A Very Grumpy Biker, page 1
A VERY GRUMPY BIKER
WOLF VALLEY: GRUMPS
BOOK 2
SHAW HART
CONTENTS
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Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
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About the Author
Series by Shaw Hart
Also by Shaw Hart
Copyright © 2023 by Shaw Hart
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It was just supposed to be for one night...
Ruby:
I’ve sworn off men.
Or I guess I should say that I’ve vowed to never get tangled up with a man.
I’ve seen the way that they can hurt the women that they claim to love, and I want no part of it. I’ve never been tempted to break that vow.
Until Ransom moves to town.
When I give in to my feelings for him, it’s only supposed to be for one night.
Everything is going according to plan.
Until I get the surprise of my life and find out that I’m pregnant.
Now I need to figure out how to tell my one-night stand that I’m having his baby.
Ransom:
Ruby is meant to be mine.
Everyone in this small town knows it, too.
Everyone except Ruby, that is.
When we finally connect, I think maybe she’s realized we’re meant to be, too.
Until I wake up the next morning to her long gone.
Now she’s trying to pretend like nothing happened between us, but I’m not going to let that happen.
I’m going to show her that I want her for more than one night.
I want her forever.
ONE
Ransom
I finish off my burger and lean back in my seat as I look around the diner. I’ve been at Nosh for the past hour. It’s pretty empty, probably because it’s close to nine at night, and most people in town are already at home.
Maybe I should ask Ford if he needs any help around here. I might as well get paid for all of the time I’m spending around this place, I think as my eyes track Ruby as she fills up ketchup containers behind the counter.
I study her. I don’t need to, though. I could describe Ruby with my eyes closed. I’ve spent so much time watching her that I could draw her if needed.
Well, maybe not. I’m a terrible artist.
Her brown hair is tied up in her signature ponytail. She always wears it like that when she’s at work and takes it down the second she’s off. I think having her hair pulled back gives her a headache, but that’s just a guess. She’s always rubbing at her forehead when she’s working, though.
I glance at my watch and smile. Nosh is closing in a few minutes, and I’m waiting for that so I can walk Ruby home. It’s been my routine ever since I moved to Wolf Valley. Actually, since before I even moved to this small town.
I had been passing through, on my way back to California and had stopped in town for a bite to eat. I walked into the Nosh Diner and locked eyes with my curvy little waitress, and that was it for me. I was hooked. I ate, walked out, and made a call to hire movers to pack up my place in Santa Cruz. I bought a house here in Wolf Valley and started trying to get to know Ruby.
That was harder than I had anticipated it being. Ruby had her walls up ever since I first met her, and she still hasn’t let me in much in the six months I’ve been here.
It might seem crazy to some people to completely uproot my whole life for a woman that I’ve only said a handful of words to, but I know she’s it for me. I haven’t regretted it for a single second. Sure, I might not be as close to Ruby as I would like, but I still get to be around her, and I’m making progress.
I think…
She looks up, and we lock eyes. Her green eyes seem to sparkle, but that could be wishful thinking on my part. I stand, knowing that she must be ready to close up. She rolls her eyes at me, but I can see the smile tugging at her lips. She likes me waiting for her and making sure that she gets home safely. She just doesn’t want to show it for some reason.
“I’ll close up,” Ford, her boss and the owner of this place tells her as he comes out of the back.
“I think Cameron was still doing inventory in the back,” she tells him, and Ford nods.
“I know.”
Ford looks at me, and I know he wants me to leave so he can be alone with Cameron. The guy is obsessed with her, but he hasn’t told her yet. I guess being her boss might have complicated all of that.
“Come on, Ruby. I’ll walk you home.”
She sighs but grabs her jacket and heads my way.
“Let’s go,” she tells me as she walks past me, and I smile, waving at Ford as I turn and head out after my girl.
“It feels like you’re my bodyguard when you walk behind me like that,” Ruby tells me as I hurry to catch up to her.
“I used to be a bodyguard,” I tell her, and she looks surprised.
I’m not sure why. I’m an open book to her, always sharing stuff about me and my past. I can count the things that I know about Ruby’s past on both hands.
“Yeah, when there were bands or whatever passing through town sometimes, they would hire the security company that I worked for.”
“By security company, do you mean biker gang?”
“It wasn’t really a gang,” I clarify, and she snorts.
“It wasn’t. We just liked riding together,” I insist.
