Текст книги "Take Me for Granted"

Автор книги: K. A. Linde

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Текущая страница: 7 (всего у книги 18 страниц)

Chapter 19: Grant

I dropped into a booth in the back of The Coffee Bean and tossed my helmet into the seat next to me to wait out Aribel.

Fuck. It was the one word that kept replaying through my mind. I wasn’t sure how I could fucking make any of this worse.

I’d stayed the night at her place, but I hadn’t slept a wink. I’d been too lost in my own train of thought, too horny to let myself relax around her. Then, I’d lost my nerve. I’d fucking lost my nerve. I couldn’t believe it.

I’d been lying there obsessing about the fact that I liked this chick enough to give her what she wasn’t giving me—leaving myself with a painful throbbing erection, dying to at least jack off—and I’d actually stayed the night. Then, I’d freaked the fuck out and bolted.

I couldn’t like her this much. I couldn’t fucking be in her house, lying against her soft body while holding her tight, and not want to fuck her. But I fucking respected the woman enough not to push any more than I had, and I’d been pushy as hell.

Then like a pussy, I hadn’t called her after I disappeared. I’d wanted to get laid so bad, but every time I’d closed my eyes, all I would see was her face as she climaxed. I’d never jacked off so much in my life.

How hard could it be to forget someone? Clearly, it wasn’t easy enough because as soon as I’d seen her number on my phone, I’d answered. I couldn’t stay away from her. I’d been stupid for trying, and I was going to convince her that she couldn’t stay away from me either.

The door rattled on its hinges as Ari yanked it open, and I got my first glimpse of her. A thundercloud might as well have been hovering over her head. Her eyes found me across the room. Her smile was replaced with that scowl, telling me she was going to lay into me as soon as she sat down.

This is going to be fun.

“So, I’m here,” she grumbled, taking a seat. “Are you going to explain to me why you told everyone that we slept together?”

“I didn’t tell anyone that,” I said.

Actually, I’d purposely avoided saying anything at all about Ari. The guys had just inferred that from previous behavior.

“Then, there’s no reason for me to stay here.”

She started to get up, and I grabbed her wrist.

“Sit your ass back down.”

She wrenched her arm away from me. “Why should I bother?”

“Look, I didn’t say that I slept with you! But I have slept with chicks in the back room of The League before. We were back there for ten minutes. Vin thought that was what we were doing, and I even told you that they wouldn’t believe me if I’d said we weren’t fooling around.”

“Fooling around does not necessarily mean sex!”

“For me, it does,” I told her frankly.

She glared at me.

“What? Do you want me to tell everyone that I didn’t sleep with you? Do you want me to fuck with my reputation?”

“No. By all means, I never want to see you again either,” she spat. I honestly couldn’t tell if she was being sarcastic or not.

“Fine. Don’t fucking move.”

I stood from my seat, already feeling like an idiot, but it was clear that Aribel had made me an idiot. “Excuse me,” I called out to the busy coffee shop sitting just off-campus.

“Grant, what are you doing?” Aribel hissed.

Gradually, the coffee shop quieted, and eyes moved over to me. I thought I recognized some of the faces. From the flicker of recognition throughout the crowd, I was sure people recognized me.

“Sorry to take up your time, but I’m Grant McDermott.”

Someone whistled, and then I heard a catcall from the other direction. At least I had their attention.

“I just wanted to make a quick announcement. This is my friend Aribel.”

She blushed bright crimson as I addressed her.

“I wanted everyone to know that I haven’t slept with her, that’s all. Feel free to tell your friends.”

I sat down and was about to open my mouth to ask her if that had proved my point, but she had already grabbed her bag and was rushing to get out of the building.

“Fuck,” I grumbled. I tucked my helmet under my arm and darted out after her. “Ari!”

“Leave me alone, Grant!”

“Come on. Where are you going?”

“Just leave me alone!” she called back over her shoulder.

I jogged to catch up with her. There was no way I was letting her get away like this. “Ari, hold up.”

