Adoring Ink (Montgomery Ink #6.5)(7)

She was totally out of his league.

He was a plain mechanic with a high school education and the necessary certifications on top of that. He hadn't been able to afford college when he'd finally ripped himself from the cankerous sore that was his family home, and it wasn't like he'd been smart enough to get an academic scholarship or good enough at sports to try for an athletic one. He did the only thing he knew how to do in order to keep a roof over his head: he used his hands. He now worked at a decent shop that had good hours and benefits and had made friends along the way, but he still wasn't the type of man Holly should be hanging around.

That's why what they did today might have to be their last outing. He wasn't sure he was strong enough to hold back when it came to her, but he sure as hell wasn't good enough for her either.

She'd said she wanted to try new things and not be the same old Holly; well, he could at least help with that this afternoon. He'd taken her on her first bike ride, and she'd apparently loved it. Today, they'd take his truck up to a place he loved and somewhere he figured she hadn't been before.

It wasn't anywhere dangerous, but it was something different for her.

At least, he hoped.

And if somehow this ended up not being the end of it all, he'd have to think harder about the next few times they met. Coming up with new and exciting things would be tricky until he got to know her better. He simply had to be careful not to get too close. That's how unreasonable expectations occurred and left people hurt in the long run. 

He didn't want to hurt Holly. That's why he needed to keep his distance. So, of course, taking her to a place where she'd be in a swimsuit probably wasn't the greatest idea. Hopefully, she'd wear a one-piece that covered so much of her he wouldn't think bad thoughts. She tended to wear sweaters and the like, so hopefully her swimsuits would err on the side of caution.

For his dick's sake, he hoped that was the case.

He'd driven the truck instead of his bike because it would be easier to go down the back roads on it, though he'd miss the feel of her behind him. He'd loved the way she'd pressed herself against him when he went faster, the way her nails had dug into his chest when he'd gone over small bumps. He'd had dreams of those nails digging into his back as he pumped in and out of her, their bodies sweat-slick and never fully sated.

Nope. He shouldn't be thinking about that. At all. If he weren't careful, he wouldn't be able to hide his hard-on from her. As it was, he was already half hard and getting harder by the minute.

Oh, boy.

He got out of his truck and started up the walk to her house when she opened the door. She'd pulled on jeans and a tank and had draped a jacket over her arm. Since the tank had thick straps, he couldn't tell what kind of suit she wore, and that annoyed him. He wanted to know so he could prepare his dick for what was to come.

No pun intended.

"I saw you pull up," Holly said before pointing down at her outfit. "Is this okay? I wasn't sure if we were taking the bike or not."

He let his gaze travel down the curves of her body once more, and he swallowed hard so he could speak. "Yeah, you look fine."

She snorted. "Good to know."

He winced. "I mean, you're fine for what we're doing. You look a hell of a lot better than fine."

If the guys could see him now, they'd be on the floor laughing. Normally, he was a little better with women, but Holly threw him off-kilter. He didn't know what they were to each other, or what they were doing, and his brain didn't seem to want to function normally. This didn't bode well.

She smiled widely, and he had to hold his breath to keep from sighing or saying something even more stupid. He'd been in her presence for all of three minutes, and he was already afraid she'd turn and run the other way. And, honestly, he wouldn't have blamed her.

"So, we're taking your truck, then?" she asked.

He nodded. Time to get his head in the game. "Yeah, we're going up some back roads, and it's not safe on the bike."

She tilted her head. "Are you taking me to an undisclosed location to bury my body or something?"

He wanted to do something to her body but it wasn't bury it. He cleared his throat and put on his most charming grin. "I can give you the location now if you want, and you can text it to Maya or something so she knows where we are. I already told my friend Harper this morning since he called to ask me to hang out at the gym today."

She rolled her eyes. "I was kidding about the whole serial killer thing. A little. But if Harper knows where we'll be, then that's fine. Not that I'm afraid you're going to kill me, but it's always good to have someone know where you're going. Harper is the new guy at Montgomery Inc., right? Alex mentioned to Maya, who mentioned to me, that they'd hired him on and that you were all friends. I'm rambling. You can tell me to stop anytime you'd like, you know."