I love motorcycles and everyone who worked at the security company loved them too. We would go out riding together at least once a week. It was a great group of guys, but I was starting to get bored. I was looking for a change of pace. That’s why I was up in Oregon and passing through here.
I got my love of motorcycles from my dad. It was just him and me when I was growing up. My mom ran off with some other man when I was four. I don’t remember much about her and I never tried to find her when I got older. I figured that I didn’t need someone like her in my life.
My dad passed away a few years ago, and I guess I had been drifting ever since. Getting out of Santa Cruz was also because I thought that it was time to get away from all of the old memories.
I’d like to make new memories with Ruby, but she’s going to take some more convincing. At least I’ve made new friends here in town. We walk past Foster’s auto shop. Foster is Ford’s twin brother and my neighbor. The shop is long closed and I’m not surprised. I’m sure that he’s at home with his girl, Lilliana.
Ruby and I reach the edge of the parking lot and we turn, heading down the sidewalk towards her place.
I send up a silent prayer that tonight is the night that something changes between us as we go.
TWO
Ruby
I thought I would be left alone in Wolf Valley. I mean, it’s a small town with like two hundred people living here and most of them prefer to be left alone. For the first few months that I was here, I wasn’t bothered by anyone. I went to work and then home. Sure, it was a little boring, but I kind of like boring.
Then Ransom moved to town. He started coming to the diner every single day, asking to sit in my section and always trying to talk to me. When I went from morning shifts to closing shifts, he started coming in later and then insisted on walking me home.
I ignore the warm feelings that seeing him every day always brings and pick up my pace. I need to get home so that I can go to bed and forget all about my pesky feelings for Ransom.
“So, last night we were talking about favorite vacations,” Ransom says as he matches my faster pace.
“I didn’t really go on vacations,” I mumble.
The truth is that I didn’t have the greatest childhood. I never knew who my dad was. I’m not sure that my mom did either. She jumped from guy to guy quite a bit. I swear, she changed boyfriends the way that some people change clothes.
It took me until I was twelve or thirteen to realize that she was a gold digger and was only with the guys for their money. Unfortunately for her, she could never convince any of them to marry her. They would use her, buy her a few nice things, and then dump her.
I went from one rich man’s house to another until I graduated high school a few years ago. That was when my mom sat me down and told me it was my turn to take care of the two of us.
She tried to teach me how to seduce a man and how to spot the wealthy ones, but I was never interested. I didn’t want to use people. I didn’t even want to date anyone. Not after watching her my whole life. She never
She was pissed when I said no, and I knew that things weren’t going to improve, so I left. I moved out right before my nineteenth birthday and lived in a few small towns before I landed in Wolf Valley. It was the first place that felt right, like home.
I’m still short on money and struggling to make ends meet, but at least I have friends here, people I know would help me if something bad happens. People like Cameron, my roommate and friend. People like Ransom.
Stop thinking about him! Nothing can happen between you two. You don’t want to wind up like your mom. What would happen if it turned out that he was just after me for one thing?
Deep down, I know that Ransom isn’t like that. No guy would go through so much work just to sleep with someone. Ransom is handsome, so I know he could go to one of the bars in town and have no problem picking someone up, but he never does. As far as I can tell, he goes to the diner and home.
“I’m sure Ford would have taken Cameron and me home,” I tell him. “You don’t have to walk me home all the time.”
“I don’t mind it. I like hanging out with you. You know, we could do this over dinner sometime.”
“No thanks,” I rush to say before I can be tempted.
Ransom does tempt me, though. No one ever has before him, but there’s just something about the grumpy biker that calls to me. We click.
Stop thinking about him, I order myself.
It’s been like this since the beginning. I’m not used to being at war with myself. It’s hard to reconcile my feelings for Ransom with what I promised myself as a kid.
You don’t need a man, even one as seemingly perfect as Ransom.
It’s getting harder and harder to believe that.
“So, no vacations? I didn’t go on many, either. Most of mine were just to the beach. We went to Vegas once when I turned twenty-one, but that was it. Money was pretty tight.”
“Same.”
It’s on the tip of my tongue to tell him about my mom and her dating habits, to open up to him a bit, but I freeze. I don’t want to tell him. I can’t. I’d hate it if he looked at me differently afterward.
Being the daughter of the town’s trollop made it hard to make friends. Everyone seemed to give me a wide berth. I actually preferred that to the whispered snickers as I passed them in the hallway or the guys who asked if I was as flexible as my mom.
