Chapter 15
I’m standing in the shade of a single redwood tree at the edge of a no-name mall’s parking lot two towns over from Pleasantville. The midday heat has nothing to do with how sweaty my palms are as I clutch the edge of my helmet. It’s black with two silver roses worked into the sides, the thorny branches entwined in the back. A gift from my dad a long time ago, but I hardly ever get to wear it. Because hardly anyone ever asks me if I’d like to go for a ride.
Most guys from the MC steer clear of me and my sister, knowing my dad won’t let anyone date either of us, and my friends just assume I’m not that into riding. They’re wrong. And I’m hoping Tyler will take me for a nice long ride today. Before and after the lunch he promised me.
He’s not exactly late yet, but I did hope he’d be here to meet me early. Like I was. He wanted to pick me up at the bookshop, but I still don’t think a strange biker would go over well with my dad and his brothers right now. Though he did just fine getting there last night…
I spent way too much time fantasizing about how I wanted last night to end if he hadn’t run out. I convinced myself that he only did that because he wants me so much and is afraid of it, like most guys are when faced with real feelings. He proved my point when he texted me just ten minutes after leaving the bookshop to arrange this date.
I hardly got any sleep because I was thinking about all that and fantasizing about how I want today’s date to end.
But I should cool it now, since I’m about to see him again and I don’t want to blurt out the wrong thing, like I often do when I’m embarrassed. I also don’t want to come off too needy. Which I think I did last night.
I can hear the rumble of his Harley approaching before I actually see him turn onto the narrow road that leads past the mall. There are plenty of cars in the parking lot, and plenty of people walking to and from them. I step out of the shade, so he can see me. But there was no need to. The visor of his helmet is covering his face and it’s matte black, but I still feel his eyes zero in on me with laser-focused intensity as I step into the sun. I can’t even see his eyes and yet I’ve never felt this seen in my whole life.
He hardly slows down as he makes his way here, yet stops right in front of me. When he finally takes off his helmet I can see I was absolutely right about the intense look in his eyes—the one just for me. But he’s grinning, which softens his whole face. Especially after he takes in my outfit. I’m wearing a dress again, but not quite as girly a dress as the first time we went out.
This one is a long, sleek, emerald-green beach-type dress, with straps at the shoulder and a long slit along my left leg. His eyes caress the skin showing there. And I bet he can tell I’m not wearing a bra. Which my traitorous hardening nipples announce loud and clear, just in case he didn’t already know, as his gaze travels across them. I pull my jean jacket tighter. The hard, sharp look that passes across his eyes as I do can only be anger over denying him the view. But it’s gone in the next second.
“Am I late?” he asks.
What I was picturing in my mind was him saying nothing as he got off his bike and kissed me in that same life-altering way he did last night. I still feel that kiss all over if I concentrate. But I guess he’s all about keeping his distance today. Fine. I’ll make him see reason soon. Because there’s no point fighting this attraction we share. None at all.
I shake my head and smile at him. “Right on time. Where are you taking me?”
“Hop on and you’ll find out.”
I don’t need to be asked twice and I only pause long enough to put on my helmet.
Maybe I should be more careful of going who knows where with a guy I barely know, and without telling anyone who I’m with at that. But I just know that wherever we end up will be exactly where I want and need to be. So there’s that. And it’s enough.
“As long as it’s after a good long ride,” I tell him once I’m ensconced behind him.
He looks at me over his shoulder, still grinning. “Your wish is my command. Now hold on tight.”
He swings his helmet back on and revs his bike. And while I’m still deciding whether it’d be too much too soon if I wrapped my arms around his waist, the force of our take off makes the decision for me. I’m holding him so tight I can feel the hard outline of his six-pack against my forearms. And feel him laughing. He did this on purpose. When he said hold on tight, he meant it literally. And he made it happen. Good. Because I do tend to over analyze things. Like my brain is starting to do even know. Am I holding him too tight? Should I be holding him at all? Does he just want to fuck me or does he want something more like I do?
But it’s hard to over-analyze anything on the back of a bike. Especially with how fast we’re going.
He slows down once we reach a wide-open road that seems to stretch out for miles and miles, fading off into forever. We’re the only ones on it and might as well be the only two people in the whole wide world right now. I’d love that.