       
         
       
        

He shrugged. "That's the same Harper. I like how you ramble. You tell me more about yourself that way." He had to be careful not to like that too much. Because he couldn't afford to like her as much as parts of him wanted to. It would be dangerous for them both.

"Why are you doing this, Brody?" she asked suddenly. "I don't even know why I'm doing this."

He met her gaze as he stepped forward, knowing his answer had to mean something. And it did, though he wasn't sure why. "I saw a friend of a friend who wanted to try something new, something exciting. And, I don't know, I wanted to be the person to help you. Maybe we'll figure out the other reasons together."

He swallowed hard as she blinked up at him. Then she put her hand on his chest and moved forward. It was all he could do not to wrap himself around her right then and kiss her hard.

Instead, she went on her tiptoes and brushed a soft kiss against his lips. "Let's figure this out together, then." She paused as he gathered his control. Damn, she was a sweet temptation and all wrong for him. But Brody was good at doing the wrong thing. Excelled at it even. "Where are you taking me exactly?"

"We're trying out some hot springs," he said gruffly. Hell, he had no idea what he was doing so he might as well jump in headfirst and hope he didn't break anything on the way down.

Her eyes widened, and she smiled. "I've always wanted to try those!" She snapped her fingers. "Hence the suit and the fact that you need a truck to get there." She narrowed her eyes a bit and leaned back. "This isn't a hot spring on some national park land that will get us arrested, will it? Because as much as I want to try new things, trying them in an orange jumpsuit with handcuffs really isn't my idea of fun."

Of course, now he was thinking of her in handcuffs.

Why his brain had devolved into his teenage self, he didn't know, but he had a feeling it was because of the woman in front of him. He was going to have to try to be a bit more careful if he were going to make it through this.

Whatever this was.

He shook his head. "It's a hot spring owned by a buddy of mine, but it's on his private property and not for the public. I called him and asked if we could use it, and he said fine. It's one of the few hot springs owned privately rather than on commercial or park land, so it's a rare find. But I figured it would be a little more fun to hike there once we park off the beaten trail a bit rather than go to a commercial lot where there are tourists everywhere trying to breathe in the mountain air."

She nodded. "That does sound fun and different than what I would normally be doing right now. But hiking? You didn't say anything about hiking." She looked down at her worn boots and back up at him. "I don't actually own hiking boots. I just picked these because I figured they'd work for the bike. And since we're not taking the bike … " 

He shook his head. "You'll be fine. It's not that far of a hike, and I'll be right by you. I promise, I'm not going to let you get hurt. Okay?"

She looked up at him and nodded, and he hoped to hell he wasn't lying to her when he said he wouldn't let her get hurt. Because while he'd do his best to keep her from twisting her ankle or falling along the path, he had a feeling that he was the real danger, and not the risks she wanted to take.

The drive up took over an hour, and the two of them talked the entire way. He was surprised at how easy it was to talk to her. He felt like he could tell her almost anything. Almost. There was no way he was going into his childhood or crap like that with her, but he felt comfortable sharing everything else.

He learned more about her work at the school and the fact that her best friend owned a bookstore-the same bookstore he shopped at when he was downtown, in fact. He told her about his job and his coworkers who had become his friends over time. They talked about his ink and the fact that he didn't have a dedicated artist, but rather his body was a mural for the shop as a whole.

"And you don't want a tattoo of your own, I take it?" he asked as they walked up the narrow path toward the hot spring. She was in front of him slightly so he could catch her if she stumbled, but she had been doing well on her own so far.

"Oh, I want one," she said with a smile over her shoulder. Of course, because she'd taken her attention off the ground she stumbled a bit. He reached out and gripped her hip to keep her steady, and she let out a laugh. "Well, I'm surprised that didn't happen sooner. Thanks for saving me."