Desolation Road (Torpedo Ink 4)

He smiled at her in that way he had. Slow in coming. So she had to wait. It almost stopped her heart while she waited for that smile to reach his eyes. Those beautiful, crystal-blue eyes of his that seemed to focus so completely on her. To see no one else but her. Every time she was away from him, she told herself he wasn’t real, that he couldn’t possibly really look at her like that, but he always seemed to.

“Hi.” She couldn’t help the happiness in her voice. She didn’t even try to keep it from showing. This was her day. If she never had another one like it, so be it. Today was all hers.

“Hi, miledi.”

Just the way he said it, soft and low, in a velvet voice that seemed to slide right over her skin in stroking fingers, sent shivers of awareness down her spine.

“How’s my beautiful librarian this morning?”

“Absolutely great.” Because she was. She so was. His gaze moved over her from head to toe, a slow appraisal, dwelling on her curves. His look sent heat rushing through her veins. His gaze touched on her boots and his faint smile sent another slow burn through her body.

“Did you get your friend off?”

“Yes. We had a nice dinner, a good talk and she flew out last night, back to Chile. Did your friend pack us a picnic lunch?”

“She did. I’ve got it safely stowed away. Do you have anything you need me to put up for you?”

Keys and Maestro had shown up early at his hotel room with the lunch for Scarlet and Absinthe. The two were probably asleep in the room. Player and Master had gone ahead to the Avenue of the Giants after Lana had reported to the rest of his brothers. He’d texted them where he was taking Scarlet for their lunch so they would have the chance to reach it in advance and be able to look out for him. He didn’t think it was necessary, nor did he want them there, but Czar and Steele both insisted, and he wasn’t in a position to argue with them.

He had, with great reluctance, turned over the fork he’d taken from the restaurant with Scarlet’s prints on it as well as airdropped her photograph to Lana’s phone so she could give them to Code. He knew the second she told Czar, which no doubt she would do the moment she returned to Caspar, Code would be on his computer, dropping everything else he was doing to ferret out every bit of information he could on Scarlet.

Absinthe had this one day with her. One. After this, his club would really be interfering. He would no longer have the chance to find things out about her on his own. Depending upon what she was into, he might even lose her. He wanted to have this one day at least. She was wearing gloves and he was grateful for that. It would lessen the impact when she put her hands on him, but he would still feel her emotions. Hopefully, the good would outweigh the bad, just as they’d done in the library.

“No, I’m just really excited. I have no idea what I’m doing, so you’ll have to tell me.”

She sounded excited. He liked that. He smiled at her and handed her a helmet. “You need me to help you put that on?”

“I think I can manage.” She suited action to words and checked to make certain it was on snug enough.

He indicated the foot peg. “Foot there. Swing your leg over. Right up behind me. Wrap your arms around my waist. You’re going to follow my body movements. Don’t anticipate, just go with me. If you get scared, just tap on me and I’ll slow the bike. I’ve been riding for a long time, but I don’t want you to get nervous. This is supposed to be fun. We’re heading to the redwoods. It’s beautiful riding there. If it gets to be too much, we can always pull over, turn around and head back. I won’t be upset, Scarlet. I really won’t. This is a long ride for a first time, so we can change to something shorter.”

She loved that he obviously meant it. Were there really men like him? She hesitated. She would know in a moment. She almost didn’t want to take that next step.

“Scarlet?”

Absinthe reached for her gloved hand and put it on his shoulder. “Seriously, babe, we can switch to another vehicle, your car and you drive, or we can do something here in town.”

She wasn’t giving up riding on the Harley with him for anything. She swung up behind him and wrapped her arms around him, closing her eyes, expecting to be swamped with all kinds of emotion. They’d been so careful not to touch each other. Just a brief slide of a finger here and there. That had been incredible, establishing such a strong connection, but now, when they were in such close proximity, when she had her body tight against his, and granted there were layers of clothes between them, and both wore gloves, she only felt happiness. His. Hers.