Chapter 13
DIEGO
“Get on the bike, Isabella.”
I should have picked her up in my truck. But my dumb ass wants to feel her hot body against my back, the clench of her thighs over my hips like Monday night.
“We don’t have to go for a ride. We can talk.”
She looks around, her words dying on her tongue, when she sees a neighbor pulling up to the gate of her complex.
“Fine. But it has to be somewhere private. So not near the campus or here.”
Her gaze darts around her neighborhood, the mere thought of someone judging her for a perceived impropriety weighing on her.
I’m the opposite, giddy beyond belief that she’s agreeing to any of this in the first place.
Sure, we have shit to talk about from the fall and discovering that she is my mystery rider, and even further back from the urgent care.
But tonight, I don’t give a damn if we talk. I just want to get her away from here to see if I can get vulnerable Isabella back and appeal to that woman.
She slips on her helmet, affixing it tightly before climbing on after me, the same as she did the other night.
Cracked visor and all. A damaged helmet is better than no helmet, even though my boys and I often ride without them.
Once she’s firmly seated, her hands tucked around my body, I take off for World’s End.
It’s private, away from the prying eyes of the campus and her neighborhood, with a very low chance of running into any other students or faculty members. In fact, it will be pretty quiet at this time of day, which will allow me to get to know her better.
We’re strangers in many ways, something I hope to change tonight. But I feel I’m starting to understand her in a few ways. When she’s vulnerable, and that guard is down, I love what I see. But shit, when it’s up, it’s impenetrable.
My cautious driving makes the ride longer. I take it slow, considering her crash, which seems to have her walking stiffly despite trying not to show it. She’s not plastered to me like she was the other night. She's more controlled and aloof, which is something else I hope to change out here.
Shit.
I’m pinning all my hopes on this one night.
It’s do or die.
I’m trying to calm down enough not to fuck it up.
When we pass through the entrance and find a spot close to the water, I kill the engine.
My boot hitches on the kickstand, catching in the gravel and holding the bike steady as it leans toward the ground.
The sun fades in the west, casting an orange glow over the ripples of water, adding to the serene surroundings.
“I forget how pretty it is out here,” she mutters behind me.
She slips her hands from my waist to disembark, draping her helmet over the handlebars and letting it hang by the strap. I mirror her actions, placing mine on the opposite handle.
The chill from the cold air has her rubbing her hands together for warmth. Another damn reason I should have taken my truck. I swing my leg off, capturing her hands in mine to warm them.
They are icy cold, and she doesn’t pull them away initially, letting me get a bit of friction going before she shoves them into her blazer’s pockets.
“Yeah, I come out here all the time. It’s nice to get away and think. But not on the weekends. Too many families, kids, and pets.”
The water laps lazily at the coastline. The boats are in the distance to our right. Her eyes reflect the last colors of the fading sunset.
“It’s peaceful here. I can see why you like it.”
I nod, appreciating her observation.
“My bike is totaled.”
Her surprise announcement derails what I want to say. Even I feel the hit of her loss, which is written all over her sad face.
“Are you sure? They can’t fix it?”
“They called and gave me the bad news. I’ll have to save up for another because insurance won’t give me what she’s worth.”
“I’m sorry. I know how special that bike is.”
She glances up at me. Her eyes hide her genuine emotions. I almost hate myself for the next thing I’m about to do. But there’s something I need to say. Something I can’t hold back any longer.
“Look, Isabella. Was it immature to walk your dad into the class as my partner today?”
She catches a strand in her hand, moving it from her face to tuck behind her ear.
“Then what were you doing?”
The fire and accusation aren’t as stinging here. More a curious look and muttered inquiry, which I can deal with better.
“I don’t know, being selfish.”
“How?”
Her lower lip pulls inward, nibbling on the edge as she simply listens, which surprises the hell out of me.
“I don’t know. Maybe I just wanted to be part of something bigger for once. I’ve spent so much of my life trying to stand out, to prove myself, that I’ve never stopped to think about what it means to be part of something real.”
Her brows furrow, trying to understand.
“And you thought being in my father’s orbit would give you that?”
“Not just him.”
