His face was flushed and wind-chapped from the cold. His hair looked deliciously windblown. The kind of artfully wild mess—longer on the top and cropped shorter on the sides—so many guys on campus spent a long time trying to perfect. And yet I doubted he did more than run his hands through his hair when he got out of bed. He looked at home here as he settled on a stool in front of the long stretch of bar.

The bartender, an older woman with implausible red hair that bordered on purple, leaned across the counter and pressed a quick kiss to his cheek. Yeah. A definite regular. Just further confirmation that I should stop staring before he noticed me.

Annie elbowed me. “Take a picture, why don’t you?”

I tore my attention away and shrugged. “He’s cute.” I hiccupped. Ugh. Beer always gave me hiccups. An unfortunate side effect.

Did I say cute? Not cute. Sexy hot.

“So what are you waiting for?”

I arched an eyebrow at her.

“C’mon. It wouldn’t be a Friday night without you hooking up with someone, right?”

I glared at her. Even if there was some truth to what she was saying. Her lip was curled like she was looking at something gross on the bottom of her shoe. Funny considering she was hardly an example of sexual restraint.

“I need to use the restroom.” I hesitated, expecting her to stand and join me. I didn’t really want to walk around alone in here, but she didn’t move. Of course not. She wasn’t like Georgia or Pepper, who would insist on sticking together in a place like this. Hell, they would stick close to me in one of our usual hangouts. They were good girls. The best friends I’ve ever had. I was lucky to have them. Stuck with Annie tonight, that was painfully clear.

I pushed up from the table with a sigh. The room swayed for a bit and I steadied my hands on the table to get my balance. “I’ll be back.”

Focusing on the neon restroom sign, I tried to walk in a straight line. I mostly achieved this. I think. Ignoring crude catcalls, I made it to the restroom without incident. Two other women stood in front of the mirror applying lipstick.

One froze as I entered, holding the red tube over her lips. “Oh, honey. I think you’re lost. You shouldn’t be here.”

That about summed it up. I nodded and the action made me dizzy, so I stopped and closed my eyes in a long blink. Opening my eyes, I admitted, “I might have taken a wrong turn.” A wrong turn that started with getting into Annie’s car tonight.

The second woman turned to assess me in my skinny jeans and sweater. “If I were you I’d get back in your car and find the nearest TGI Friday’s.” She wagged a finger. “This is no place for you. It gets pretty rowdy as the night wears on.” She glanced at the invisible watch on her wrist. “You got maybe one more hour.”

“Thanks. I’m not staying much longer.” At least I hoped not. Determined to convince Annie that we really should go, I used the restroom and washed my hands.

Emerging from the bathroom, I jerked to a stop at the sight of a couple stumbling down the narrow hall. The guy had one hand buried under the woman’s skirt, exposing her thong.

I blinked several times as if the action would clear my vision. The man hefted her against him, wrapping one of her legs around his waist as they fell into the wall. Her leg jutted out into the narrow hall, blocking me. My God. They were going to have sex right here outside the bathrooms.

They were flailing around so much, her legs scissoring the air. I couldn’t pass them. Not without risking getting crushed into the wall or impaled by one of her lethal-looking heels. And my reflexes probably weren’t the best right now. Not after four beers. Or was it five?

I eyed the pair, contemplating my move. And that’s when I noticed him on the other side of the couple. To be accurate, that’s when I noticed him noticing me.

He didn’t seem aware of the couple between us. He was looking directly at me. His gaze slid over me. There was nothing subtle about it. He surveyed me thoroughly, from head to toe. Like he didn’t quite know what to make of me. And I’m sure he didn’t. I wasn’t typical of Maisie’s clientele. Not in my black knee-high boots, jeans, and purple cashmere sweater. And not with the diamond studs in my ears that Dad bought me because he felt guilty about leaving me alone for Christmas while he took his girlfriend to Barbados. At least he spent New Year’s with me. I ignored the whisper reminding me that he only did that because he broke up with his girlfriend the moment they got back from Barbados.

The guy’s eyes settled on my face, and I could see they were a warm, deep brown. He looked even hotter up close. And taller than he had from across the room. Just barely over five feet, it didn’t take much for me to feel smaller than everyone else—especially guys—but the top of my head would barely reach Biker Boy’s shoulder.

