Her fingertips graze my skin, and it’s like a spiritual connection. We don’t have a bond, but I already feel so connected to her it’s hard to breathe.
“Do they all have meanings?” she asks. She shifts in my lap, and I have to breathe shallowly to keep myself under control.
“Yes,” I confirm.
“I’d like to learn them all,” she says. Her head tilts back. My tattooed hand skims up the column of her throat and cups her chin.
I can’t help it. I lower my lips to hers and skim them softly. She leans in. A deep feeling begins resonating from my center, and suddenly I’m purring. It’s a surprise every time. Before her, I’d never managed to do it.
Winnie’s eyes flutter, and she leans deeper into me as I wrap my arms around her.
“I like when you’re in the store,” she murmurs. “I know it can be overwhelming, being around people. Thank you for being here with me.”
“Anytime,” I assure her. Whenever there were too many people, I just went to her back employee room.
I help her close up the shop, and the other guys slowly arrive. I’m more than a little nervous.
Tonight is the big dinner with her family. Her friends are going to pick Deputy up from Dandy Stuff in an hour.
She catches me on our way out to the bikes. I brace myself for the obvious lies people like to tell in these situations. They’re going to love you. It’ll be okay. You can do this.
The truth is most people don’t. It usually ends up being a shitshow for me. And sometimes I can’t do it. It’s just too fucking much.
But she surprises me again. I wonder if I’ll ever get used to the gentle care of this woman. “If you need to leave, I’ll completely understand, Eli, okay?” I can’t stop myself from wrapping an arm around her and pulling her to me. Her arms wrap around my waist, and she sighs into my chest like there’s nowhere she’d rather be.
“Thank you, Softness,” I whisper through the mask into her hair. Her head turns, and she kisses into the space between my pecs.
She looks over her shoulder at the other guys waiting.
“Do you mind if I ride with Rafe today? He called dibs.” Of course he did. The smug bastard is grinning at me from his bike, her helmet in hand.
“Sure, Softness, but I call the ride back.” She cringes, and I know I’ve already lost that one too.
“Gage already called that too.”
I groan but pull her back to me. “Guess I need to be faster next time.” I chuckle, but my heart definitely feels a little cracked until she raises up on her toes and plants a soft kiss onto my mouth through the skull smile on my mask.
“Next time,” she promises and winks before sauntering away. And damn if those swaying hips don’t threaten to flatten me.
This is going to be a long trip.
Winnie
Rafe hands me my helmet, toothy grin firmly in place. But there’s something underneath it. The grin doesn’t quite meet his eyes, and I wonder about it while I put on my helmet and manage to swing my leg over his bike. I’ve gotten better at getting onto the enormous machines, and I’m pretty proud of myself for it.
We start off, and as Rafe drives, one hand is constantly coming back to squeeze my thigh. At first, I thought it was a sweet gesture, but as we drive, I’m starting to suspect it’s his own form of nervous habit.
“Are you okay?” I ask into the helmet speakers.
“Of course, Dulzura. Why wouldn’t I be?” he replies. Again, there’s something about the statement that doesn’t quite ring true.
“It’s okay not to be,” I remind him. “Meeting my family can be a lot.” I hear the sigh through the speakers, and he leans forward to take a turn before answering.
“Nick’s family was the last family I met,” he confesses, and my heart cracks a little. “They didn’t exactly approve of me.”
“What did Nick do?” I ask.
A low chuckle comes through the speakers. “He told them to fuck all the way off. He didn’t see them again after that. They didn’t even come to the funeral.”
