WHAT HAPPENS IN STURGIS
CHAPTER 1: STURGIS, SOUTH DAKOTA
Vince looked up from the Chinese take-out boxes scattered over the table to see his new co-worker, Tori Hastings, settle into the chair across from him. Her blonde hair was pulled back in a tight ponytail that made her cheekbones look more defined than usual.
“Nice place,” she said.
Vince glanced toward the kitchen they’d soon be sharing with some of the other vendors working the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. “We’ve rented this place for the last three years, and it’s worked out well,” he said.
He grabbed a Heineken from the cooler beside him and held it out to her. “Beer?”
“Definitely.” She took the bottle and took a swig before picking up her chopsticks. “I’m surprised you don’t stay closer to town, since you like to go out at night.”
In the past, he’d spent his evenings in the various bars with his (male) co-workers, who were invariably looking for a hook up and who sometimes didn’t show up at the house until the next morning. He’d never been paired up with a woman before; hopefully Tori didn’t expect him to curtail his after-hours activities.
Or would she want to tag along? That would certainly cramp his style…
“It’s not that far to town,” he said.
“It’ll feel that way when you’re drunk,” she said.
“Then you’ll have to drive.”
“Don’t plan on it,” she said. “I don’t go out much.”
That didn’t surprise him. For one thing, she had a rather boring boyfriend (who was not a biker), whom he’d met once when she’d brought him by the shop. For another, she had a master’s degree in some biology-related field (why she was working for Dream Machines was a mystery to him). She’d probably spent most of her college years in a laboratory somewhere.
“You should live a little,” he said. “After all, what happens in Sturgis stays in Sturgis.”
“That’s all well and good, but I’m all about the money,” she said.
That was why they were here, after all: to showcase Dream Machines’ newest products and to be ambassadors for their custom motorcycle design. Plus, every sale they made put extra commission dollars in their pockets.
He held up his bottle. “Amen to that.”
She clinked her bottle to his.
CHAPTER 2
FOUR DAYS LATER...
Vince pulled the company truck into the dirt driveway at the rental home and killed the engine. He got out and eyeballed his parking job.
Not bad for being a little drunk.
The official Rally hadn’t started yet (the bikers would start arriving en masse tomorrow) so there hadn’t been many people at Buffalo Chip that night. Most were fellow vendors, which had gotten him thinking about Tori.
When she worked the booth, she looked every inch the biker part in her tight shirts, biker boots, and blonde hair hanging in loose ringlets down her back. The middle-aged men, especially, seemed to flock to her. All day long she’d bring men to him. “Vince!” she’d say. “Marty here needs a Harley switch-mounted eCaddy Diamond in chrome. Tell him about the power options.”
She’d wink at the customer, as if sharing some great secret. They hung on her every word. Vince would ring ‘em up and send ‘em on their way, invariably poorer than they’d intended.
Their sales numbers had never looked better this early in the Rally. In fact, Tori was quite possibly the best booth-mate he’d ever had in eight years of working this Rally.
He let himself in through the kitchen door and locked it behind him. He crossed the room just fine but stumbled on the first step leading to the upper floor.
Oops.
Maybe he was more drunk than he thought.
At the top of the stairs, he paused. He took out his cell phone and re-read the message from Gretchen: This relationship isn’t working for me. I think it’s better to end things now. Best wishes for the future.
He’d received it an hour ago but hadn’t replied. What was there to say? It’s not like he’d been looking for something serious or long-term.
Still, it sucked being the one on the receiving end of a Dear John text—and then going to bed all alone.
He glanced toward the bedroom Tori was using. Now there was an interesting woman (even though he wasn’t looking for anything sexual with her).
Maybe she’d be up for a chat…
He went right instead of left and knocked on her door. “Tori! You awake?”
When there was no answer, he placed his palm on the knob. It turned under his hand and the door swung open. In the semi-darkness he could see Tori’s hair splayed across the pillow.
“Tori?”
He took the few steps to her bed and leaned over. The room tilted.
