Page 9 of Ridin' True

“Definitely not,” I mumbled.

I then lifted a stack of papers, spotted his file, grabbed it, and finally shifted my attention his way. The minute I laid eyes on him, I was struck dumb.

I was single, but I wasn’t celibate, and I hadn’t always been alone.

When it came to the men I was attracted to, I couldn’t say I had a type.

I picked what I liked from the men who existed in my orbit.

My high school boyfriend was a football jock with a big heart.

I dated a guy in college who was studying journalism.

In law school, I had a pretty lengthy fling with another law student.

Each of them was one of many of their kind that existed in my orbit.

None of them looked anything like Jed Barker.

He wasn’t at all what I was expecting.

Fathers came in all shapes and sizes, but—my Lord.

The man who filled my doorway was like one of those bikers who only existed in the movies. Real bikers and rebel rousers like him, the ones I saw in courthouses and police stations, they were rough and dinged up and scary.

Jed was not that. He was hot—inarguably,unmitigatedlyhot.

He had incredibly dark brown hair that he grew to his shoulders. It had a lazy curl to it, and it looked wind-blown and thrown to one side, as if he just ran his fingers through it to get it out of his face. And his face—goodness gracious—his face was magnificent. Thick eyebrows. Beautiful, light, blue-green eyes. The tiniest freckles across his cheeks and nose. A strong, square jawline and a biker ‘stache.

Honestly, he was so good looking, he didn’t just pull off a biker ‘stache…

He made it look like the concept originated on his face.

He was menacingly large. He wasn’t a giant, standing at maybe six-one, but he wasbroad. His neck was probably the size of my thigh, and his arms were both ripped and covered in tattoos. He was wearing well-worn blue jeans, a faded black tee—aviator sunglasses hooked over the collar—and a leather motorcycle vest.

I didn’t need to see the patches on the back to recognize him as a Wild Stallion. There was only one biker club in town that wore their vests like they were a uniform, and it was the Stallions. I wasn’t acquainted with any, but I knew Bella only ever took her car to get it serviced at Stallion Motors.

Except, she never told mewhy.

Now, I was beginning to understand.

As I tried to find my words, all I could think was—what woman gave him up? And why? What did he do?

He had to have done something. No man as stunning as him needed a lawyer to get access to his kids unless he’d done something awful.

Then again, there was the possibility his ex was insane.

“Shit,” he drawled, breaking the silence between us.

I sucked in a breath, suddenly aware I wasn’t the only one staring.

“I was told you’re the best at the firm to handle custody battles—but, darlin’, I might need the second best.”

I blinked and tried to shake away my embarrassing display of lust.

“Um, what? Why?”

“We walk into a room together with my ex, she will lose her fuckin’ mind at the sight of you. It’s not a competition, but with a face like you’ve got, she’ll make it one.”