A One-Time Thing

31. Rowan

CHAPTER 31

ROWAN

“ D o I look okay?” Remembering Gil’s fondness for my bowties, I decided to buy a new one for our first official date. It was red with little black motorcycles on it and I’d decided that it was my new favorite. But was a bowtie too dorky for a date? I didn’t mind looking like a banker when I was at work, but it was a date with Gil. Something I think I’d wanted from that first time I stumbled up to his house with the worst beer on the planet.

That seemed like a whole other lifetime ago.

Fisher rolled his eyes from his perch on the couch where he sat texting his friends. The transition to a new school had agreed with him. I tried not to hover, but I had been in touch with his teachers to see how things were going for him.

“Dad, he’s already your boyfriend. Or did you forget that part?”

Outside, the deep, familiar rumble of a motorcycle got my attention. The engine grew louder as it pulled into the driveway, then stopped, deafening me with the silence.

I took a deep breath and absolutely did not lose my cool at the sound of footfalls coming up the steps.

“Oh, my God, Dad, just answer the door.” Fisher glanced up at me, rolled his eyes, and looked back down at his phone as Gil knocked on the door.

Taking a deep breath, I crossed the room and opened the door. Gil looked amazing. Better than. He looked like a walking wet dream dressed in his leather jacket. He had a spare jacket draped over one arm and a helmet in his other hand. Both appeared to be brand new.

“You look…” I trailed off as I struggled to get my mouth to work. “Great. You look great.” I’d wanted to say fuckable. Or tell him he looked hot as hell, but Fisher was right there with his earbuds in, eavesdropping as usual.

“So do you.” Gil peeked around me and looked at Fisher. “Hey, Fisher.”

“Hey, Gil. When can we fix my bike?” Fisher asked every time he saw Gil now, hoping he’d change his answer.

“When the cast comes off.” Gil turned his attention back to me, his eyes catching on the bowtie. “Is that new?”

I smoothed my hand down my shirt. Compared to Gil, I was overdressed. He looked like sex on legs in his jeans and leather jacket.

“Yeah. I … ah.” Clearing my throat, I smoothed my hand down my chest. “It’s new.”

Behind me, Fisher scoffed. “Dad’s been obsessing all day.”

I turned to Fisher and flashed him a scowl that I didn’t really mean.

“I think that’s our cue to leave,” Gil said. “Here, you’ll need these.”

After carefully setting the helmet down, Gil held the jacket and helped me slide into it.

Once it was on, Gil raked his gaze over me. “Damn.”

“Damn?”

Gil grabbed the jacket and pulled me close. “I underestimated how good you’d look.”

Fisher made a gagging sound behind us, which I took for approval and a sign that we needed to get our date going.

“Ogle later. Ride now.”

Gil picked the helmet up and held it above my head. He stole a kiss, then gently put the helmet on. He smiled at me, then glanced back at Fisher. “We’ll have our phones on if you need anything.”

“I won’t.”

Gil grabbed my hand and tugged me out of the house. I flicked the visor up on the helmet and followed Gil to his bike. He slipped his helmet on and looked at me.

“Have you ever been on one of these?”

“Gil, I love you, but I wear bowties to work. I’m not the cool one in this relationship.”

“I don’t know about that. You raised a kid by yourself. You fixed this place up by yourself. You have great taste in men. Those things are pretty cool in my book.”

Gil slung his leg over the bike, making it look effortless. Had I ever stopped to appreciate the sight of him on his bike? With a nod of his head, Gil motioned for me to climb on behind him.

I put my hand on his shoulder to steady myself and I slung my leg over. Once I was behind him, Gil reached down and adjusted where I put my feet.

“Hang on to me, don’t lean on the curves, and tap me twice if you need me to pull over, okay?”

“I want you to know that Fisher got his bravery from his mother.”

Some of Gil’s face was hidden by the helmet, but I saw the way his eyes crinkled when he smiled.

“You’ll be fine. I’ve got you.”

The engine roared to life, and a thrill shot through me. Or maybe that was terror. Gil reached around and pulled my arms around his waist.

“Hang on!” He yelled over top of the rumble of the engine, and then we were off.

He started off slow, probably to ease me into the feeling of being on the back of a bike. At first, I would have been forced to admit that I was tense and terrified. But as the minutes ticked by, I got more and more comfortable behind Gil. I trusted him. I’d known it before, but I knew I’d never get on the back of just anyone’s motorcycle.

After winding our way through town, Gil took us up toward the vista. The road was full of corners and I pressed myself a little tighter against him as he worked his way up to the top. Emotions I couldn’t name raced through me, threatening to pull me apart.

I was giddy, I realized. Effortlessly light and free. Untouched by the stress of daily living and the worries of raising a kid and trying to keep him alive and whole and happy. And all the other things that usually weighed on me disappeared. The wind took them from me.

