Secrets We Keep (Thistle Cove 1)

The motorcycle rocks back, and she tightens her grip. I chuckle to myself, because I may have done all of this on purpose—just to have her close to me. I start the engine up and it rumbles to life, vibrating underneath us. I release the brake and with a jolt, we take off.

Kenley holds on tight, pressing her little body so close that I’m not sure where I end and she begins. The air is cold around us, but the heat between us warm—if not hot. I know what the vibration can do between a woman’s legs, how powerful it feels, much like that display from earlier today.

I take the turns to get out of the neighborhood and then take the straight, mostly flat shot that leads out of Thistle Cove. It’s not the most scenic—especially at night—but she may jump right off if I take her on the coastal road.

Kenley wants to feel in control. Needs it. Finn’s fucking scared. I get it, he already lost one girl. Ozzy is so supportive he’d let her dive head first into whatever foolish game she tries to play. I’m somewhere in the middle. Risk vs reward.

I turn down a side road and take the bike up a sharper incline, inching uphill. There’s a cut in the road ahead and when I get to it, I come to a stop, cutting the engine. Kenley sits up, the warmth vanishing between us, and she blinks, seeing that we’re at an overlook—the lights of Thistle Cove in the distance. Beyond that is the bay, pitch black, other than a few blinking lights from ships.

“Did you have your eyes closed the whole time?” I ask.

“Most of it.”

I shake my head, take off my helmet, then hers.

The headlights shine on a picnic table and I lead her over. She sits on the flat, wooden planks and a shiver rolls through her. I unzip my leather jacket and hang it over her shoulders.

“Aren’t you cold?” she asks, sniffing the lining. She likes my smell. It makes me happier than it should.

“Not really. I run hot.” And hard. All fucking day.

I sit next to her, close, our legs touching, our feet next to one another on the bench.

I look out at the scattering of lights that make up our tiny town. “I gotta tell you, KK, you looked damn sexy in that get-up today.”

She doesn’t react, just buries her hands in the jacket pockets.

“I meant what I said, if you want to go through with this I have your back, but I’m not going to lie—you’re asking for trouble.”

“I’m just looking for information.”

“Well, the guys on that site are looking for sex, and when they see you like that—if they saw you like you are right now—that’s what they’d want, too.”

She looks over at me, eyebrows furrowed. “Right now, I look like a hobo in a stolen jacket.”

I shake my head and laugh. “You’re gorgeous Kenley Keene, I’m not exactly sure why you ever thought differently.”

“Maybe because no one ever asked me out?”

My jaw tics. “No one asked you out, sweetheart, because you had eyes for one guy. Finn Holloway ruined you for every other male in Thistle Cove.”

“That’s—” She sighs. “God, that’s pathetic. Am I that pathetic?”

I lean back on my hands. “No, the opposite. You’re loyal and you love hard. You’re sexy in a hoodie or under a vixen’s wig. You’re the complete package. Rose Waller isn’t the ideal girl—you are.”

We’re cast in the light of my headlight and I see her cheeks turn pink. “Why are you telling me all this, Ezra?”

Because I want to kiss you? Because I want to put you on that bike and run away from our bullshit town? Because I want to see you when you lose control? Be the one to take you there?

“I need you to understand that if you join that SugarBabies site, you know what you’re getting into—who you’re dealing with. They’re going to see you and want you. I’m sure half of them are idiots, just looking for a quickie, but some of those men are rich and powerful. They’re manipulative, sweet-talking, charming misogynists. They don’t want an arrangement, they want a possession. Are you prepared to get into that?”

“How do you know all this?”

I laugh. “Have you met my father? I’m not saying he’s involved in something like this. I mean, maybe if he was he’d lay off me for a while, but the men he works with, this is how they operate. They’re creeps.”

“I’m not planning on doing anything but look for some information—maybe see if I can figure out what Rose was up to.”

I look over at her and hold her eye. “I don’t want you to get hurt, Kenley.”