“Here, put this on.” He shrugged off his jacket and handed it to her.
“What about you?” Priya asked, eyeing his thin T-shirt.
“I’m used to it.” He guided her arms through the sleeves. When the jacket settled over her shoulders, he zipped it up snugly to her chin.
Even through her sweatshirt, Priya could feel Ethan’s body heat radiating from the jacket. It caught her off guard, and she glanced away, toying with the sleeves and feeling uncharacteristically shy around him.
Ethan pulled her hood around her face. “Ready to roll?” he asked, nudging her glasses back into place.
Blinking at him from behind her round lenses, Priya nodded. Ethan paused, glanced at her with a chuckle, then swung his leg over the bike and gripped the handlebars. The engine came alive with a growl, its echo rippling across the night.
Priya mounted the bike and shifted her weight, her feet finding the pegs, as she looped her arms around Ethan. If she could, she would have happily suction-cupped herself to him.
“Whoa, take it easy, hotshot,” Ethan said.
“Sorry.” She let out a nervous laugh and loosened her hold.
“Notthatloose.” Ethan guided her hands back around his waist, gave the engine a quick rev, and pulled out of the parking lot.
As they sped away, Priya’s heart picked up. Headlights pierced the darkness, casting an arc of light before them. The road stretched out ahead, a rain-slicked ribbon weaving through open fields. In the aftermath of the storm, the stars seemed to shimmer even more brightly. Bathed in moonlight, away from any lights, it felt as if they were the only two people on earth.
Priya had never felt this kind of freedom before, unrestrained and electrifying, coasting toward an endless horizon. As the wind yanked her hood away, something stirred within her—a craving she didn’t fully understand. It wasn’t the gentle adolescent longing of a fifteen-year-old. It was fierce and electric.
With each curve they rounded, Priya became acutely aware of the way Ethan’s muscles moved under his T-shirt, the rush of clinging to him, and the steady, powerful vibration of the engine beneath her.
The night air nipped at her face. Shadowy grass swayed in their wake, and the world whizzed by in a mosaic of moonlit fields. Priya snuggled closer, her arms gliding up Ethan’s torso to his chest. For a fleeting moment, he tensed, looking over his shoulder as she nestled her cheek between his shoulder blades.
Then he grinned and turned back to the road. “Please, make yourself right at home,” he said, over the roar of the engine.
Priya smiled and closed her eyes. The smell of his jacket and fresh wet earth wrapped around her senses, embedding itself in her mind.
In the years that followed, whenever the earthy fusion of leather and damp soil hit her, it took her straight back to this moment—the feeling of holding Ethan tight, of dancing on the edge of a dream, of never wanting the road to end.
Fifteen
“That was the only timeyou rode with me,” Ethan said, running a hand through his hair.
“You left soon after,” Priya replied, fiddling with a dried twig on the floor of the freight car. “Brooke was on my case after that night at camp. Everyone thought there was something going on between us.”
“Imagine if they could see you now, practically ripping my shirt to shreds,” Ethan teased as he slipped it back over his shoulders.
“At least your shirt is still a shirt. Youmurderedmy top.”
“A heroic sacrifice on the altar of passion,” Ethan said. “We should perform the last rites right away. Bury it in the field before we head back.”
Priya squealed as he tried to pry it off her again.
Ethan laughed, then pulled her close, their playful energy dissolving into something softer as they lay side by side. Sliding his fingers between hers, Ethan lifted their intertwined hands and gazed at them.
“What are you looking at?” Priya asked, acutely aware of the way her hand rested within his, the sheen of his watch, the contrast between their skin tones.
“Just enjoying the way your hand feels in mine.”
The moment was cut short by the intrusive ring of his phone. Ethan sighed and sat up.
“Yes, Zach?” He paused before glancing at his watch. “Damn. Is that today? No, it’s fine. Tell them I’m running a little late.”
“Everything okay?” Priya asked when he hung up.