She whirled around when I reached her. “You totally humiliated me in there! All you think about is yourself. Did you even think before telling a bunch of strangers that you didn’t sleep with me?”

“I was just trying to prove that I like you, Ari. You make it so fucking impossible.”

“You like me?” she gasped out. “That’s how you want to show it?”

“I’m not a fucking flowers-and-chocolates kind of guy. If you haven’t noticed, I’ve never done this before!”

“That’s not an excuse! I’ve never been with an asshole rocker who thinks he’s God’s gift to women, but you don’t see me humiliating you in public! Or better yet, sneaking out of your house and then not speaking to you for three days!” she threw back in my face.

“Well, I’m sorry, but the biggest cocktease on the planet fucked with my head, and it took me—”

“Cocktease?” she roared. “I am not a—”

“Would you shut up for one minute?” I yelled right back. “Fuck! Just let me talk, woman.”

She crossed her arms over her chest and huffed.

“I was going to say, it took me three fucking days to get my head back on straight, and I realized that I can’t escape you.”

“Escape me? What do you mean?”

“I’ve never dated. I’ve just never cared. Never, babe,” I said, running a hand back through my hair. “But I fucking care about you.”

Chapter 20: Aribel

Date Two

Grant and I spent the next afternoon at the movies. I was prepared for one show before going home.

I was still pretty pissed about everything that had happened. Yes, he cared about me. Yes, he liked me. Yes, he had done all these things with me that he had never done with anyone else before. But still, the way he’d responded to it all made me want to throat-punch him.

The asshole had weaseled his way back in. I could no longer deny that I liked Grant. The three days without him had proven that, and once the anger from him humiliating me had fizzled out, I’d still wanted to see him.

Somehow, he’d managed to pick the movie I wanted to see. He’d said it was what he wanted and that he had been dying to see it since it came out last weekend. I hadn’t even told him that I liked comedies.

Grant slipped his hand into mine as we exited the theater, and he pulled me back toward him.

“What?” I asked.

“Shh,” he said with a mischievous smile.

I narrowed my eyes but held my tongue. He walked us down the hallway we had just come through. Are we taking a back exit to the parking lot?

When the hallway was empty, he opened up another door and gestured for me to walk inside.

My eyebrows rose. “Grant, what are we doing?”

“Just go inside.”

He smacked my ass, and I glared at him.

“Come on, Princess, play along.”

I didn’t say anything. I just walked inside.

Grant walked all the way to the back row of the empty theater, and we took seats just as whatever movie we had just stumbled into started playing.

His arm came down across my shoulders, and he nuzzled my neck. “I think we should have come to this showing first,” he murmured.

“Why is that?”

I should have been freaking out that we had walked into a movie without paying, but whatever he was doing to my neck was distracting.

“I was having trouble keeping my hands to myself in that crowded theater.”

“You always have trouble keeping your hands to yourself.”

“You like it.”

I didn’t reply. His hand ran down my side, and then he pulled me into his lap.

We made out through the next two movies.

Date Five

Two weeks later, Grant told me to bring a bathing suit and nothing else. It was October in Jersey. Is he out of his mind? Where the hell are we supposed to go swimming when it was forty degrees outside at night?

Grant parked his truck outside of a hotel. Well, there’s my answer. His friend worked at the place and had slipped him a key card to the indoor pool. After dark, Grant and I snuck inside. Actually, it was more like Grant dragged me inside. First, the movies, and now, breaking into a hotel swimming pool?

“We’re not breaking in,” Grant tried to reassure me. “I have a key.”

“That you basically stole from an employee.”

“Darlin’, if we get caught, I’ll let them haul me off to jail. Just don’t hurt my truck, all right?”

I rolled my eyes and slipped out of my clothes. I self-consciously covered my stomach as I stood before Grant in my blue-and-white striped bikini. He’d seen me in less, but I couldn’t help it. His eyes roamed my body, and I quickly skipped into the heated pool.

