31. Pillow and Blankets
Pillow and Blankets
Sheridan
Fly pulls to a stop in the middle of Silent Valley town square, which is surprisingly busy for a Friday evening. There are a few food stands and trucks set up along the edge of the park selling their wares. I’m definitely liking where this is going.
Fly hops out of the vehicle.
Should I wait for him to come around? Or should I just do the same?
He walks to the back driver’s side seat and opens the door. “I’ll be right around to grab your door.”
Well, I guess that answers that.
There’s a black leather jacket on that seat that I didn’t notice before. As he shrugs it on, I see Children of Chaos written around the coolest mechanical butterfly.
It’s weird that he’s wearing a biker jacket. Why didn’t he wear it to pick me up?
Something feels off about it. Not that I thought anything about what he was wearing before, other than the passing thought ‘that man is gorgeous’ every now and again.
But this feels different. Let it go.
He walks around the SUV and opens my door.
“What’s with the jacket?” So much for letting it go or being subtle.
“It’s chilly out.”
That’s not the answer I want.
Fly takes my arm in his and we start walking.
“But also…Silent Valley has a problem. There’s a drug dealer who has been trying to take over.
Our club has been trying to stand between them and the town.
So I’m wearing this to tell them that we’re around watching…
protecting, and that we won’t tolerate it happening here. ”
Wait, what? “Isn’t that what the cops are for?”
“It should be. But this is a small town with one sheriff and two deputies. Though there are only a few people, there’s a lot of land. Which gives the dealers space to hide. We’re sick of our kids getting killed. We’re standing up and telling the world we’re watching and it won’t be tolerated here.”
“Wow. Isn’t that dangerous?”
He stops and turns to face me. “Not for you.”
I hadn’t even thought about myself. “That wasn’t what I was asking.”
“No life is without risk.” He shrugs. “I’m not a direct target. Though the club might be. It doesn’t matter; when something bad happens, do you turn and hide or do you stand up and say no?”
WOW. The man in front of me just changed. Yet he didn’t. It’s not hard to believe Fly said those words with conviction. “Men like you are rare.”
“Not as rare as you think.” He takes a step closer to me.
“In my whole life, I’ve met one other man who believed in fighting for right and wrong that much.” That’s not quite true, my pen pal would in a second, though I haven’t met him, so technically what I said is true.
“Who? Your father?”
I snort. “Not even close.”
“Your father wasn’t a good man?”
“What is a good man?”
“You just told me you knew one.”
“Everyone knows Little Timmy.” He certainly fits that description.
“He sounds like an eight-year-old’s crush.”
Little Timmy probably was every little girl’s crush in town. “Guilty as charged.”
“Did you two date?”
Like Little Timmy would ever date trash like me. “His wife wouldn’t be happy with that.”
Fly smirks. “So that means I’m the only single good guy you know.”
“Are you really a good guy?” I lean up so that our lips are just a breath away from each other.
“No. Right now I feel very, very bad.”
So do I. “Good to know.”
“MOMMY! LOOK! THEY’RE GOING TO KISS!” a little girl shouts.
We were. I take a step back.
Fly chuckles. “So are you ready to start this date?”
“I believe we already did…several times.” I give him a saucy wink. At least I hope it looks flirty, and not like I got something stuck in my eye or have a nervous tic.
“Tease.” He loops my arm through his and starts walking. “I meant the planned portion of our date.”
“Oh, I planned on kissing you.” Why did I just blurt that out? He must think I’m a nut.
“So did I, but not until a bit later. Like after I fed you.”
“Food sounds good.” My stomach grumbles. “The girls kept me busy today, especially getting ready for this date. You wouldn’t believe the energy some of them have when you tell them you’re going on a date. I must have tried on a hundred outfits before they agreed on this one.”
He grins. “Only a hundred.”
“Leonie’s closet ran out of options that fit me.
” Though Winnie almost dragged us all to a designer’s studio before Mindy and Dahlia agreed on this one.
I’m not sure what I would have done if they hadn’t stood up to her.
There’s no way I could afford a sock at some designer’s studio, let alone an entire outfit.
Fly runs his eyes up and down my body. “Good choice. It would have looked even better on my bike.”
“That was the plan.”
He leans in. “Soon. Very soon, I’ll have you on the back of my bike.”
“What if I want to be on the front?”
“And who’s the tease now?”
I stop. “No, seriously. What if I want to be on the front of the bike?”
“Then we’d have to start your riding lessons. I’ll warn you, I’m a very hands-on teacher.”
My lips tip up to the side. “Good to know.”
“Would you like to learn to ride a motorcycle?”
Would I? “I’m not opposed to it, but I also don’t have a driving need to know how to do it.” Yet. Something about this man tells me I might be changing my mind about that soon.
“Let me know.” He comes to a stop in front of a massive, fluffy-looking blanket with a million pillows on top of it and a giant cooler next to it. “This is us.”
Us? “You set this up?”
“Sure did.”
“Including all the pillows and blankets? Or did you get help with that?”
He tips his head to the side. “I did it. No help needed.”
WOW. I reach over and pinch him.
“What was that for?”
“To make sure you’re real.”
“You could have just kissed me instead.”
“I already did that. But since you kiss like every dream I never dared to have, that didn’t prove anything.”
His arms are around me in the blink of an eye as his lips crash down on mine.
There’s a passion in this kiss like never before. I slant my head to meet that passion with my own.
“MOMMY! They’re kissing!”
I groan and pull my lips away from his. The separation is almost painful. Is that little girl following us?
Fly chuckles and kisses my forehead. “She is. But that’s only because their blanket is just over there.”
Opps. I said that out loud. “Kids are cute.” Until they come between you and the man you want to kiss. But that seems to be their job, even if you didn’t give birth to them.
“They are.” He winks. “Shall we?”
I slide off my shoes and step onto the blanket. “It’s like a cloud. I can’t even feel the ground beneath us.”
“That’s because I put a mattress between the coverlet layers.”
Which one is more shocking? “You know what a coverlet is?”
“Yes?” He steps over to where the cooler is and sinks down across from me.
“Don’t say that like it’s something every man knows. Because it’s not.”
He shrugs. “I know a little about a lot of things.”
Like what a coverlet is. Like how to match pillows without just buying a million of the same color or pattern. “You’re an enigma, Fly.”
He turns around, holding a tray of stemless wine glasses, like the ones they use for wine flights. “A good one or a bad one?”
“An interesting one.”
“Does that mean I’m a puzzle you want to solve?”
“No. You don’t solve a person’s problem just like you never fix a person. You just get to enjoy them being who they are with you. I can know a million things about you, but I can never truly know who you are in your soul.”
“I want to know your soul.”
The truth of those words grips my heart like a vise, taking my breath away.
He turns back, grabbing something from the cooler before twisting back to face me, all while I try to find a way to breathe again. Lifting the wine glass, he starts to fill it from a thermos.
“Chocolate milk. You brought us chocolate milk for our date.”
“How else could I fairly decide if I like it?” He winks. “The store had several flavors, so I thought I would start with a chocolate milk and cookie flight.”
“You’re perfect. Absolutely perfect.”