“I want you here,” he repeated, then he sighed and scratched the short beard that covered his chin. “Look, Rue, I’m not very good at this.”
“At what?”
He seemed to consider how to answer. “At speaking about emotions and shit. But…I like you. I’ve liked you since the moment I met you.” He continued on when I opened my mouth to comment. “I’d planned to actually do this the right way and ask you out, but Rhino happened. And then yesterday…”
I gave him a sheepish smile. “I don’t normally act like that,” I assured him. “I was just a bit overwhelmed and needed…an outlet.” My eyes widened. “Not that I was just using you,” Igasped. When he just grinned at me I metaphorically pulled on my big girl panties and admitted, “I like you, too.”
He chuckled. “Good. Seems like we both kind of suck at the dating scene.”
I frowned, eyeing him. “You’re gorgeous. How can you suck at getting women?”
He cringed. “Never said I couldn’t get women. Just…never had one I wanted to keep before.”
I bit the insides of my lips because the urge to ask him if he wanted to keep me nearly had the words tumbling past my lips without my permission. It was too early for that. It’d been a huge step, for both of us apparently, to admit we liked each other and might not want this to just be a one-night stand.
“So,” he said, holding out his hand. “Will you stay here with me? At least until we can finish this thing? I don’t want you sitting at home by yourself. Who the fuck knows what Carrick will do?”
“Thought you said he didn’t know anything yet?” I asked, taking his hand. My insides lit up as he linked our fingers and we walked out into his living room together.
“He doesn’t. But a guy like that must be smart to build what he has. He might figure shit out before we’re ready. Can’t be too careful.”
“I’ll stay with you,” I told him. “But OD?”
“Yeah?”
“Could I at least put some pants on before we go to my place?”
His eyes dropped down to my bare legs and he swore, swinging the door he’d just opened shut once more. “Yeah. That’s probably best. Don’t need to be causing any accidents. You know how Arizonans are, wind blows the wrong way and there’s a pile up on I-10.”
Laughing, I let go of his hand and went back into his bedroom to pull my jeans on. Never in a million years would I have imagined I’d meet a guy like him. Our…friendship—I wasn’t jinxing a damn thing—may have started out unconventionally, but it seemed like he wanted to backtrack a bit and fix that. And that was just fine by me.
I hadn’t been lying. I actually liked him. He was funny, kind, protective, not to mention drop dead gorgeous. And he’d even tried to keep me from ‘making a mistake’ by sleeping with him yesterday when I was frantic and not thinking everything through. He didn’t realize that if he hadn’t been there I wouldn’t have thrown myself at just anyone. It was because it washimthat I’d slept with him. It was him and only him I wanted comfort from.
“Could you do me a favor?” I asked as I came back out into the living room.
“Sure.”
“Could we stop by the hospital so I can pick up my bike?”
His eyes narrowed. “You one of those bicycle riding clowns?” he scoffed. His eyes dropped lower. “Though your ass would look great in that spandex they love to wear.”
I laughed and shook my head. “My motorcycle.”
He’d started to open the door for me to go through. Now he was just staring at me. “You’re telling me you have a motorcycle?”
“Yes.”
“Did I just fucking die?”
“No,” I said in confusion.
“Pretty sure I did. This is as close to heaven as a fucker like me could get,” he muttered, his hand going to my back as he gently pushed me out of the house.
I shook my head at him and went to stand in front of the motorcycle parked in his drive. It was a gorgeous machine. Muchbigger than my little sports bike. I liked the speed and size of my bike. If I accidentally dumped a motorcycle like this one there would be no way for me to pick it back up by myself. It was hard enough to do that with my own bike.
Still, I was looking forward to riding on this machine. I took the helmet he handed me and put it on while he started it up. I was clearly wearing his helmet, and it wasn’t too far of a drive to the hospital, but I’d seen enough bikers come into the ER, worked on plenty myself, to know helmets saved lives. I didn’t like taking OD’s only helmet. “You don’t have another?” I asked after flipping up the visor.
“On the to do list,” he said, giving me a look that said to get on.