What he couldn’t see before, he had his hands all over as soon as he’d gotten into the pool. “Have you ever broken into a pool before?”

“You just said we didn’t break in!”

His eyes shined with amusement.

“Gah! No.”

“Ever done anything illegal?”

“I’ve drank alcohol before,” I answered lamely.

“Drugs?”

I shook my head.

“Stolen anything?”

“Nope.”

“Do you at least speed in your car?”

I smiled up at him.

“Damn, you’re picture-perfect, Princess.”

“I once slapped a guy across the face for grabbing my butt at a bar,” I offered with a shrug.

He responded by grabbing my ass. Typical.

He held my slick body against his, and all I saw were the deep chocolate orbs and flecks of gold catching the moonlight through the windows. He seemed more contemplative than usual. Normally, he just wanted to attack me.

“What do you like to do when you’re not studying?”

“I’m always studying.”

“You’re not right now. Are you saying you like to do me when you’re not studying?” He winked.

“Wouldn’t you already know if that were the case?” I shot back.

“Indulge me, Ari.”

His lips grazed mine tenderly, and for the hundredth time since we’d decided to give this a shot, I thought that I was definitely going to let him do whatever he wanted.

“Horseback riding,” I finally answered, coming to my senses. “I did it as a kid, and I almost always go when I’m at home.”

“I could see you on a horse.”

I wasn’t sure if that was a good thing, but I kept going with his game. “I like to bake cupcakes.”

“Coincidence—I like to eat cupcakes. German chocolate.”

I giggled and shook my head. “I used to play piano, but my hands are too small.”

He grabbed my hands and brought them up to his eye level, inspecting them thoroughly. His lips touched every inch of skin from my pruney fingertips to the small scar near my thumb where a dog had bitten me in high school and on to the other one.

“Your hands are perfect.”

Date Seven

My last class was canceled on Tuesday afternoon, which gave me free time to plan out my date. We’d been doing whatever Grant wanted for over two weeks, and I thought it was about time to plan something myself.

Cheyenne eyed me suspiciously from behind the kitchen counter while I was baking cupcakes. After Grant’s outburst in The Coffee Bean, we’d thought it best to keep everything on the down low. I wouldn’t lie to my roommates about what was going on, but I wasn’t exactly being forthright with information, not that that was new.

“What are you doing?” Cheyenne asked.

“Making cupcakes.”

“For whom?”

I shot her a look.

“Grant?” she offered.

I just shrugged. What did she want me to say? Yes, I’m dating Grant. No, it isn’t a big deal.

“Are you guys, like…together now?”

“Something like that.”

Cheyenne bit her lip and jumped from foot to foot. “How was the sex?”

“Can we not?” I asked, turning my back to her.

“Give a girl a break! I’ve been dying to have sex with him since the first time I laid eyes on him. I’ve heard he’s amazing.”

Heat pooled in my chest, and I ground my teeth together. I didn’t want to think about Cheyenne having sex with Grant or the innumerable other women who already had.

“We haven’t had sex, Cheyenne,” I responded irritably.

“I mean, if you just don’t want to provide details, that’s fine,” she said in a tone that made it seem far from fine.

I whipped around with the whisk in my hand, dripping chocolate batter onto the floor. “I’m not providing details because we haven’t had sex! So, just drop the subject, all right?”

“Sorry,” she whispered. “Touchy. I just didn’t think Grant…did that.”

“He doesn’t.”

Suffice it to say, that wasn’t the way I’d wanted to start my first planned date night with Grant. Now, I was all grouchy when baking usually calmed me down, and all I could think about was sex.

I showed up at Grant’s place right after band rehearsal let out. When Vin saw me waiting outside, he snickered and punched Grant. Miller and McAvoy pulled Vin behind them, completely ignoring whatever vile comments were likely coming out of his mouth.

“Hey, babe,” Grant said as he walked up to me. “What’s that?” The other guys stood around apparently wondering the same thing.