I shudder at the memory, and Ransom slips his jacket off and wraps it around my shoulders, mistaking my shudder of disgust for my being cold.
“Thanks,” I mumble.
“Are you close with your parents?” He asks, and I’m thankful I can see my house just up ahead.
This isn’t a conversation that I want to have, so I answer him vaguely.
“No, not really. I haven’t talked to my mom in a few years. What about you?”
“My dad passed away a few years ago, and I never really knew my mom. She left my dad and me when I was a little kid.”
“I’m sorry, Ransom. That’s so shitty.”
“It was, but my dad was the best. I never really missed her.”
“You’re lucky then to have had him.”
“I know,” he says with a smile, and I glance at the dark house. “What about you? Was your mom your best friend when you were younger too?”
“Nope, not at all.”
We reach my driveway, and I force a smile.
“Thanks for walking me home. I’ll see you later,” I say, barely stopping to tell him goodbye.
“Wait!” He calls, reaching out and stopping me. “Shit, I’m sorry, Ruby. I didn’t mean to upset you. We won’t talk about our parents again.”
“It’s fine. I’m just tired. I’ll see you later.”
He looks like he doesn’t want to let me go, but he does.
“I’ll see you tomorrow. Sweet dreams, Ruby.”
“Good night, Ransom.”
With that, I turn and head inside. I lean back against the door after it’s closed and take a deep breath. It’s getting harder and harder to resist him. I don’t know what will happen when I finally give in to my feelings for him, and that scares me.
And excites me.
I force myself to stop thinking about Ransom as I push away from the door and head to my room.
THREE
Ransom
“You should have just brought this damn thing to my shop,” Foster complains for the tenth time.
“It’s fine here,” I assure him. “We’re almost done.”
He sighs, passing me a wrench, and I smile in thanks as I tighten the last screw into place on my bike.
“This thing is just going to keep breaking. I think it’s time that you sell it and buy something new,” he tells me as we both stand.
“I’m not getting rid of it. This was my dad’s bike. It’s all I have left of him,” I say, and he winces.
“Shit, sorry, man.”
“It’s okay. I know it’s old, and I’ll probably get a new bike soon and just keep this one for the memories.”
He nods. We both turn as a truck pulls into my driveway, and I wave as Ford hops out and heads our way.
“Hey, how’s it going?”
“Good. What’s up?” I ask him.
I live in the other direction from Ford, so he doesn’t drop by very often.
“I came for him. We’re going over to our dad’s house for dinner tonight,” he explains, nodding at his twin.
“Fun. Tell him I said hi.”
“Will do. I’m surprised that you’re here,” he comments, and I raise a brow.
“Why?”
“Because Ruby picked up Cameron’s shift tonight. She’s closing, and usually you’re there with her.”
“I didn’t know.”
“Oh, I thought she would have told you,” he comments.
She doesn’t really tell me anything. I almost say that, but then I glance at the clock and see that it’s getting late. If I want to be over at the diner by the time she’s done, then I need to leave soon.
“Well, I’ll let you two get going,” I say, and they laugh.
“Subtle,” Foster mumbles, and I glare at him.
“Like you wouldn’t have kicked me out when you were trying to get with Lilliana,” I point out, and he grins.
“I would have,” he says shamelessly.
“You did,” Ford grumbles at his brother, and I laugh.
“I’ll see you guys later,” I tell them as I hop on my newly fixed bike.
They wave as they head over to Ford’s truck. I wait for them to pull out before I start my bike and take off down the road in the other direction.
It doesn’t take long to get anywhere in Wolf Valley. There’s never any traffic and the only time I’ve had to stop was when a tree fell and blocked the road this winter. Even then, I called a few friends, and we were able to move it in about twenty minutes.
I pull into the nearly empty diner parking lot and park off to the side. I doubt that I’ll be able to convince Ruby to get on the back of my bike tonight, so that means I’ll be walking her home and then coming back for it.
I turn off my bike and climb off, smiling as I look through the front windows and see my girl. My smile fades when I see that she looks stressed out and pissed off as she deals with a tourist. The guy’s face is red, and it looks like he’s yelling at Ruby.
Oh, hell no…
I take off for the front door and rush inside just as the man stands, towering over my girl. Ruby backs up a few steps but then she’s backed against the booth behind her with nowhere to go.
“How hard is that?” The asshole screams, and my fists clench into fists. “Get it right, you moron!”
“Hey!” I shout, grabbing the guy’s shoulder and turning him away from Ruby. “Leave her alone.”
