She couldn’t help but laugh.“There are a lot of people who love to shop on Christmas Eve.”
“Are you one of them?”
“Technically, yes and no.I don’t shop on Christmas Eve, but I am there in the store, helping others shop.”
He tightened his hold around her, and she let out a sigh.
“You’re a pain,” he said, and kissed her neck, sending more pleasure through her body.“If you don’t want to go, you don’t have to.”
“No, no, I’d love to.It would be kind of cool to see more parts of your world.”
“You see my world, babe.Just go and stand on the open road, and you’ll see my world.”
“Is that what you love?”she asked.
“There’s nothing quite like riding and leaving all your troubles behind.That is the beauty of being on the open road.”
It sounded like a dream, and she couldn’t help but feel a little bad, because she didn’t want to be on the open road.She wanted stability.A life where a man loves her and doesn’t constantly think about life somewhere else.
Is that what Crow would feel—trapped?Living a life with her would make him hate this life.Kelley didn’t want him to feel trapped.She didn’t want him to lose anything he loved, and if that meant she only got to see him twice a year, then that is what it would be.No commitment.No promises.
She would belong to him, but she would not force him to stay with her, even if she was pregnant.
****
Crow stared at Rebeland Brick, along with the few of the guys.They were all staring at him.
“You’re sure about this?”Rebel asked.
“Yeah, of course I’m fucking sure.It’s going to have to be after seven.That is when she gets off work, and then I’ve got to bring her here.”He looked around the room and frowned.“Why the fuck are you all looking at me like that?”he asked, getting more annoyed with every passing second.
“You’re settling down,” Willow said, coming over to the table, carrying mugs of hot chocolate.She had a child at her hip, and another was in the corner playing.
Brick also had a child on his lap, who was coloring from a coloring book, what appeared to be a bunch of Santas on one page.
“And?”he asked.
“Out of everyone here, you have not spent a single night at the clubhouse.You helped build it and all that, but you never stayed the night.This is the first time I think you’ve even stepped foot in this place, and now you’re saying you’re going to marry this girl and you’re sticking around for good,” Willow said.
“The way you put it, it doesn’t exactly sound believable.”
“It sounds believable, but you’ve got to admit the guys are shocked.We’re all quite shocked by this,” she said, taking a seat close to Rebel.
Crow looked between the two.Cathy was not here, and she was the one who had married Brick.He didn’t know what she was doing, because the two were nearly inseparable.
“Yeah, well, people change.Look at you two.You’ve changed, and half of the guys here always said they wouldn’t settle, and yet here they are.”He pointed around the club.
All the guys had been on the open road with him, riding until nothing could touch them.Sometimes looking for trouble, because that was the fun.None of them had wanted a steady job, or a mortgage, or any of that shit.
He had already paid for Kelley’s house outright.
There was no mortgage tying him down, but he couldn’t seem to do it.Every other year he had known Kelley, he’d been able to get back on his bike and leave.Sure, he would think about her from time to time.Call Willow and Rebel to get an update.Sometimes he’d call her, but not as often as he would have liked.
He was not used to caring so much.The club was his life.The open road was his fucking soul.
But, in recent years, and in fact, recent months, the open road had stopped being quite so inviting.
He didn’t want to keep wondering how Kelley was doing.He didn’t want to call Willow to get an update, because he felt like he’d already called Kelley enough times, and she needed a break.
