She giggled.
“However, I have a better idea. Why don’t I take you for that ride?”
“Let me get my shoes,” she said without hesitation.
“You have boots?”
“Not here. I have Uggs at my apartment.”
“That’s okay. We’ll make do until we get you real boots.”
Laughing, she hurried to her room for tennis shoes.
Fee had never felt such freedom as she did on the back of Stretch’s bike. At first, she clung to him. Once she realized she wouldn’t fall, she released her hold on him, lifted her face to the sun and held her hands out, loving the breeze blowing around her. It was exhilarating, freeing, everything she’d overheard the men talking about when they discussed the open road.
She never wanted the ride to end. She never wanted to let go of Stretch. After an hour, he headed back to Hortensia. Fee expected to be returned to Christopher’s house, so when he pulled into a clearing by the lake, her excitement spiked again.
He killed the engine. “You’re enjoying yourself?”
Hugging his waist, she laid her head on his shoulder. “Yes. I want my own bike,” she announced, half-joking.
He chuckled. “Riding is addictive.”
“Riding with you is addictive,” she countered, kissing his shoulder.
“Fee,” he groaned. “Don’t start something you can’t finish.”
“Who says I can’t finish it?”
“Not I. Sit in front of me and show me what you mean by that.”
“Is that a challenge?”
He offered her his profile. “It’s anything you want it to be.”
She kissed his cheek at the base of that long scar, his presence filling her with silent pleasure. “I’m so glad you’re here with me.”
“Me, too,” he responded, twisting to brush his mouth over hers. “I’m so glad you came down when you did. I was about to leave.”
“Kendall woke me up,” she admitted, then explained the details of her visit.
“She’s forever sticking her fucking nose where it doesn’t belong,” Stretch snapped. “Fuck, Fee, I don’t trust her at all. She may go off one day and tell Outlaw about your knowledge of what she did with Daphne.”
“Kendall wouldn’t do that.” Sure, the woman had issues and was difficult, but Fee trusted her to keep her end of the bargain. “If my brother ever finds out, he wouldn’t forgive me.”
“No shit. He’d see it as fucking over Meggie.”
“When I fucked over him, too,” she said quietly, cringing at all the implications.
“Yeah.”
She wouldn’t mention how Kendall had made her choose whether or not it would be Christopher and Meggie or Val and Zoann. It was so shameful now she wouldn’t dwell on it. She was just happy Christopher was home.
Stretch knuckled her jaw. “Hey, babe. Don’t worry. You’re right. Kendall won’t say anything.”
“Despite everything, somewhere underneath all the crazy, is a good woman.”
“I wouldn’t go that fucking far.”
“I’m through talking about her,” Fee decided, dismounting.
“Me, too,” Stretch said as Fee climbed in front of him and wrapped her legs around his waist, clutching his shoulders. Though their jeans shielded the private areas, his hardness pushed against her center, heating her up immediately.
She rocked against him. “Do you have a condom?”
“I haven’t been with anyone else, Fee. Except Cash the day I found you.” He leaned his forehead against hers. “Fuck, seeing you…I thought you were dead.”
She thought she was dead, too. All because Kendall had opened her mouth to Counts. And the woman had the ever-loving nerve to confront her about Charlotte? No! If she dwelled on that, it would ruin this moment. She’d confront Kendall eventually.
“I don’t know what I would’ve done if you’d died,” Stretch continued. “Cash was just as upset, so we took comfort in each other.”
“Shh,” Fee whispered, unbothered that they’d been together without her. What they did with each other had no bearing on what she did with them, as long as there was mutual understanding. She’d made the decision to move on and let them be happy with each other. As soon as she healed, she intended to honor that. Right now… “It’s okay. You two were made for each other.”
“I want you with us, Fee. I haven’t gotten the chance to tell you how unhappy I’ve been without you.”
It couldn’t have been any unhappier than she was. “It’s okay.”
“It isn’t. I don’t want you with anyone else. Every time I think of you with Noah, I want to hit something.”