“You’ll see.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“It’s the only one you’re going to get.”
He exhaled a breath that was somewhere between a laugh and a warning. “You’re a pain in the ass.”
I held out the helmet. “Get on the bike, Keaton.”
His eyes stayed on mine for another second before he took it. “This is either a very good idea or a terrible one.”
I grinned and put the backpack on. “Probably both.”
That finally brought a real smile to his face. He tugged on his helmet, zipped his hoodie halfway, and climbed on behind me. The second his hands settled on my waist, every nerve in my body lit up.
I started the bike and pulled onto the street.
At first, he didn’t say anything, just stayed close as we moved through downtown and past the last few places still open. Then I headed toward the river and turned onto Garden Highway, where the road widened, and the city finally began to feel far away.
Keaton moved in closer so I could hear him. “You’re really not going to tell me where we’re going?”
“Nope.”
“You’re enjoying this way too much.”
“Maybe.”
His hands tightened at my waist. “Asshole.”
I laughed and kept going until I found the small turnout by the river where we’d come when we were sneaking around in high school. No one else was parked there, so when I turned off the engine, everything went still around us all at once.
He climbed off first and took off his helmet, running a hand through his hair. “Okay,” he said, scanning the area. “We’ve been here before.”
I took off my helmet and grinned. “That’s kind of why I picked it.”
His eyes narrowed. “So this was on purpose.”
I reached into my small backpack and pulled out a blanket.
He glanced at it. “And you brought a blanket?”
“You want to keep standing in a gravel turnout, or do you want to sit down?”
His mouth twitched. “You’re really committed to this.”
“Yeah.” I shook out the blanket and spread it over a patch of grass a few feet from the bike. “Come here.”
He came over, and I sank down first, stretching my legs out. After a moment, he sat beside me, close enough that our thighs touched. The river flowed past us, dark and steady, and with the road behind us empty, it felt like the whole city had pulled back for a minute.
He faced the water for a second, then turned back to me. “You want to tell me why you really brought me out here at two in the morning?”
I rested back on my hands. “Because I heard you. About not wanting to rush this. About not wanting people clocking it because we hooked up. So I figured I’d do it your way and give us some privacy.”
His eyes lingered on mine for a moment. “I do like you sneaking into my bed, though.”
I chuckled. “Well, that’s not going to change.”
“Good.”