And then I squashed that thought because it would never matter. There would never be a moment where I would stand close enough to him to find out firsthand. I wasn’t stupid enough to get tangled up with the likes of him.

Realizing I was checking him out just as much as he was checking me out, I quickly broke eye contact. Heat crawled over my already overly warm face. Even not looking at him, I could feel his stare. We stood there, the couple making out between us with their distracting groans and pants, and I tried to pretend that this wasn’t awkward. That I wasn’t buzzing and unsteady on my feet and ripe for seduction from a guy who looked like him.

I took another glance. It was impossible not to look at him again.

He didn’t quite smile, but there was definitely a glint of humor in his eyes. His gaze flicked back to the couple and then to me again. He was amused. I compressed my lips, determined not to engage with him. I didn’t need to give him the wrong idea about me. Like I might be the kind of girl into hot biker boys.

Seeing an opening, I made a break for it. Squeezing past the gyrating couple, I darted forward clumsily on my heeled boots. Biker Boy turned sideways, looking down at me as our bodies came flush with each other. Fortunately the hall was wide enough that we didn’t actually touch. Thank God. A few inches separated us, but that didn’t stop me from noting that, yes, the top of my head barely cleared his shoulder. He was seriously tall. And if I wasn’t already drunk, standing this close to him would make me feel like I was.

His brown eyes gleamed down at me in the gloom. I kept moving, feigning disinterest—like I did every time I got the vibe that a guy might be more than I could handle.

If there was even the faintest doubt in my mind that I couldn’t control the guy in question . . . then it wasn’t happening. Period.

I shuffled along quickly, resisting the urge to look back. He was still watching me. I knew it. The nape of my neck tingled. He was probably wondering what the hell a girl like me was doing in a place like this and how I should get far, far away. Or maybe that was just what I was thinking?

When I got back to the table, I downed another drink. “How much longer, you think?” I asked after a few minutes.

Annie huffed out a breath. “I wouldn’t have brought you along if I’d known you were going to be such a nag.”

“I didn’t know we were coming to a place like this.” I looked around, taking the opportunity to search for Biker Boy. I couldn’t resist. He was back at the bar now, accepting a fresh longneck from the bartender and talking to a burly older guy beside him.

“A place like this? Listen to you. You’re such a princess, Emerson.”

I rolled my eyes at her. She was the one wearing body glitter that smelled like peaches. It looked like Tinker Bell had dumped her bag all over her head. I finished my cup and reached for the almost empty pitcher to pour myself another. My head felt comfortably insulated now, fuzzy and warm. Even the band sounded better.

The drummer winked at me and I grinned back at him. Yeah. He would do.

Glancing around the room, my gaze went to Biker Boy again. As though he felt my stare, his gaze swung to me. My eyes swung forward again, cheeks burning. Way to act disinterested, Em.

My face grew hot all the way to my ears. It wasn’t like me to get all flustered over a guy checking me out. It must be how totally out of my element I was here.

“What’s wrong? You look funny. Who do you keep checking out?”

“No one.” I shook my head, and then stopped, my fingers flying to my temples as I willed the room to stop spinning.

Annie looked around the room searchingly, clearly not believing me. “Ahh.” I stole a glance over my shoulder, following her gaze with a sinking feeling. Yep. She’d spotted him. Who else would I be looking at in this place? There weren’t many options. “Him again, huh?”

“What?” I played dumb.

“Oh. C’mon. Don’t try to act like you haven’t been checking him out. Of course you have. He’s the hottest thing in here.”

I shrugged and took another sip. “Fine. I noticed him. But he’s not my type.”

“Loser biker dude or not, he’s every woman’s type. At least I’m betting between the sheets he is.” She giggled and the sound grated on my nerves.

“Yeah, well, I’m not interested in finding out.” I took a long gulp. “He’s probably in some biker gang.”

She twisted in her chair to survey him more fully. “Bet he’s good in bed though. Could teach those college boys we’re used to a thing or two, huh?” She elbowed me in the ribs. “I wouldn’t mind giving him a go.”

“Aren’t you here for Noah?” I reminded her, annoyed at the level of interest in her voice. Somehow I had forgotten just how free she was with her . . . er, charms. Even my reputation paled in comparison to hers.