She gives me a shy smile. “Thanks, handsome.” She checks her phone, then slings a small black leather backpack over her shoulder. “You ready to go?”
I bob my head and stand.
My sudden bout of nerves wonders if the sneaky phone calls Imade earlier were mistakes. I don’t have much time to overthink, though, because we arrive in the driveway in less than a minute.
Kate stops dead in her tracks at the sight of the man unloading a glistening black motorcycle off a rental trailer. If I could tattoo her expression on my body, I would. Her mixture of shock, adoration, and recklessness sends her eyes flitting to mine.
I’m vaguely aware of the man still waiting beside the bike. I sign the paperwork, then slip a twenty from my pocket and tip him. My eyes find Kate’s again as the truck ignites and the trailer rattles away.
Her strawberry lips lift. “You did this for me?”
She takes a step toward me.
“I did.”
I take a step toward her.
Her smile is dazzling. “That was so thoughtful.”
“I only thought of you,” I say, almost cringing at how honest that was.
She’s less than a foot away from me, dark eyes shining. Electricity crackles between us, and it steals my breath. Everything about this woman steals my breath.
Does she realize that? How quickly I’ve become undone for her? That I would do so much more than just renting a motorcycle? The look in her eyes says shemight.
Kate tentatively raises her arms, wrapping them around my neck. I pull her tighter into my embrace, content to stand there for the day if she’d let me.
“Thank you,” she mumbles.
I don’t have time to respond before she releases me and squeals toward the motorcycle.
“Enough talk, Bike Boy. Let’s get out of here.”
My smile is so big that my cheeks ache, but I embrace it because it feels too good. We slip on our rented helmets, and I rest my visor against hers.
“Anytime, love. Anytime.”
Kate’s hand swings in mine as we stroll the boardwalk. The breeze here is so salty, I can practically taste it. I peek down ather, black hair gleaming above gold-rimmed sunglasses. Contented slurping noises punctuate the air as she finishes off her green smoothie. She breaks our hand-holding to toss her cup in a nearby garbage can, returning with a bounce and a smile as she slips her hand back into mine where it belongs.
I tip a smile down at her.
She’s going to lose her ever-loving mind when she finds out where I’m taking her.
“May I ask again where we’re going?” she says for the third time.
“You may not, tinkle monkey.” I boop her nose with my finger, and her laugh that slips out is full of life. I gently tug her forward, glancing at the walking directions on my phone. “But you can see for yourself.”
We round the corner, and I point to a yellow-shuttered building.
“The Wandering Click?” Kate’s brows pinch into an adorable “v”. “What is that?”
“A tourist do-it-yourself darkroom studio.”
Her jaw drops even as the corners of her mouth pull wide.
“Are you serious?!”
I laugh, soaking in the buzz of her excitement. “Dead serious. I know how much you loved the darkroom studio at UIC, so I thought maybe?—”
