What Happens in Sturgis: an Atypical Coworker Romance (Book 2 of Road to Romance series)

Vince Tacheny pulled the company truck into the dirt driveway and cut the engine. The sudden silence rang in his ears, broken only by the ticking metal and the distant thrum of motorcycles somewhere down the road.

He squinted at the crooked angle of the truck.

Not bad for being a little buzzed.

The Sturgis Motorcycle Rally hadn’t officially started yet. Tomorrow the place would explode with chrome, leather and noise, but tonight the Buffalo Chip bar had been mostly vendors blowing off steam before the madness—cheap beer, loud music, and the familiar feeling of being surrounded by people and still not wanting to go home alone.

Which, annoyingly, brought his thoughts right back to his coworker, Tori Becker.

She didn’t go out. She’d made that clear on night one, when they were eating Chinese takeout straight from the cartons and talking money and commissions. While he’d cracked beers, Dream Machines’s office manager had talked margins and sales goals, all business like the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally was just another line item on a spreadsheet.

And yet…

At the booth, she was a whole different person.

Tori owned that space. Tight shirts, biker boots, blonde hair loose down her back like she’d stepped straight out of a fantasy tailored to middle-aged men with disposable income. She smiled, leaned in, touched arms—and then she sent them to him.

“Vince!” she’d say. “Marty here needs the Harley switch-mounted eCaddy Diamond in chrome. Tell him about the power options.”

She always winked—like they were co-conspirators instead of coworkers—and the customers ate it up. By the time Vince rang them up, they were spending more than they’d planned and thanking him for the privilege.

Eight years working the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, and he’d never had a booth partner this good. Their numbers were insane for this early in the Rally.

He locked the kitchen door behind him and crossed the darkened room of the same rental house they’d used for years. The place wasn’t fancy, but it worked. Close enough to town, far enough away that the noise faded when you needed sleep.

He hit the stairs and misjudged the first step.

He caught himself on the railing, heart thumping.

Oops. Maybe more than a little buzzed.

At the top of the stairs, he paused, the weight of the house pressing in on him. It was too quiet.

He pulled out his phone.

“This relationship isn’t working for me. I think it’s better to end things now.”

Gretchen’s words blurred slightly as he reread them. He hadn’t responded. What was there to say? They hadn’t been serious—at least, he hadn’t—but being dumped via text still stung.

His gaze drifted down the hall to the room Tori was using.

She was… interesting. Not his usual type. Too controlled. Too principled. And apparently immune to his usual charm.

But she was here.

And he really didn’t want to be alone tonight.