“I, uh…” I began. I hadn’t expected an audience. “I brought you something.”

“The only thing girl’s ever bring Grant is pussy,” Vin said under his breath.

McAvoy smacked him across the back of the head. I just rolled my eyes and ignored him.

Grant took the box from my hands. His smile grew tenfold when he opened it up. “Cupcakes.”

“German chocolate. Your favorite.”

I knew I was blushing hard, but the look on his face was worth it.

“I don’t think you can fuck cupcakes,” Vin said loud enough for me to hear that time.

“Then, I guess you don’t want one,” I snapped right back.

“Wait…” Vin said, trying to correct himself to get a cupcake.

All three guys busted out laughing in unison.

Vin glared at them. “Shut the fuck up, assholes!”

“You walked right into that,” Miller said.

“Who said I was going to share anyway?” Grant asked.

He slid the box under one arm and his other around me. My world spun. He was talking about more than just the cupcakes.

Grant devoured four cupcakes before we even made it to the concert I was taking him to. It wasn’t even a far drive. I didn’t think he’d said anything the whole trip besides mostly moans and groans about how good they were. I guessed the key to a man’s heart really was through his stomach.

When I pulled up to the concert venue, Grant’s eyes narrowed. “You’re taking me to a show?”

I giggled. Oh my God, Grant McDermott makes me giggle. “I thought you would want to see what music I like.”

He hopped out of the car eagerly, and before I could walk two feet, he covered my mouth with his. His hands were on either side of my face while my fingers played with the dog tags that were perpetually around his neck. He broke away first, which was unusual. His eyes searched my face, and then he kissed the tip of my nose.

“What was that for?” I asked a little breathlessly.

“Music speaks to my soul.”

“So do cupcakes apparently.”

He smirked. “I can see how you have an unfair advantage at this date thing. You’re way better at it than me.”

I laughed and shook my head. “No way.”

“You have more practice.” He leaned in really close to me. “I can’t wait to show you the things I have more practice with.”

The concert couldn’t have gone on for a second longer with the heat building between us all evening.

Once we were back at his place, we couldn’t get out of my car and up the stairs fast enough. I’d never felt this blind lust before. It was both terrifying and exciting. I couldn’t decide which feeling was more overpowering. I tried to tell myself to stop overanalyzing every emotion hitting my body and just enjoy being.

Grant had the door to his bedroom closed and me laid out on his bed in a split second. My jeans hit the floor, and my underwear followed. He wasn’t wasting any time. My body shook beneath him. I knew that we’d done this before, but my mind kept skipping several steps ahead. Was I ready for that?

When he started kissing down my stomach, my brain shut off. His breath landed hot on my opening, and he started licking and sucking me in ways that had me writhing beneath him. Damn, he’s good at that.

His fingers slid inside me, and I squeezed my eyes tighter until the pressure lessened. Then, he was moving in and out of me, and my breathing became labored. Everything felt like it was vibrating, like I was unraveling from the inside out, and I didn’t even know what to focus on.

“Ari,” Grant murmured, glancing up at me, “you’re close.”

I grappled with the sheets and tried to hold off the intensity building inside me.

Holy fuck!

“Just let go, babe.”

Let go of what?

Oh my God. His mouth. His fingers. Him.

My body pulsed as I felt something rush through me all at once. My back arched slightly, and I just let go.

“Fuck, that’s sexy,” Grant groaned.

I gingerly peeled my eyes open and saw he was staring at me. I knew I should reciprocate. I wasn’t sure I could hold off on him having sex with me if I didn’t. I felt incredible, and really he deserved to as well.

“Grant…” I whispered.

“Ari, I know. You’re not going to have sex with me.” He chuckled humorlessly, standing up.

I sat up, reached out, and touched his jeans hesitantly. “I thought, um…that is, if you want…maybe we could try something else.”

Grant’s eyes lit up like a Christmas tree. “What do you have in mind?”

I turned crimson from head to toe. My hand slid up his leg, and over his dick. He looked at me like I’d just offered him the world. Maybe I had?