We came to a stop at the top of the vista and Gil turned the bike off, the sudden quiet jarring after hearing the engine for so long. Gil held the bike steady while I got off first. My legs wobbled for a brief moment before I got them under control. Gil got off the bike next and pulled his helmet from his head.

He was effortlessly sexy. Unfairly gorgeous. And I knew it bothered him sometimes, but his scar only added to his sex appeal. Which reminded me to ask about how he’d gotten it.

I pulled my helmet off and Gil took it from me, putting it with the bike.

“Aren’t you going to enjoy the view?” Gil asked when he closed the distance between us and wrapped his arms around me.

“I am,” I said, not looking away from him. My gaze flicked to his scar. “You never told me how you got that.”

“I thought you’d never ask.” But instead of answering, he just smiled at me.

“How’d you get the scar, Gil?”

“It was a motorcycle accident. It was just after my breakup with Phil, and I shouldn’t have been out on it that night anyway.”

“Oh, God.” I felt the blood drain from my face and pool in my feet. I might have lost him before I even met him. “Aren’t you worried you’ll crash again?”

“That was a one-time thing. I’d been in a bad place; I don’t ride when I’m worked up like that anymore.”

Threading my hands through his hair, I held him tight, staring into his eyes. “You did, though, the other night. You went looking for Fisher.”

“Of course I did. Fisher’s important.”

“Gil …” I had no words for him that would encompass what it meant to me for him to have done that. He’d broken his rules for me, for Fisher. He could have been hurt, or worse. My worry must have shown on my face because Gil’s expression softened.

“Rowan, I’m fine. Fall down seven times, stand up eight.”

“What?”

“It’s an old proverb.”

“Motorcycles, views of the city, and proverbs, all on a first date. How’d I get so lucky?” I leaned in, tipping my face to look up at him. “Are all your first dates like this?”

Gil scoffed. “Hardly. But I have this really great guy I’m trying to impress. Is it working?”

“I’ll tell you, but it’ll cost you a kiss.”

Gil slanted his mouth over mine and devoured me. Wrapping an arm around my waist, he buried the other in my hair. I looped my arms around his neck and held on as he kissed the life out of me.

He pulled away suddenly, leaving me lightheaded and hard as a rock in my pants. The ride up here hadn’t helped any, but that kiss sent me spiraling over the edge into dangerously horny territory.

“I’m impressed,” I admitted. “But you already knew that.”

Gil smirked. “I had an inkling.”

We kissed again. We made out like horny teenagers who’d snuck away to be together. We kissed until the sun set the rest of the way and we were plunged into darkness. And then we might have kept kissing, but a car pulled in. Music I didn’t recognize shattered the silence and Gil and I exchanged a look of pain.

“We should get going anyway.” Gil led me back to the bike and waited for me to get my helmet on and settled in behind him.

I’d spent my time with Gil daydreaming about what it would be like to go on a date with him, and now that I was out with him, I wanted to be home alone with him. I liked that Gil had his own place near mine and that we could sneak over there whenever we needed some privacy. And I wanted that privacy now, but Gil took us back into town and parked at a restaurant with a neon sign that cast a pink glow into the parking lot.

It might have been our twin leather jackets, or the bad case of helmet hair I was probably sporting, but we definitely turned heads when we walked into the restaurant.

I’d never been to the place he chose before, but I liked it. It was definitely a romantic restaurant, the kind you took a date to and not your family. Gil was the perfect gentleman through dinner. It was everything I’d imagined it should be when I went out with Brian. But better, because it was real. Better because Gil reached across the table and took my hand and held it while we talked and waited for our entrees.

When our food arrived and he couldn’t hold my hand, his foot slid next to mine under the table. Gil was as addicted to me as I was to him.

“Dessert?” he asked when it was clear that I was finished with my dinner.

“Dessert, yes.” I replied, then I leaned in closer. “Dessert here? No.”

“Oh, thank God.” Gil pushed his plate away. “I love being out with you, Rowan, but I’ve wanted to do wonderful, awful things to you all night.”

Gil paid the bill and we got back on his bike. The ride to his place was a lot faster than we’d gone before. Maybe another night when I wasn’t desperate for him, I’d ask him to take me out again. I couldn’t see myself ever wanting to be in control of one of these machines, but I could get used to riding behind Gil.

I could get used to doing a lot of things with Gil.

It was a wonder he’d even looked at me twice the way I’d bumbled through the first couple of times we met. The gross beer. My eternal awkwardness. It was a miracle he’d even opened the door for me.

It was a miracle he’d fallen in love with me, but falling for him had been a foregone conclusion. From the moment I laid eyes on him, I’d known that I wanted to know him. I wanted to be near him. And the more I knew, and the more I was near, the more I wanted him. There wasn’t a scenario that ended with me not falling hopelessly in love with Gil Valentine.