Definitely more drunk…
“Tori!” he whispered—or thought he whispered.
“Vince?” Her sleep-laced voice was rough.
“Yeah, it’s me.”
“What are you doing?” she said.
“Can I sleep with you?”
“Huh?”
“Can I sleep with you?” he repeated.
One eye opened. “Are you drunk or just crazy?” she said.
“Maybe a little buzzed.”
The other eye opened and she squinted at him. “Are you coming on to me?”
“No!” He tried to look indignant, but that was hard to do when he was standing next to her bed. “I’m not suggesting a friends-with-benefits thing. I’m just… I thought it would be nicsh… nice not to be alone. Either of us. That’s all.”
“So you’re not drunk, just lonely?” she said.
“Right,” he said. “Wait—what?” His brain wasn’t tracking with her logic.
She shook her head. “Maybe I’m the crazy one, but okay.”
“Sweet!” He lifted the sheet and slipped under it. Within minutes, his body relaxed and he drifted off.
What felt like only seconds later, he was wakened by an angry voice.
“Vince!”
It took only a split second to realize that he was pressed up to Tori’s back, his hand making its way over the curve of her hip, and his dick… well, it was doing what came naturally.
Tori shoved his hand away. “I am one second away from smacking the shit out of you.”
“Sorry,” he mumbled.
“Sorry?” She sat up and reached for the lamp switch.
He managed to get his body under control just as the dim lamp light flooded the room.
“You just promised no friends-with-benefits hanky-panky, and then you go and do that!” she said.
“I—hanky panky?” He said the words slowly so he wouldn’t slur them, but they came out funny anyway because he lapsed into a fit of drunken giggles.
Her glare went a long way to sobering him up, though. “I swear, Tori, that was just a natural response of a male body against a female’s,” he said.
“That’s supposed to make me feel better?” she said. “What about your girlfriend? What’s her name again? Gretchen? How would she feel if she knew you were in bed with another woman?”
The mention of Gretchen sobered him further. “She’s not my girlfriend. We just date.”
“Still… this is not happening.” She waved her hand between them.
Her righteous indignation made him want to laugh again, but he managed to hold it in this time. “Because we work together?” he said.
“There is that,” she said. “But maybe I’m just not attracted to you in that way.”
When it came to women, Vince liked to make sure they were interested before he pursued them; that way he was almost guaranteed to get what he wanted. Luckily, he was good-looking enough that it wasn’t hard to find those women.
Apparently Tori wasn’t one of them.
Hmm. That kind of sucked.
Why did that suck?
“Besides,” she continued. “The only type of attraction I’m interested in is the monogamous, committed kind.”
He propped himself up on his elbow. “Tell me about that.”
She stared at him. “You’ve never been in a monogamous, committed relationship?”
“I may have been once—in high school.”
“You have no idea what you’re missing,” she said.
He didn’t think he’d miss the high-maintenance Gretchens of the world, but he also didn’t want to sleep alone, so he said, “Tell me what’s so great about a monogamous, committed relationship.”
“Well, for starters, when a woman trusts her partner and feels her heart is safe, she can give him the hottest sex on the planet.”
There she went again, surprising the hell out of him by saying something that seemed out of character for the woman he thought he knew. His dick twitched. “I’ve had some pretty hot sex,” he said.
“Oh, forget it!” She fist-bumped her pillow. “I don’t know why I waste my time trying to explain it to players like you. I think you should go back to your own room.”
He sobered immediately. “I didn’t mean to offend you, Tori, I swear. I just… didn’t want to sleep alone tonight.”
She eyed him warily.
“I promise not to make another move on you—ever—if you let me sleep here tonight.” He held up two fingers. “Scouts honor.”
Her gaze softened. After an eternity that was probably only thirty seconds, she sighed. “I don’t know why I’m agreeing to this but…” She shrugged. “Go shower if you’re going to sleep here. You smell like an ashtray.”
“Yes dear,” he said, backing out of the bed with a big smile on his face. “Don’t wait up. I’ll be back in a jiffiny—I mean jiffy!”