“Yes, whatever you want, yes.”

I laughed lightly. He was so eager, and I was so hesitant. What a pair.

As if seeing my uncertainty, he stood and stripped out of his jeans and the navy blue boxer briefs that apparently had held him in very tightly. My eyes bugged, and I tried to hide that fact. He was tall, and the correlation between that and size meant something…but damn.

He extended his hand to me and then scooted me off the bed. His lips found mine softly. “Calm down.”

He placed my hand on his dick, and with a breath, I started gliding it up and down the length of him. A groan escaped him at my touch. I couldn’t keep a smile from tugging on my lips.

“Like this,” he whispered, his fingers tightening around my small hand.

I gripped him harder and kept pumping. As I watched him, I couldn’t help licking my lips. He was so unabashedly sexual.

Grant ran a finger against my bottom lip. “You keep licking those lips, Ari, and I’m going to want them around my cock.”

I took a deep breath and then sank to my knees. I thought he stopped breathing. I could do this. I’d done it before. I’d done it at times when I didn’t even want to. But I wanted to do this for Grant.

My lips wrapped around the head, and then I slowly took more of him into my mouth. Grant pushed farther in, and I gagged as he hit the back of my throat. My eye instantly watered, and I closed them to blink the tears away as I quickly retreated. Yeah, I pretty much feel like an idiot.

“Sorry,” he grunted. “You just feel so fucking good.”

I started again, drawing him in and sucking him back to the head in a slow rhythm. My knees were already killing me, and dear Lord, my jaw was on fire. I wasn’t going to be able to open my mouth in the morning. He’d probably like it that way.

I pulled back too fast and felt my teeth nick him. Ugh!

“Fuck!” Grant stopped me entirely and wrenched me to my feet. “No teeth.”

“S-sorry,” I stammered.

He breathed out heavily. “It’s okay,” he said through gritted teeth. “Just get on the bed.”

Oh man, am I that bad?

“Hey,” he said. “You’re going to get my dick nice and wet, and then wrap your lips around him. The faster you go, the faster I go. Focus on the tip, and we’re golden. No teeth.”

“Okay,” I whispered.

He kissed me solidly on the lips before lying back on the bed. I guessed I hadn’t sucked that bad if he wanted me to keep going.

I did exactly what he’d said. I didn’t care that my jaw was locking up or that I was pretty embarrassed by the entire interaction. Grant was moaning and groaning enough encouragement to keep me working him over until he was done. He started thrusting up into my mouth, and I tried not to fight him, but he was so big. I could tell that he was getting close before he even warned me.

“Oh fuck, Ari,” he cried out as he hit the climax.

I pulled back and felt his warmth run down my hand where I was still gripping him.

“Fuck. Fuck. Fuck me. Fuck.”

Chapter 21: Grant

Date Ten

This thing with Ari—I didn’t even have words for it. It was just fucking good.

I wanted to fuck her more and more every single fucking day, but now that she was handing out blow jobs, I didn’t feel like I was going to explode every time I saw her. I had my standard that the girl either sucked or fucked, and I’d been amazed at how truly bad she was to start out with. For a split second, I’d thought about fucking her mouth until I finished or throwing her on the bed and having her prove to me that she fucked better than that.

But she had looked so damn concerned when I stopped her that I just wanted to show her. I’d never fucking done that before. And fuck, once I’d told her what to do, she was a quick study. I’d be okay if she was studying all the time like this.

The strangest part of all was that as much as I wanted to push for more, I was having such a good time with her—dating her, laughing with her—that I wouldn’t. Each time I thought she was going to turn me aside for asking for too much, she would give just a little bit more of herself. Like the cupcakes. She had fucking baked me cupcakes. And the concert. I hadn’t been sure what I was in for when we walked into the venue, but not only was the show surprisingly good, Ari was also totally into it, which just made it that much better.

