve gotten better at dealing with it."

"Your meals." The waiter cleared his throat and they pulled their hands apart and allowed him to place their meals before them. A bowl of creamy mushroom and ham pasta sat in two bowls, forks alongside them.

"Tell Victor we said thank you."

"Of course." The waiter bowed slightly before disappearing further into the restaurant. Hilary dug right into the meal, trying to be as ladylike as she could, but eating pasta wasn"t the easiest thing to do without it splattering all over you. Thomas seemed to be having the same trouble, as each time he picked his fork up the slippery pasta slid straight back off.

The spent the next half an hour laughing over their bowls and somehow managed to empty their contents. Hilary sat back once she had finished and took another sip of her wine as she watched Thomas clean up the area around him, wiping away the pasta splashes from the table.

"You were not what I expected," she said after a moment.

"What were you expecting?" Thomas wiped his mouth before reclining in the chair.

"I"m not sure. Someone rougher, more abrupt."

"I hate violence. I don"t see the reason for violence." Thomas shrugged before he placed his empty gla.s.s down and stood. "Are you ready to leave now?"

"Where are we going?" Hilary asked.

"Whereever you want to go." As Thomas headed over to the cashier and handed the man a wad of money, Hilary stood to leave with him. She wasn"t sure how much the meal cost, and she hoped it wasn"t that much.

All Hilary wanted to do was get Thomas in her bed, which scared her slightly because she"d only known the man three days. Her body, however, was demanding she makes a move or regret it.

"So where would you like to go?"

"Take me back to your place," Hilary whispered, and she had the satisfaction of watching Thomas" eyes widen before a ma.s.sive grin appeared.

"Are you sure?"

"I"m more certain of this than I have been of anything in my life." Hilary decided to make the first move and reached up to grasp Thomas" neck, and she pulled him down to kiss her. The kiss was slow at first but Thomas he wrapped his arms around her back and tugged her closer to him, deepening it.

"How about we go back to mine then?" he asked when they parted.

"I"d like that very much." Hilary allowed Thomas to take her hand and lead her back to the valet.

Hilary was amazed at the size of Thomas" house. It was three stories high and had an enormous garden at the front-even a fountain sat off to one side. She couldn"t help emitting a shocked noise when Thomas helped her out of the car.

"It was my parents". When my mom died, my dad let me take it over so he could move out," Thomas explained as he ushered her into the house before punching in the number on the security system.

"It"s pretty amazing, I must say." Hilary spun in a circle to look at the place. There were paintings all over the walls and small knick-knacks here and there to signify that this was home, not just a house.

"I"ve grown used to it." Thomas wrapped his arms around Hilary from behind and gently brushed her hair away from her neck before placing a light kiss there. Hilary tilted her head to the side and allowed Thomas to kiss a path down her neck, her body responding to every small touch.

"Let"s go upstairs," Thomas said huskily, and he reached down to lift her in his arms. While appearing slender, Thomas had some serious muscle on him and it made Hilary want him even more.

Hilary wasn"t taking much notice of the house anymore- she was too interested in when Thomas was going to lay her down on his bed and have his way with her. She didn"t have to wait long, thankfully, because soon enough she was set on her feet in a huge bedroom.

"Is everything in this house big?"

"Pretty much everything." Thomas chuckled and kissed her gently again before reaching behind her and tugging the zipper on her dress down slowly. Usually Hilary hated to let a man undress her, but with Thomas things felt easier. He stepped back once he had tugged the zipper all the way down before gently nudging the dress from her body and onto the floor, leaving her standing there in only her underwear.

"Maybe you should take some clothes off too." Hilary watched as Thomas grinned before tugging his shirt over his head and sliding out of his boots and jeans so he was standing in nearly naked, too. Hilary could see his length pressing against the flimsy boxers that he was wearing and she smirked at him before dropping to her knees in front of him.

"What are you going to do?" he asked coyly.

"I think that"s pretty obvious, don"t you?" Hilary replied.

"Confidence; I like that."

Hilary didn"t bother answering him, instead reaching up and tugged the light material down and out of the way before wrapping her hand around his shaft. While she hadn"t done this in a while she still knew how to, and was pretty sure that she was still good enough for him. Hilary licked her lips before snaking her tongue out and swirling it around the broad tip.

Thomas groaned quietly and threaded his hands through her hair, pulling it away from her face so he could see what she was doing. Hilary closed her eyes before she opened her mouth and focused on giving Thomas as much pleasure as possible.

She rubbed her tongue on the underside of his shaft and couldn"t help but smile around him when he bucked his hips and muttered a few curse words. the rhythm continued until Thomas pulled her away and tossed her on the bed before leaning over her.