I opened the driver’s door and placed her on the seat. She scooted away, and I climbed in beside her, not letting her get farther than the middle of the seat before pulling her back toward me.
“Matt—”
“Rory,” I teased and kissed her forehead before starting the truck. “Relax. Your father didn’t have shit on me three years ago, any more than he would now. He can’t touch me for those rape allegations, and he fucking knows it.”
“R-really?” she breathed, but I saw the hope flare in her eyes.
“Fucking really, babe.” I tucked her in close and then pulled out onto the road.
“But…”
“Hey, do you trust me?”
“Always,” she answered without hesitation.
“Good. Now, are you hungry?” I stopped at the stop sign at the end of the street and let my eyes scan over her. “You look like you haven’t eaten in a year, baby.”
“Oh, please,” she laughed with a roll of her eyes. “I’ve gained like ten pounds since the last time I saw you.”
“Don’t give me that shit. What do you want to eat?”
I got another eye roll at my authoritarian tone, but she was still smiling. “Can we get something from Aggie’s and go somewhere we can be alone?”
“Hell yeah, babe. Whatever you want.” I touched my lips to her forehead again, my eyes closing as I took a minute to take in the fact that she was really sitting beside me.
Chapter Four
Rory
THE SMELLS COMING FROM THE bag Matt had picked up from Aggie’s were making my stomach practically growl in desperation. No restaurant, no cook, had ever or could ever compare to the food that was served at Aggie’s. Matt had ordered us both burgers and fries, and then gone in to get them alone because I wasn’t about to chance it getting back to my father that I had been seen out with Matt.
No matter that my sexy biker had tried to assure me my father couldn’t touch him, I wasn’t about to gamble with his freedom. I couldn’t do that to him. I wouldn’t.
But, God, it felt so good to be with him again. To have the peace fill me all over again just sitting beside him in his truck, with his fingers entwined with mine or his hand on my thigh, was only a taste of what it had been like between us three years ago. Even though I knew I should have run far and fast the minute I had set eyes on him again for his own good, I couldn’t bring myself to so much as scoot over an extra inch when he’d slid back behind the wheel of his truck.
As he pulled into his driveway, I knew I couldn’t let my father come between us again. I couldn’t give Matt up. I wasn’t a scared seventeen-year-old who had only wanted to protect the man I loved.
No, now you’re a scared twenty-year-old who selfishly wants it all.
I couldn’t really argue with that. It was true. I was still scared of what my father could and probably would do to Matt, but selfishly, I didn’t want to let him go again. Was that so wrong?
Probably.
But I couldn’t bring myself to care as he opened the door, stepped out, and then reached back inside for me. He pulled me to the edge of the seat and turned me to face him. Without thinking, I wrapped my legs around his waist as he cupped my ass in both hands and pressed my lower body closer against him.
A shiver ran through me when I felt how much he still wanted me. That, at least, hadn’t changed. His head lowered, and he touched his lips so lightly against the sensitive skin of my neck that I couldn’t hold back a tiny whimper. Goose bumps popped up along my entire body, and I arched my neck, silently asking for more.
“Let’s go,” he growled, his jaw tense. He released his hold on my ass and then untangled my legs from around him before taking my hand. I reached behind me for the bag of delicious-smelling food and walked with him into the house.
In the kitchen, he grabbed napkins and paper plates from the cabinet and drinks out of the fridge before leading me into the living room. I remembered his house, and other than a little dust now covering some of the furniture and a bigger television sitting on top of the entertainment center, the place hadn’t changed at all.
Matt moved the coffee table so that we could sit on the floor with our backs up against the couch. I spread our food out across the table, hungrily stuffing a fry into my mouth while he turned on the TV, channel-surfing until he found something he must have thought I would enjoy.
A smile teased at my lips when I noticed he had left it on House Hunters, the one show he knew I had been addicted to when we had been together. Once, I had fallen asleep on his chest as we had lain on the couch I was now leaning against. There had been a House Hunters marathon on, and he had gotten pulled into it just as much as I had been. He was still watching it even as I had drifted off to sleep. Hours later, he woke me up, muttering that it was late and he needed to take me home.
That had been just a few weeks before I had lost everyone who meant anything and everything to me.
“This is a good one,” Matt muttered as he got comfortable beside me. “You’ll be surprised by which house they actually pick in the end.”