I’d been planning to take her out dancing on Halloween, but at the last minute, Miller had gotten news that ContraBand was being plugged in at the exact party I had been planning to attend with Ari.

We were scheduled for the eleven o’clock slot right before the club would switch to some techno DJ for the rest of the night. Ari and her friends showed up about fifteen minutes before our set. She was in a fitted white dress with long gloves, and she was holding an elaborate mask in her hand. I could see her from backstage, and it was fun to watch her search for me in the crowd.

“Bro,” Vin said as he took the spot next to me. “Halloween is the best fucking night of the year. So many chicks, so little clothing. I think I want a French maid, a Playboy Bunny, and a nurse all tonight.”

“Good luck with that,” I said.

“What are you going to take home? I saw a really hot referee.”

When Ari couldn’t find me, she secured her mask back in place and turned to talk to her friends.

“I’m thinking a masked angel.”

“That one?” Vin asked, pointing Ari out.

“Yeah.”

“Good choice. I’d bang her.”

“No chance in hell.”

The production manager popped his head backstage. “You guys are up.”

It was our first show in weeks, but we got right back into our rhythm without a hitch. I played the crowd the best way I knew how. Drunken girls in lingerie were throwing themselves toward the stage, and I even heard a few screaming for me to take my clothes off. I obliged them by shrugging out of the jacket of the military fatigues I’d worn for the occasion. The fans screamed even louder when I tugged up my shirt to expose my abs beneath. I laughed softly into the microphone, pulled the shirt back down, and continued on with the chorus.

“This is our last song, and I know that you’ll all be so sad to see us go. This one’s called ‘Letting You.’ Come out to our last show of the semester at The Ivy League on the Saturday after Thanksgiving.”

The crowd cheered.

I found Ari swaying and dancing all by herself in the second row. Her friends were grinding against guys who they’d found in the crowd, but she only had eyes for me. Right as we moved into the instrumental break, I pointed her out to the crowd and motioned for her to come onstage.

Her mouth dropped open, and she shook her head. I could see her mouthing, No, over and over, but the crowd roared and pushed her forward. I had the masses on my side, and soon, she was up the stairs and walking straight toward me. When I reached her, I swung her around into a dip and kissed her in front of the sea of people.

To everyone in attendance, this was nothing more than the band putting some random girl on display for the drunken Halloween crowd. But for me, this was new territory. I hadn’t picked Ari at random. It felt more like…I was claiming my girl.

Date Eleven

A week later, I picked up Ari from school. I’d dropped her off that morning after she stayed at my place. Ari was talking to some chick when she saw me pull up, and then she jogged over to my truck.

“Hey, Princess.”

Ari hauled herself up and into the passenger seat. “Hey. My professor loaded us up on homework because he’s worried we won’t cover everything before Thanksgiving. I guess we got behind a week or something. Ugh! It’s going to be terrible. I don’t know if I’ll be able to see you all weekend.”

I didn’t like the sound of that. “Do you want to cancel our date?” I asked anyway.

She chewed absentmindedly on her bottom lip. “No, it’s already planned.”

Good. She was going to go crazy for this one, and I didn’t want to have to wait another week. The Weather Channel was predicting a drastic drop in temperatures over the next couple of weeks, so this might be the last chance we had.

I drove back to Ari’s so that she could change before heading out.

“Do you want to come up?” she asked innocently.

“Babe, I don’t think we have time for that,” I said with a wink.

“I wasn’t…” she began and then tilted her head and stared at me funny. “Who are you? And what have you done with Grant McDermott? Since when are you turning me down?”

I grabbed her chin hard in my hand and pulled her in close to me. Our eyes locked.

“You tell me you want to have sex with me, and all plans are forgotten.”

“Maybe another time,” she said casually as if her pupils hadn’t dilated from the way I’d grabbed her.

One of these days, I was going to fucking take advantage of the situation, and then she wouldn’t be the biggest cocktease I’d named her to be. But not today.

We walked inside, and as she darted into her bedroom, my phone started buzzing. Miller.

