I head downstairs to find Liam leaning against the counter in a tight pair of jeans, a black t-shirt, and…boots. Boots? Why in the hell does he have boots on? He looks up and sees me coming his way, “You look great,” he says, leaning down and giving me a brief kiss. “Ready?”
“Yes.” I am ready…probably ready for more than he thinks. I’m very attracted to him, and so far, he’s the only one to cause butterflies in my stomach. I know how cliché that sounds, but it’s true.
Liam grabs my hand and leads me out to a part of the garage I haven’t been in yet and just about trip over my feet when I see what’s in front of us. I don’t know if I can do this.
“What’s wrong?” he turns and asks when he realizes that I’m not exactly following him anymore.
“Is that safe?”
He laughs a little at my insecurity, but that doesn’t really bother me at this particular point in time. “It’s safe. I’m safe. You’ll be just fine. I promise.” He releases my hand and walks over to his motorcycle, brings up the kickstand, then starts walking it outside. I slowly follow behind him, still not totally sure about this.
Once we are outside, he reaches over to the handle and grabs a helmet, then turns and hands it to me. “Here, this should fit you.”
I take it then promptly put it on while I watch him throw his leg over this beast and puts on his helmet. I just stand there and look at him, not exactly sure what I should be doing, and wait for him to direct me.
He turns around toward me. “Put your right foot here,” he points down to the pedal, “and then climb on. Make sure you don’t touch the pipes.” He smiles wide, grips the handlebars, and waits for me to do as he said.
I rest one hand on the back of the bike and one on his shoulder and do exactly what he said. Once I’m seated, he leans back against me. “Now wrap your arms around me and hold on tight.”
I did as he asked, resting my head against his back, and hear him bring the bike to life. Oh Holy Jesus this thing really vibrates. He revs the engine a few times, causing it to vibrate even more, kicks something with his foot, and we start to move.
Oh God, oh God, oh God…here we go. I close my eyes and tighten my grip. I can feel him chuckle when I do this. After a few minutes, I decide it’s time to brave the world and take in my surroundings. I don’t loosen my grip, but I raise my head and look around. Is this what it’s like to feel free? I can feel the wind blowing past us, over my face…and just breathe in.
I have no clue where we are going, and really, I don’t care. We turned off the main road a few miles back onto this side road with trees that line both sides. I loosen my grip, but only a little, allowing me more room to look around. We pull up right beside large clumps of tall grass, he cuts the engine, then tells me that it’s okay to get off now. Get off? That’s what I was about to do with the massive vibrations of that bike.
After I remove myself from the bike and get the helmet removed from my head, I quickly run my fingers through my hair so I don’t have helmet head. “Oh my God. That’s the craziest thing I’ve ever done, Liam.” I feel like I’m shouting when I tell him this.
He laughs right along with me while he’s taking off his helmet and adjusts the bike so it doesn’t fall over when he gets off it. “I’m glad you enjoyed it, but that’s not everything I wanted to show you.”
He grabs my hand and weaves us down a small path, grass surrounding us on both sides until we come to an opening. He pulls me a bit further then releases my hand, taking a few more steps, then leans down to grab something. When he stands, he unrolls it and that’s when I realize that it’s a blanket. A big blanket. I stand in awe and watch him move around quickly to get it spread out. When I offer to help him, he tells me that he has it, so I wait patiently for him to finish.
“There. All done,” he says proudly, looking down at his accomplishment of spreading a blanket out. “Come sit down.” He gestures toward the middle of the blanket where he is now standing.
I walk over and meet him in the middle then we both proceed to sit down. He leans back and pulls something forward. “Are you hungry? I brought out some things to snack on when you agreed to come with me.” I can see he’s a little nervous, and truth be told…I am, too. He always seemed to be in control at the house, and now he seems to be a little nervous with it just being us.
“Sounds great.”
We dig through the basket and munch on the food that he brought. “Tell me about Haley.”
I kick off my shoes and lean back against my elbows. “Well…what do you want to know?” I ask, leaning my head to the side and see him relax right along with me.