Two hours later, I was in a much better mood than when I’d left Piper earlier.
She’d changed into jeans and a t-shirt, and I found myself thankful that she’d thought ahead.
“You want to go for a ride?” I asked.
She looked at my motorcycle, then back at me. “Yeah, I’d like that.”
I pulled her into my body and pressed an open-mouthed kiss to hers, loving the way she practically melted into me.
In fact, I loved it so much that I hadn’t been paying attention to my surroundings, so we were both startled out of the kiss when we heard a bellow come from behind us.
“Get a room!”
I turned to see Phoebe practically hanging out the window of Pru’s Suburban.
Piper flipped them both off and got laughs.
“See you tomorrow, sissy!” Phoebe blew her a kiss, then disappeared back inside the vehicle before rolling the window up.
I shook my head and redirected my gaze back to the woman beside me.
I was staring at her with fascination.
“What?” she asked curiously.
“You’re different when they’re around,” I said. “As if you’re comfortable in your own skin.”
She frowned at that comment. “I’m comfortable in my own skin when they’re not around.”
I curled a stray piece of hair behind her ear and said, “You are. But they make you seem less guarded. You don’t think about what you’re saying before you say it. I like it. It’s not a bad thing.”
She took a step away from me and gestured to my bike. “Why were you so mad when you came in?”
I sighed and walked over to the bike.
“Let’s get out of here and I’ll tell you.” But when I looked over at my bike, a flinch hit me right in the gut. “I don’t have a helmet.”
She frowned. “You don’t ever wear one?”
I shrugged. “No.”
Her eyes narrowed. “How does it make you feel that I’ll be riding without one?”
Her eyes narrowed, and I knew she thought that I wasn’t going to answer.
I surprised her by saying, “I don’t like it.”
My mouth twitched.
“Why don’t you like it?” she pushed.
“Because the idea of you being hurt in any way is abhorrent to me,” I answered, my hand clenching at my side. “Never mind, we’re just going to go home.”
She swatted me on the ass.
“The Harley Davidson store is open until at least seven,” she said. “That’s a couple of hours from now. Ride me over there and we’ll both get a helmet.”
My jaw worked back and forth as I thought about having to get to the Harley Davidson store. I’d have to fight the fuckin’ traffic that liked to fight each other right around this time as everyone got off of work and tried to get their grocery shopping done before going home.
“I haven’t worn a helmet since I was fourteen,” I muttered.
“You’ve ridden a motorcycle since you were that young?” she wondered aloud.
“Yeah,” I answered. “My parents weren’t the most protective of parents. Hell, there were times that I didn’t even see them for days on end. For them to care that I wasn’t wearing a helmet would be for them to actually pay attention to me.”
I could tell she hated that I felt that way.
“Your mom seemed to care when I met her,” she challenged.
I swung my leg over the bike, then held out a hand.
“Although I don’t need the hand to mount the bike—I mean hello, I’ve been riding on the backs of bikes for ages. My dad. My grandfather. My uncle. My uncle’s friends? Anyone that I could con into giving me a ride, I took it—I’m going to mount anyway using your hand because the gesture is sweet.”
I laughed at her diatribe. I also noted that she loved to ride, and reminded myself to always ask her if she wanted to come with me anytime I got that familiar itch between my shoulder blades that reminded me I hadn’t gone in a while.
“I’m just gonna go ahead and lay this out there but…” She snuggled up against my back. “I really, really like to ride. You might create a monster.”
I reached back and scooted her ass closer to mine, which in turn caused her crotch to snug right up against my backside.
She bit back a moan, barely, as I laughingly replied to her earlier comment.
“Don’t worry, baby,” I said. “It’s a sacrifice to have a pretty little thing like you holding onto me for any amount of time, but I’ll suck it up and deal with it if you can.”
She reached forward and tightened her arms around my waist, causing her body to be pressed to mine from crotch to chin.
Taking her non-reply as the order it was, I grinned and started the bike.
It sounded good. It should, seeing as I’d put some illegal upgrades on it to make it sound good and perform even better.