“What’s up?”

“What are you doing the second weekend in December?”

“Nothing. Why?”

Miller sounded practically chipper. “Someone saw us at the Halloween show, and they want us to play a music festival at a ski resort in the Poconos.”

“Dude, I barely know how to ski.”

“Shut the fuck up! We’re talking about getting picked up for a major event.”

My smile grew. It sounded like a great opportunity, and since it was late enough in the semester, maybe I could steal Ari away with me.

Whoa, seriously, who the fuck am I? Two months ago, I would have been dying to go to a ski lodge to bang a bunch of snow bunnies. Now…Ari.

“Babe!” I called as soon as I got off the phone with Miller.

“My name is still Aribel!” she called right back as she stumbled into the living room.

Ari’s roommates came out of their bedrooms when they heard my voice.

“You like to ski, snow bunny?”

“Is this a euphemism for something?”

“ContraBand got picked up for a music festival in the Poconos.”

“That’s great!” Ari cried.

I glanced at her friends, who were staring at us. “We’ll have a couple of rooms the second weekend in December. Do you guys want to come to the show?”

“Oh my God!” Cheyenne piped up. “We were just talking about going on a ski trip. Weren’t we, girls?”

“Ari?” I asked. All I could think about was spending three days with her in my room. I needed her in my bed. I needed to fuck that.

“I’ve only been skiing in Vermont and Colorado.”

I gave her a pointed look. We didn’t need to hear about her rich life right now.

“Yes, that sounds fun.”

The other girls grabbed her and started jumping up and down. They were already planning out way more details than I was sure Miller had.

Once I got Ari back into the truck, it was a forty-five minute drive to where we were going. Ari seemed lost in thought, and I let the radio kill the silence. She perked up as soon as we entered the grounds.

“Hamilton Farm?” she gasped.

“You said you like horseback riding, right?”

She gaped at me. “I’m…wow, I’m a little speechless.”

“That’s a first, isn’t it?”

“Grant, this means a lot.” And then, she smiled one of those rare smiles reserved for me.

Date Thirteen

A week later, I finally got Ari on the back of my motorcycle.

It didn’t matter that I’d gotten on a half-ton animal for her or that she’d broken into a hotel swimming pool with me or that we’d made out onstage at a concert. She claimed to be utterly terrified of motorcycles.

“You won’t go too fast, will you?”

“Nope.” I didn’t ask for clarification on what too fast meant to her.

Ready to feel the hum between my legs again, I slid my leg over.

Ari took a deep breath and then let it out slowly. “I can’t believe I’m doing this.”

“It’ll be fun. Just get on.”

She threw her leg over the bike, and her hands came tentatively to my waist. I grabbed them both in my hands and pulled her arms around me until her chest was flush against my back. I could feel the uptick in her heart rate. I knew mine was going to match it but not out of fear.

“Just follow my lead, Princess. Move with me.”

“Okay,” she whispered.

I started out slowly, but as soon as we hit the interstate, I kicked it into high gear. Soon, we were zipping past the other cars. At first, Ari would lean against me when I turned or switched lanes as if she could counterbalance the momentum of the bike, but once her fears had lessened, she did as I’d instructed. I thought I’d start her off easy the first time, so it wasn’t a long ride.

When we reached our destination, she stood on shaky legs, handed me the helmet, and shook out her blonde hair. “That was…not so bad.”

“I knew you’d like it.”

“Don’t get ahead of yourself.”

“But I like to,” I said, pulling her close and kissing her on the lips.

“I can’t believe you convinced me to do that.”

“And now, we’re going to work on your aim.”

Her eyes lifted to the sign. I expected her to groan, shoot me an angry look, or tell me off for the very thought of bringing her to a shooting range.

“You know…I’ve always wanted to fire a gun.”

“What?” I asked incredulously. “You didn’t want to get on a motorcycle, but you want to fire a gun?”

“A motorcycle could kill me! A gun in my hands would only kill someone else.”