Black Fuel and Bikes

Chapter One

Shannon was grateful for the break from all the craziness touring involved. It also meant he could focus on his coffee business, a passion he'd had since forever.

He was supposed to meet with Travis at one of the shops Black Fuel had. It was one of the smaller ones and also the place where they handled the website orders.

Everything seemed to be running smoothly and he was grateful at Travis for keeping everything in order while he was away.

He entered the shop through the front door, grabbing a coffee on the way to his and Travis' office.

He hadn't been in this particular shop in some months, so he wasn't surprised to see some new faces. Most of the people handling the shipping and the truckloads were guys, so he was surprised when he saw her.

He was absolutely floored by her beauty. Long purple hair, long legs clad in dark blue jeans and a fitting gray t-shirt. She was helping the guys loading boxes into the warehouse.

She didn't seem to notice him standing there, watching her. He shook himself out of his reverie when he heard Travis' voice calling out to him, his face peeking from inside the office.

"Morning, Shannon!"

"Hey, man." He said, heading into the office and closing the door behind him. "Who's that girl?"

Travis chuckled, peeking through the blinds to check if the girl who Shannon was asking for was who he had in mind. She was an amazing asset to the company. He had hired her two months ago and she had proved to be an amazing worker.

Not to mention, she didn't refuse any type of job. She was also the reason their system ran so smoothly, from the time the order came in, to billing and to the time it was safely out the door, ready to be delivered.

"There are a lot of girls working here. Which one would you want to know about?" Travis couldn't resist.

Shannon mock glared at him. "Dude..."

"All right, all right." Travis said, laughing. "That's Talia. She's the new girl. I hired her two months ago, but she has proven to be one of the best yet."

Shannon stared outside again, watching Talia laugh at one of the guys. Jealousy flared up inside of him and he widened his eyes. He had to calm himself down. He didn't know this girl... yet.

"Planning on talking to her?" Travis cleared his throat, smirking.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Shannon said, shaking his head and sitting down on his desk. "Let's get this meeting done, shall we? What do you need me to sign and what problems need my fixing?"

Travis shook his head, smiling and getting down to business. Ten minutes into their meeting, there was a knock on the door.

"Yes?"

"Travis, sorry to bother you, but there's a problem with the shipping company we use for Europe." Talia said, her cheeks going red as Shannon spun around in his chair. "I'm sorry. I didn't know you had someone in here. I can come back later."

God, she was even more beautiful up close. Stunning green eyes and freckles adorned her face.

"It's okay. Talia, meet Shannon, the owner of Black Fuel. Shannon, this is Talia."

Shannon got up to go shake her hand, feeling an electric shock course through him at her touch. Her hands were soft. He cleared his throat, licking his lips. "It's nice to meet you."

"Likewise." She said, smiling.

"What do you need, sweetie?" Travis asked.

"I need the last payment receipt. If you have it, I can scan it and email them so the problem is taken care of."

Travis searched through the pile, coming upon the receipt and handing it to Talia. "Is it this one?"

"Yes. Thank you." Talia said, smiling and turning to walk away.

"Thank you, Talia." Travis said.

She smiled, waving and walking out, closing the door behind them, leaving behind a faint scent of strawberries. It took a moment before Shannon turned back around to face Travis' smirk.

He shook his head, laughing. "Dude, don't!"

"What?" Travis asked. "What did I say?"

"Just don't."

They dove headlong into work, taking care of everything that needed to be sorted out. Travis left around 5 pm to run some errands while Shannon stayed behind to catch up on some emails.

It lasted well into nightfall, Shannon only noticing the time when Jared called to check up on him and ask him if he was down for a vegan bbq at Jared's house the next day.

As he was heading out, he noticed a light on in the backroom. Curious to find out if it was Travis that had maybe returned, he walked up to find Talia stocking up some boxes.

"Late night?" He asked. She jumped at hearing somebody else's voice, some boxes falling down. She thought she was alone. "Shit. Sorry. Didn't mean to scare you." Shannon said, hurrying to help her stacking the boxes back up.

"It's okay. I just thought I was alone. Travis left me the spare key, so I decided to clean up for tomorrow."

"You always work this late?"

Her green eyes focused on him. "Sometimes..." She whispered.

"What? No boyfriend waiting up at home?" he asked, chuckling.

She cast her eyes down. "No." She said. "I live alone."

Something in the way she said that made him want to backtrack. He felt like he had screwed up something. "Damn, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to pry."

"It's okay." She smiled at him.

"Look, I was heading out anyways. Just got curious to see the light still on."

"I'm about finished up anyways."

"Well, in that case, let me walk you to the parking lot. It's the least I can do."

"Sure." She said, grabbing a light purple shirt, putting it on, and her backpack from the room.

They walked silently beside each other. Shannon kept getting more and more curious about her. There was mystery and a complexity he couldn't pinpoint there.

"Well, this is me." She said and he looked over, shocked to find a beautiful black Harley Davidson parked there. He watched in shock as she pulled a helmet out of the back. "Thank you for walking me. It was nice of you."

"No problem." He said. "Hope to see you tomorrow. Have a good night."

"You too." She smiled, putting on the helmet and getting on the bike, driving off.

He watched her disappear around the corner, smiling to himself. Oh, he was gonna make sure he could get to know her.