Who’d have thought she’d enjoy this? Who’d have thought it would make her feel so free?
At the bottom of the hill she saw Joseph waiting for her, watching her progress, and she couldn’t resist showing off, steering her bike off a tiny jump and managing a bit of air in the process.
As she reached him, she pulled the bike into a sliding skid to stop, her rear tire kicking up pine needles and dirt.
And promptly fell off her bike.
“Christie?” Joseph leaned over her. He was wearing sunglasses and she couldn’t see his eyes, but she heard the concern in his voice. “Are you okay?”
“Oh my God,” Christie panted from her position on the forest floor. She was covered in dirt and pine needles and she had a long scrape on her leg from the pedal, but she didn’t care. She didn’t care that she’d fallen off her bike in front of the gorgeous man she was sleeping with. That she’d kind of made an ass of herself. Somehow that didn’t matter at all. “That was amazing. Can we do it again?”
…
Joseph didn’t think he’d forget the image as long as he lived. Of Christie flying down the hill on her bike, cheeks pink, hair streaming out behind her, screaming and whooping all the way to the bottom.
Her whole face was suffused with light, with excitement. And as she began to brush the dirt and pine needles from her pants, she began to laugh. “Typical, huh? I don’t fall off on the way down, not even when I did that jump. Oh no, I fell off at the end. After the bloody bike had stopped, for God’s sake!” She patted her arm where the music player was still firmly attached, looking satisfied. “On the upside, I think you could safely say I beta tested the hell out of that.”
She was so passionate. And determined. And brave. And when she got that look in her eyes, he just didn’t know what to do with himself. What to do with the feeling inside him. The little bubble of warmth that had swelled at the sight of her careering down the hill then caught just behind his heart.
So he went over to her, gripped her under the chin, tilted her head back and kissed her hard. She smelled like lavender and pine, and clean sweat. And she tasted like honey. Like joy.
And when he raised his head the little bubble of warmth remained there, firmly lodged in his chest. It didn’t look like it was going to go away anytime soon.
“Let’s go home,” he said, his voice gone hoarse. “I don’t want to do anymore bike riding.”
“Really?” She sounded disappointed. “But I was just starting to get into it.”
Gently he slid an arm around her waist, pulling her closer, the heat of her body against his. “I have another kind of riding I want to do.”
Her mouth curved in a smile that was pure naughtiness. “Ooooh, that kind of riding. In that case, I’m all yours.”
The warmth expanded inside him, and he realized he’d made a mistake in bringing her along. No, not just a mistake, a catastrophic error. She made him want things he shouldn’t be wanting. Like her. For more than a night. For more than two.
Which was all kinds of wrong and all kinds of bad. Because no matter what she said, she wasn’t that type of woman. She was a forever type of woman, and he was a for-never type of man.
But that smile of hers was turning him inside out and the thought of saying good-bye tonight, tomorrow…hell, even the day after that, was just not an option.
Joseph pulled her helmet off, pushed his fingers into her hair and kissed her again. And by the time he released her, they were both panting.
Christie must have picked up on his unease, though, because she asked, “What’s up?”
“Nothing.” He cupped her face in his hands. “What are your plans for the weekend?”
“What? Just today or—”
“The whole weekend.”
She leaned into him, the delicate heat of her making it difficult to focus on anything else. “Well, I did have a huge game of Zombie Force planned this afternoon and then a Star Trek: The Next Generation marathon, so you know, pretty busy.”
“Can I play?”
“What?” She looked almost shocked. “You? Play Zombie Force?”
“Yes. And watch Star Trek with you.”
“You’re kidding, right?”
“No.” He kissed her. And then because once wasn’t enough, kissed her again. “You can teach me how to play, then tell me all the inside Star Trek jokes.”
“Seriously?”
“Seriously.”
“Well, okay.” She’d gone pink again. “But you’ll have to be prepared to be killed a lot. By ten-year-olds.”
“I’m not worried. I’ll have you to protect me.”