I thought about the night in Creek’s room and the tender way he’d held me and kissed me. I thought about how he’d let himself be vulnerable with me and the trust that had taken. He’d brought me to his home—the one place he was safe. He trusted me. No one had ever done that before.
“That look answers it for me,” he said.
I laughed, and he finally dismissed me to go shower the moment Creek appeared dressed and ready.
It didn’t take me long to wash up, get dressed, and freshen my hair. I met Creek out in the back lot, where he was resting his ass against his car, smiling as I walked up. He held his hand out to me, and I let him pull me close and cup my cheek before taking the kiss I’d been wanting to give him all day.
“Mm. That was nice.”
He smiled against my lips and kissed me a second time. “Was hard holding that back.”
I pulled away a fraction so I could look into his eyes. God, they were so beautiful. “So. About that surprise…?”
He huffed and let me go as he gestured toward the passenger seat of his car. “Where I come from, the person who asks is also the person who drives, but I can bring you back to your car later.”
“That’s fine. Or Kent can pick me up later and take me to it. We’re probably going to find time to work on our bikes this weekend,” I said as I climbed in. His car was like his room—it smelled clean and nice and was far more orderly than my mess of Jelly Donut bags and Wrecking Ball coffee cups.
It was just so…him, which was comforting in ways I hadn’t expected.
I smiled at him as he climbed behind the wheel and started up the car. “How long did it take you to get used to driving with your left?”
“A while. Every now and then, I still want to use my right leg. It’s so weird how my brain forgets.”
“Muscle memory is a funny thing.”
He froze. “Wait. You drove me home from the bar.”
I snorted a laugh. “Yeah, because you were in no state to drive.”
He flushed. “I’m sorry I made you do that, Sunshine.”
I waved him off. “No, no. I promise, honey, I didn’t mind at all.” When he scoffed in disbelief, I elbowed him and grinned. “Hey, I’m not the grumpy one here.”
His mouth twitched, then blossomed into his full grin—something I hadn’t seen enough of and something I wanted to see on his face every day.
“You’re so gorgeous.”
A flush crawled up his neck, and he ducked his shoulders. “Not used to hearing that.”
“You’re joking, right? You’re…” I stopped. He was new to this, and I didn’t want to overwhelm him.
He cut his gaze over to me for a brief second. “I’m what?”
I licked my lips. “Let’s just say it didn’t matter how much of an a-hole you were during PT. I still wanted to climb you like a damn tree.”
He laughed, the sound coming from deep in his chest, and he gave me a fond look as he shook his head. “I felt the same way about you. I just didn’t know it at the time, and it pissed me right off.”
That shouldn’t have made me so happy, but a pleased feeling settled in my gut and followed us all the way to North Point Street, and that’s when he started getting a little pale. He slowed down by every curb that had disabled parking, but each one was full. Traffic wasn’t the worst yet, but the fog was starting to roll in, and I could sense his anxiety building.
“Hey, Creek?”
He swallowed heavily and grunted.
“This area is always really busy. The fog’s rolling in, and it’s going to be a long walk to the shops, even if we can find decent parking.”
“I’m starting to see that,” he said roughly. “I haven’t been around here much.”
I reached for him, dragging a touch from his elbow to his wrist, and his fingers tightened on the steering wheel, but he didn’t pull away from me. “Where were you taking us?”