For once, my mind’s not racing with a million questions and scenarios. It’s the wind in my face and the rumbling of his bike beneath me. It’s his solid presence in my arms, here just for me. To hold. To lean on, if I choose. I don’t choose right now. Instead, I loosen my grip on his waist a little and lean back into the wind, letting it cradle me as we speed along the empty road. Our road.
Oh, how I needed this. I’ve longed for it for years. But I didn’t even know it until just now. So many things he’s shown me already. And I bet he has a thousand more to show me before we’re done. I can’t wait.
The sun is starting on its downward path, the first hues of the golden sunset that we’ll have tonight already visible, when we finally pull into a town, which seems to have sprung out of nowhere right in our path. Pearl Springs, it’s called, and it’s a lot like the town we met in, only here, everything is clean and white, and the shops and restaurants lining Main Street all have a high-class vibe to them. He parks in a large parking lot at the edge of town, storing our helmets away on the back of his bike.
“Where to now?” I ask.
“It’s just down the road,” he says and offers me his arm like the perfect gentleman he seems to be today. Or trying to be. “I thought we’d just walk.”
I take his offered arm, the tremor passing through me as we touch reminding me of an earthquake. Why does this guy have such a such a crazy hold on me?
“Lead the way.”
That earns me a smirk that I can’t quite read into reliably. And I don’t know what that means. But in the next moment I no longer have to try and find out. Because the second shop we pass is a used bookstore that seems to take up one entire, white-walled townhouse all by itself. My steps naturally slow and before I know it, we’re standing still in front of it. The entire front window is one giant and incredibly imaginative Alice in Wonderland display. All the characters are there, little statues of them, painted by hand, it seems, and everything is so vivid it might as well be real. The little girl in me thinks I could just walk into the window and be there, inside my favorite story. There’s Alice, of course, and the White Rabbit checking his watch, but also the King and Queen of Hearts and the Cheshire Cat, with his signature grin. That’s what Tyler’s smirk reminded me of, this grin. He’s still wearing it on his face when I finally manage to look away from the display.
“I thought you’d like it,” he says.
“I love it,” I say. “How did you find this?”
He shrugs. “I was just riding by the other day and when you told me last night that this was your favorite story… well, I just had to bring you here. How’d I do?”
“Amazingly,” I say and give him a kiss on the cheek, because the urge to do it was uncontrollable. If touching him was an earthquake, the kiss is a volcano erupting. And I think he felt it too, because we’re both blushing as I step back.
He clears his throat and I have trouble meeting his eyes. “Well, now, that was something.”
I don’t know if he knows he said that aloud, so I just nod and stare at the display in the window. I hardly see it this time though.
“Wanna go in?” he asks.
“I thought you’d never ask,” I say and lead the way to the door where a gentle chime sounds as I open it. Apart from the white-haired lady behind the counter the store is empty.
She grins widely as she sees me, but it falters a little when she notices Tyler right behind me.
“Good day, how can I help you?” she says, the tightness in her voice belying the wide smile on her face.
“I just have to say, that’s such a beautiful Alice in Wonderland display you have in your window,” I say. “I wish I was creative enough to pull something like that off in my shop.”
“You have a bookshop too?” she asks, the gleam in her eye contagious.
And before I know it, I’m telling her all about my small-town bookstore and she’s telling me all about hers. I lose track of Tyler and time, since books are a topic so close to my heart I could spend days just talking about them and nothing else. Once I realize that’s what I’m doing and check on him, he seems perfectly content just browsing the shelves upon shelves of books in here.
“You have a lot more truly valuable books in here, though,” I tell her. “I’ve only just started my first shelf of collectibles. Mostly books I love and wouldn’t want to part with anyway. That Alice in Wonderland edition in the window... I’ve never seen that one before... I love the story and I’d love to add it to my collection.”
I’m sure I told her how much I love Alice in Wonderland about a dozen times since this conversation started, so maybe the bemused smile on her face is because of that.
“Not for sale, I’m afraid,” she says, dashing my hopes. “I’m sure you’ll understand, since it’s part of my personal collection. Just like you have yours.”
“I do?—”
“Come on, now, everything has a price.” Tyler’s voice floats to us from across the room before I can finish telling her I do understand.
The lady gives him a dark look, but the Cheshire cat grin on his face is unwavering as he walks up to us.
