“Didn’t you hear me? I’m supposed to be at work in thirty minutes. I don’t have time for that.”
I should have just walked away and left her and her bitchy attitude on the sidewalk. Somehow I couldn’t bring myself to do it. “I’ll run you home to grab a change a clothes and then drop you off at work.”
She steps forward and my vision blurs red from her closeness.
“Well . . . ,” she says.
I blink at her in confusion.
“The helmet. Are you going to hand it to me?”
Relief rises as I stretch out my hand and grin. “Here you go,” I say, bowing before her. “Where to?” What the hell is wrong with me?
“Sunset Place. Do you know where it is?”
Before I answer, she turns on her heels to head over to my bike. I watch her approach it with caution. She surveys it for a minute and then puts on the helmet. It’s a little big but she looks cute as fuck. Without fastening the strap she tries to clamber on the bike.
“Whoa, wait let me help you.” I rush to her side.
She plants both feet on the ground. “I can do it.”
Over her protests, I grasp the edge of the helmet’s open face and readjust it directly over her forehead. Then I tighten the strap. Already my heart is pounding from our close contact. So I walk around to the left side of the bike and a quirk a finger. “Come over here.”
With a scowl she does. “I can get on myself.”
“I’m sure you can but humor me.”
Again, an eye roll.
I shake my head in her direction. “Extend your right leg over the seat and then slide gently up onto it.”
She does with a slight huff.
“Put your feet on the pegs.” I point down.
“I’m not a child. I can figure it out.”
I try not to laugh because she is acting like a child. But surprisingly she does as she’s told.
“Good.” I’m trying to encourage her.
She gives me a closed mouth smile; I ignore her obnoxious gesture. “Have you ever ridden on one of these?”
“No. But how hard could it be?”
“For you, not very. It’s all a question of balance. Just stay upright and hold on.”
“Where’s your helmet?” she asks as I hop on.
“I gave it to you,” I say over my shoulder.
“You don’t have two?”
“I just bought the bike a few hours ago. I didn’t think I’d have a passenger so soon.” At that she says nothing. I can’t see her expression to tell whether she’s making a face. I put both my feet on the ground and turn my head. “Ready?”
“Are you sure you know how to drive this?” she asks nervously.
“I had one in New York. And besides, I’ve been riding dirt bikes and surfing my whole life. This is a piece of cake.”
But she stiffens when I climb onto the seat. “Hold on to me,” I tell her, as I click the kickstand up. For once she’s quiet. She says nothing as her arms wrap loosely around my chest. I grin as I jam my boot down on the throttle. “Tighter. You have to hold tighter than that.”
She clasps her hands together and I lower them. When I do, I feel her shoulders against my back. It’s something I’ve experienced with her before and this time I’m the quiet one as I ride off the few miles to West Hollywood. She moves closer as I zoom out onto the street and with her so close to me, I can’t push away the memories.
I had her naked before me sitting on the bathroom counter and I had to have her. She pulled my head to hers for a deep kiss. I circled my tongue just to taste more of her. Her lips were soft and tasted like mint. As my hands slid down her chest, her full breasts were too much to resist so I bent down and sucked on them. She still had her heels on and she ran the toe of her shoe up my thigh.