Tex swung his leg over his bike with practiced ease and kicked the engine to life. The rumble vibrated through the ground beneath my boots.
He glanced back at me and held out his helmet. “You coming?”
I stepped forward, hesitating for a mere second before pulling the helmet on and climbing on behind him. I settled onto the seat, feeling the warm leather against my thighs. It felt strangely natural. Like I’d been on it before. Like my body knew exactly what to do.
Tex reached back suddenly and grabbed my bare thigh, his large hand warm against my skin as he pulled me closer.
My breath caught, the air pausing between inhaling and exhaling as his large hand clutched at me.
“Gotta hold on, sweetheart,” he said over the sound of the engine.
I wrapped my arms around his waist. “Like this?” I asked hesitantly.
He reached down and pulled my arms tighter to his body, until my breasts pressed against his back and I was breathing in his musky scent. “More like that.”
I gasped at the closeness of him. The feel of his hard body pressed against me, the vibrations of the bike running through me, and the heavy thump of my heart in my chest.
“Try and move with me. Keep loose, not too uptight. You, me, and the bike, we’re going to be like one today, okay?”
“Okay,” I replied hesitantly.
He moved slowly at first and then I let out a gasp as the bike roared louder and he eased it down the dirt road. The ranch blurred past us, wind whipping through my hair as we picked up speed.
My chest pressed against Tex’s back, the heat of him solid and steady beneath my hands, I felt something not just stir and stretch, but come roaring to life.
For the first time in days, I felt something close to excitement instead of fear. And I wanted more of it.
Ahead of us, the road stretched toward town. Toward the bar. And toward the rest of the men from Tex’s club.
Tex would keep me safe. I whispered those words to myself over and over, knowing them to be true, though I couldn’t know how or why. I just knew that Tex would never let anything bad happen to me.
