Shine With Me (With Me in Seattle 15.5)

“Wear a sweater,” I reply. “Layers. It would be great if you could get ugly overnight as well so I don’t want to kiss the fuck out of you anymore.”

“I’ll see what I can come up with.” She’s grinning from ear-to-ear now, and she’s not ugly in the least. Not at all.

Not even a little.

I need a cold shower.Chapter Five~Sabrina~“There will be no more kissing.”

I’m staring at myself in the mirror. I have sleepy eyes, my face is clean of makeup, and my hair is up in a bun with a headband in place to keep the flyaways off my face while we ride.

I’m giving myself a stern talking-to.

“No kissing.” I point my finger at my mirror image. “Yes, he’s hot, and his hands are crazy amazing, and it would probably be the best sex of your life.”

I frown.

“No one said anything about sex. Now you’re taking it too far, Rina. Keep your hands and lips to yourself and just work on getting ready for this role. That’s the job. Doing Ben is not the job here.”

I narrow my eyes at myself and then nod once in satisfaction.

That’s been decided.

Ben suggested I wear layers, and I followed orders. I’m in workout pants and a t-shirt with a sweatshirt over that. I have a scarf to put around my neck if I need it. It’s winter in Seattle, which means it could be seventy or thirty.

You never know.

But I do know that it’s cooler by the water. Though the fresh air will feel good.

I’ve just finished eating a bowl of cantaloupe when the doorbell rings.

It’s six on the dot. He’s right on time.

“Always punctual,” I murmur as I unlock and open the front door. “Good mor—”

He sweeps in, pulls me against him, and plants those lips on mine. I loop my arms around his neck and let him have his way with me.

Because I’m a red-blooded woman, and Ben is hot as hell.

Hot. As. Hell.

My stern bathroom conversation goes right down the toilet as he pushes the door closed with his foot and spins me around to pin me against it.

His hands skim down my sides, then move back up again to frame my face as he thoroughly explores my mouth.

I was still half-asleep when he arrived. I’m fully alert now.

He’s breathing hard when he pulls away, and his blue eyes are on fire as he stares down at me.

“Good morning,” he says.

“Hi.”

“I couldn’t help myself.”

“Not complaining.” I feel the smile slowly spreading over my face. “I gave myself a pep talk earlier, explaining that we weren’t going to do that again.”

“Sorry, I didn’t get the memo.”

I swallow hard as he backs away.

“It’s okay. I don’t mind. Is it hot in here?”

He laughs and points at my sweatshirt. “You’re dressed for cold weather.”

“Right. Yeah. Okay, so we’re going on a bike ride?”

“Yes. If we don’t, I’ll exercise you in other ways, and I don’t think we’re quite there yet.”

“Given that I talked myself out of kissing you again this morning, I have to agree.”

“You can always say no. No harm, no foul. I mean, I’ll be a little disappointed because I’m having a hard time keeping my hands to myself, but you’re in charge here.”

I nod, satisfied with that statement. “Understood. So far, I’m not saying no.”

“Great. Let’s go for a ride, shall we?”

I raise a brow at the double entendre, and he shakes his head. “Seriously, let’s get out of here.”

He leads me down the sidewalk to the back of his SUV where he has two bikes on a rack. He unlatches them and sets their tires on the ground.

“We’re going to ride for about fifteen miles today.”

My head whips around in surprise. “Wow.”

“If you get to a point where you think you’ve reached your max, just say so, and we’ll turn back. But remember, we have to get back here, so if we’re five miles in, we have to come back five miles.”

“Right.” I nod and accept the helmet he holds out for me. “I’m usually good for a ten-mile ride. Let’s see how fifteen goes.”

“Speak up if it’s too far, but this is meant to be a workout.”

I nod again and slip my hands into the riding gloves he also brought for me. Ben thought of everything today.

“If you enjoy this, I’ll leave the bikes and gear here in the garage, and we’ll make this a regular part of your weekly routine.”

“Cool.”

We hop on the bikes and set off. I follow closely behind him, getting a feel for the equipment. The seat is a little narrow, so my ass will likely hurt tomorrow.

I’ll order a new saddle later today.

But aside from a sore ass, the ride is beautiful. It’s a cool day, but there’s no sign of snow, just moisture from the ocean as we ride along the mostly empty paths and roads.