“Honest answer. With me, always choose the honest answer.”
“Noted.”
“Okay then.”
“Okay.”
“So…Fridays?”
“The real answer is to find some space and clear my head. Don’t get me wrong, I love the kids, and I love being a teacher, but there’s some aspects of my job I can’t stand.”
“Like…”
“Like the office politics. Or the stupid rules and regulations that do absolutely nothing to protect the kids but everything to protect the unfit parents. Or the single mothers who think that picking up their son or daughter from school is the perfect place to husband shop.”
I could tell instantly he was caught up in his head. He’d drifted off and was so emotionally passionate about everything he was saying I could feel the frustration growing. It was my fault and I had to fix it.
“Are you telling me the school bus line isn’t the place to husband shop? Dang it! I’ve been doing it wrong all these years.”
He looked over at me like I was crazy. For as long as I could possibly hold on, I kept my face neutral. Or at least what I thought was neutral. Under the scrutiny of his steely gaze though, I cracked. I cracked like an egg hitting the tiled floor. An explosion of laughter carried me away. And it wasn’t the dainty, first date snicker you’re supposed to do when you’re trying to impress someone, either. No, this was the tears streaming down my cheeks, snorting, snotty type of laughter.
“That was just mean.”
Nate tried to be the adult here. I could see him warring with himself, trying to be the bigger person. I don’t know if it was the loud snort that came out of me or the fact my high pitched hyena laugh was echoing through the emptiness, but whichever it was, it didn’t take long before he joined me, holding his stomach and letting it all go.
I don’t know how long we stood there being complete idiots and really, I didn’t care. It felt unbelievable to just be uninhibited. I couldn’t help but feel a little strange though when it occurred to me how I was acting with a relative stranger. Sure, Nate seemed like a good guy, and he was acting as dumb as I was, but I didn’t know him. Not really. Although I found that I really wanted to.
My stomach gurgled loudly, alerting me it was time to eat. Due to my all-consuming nerves all day, I’d skipped meals, barely pausing long enough to gulp down three cups of coffee.
Grabbing my hand, Nate led me back towards the bike, “Let’s get you fed before I start to look like dinner.”
“You do look delicious.” As soon as I heard myself say the words my face burned. Clamping my hands over my mouth I willed the words back in. At the very least, I hoped and prayed Nate hadn’t heard them. Risking a look over at him was my greatest mistake. He’d heard me. Every. Single. Word.
When his mouth fell open, I quickly cut him off. I couldn’t bear to hear his smartass comment. I was already completely humiliated. There was no need for him to add to it. “Don’t. Please. Just this once, just leave it be.”
His mouth closed to a panty-wetting smirk but he remained silent as he handed me my helmet and settled his ass back on the bike.
I didn’t know where it had come from. Okay, that wasn’t entirely true. I knew exactly where it’d come from. The one place it shouldn’t have. Reality. The honest to God truth was I thought Nate was delicious. The memory of his tanned shoulders, dripping wet with that tattoo I was dying to trace with the tip of my tongue was going to be the death of me. Nate did something to me I didn’t want him to. With a simple look or even the most innocent of touches my whole body tingled. I needed to get this shit under control, stat, or I was going to end up in all sorts of trouble.
“Coming?”
The first answer that sprang to mind was ‘yes, please’ but thankfully this time I managed to think before I spoke. “Yep,” I answered politely as I slipped on behind him and pressed up against him. All I could do now was hold on and hope he couldn’t feel my hard, pointed nipples poking him in the back.
With the sky now dark, splattered with a thousand tiny stars, the air had turned chilly. My fingers froze where they interlocked around Nate’s stomach but the rest of my body, the parts pressed up against him, felt like they were on fire. With lava flowing through my veins, it seemed like nothing I did would cool it. The seam on my jeans was causing the friction I craved, but it just wasn’t enough to give me any relief. Shifting my ass on the seat seemed to relieve the pressure, if only temporarily.
I don’t know if Nate felt my discomfort or if he was struggling with his own, at least I hoped he was feeling at least an ounce of what I was enduring, but suddenly he propelled the bike faster. Feeling the force, I tightened my grip and rested my head between his shoulder blades. I didn’t need to look around. I didn’t need to worry about where we were going or what was happening. Everything other than Nate’s hard body faded away in a blur.
It could have been a minute later or it could have been an hour, I had no idea, but when we pulled into the dark, gravel parking lot, and Nate halted the bike, I was afraid to get off. Not get off, but climb off the back of his bike. All I wanted to do was get off. I was so on edge I was tempted to march myself through the front door of the pub, directly into the bathrooms, and handle the problem myself. Unwrapping my arms from Nate, he climbed off first before turning his attention back to me. When he removed his helmet, his mussed up hair and dark eyes made me groan. This date had to end soon. It had to. If it didn’t, there was more than a hundred percent chance I’d self-combust.
“Everything okay?”
He held out his hand to help me off. He was being such a damn gentleman he was killing me. I didn’t want a gentleman right now. I wanted him to bend me over his bike and take what he wanted. What I wanted. What I needed. What I was embarrassingly close to begging for.
Dropping my hand in his, I brought my leg across the seat and found my feet. My jelly legs beneath me shook as my weight settled on them. I’d like to blame being new to riding a bike for my balance issues, however I wasn’t convinced it wasn’t entirely because of the way Nate was looking at me. He looked at me like I was an ice cream cone he was dying to lick.
Slowly I unbuckled my helmet and pulled it from my head, untangling the braid that caught in the catch as I did. I couldn’t bring myself to look up into his face. Instead, I focused on my feet as I shifted back and forth.
Without a word, Nate’s fingers found my chin, raising it up until I was looking him straight in the eye. His once chocolate eyes were almost black, and hooded with what I hoped was lust. Or maybe that was just mine reflecting. Without a word, he stepped towards me and into my personal space, never once breaking our gaze. I could feel his breath on my face, warming my cheeks. “I feel it too,” he whispered breathlessly before crushing his lips over mine and stealing a toe-curling kiss.
