When Stars Collide (Light in the Dark 2)

I grab my small black cross-body bag and sling it on, then head downstairs. Xander is hanging in the kitchen with Rae and Cade while she cooks dinner.

Xander stands when he sees me. “Ready?” I nod. He tips his head at the other two. “We’ll see you guys later.”

“Bye.” I wave and Rae gives me a look that tells me she’s going to expect me to give her a play-by-play of the whole evening. I seriously feel bad for all the times I pestered her like an annoying mosquito. I’m now being punished for that behavior by receiving the same treatment from her.

Xander pauses in the garage and turns around abruptly so I smack into his chest.

“Ow.” I rub my forehead. “What are you? Half rock? That hurt.”

He chuckles and rubs his thumb over the spot. “You’ll live.”

“Easy for you to say,” I mumble. “You didn’t walk headfirst into a boulder.”

He shakes his head at me. “I wanted to ask—truck or bike?”

“Bike,” I answer without a moment’s hesitation.

He grins. “I had a feeling you’d say that.”

He heads over to his motorcycle and grabs one of the helmets, turning around and placing it on my head. He secures it and does the same with his. Then he hands me a riding jacket of my very own.

I slip my arms through the holes of the jacket. “If I didn’t love you before, I love you now,” I say.

He laughs. “Wow, all I had to do was buy you a jacket? Noted.”

“Well, that,” I begin, “and rub my stomach and tell me I’m cute—oh wait, that’s Prue.”

His laughter echoes through the garage and his eyes twinkle when they meet mine. “I’d like to say I don’t do that, but I’d be lying.”

“Mhm,” I hum, and push the button for the garage door. It whirls and creaks as it goes up.

He rolls the bike out of the garage and I follow him out onto the driveway. It’s a little after five and the sun shines down brightly on us.

I look over my shoulder at the house and laugh when I see Prue peering out the window beside the front door.

“Look,” I say to Xander. “She’s watching us.”

He straddles the bike and looks up, letting out a laugh. “Poor girl, she just wants to go with us.”

“You’ll have to make it up to her later with extra belly rubs,” I tell him.

“Enough chit-chat,” he says. “Get on.”

I don’t have to be told twice. I’m insanely curious about what he has planned. The fact that he’s obviously put so much thought into something makes me really excited.

He starts out heading for the city, but after about thirty minutes, he changes course and then I have absolutely no idea where he’s going so I can’t even begin to guess.

He drives for another twenty minutes before we come upon a quaint little town. It’s cute with antique and coffee shops on every corner. He comes to a stop outside a movie theater, complete with one of those lit up things that jut out from the roof of the building.

The movie playing today?

Jaws.

> The boy is good.

We hop off the bike and remove our helmets.

“Jaws, huh?” I ask.