My voice lowers, the truth slipping past the usual bravado I wear like armor.
“You, too. You’ve got this thing about you, Isabella. This presence. You don’t take anyone’s shit. You demand the best from people. And for some reason, I want to be the guy who meets those expectations.”
Her lips part slightly, the surprise flickering across her face before she recovers. The silence stretches between us, filled with the soft lapping of the water and the distant hum of a boat’s motor.
“I don’t know what to say to that.”
She’s uncertain, turning slightly away from me toward the shore.
“But I think you’re overstepping. I don’t want my father dragged into whatever this is.”
“I know,” I say, letting out a breath. “And I’ll apologize to him if you want me to. I didn’t mean to put him in the middle.”
Her eyes snap back to mine, a flash of something unspoken passing between us.
“But you did.”
“You’re not exactly approachable.”
I half-smile, hoping to ease the weight of my admission.
“It’s one step forward and three steps back. Not that I don’t understand. I get it. It’s why I brought you literally to World’s End, pun intended, to show you that I take your need for privacy seriously.”
It’s not any one thing, but I feel her wall going back up and racking my mind on how to stop it.
“Diego.”
There is so much in the way she says my name. So fucking much, it twists my gut in the worst way.
“Come here.”
Leaning against my motorcycle, I guide her to stand between my legs, her back pressing against my chest. My arms wrap around her, providing warmth against the nippy air. Her breathing slows until she slowly rests her head against my shoulder. The edges of her hair are soft against my neck.
I’d never have guessed I’d be here with her.
Not in a million fucking years.
Now that she is, I’m not fucking this up. She wants this to be a secret, worried about her job or her dad. That’s fine by me. I tend to be a more private person. Not as private as Dom, but not as extroverted as Holli. No one in the world is more extroverted than the twins.
“I’m not sure how I feel about any of this.”
She stirs a bit, her eyes gazing at the blue horizon of the water.
“Not about you and not about my father.”
Boy, do I know she’s unsure about me.
She’s giving me whiplash between allowing the kisses and then pushing me away, both physically and mentally. The challenge, the climb Dom alluded to, has me thinking how right he is. I decide to start with the safer conversation first.
“Not sure about your father? How?”
She sighs long and hard before answering.
“He’s been alone a long time. He won’t leave Princeton to stay with me. Says it’s his hometown. But how do I take care of him from afar?”
The worry in her tone speaks to years of asking these same questions, of deep-seated concern for her aging parent.
If I weren’t already walking on eggshells, I’d ask more about her mom and what happened to her.
Aging parents are not something I can relate to.
My parents are fine, but I feel a fondness for her dad and my idol, which makes me walk the line between caring and compassion.
“Men, like your father, who have charted their own course, created a blueprint when there wasn’t one, tend not to be fond of hanging it all up and being told what to do, especially by their children. But you probably already know that.”
She hums in acknowledgment, letting several long seconds go by before sighing again.
“I’m a terrible caregiver. I’m finally hitting my stride.
I had so much hope for this new semester to live up to the long shadow my father’s legacy casts, but then, his surprise visit, his fall, you and whatever this is, and then my accident.
It’s all getting away from me. My carefully laid plans are going sideways, and I’m overwhelmed despite my brave front. ”
I chuckle.
“Brave front, how about scathing?”
She huffs, not quite a laugh but a humorless noise of agreement.
“Maybe you don’t. Maybe you don’t control everything, and let this play out with him. And Isabella, you don’t have to live in the shadows. You are a good professor on your own. Tough, smart, and sexy as fuck. Me and you, well, that’s a different story entirely.”
I’m not sure I like being lumped in as a problem in her life, but I understand how this must all feel. My life is uncomplicated, thinking only of me and this one class. The rest is a fucking blowoff. But her, yeah, it’s definitely complicated, and she has a lot more to lose.
“Maybe you’re right.”
She turns in my arms, her expression holding so much emotion, opposite the cold robot professor in class.
“But it’s hard not to try and control everything when the alternative seems so unpredictable.”
“Trust takes time. Countless steps in the dark before you see the flicker of light.”
I pause, my pulse racing, hoping to say all the right things to her. I’m trying not to fuck it all up.