“That one doesn’t,” she says firmly.
They lock eyes and for a moment I’m afraid Tyler is going to press her for it. A part of me even thinks he won’t take no for an answer, that he’ll get me the book just because I want it. And a part of me would like him to do that very much. But not the part that’s in control.
I lay a hand on his arm to stop him from saying anything more. I’d take his hand but he’s carrying a bunch of books.
“The lady said no,” I tell him and smile at her, because the tension between them is palpable now, and turning dark fast. “I’d never ask another book lover to relinquish their prized books. Just like I’d never part with mine.”
She smiles at me, gratefully and in a relieved way. Worried too. For me, I think. Tyler scares her which is understandable. I sometimes forget that just because I’ve grown up around hard, tough bikers and count them as my family, doesn’t mean they don’t come across as scary dudes to most everyone else.
“If you’re sure,” he says and finally breaks eye-contact with her. She actually sighs in relief.
“You might like some of these, though,” he says and shows me the books he’s brought. They’re all either old copies of Alice in Wonderland or Wuthering Heights.
I take them from him and lay them on the counter, admiring each before picking four I don’t already have.
“I’ll take these,” I say and smile at Myra. “The other three I already have.”
Myra looks cautiously happy. “These’ll run you a pretty penny.”
“That’s not an issue,” Tyler says before I can.
“No, it really isn’t,” I say, looking at him pointedly. “I got it.”
“Nonsense,” he says and pulls out a stack of hundred-dollar bills held together by a silver money clip like some gangster might use. He adds one of the copies of Wuthering Heights I rejected to the pile—the one I already have, with Catherine running for Heathcliff across a sea of thorns. “And I’ll take this one for myself. I want to read it.”
Myra’s no longer scared. Her eyes are actually gleaming. I decide to not have this argument in front of her and let him pay. I can pay him back later. No way I’m letting him spend over two grand on books for me on our second date. Though I have to admit, it feels nice.
None of my friends would last half this long in the store with me and none would understand me dropping this kind of cash on old books. The fact that he did both of those things makes me feel all sorts of warmth inside. The kind I’ve only read about.
A couple of minutes later, I say a cheery goodbye to the shop owner, promising I’ll be back soon. The golden light of sunset is flooding the street as we emerge from the store.
“You didn’t have to get me all those books,” I tell him. “I’ll pay you back. My allowance, or trust fund, or whatever you want to call it, is more than high enough.”
He has another expression I can’t read on his face again. This one isn’t a smile though. It’s the exact opposite of a smile.
“Good, I’m glad it was good for something,” he says, stopping abruptly like he said too much. “But this is my gift to you, and I don’t do take backs.”
The finality in his voice is as hard as the icy plains in his eyes that even the soft, golden sunset light can’t touch. There’s no arguing with it, but I want to anyway. Until he finally grins again.
“Come on, let me do this for you,” he says. “I can afford these books too.”
The way he can go from stone cold hard to boyish and charming is enough to give me whiplash. But when he smiles at me like this, I forget to worry about that. Or anything else for that matter.
“All right, thank you,” I say and give him another peck on the cheek. This time the effect is pure lava flowing into my chest, but I somehow managed not to keep kissing him. He looks like he’s fighting the same battle of trying not to kiss me. I hope he loses.
The sidewalk is busy and people have to walk around us because we’re just standing here, rooted to the spot. I feel like I’m getting lost in the frozen fields in his eyes and I like it.
“This… bringing me to this store… that’s the nicest thing anyone’s done for me in a while,” I say once I process that a kiss isn’t coming.
“I’m glad and you’re welcome,” he says, his eyes still soft like he’s about to kiss me for real.
“But I’ll return the favor,” I add and his eyes go even softer, before turning to ice right in front of my eyes.
“It wasn’t a favor, Eden. It was a gift,” he says harshly. “Now, let’s go get something to eat. And before you offer, I’m paying for that too.”
He takes my hand and leads me down the street, walking almost too fast.
“I wasn’t going to,” I tell him and laugh.
“Good,” he says and leaves it at that.
I sure do enjoy reading about it, but I didn’t think I’d be into getting bossed around by a man I like in real life. Turns out, I do like it. A lot. I hope there’s more of it coming before this night is through.