Chapter Twenty

Annie had thought of every excuse in the book to avoid riding the bike.

Not in a cocktail dress.

She preferred walking.

She liked to ride the L.

Taxis were fun!

The helmet wouldn’t fit over her hat.

She only rode motorcycles every other Monday but never twice in the same month.

Also, Wes needed to stop referring to it as a bike. A bike had pedals for your feet. Colorful tassels that hung from the handles. And possibly a cute little basket up front to carry your books. Who cared if her perfect version of a bike sounded like something off a five-year-old’s Christmas list? At least it was a legitimate definition.

But what she stood before now had only one similarity to her Huffy. A kickstand.

Sure, she showed up at the apartment to pick up her cider from Jeremy, but she chose a time when she knew Jeremy wouldn’t be there and hoped Wes would. She wasn’t sure what she was expecting, but dinner with his father was definitely not on the list.

Yeah. She had nothing at the moment. No witty comeback or madcap excuse that might work.

“How much does it weigh?” she asked.

Wes grinned. “Five hundred sixty-five pounds of pure, sleek, leather-topped beauty.”

Five hundred sixty-five pounds of metal beneath said leather that would crush her when they crashed. If they crashed. No, she was pretty sure it was when.

He handed her a helmet, but before she could argue, he snagged the knit cap from her head and stuffed it in a case that was strapped next to the seat.

Guess his bike does have a basket.

“You don’t have to ride,” he said. “I’ll take a cab if it makes you more comfortable, but there’s no way I’m getting in your passenger seat again.”

She grabbed on to the helmet and stared at it for several seconds. He was teasing her about their drive home from Bliss, but there was a slight edge to his tone, one she could tell he was trying to mask. She remembered how freaked out he was when she pulled into the Starbucks lot. Whatever was going on that morning, he sucked it up for her. She’d do the same, now, and suck it up for him.

Their eyes met again.

“But, Annie,” he added, “you’re safe with me. I would never let anything happen to you.”

Her stomach plummeted. It was as if she was on the Giant Drop at Six Flags, freefalling from hundreds of feet in the air. Yet the last time she checked, she was on solid ground. Something about Wes Hartley, though, pulled the rug out from under her.

She believed him, that he’d keep her safe—on the bike. She just wasn’t so sure about her heart.

“Okay, then,” she said. “I trust you.”

He helped her fasten her helmet before putting on his own. He showed her how to position her legs so they stayed clear of the muffler. And then he climbed in front of her and reached behind to grab her arms and wrap them around his waist.

“Don’t let go, okay?”

She squeezed him tight and pressed her helmet to his back. No way in hell she was letting go.

Whenever they hit a red light or stop sign—which felt like every thirty seconds—Annie sucked in a breath and gripped Wes tighter. At least the weather was cooperating, a balmy fifty degrees even as the sun set. At the light just before Lake Shore Drive, he did a quick check-in, making sure she was okay. She lied and nodded, though she was sure he knew it. Annie just had to remind herself that once they got on the drive, it was only about five miles north to Edgewater. And to Wes’s childhood home.

Suddenly she wasn’t so afraid of the journey. The destination, though. That sure as hell freaked her out.

The light turned green, and Wes rubbed her thigh before grabbing the handles of the bike and opening it up onto the expressway.

The force of the movement threw Annie back against the tiny seat rest and she gasped. She’d lost her grip and had to scramble to gain purchase, but she did in seconds.

You’re safe with me.

She repeated the words inside her helmet like a mantra. Wes knew what he was doing. He’d stop the bike if anything was wrong…right?

She pressed her cheek to his back. Well, as much as she could while wearing the cumbersome helmet. When she realized she’d been squeezing her eyes shut, she forced them open and understood what her fear was doing. It was making her miss out.

Come to think of it, she’d been missing out on a lot. Like feeling the way she felt about the man in front of her. And admitting it to herself.

Lake Michigan rolled out before her eyes, a blue blanket spread as far as she could see. It was early October, which meant daylight saving time hadn’t yet stolen their sunlight. So she breathed out a long sigh and took it all in. The beach where she’d spent her summers for as long as she could remember. The path where people took advantage of the lingering autumn warmth to jog along the water or walk their dogs. She wondered if she and Wes had ever been on that same sand at the same time, clueless that a decade later he’d be spending nights in her bed. Or that she’d be here, on the back of his motorcycle, on their way to a family reunion he had clearly been avoiding.

But he wanted her there. And she wanted to be there. And she certainly didn’t want to miss out on anything anymore.

She relaxed against him for the rest of the ride. When they finally pulled up in front of a narrow, yellow brick building on a quiet tree-lined street, Annie had forgotten she was on the bike. She also forgot that once the vehicle stopped, she was supposed to let go.

Or maybe it was just that she didn’t want to.

Wes took off his helmet and ran a hand through his hair. Then he rested that free hand on top of the two that were still clasped around his waist and squeezed.

And that’s all it took, one tiny gesture to make her see that as much as she’d thought him the one with the walls to break down, she’d constructed barriers of her own. Annie loved the books she read—the happily ever afters and the hope that love could conquer all. But in the back of her mind, no man could live up to her expectations. She saw that now—the reason why she seemed to play it safe, always ending up with men she wasn’t sad to see leave. Did Brett hurt her? Yes. Did she miss him? No. It was like a tiny part of her always knew he wasn’t the one, but wasn’t it safer to know she’d survive the fallout of however their relationship ended?

Her eyes widened under the helmet, and she was grateful for the privacy, grateful for a private moment to have her revelation.

She’d never let anyone in who was real. What a hypocrite she was for giving Wes shit about a book that didn’t end in a happily ever after when Annie preferred the fictional heroes to reality. What did it matter that she’d dated men, that she’d lost them, when she didn’t care for them like she should have in the first place?

Like she cared for Wes.

Shit, she was in trouble.

She unsnaked her arms from his torso and removed her own helmet. He hopped off and grabbed it from her, fastening both to hooks on the back of the bike, while she just sat there wondering what her next move should be.

Did she tell him she loved him before they headed into the building? He’d just avoided her for three days, and now she was going to barge in on important family business and drop this kind of news? Probably not the best idea.

But when he stood before her like that, his hair tousled from the helmet and his recent finger combing, leather jacket now unzipped and exposing a well-worn but fitted gray T-shirt, she had to do something.

It’s not like he was saying anything, either. So the moment hung in the air, ignorant of time, until he or she released them from this suspended animation.

Annie reached for his face and pulled it to her own, kissing him hard and deep, his stubble scratching her jaw. She slipped her tongue between his lips, and he clasped his hands behind her neck, fingers tangling in her hair.

This. This was the moment she’d like to infinitely suspend. She felt his kiss from her lips all the way to the tips of her toes and back again. She let him fill all the spaces she’d kept locked away, hoping that maybe he was letting her do the same. A kiss like this couldn’t be one-sided, so she crossed her fingers that everything they were leaving unsaid was being spoken without words.

You’re brilliant and talented, she said as her tongue tangled with his.

You’re broken, and that’s okay. I won’t try to fix you, but I’ll be here for you when you’re ready. She brushed her lips along his jaw.

You’re sexy and delicious, and I want to kiss you every time I see you. She laughed softly as she did just that.

And finally, because she knew they’d have to part and face what they came here to face, I’m in love with you. That’s what her lips spoke with the last kiss.

“Are you ready?” she said aloud, and Wes backed up enough so she could see his blue eyes blazing into hers.

“I am now,” he said, his voice rough and at the same time full of something she hoped was recognition.

I just gave you my heart, Wes. Please be careful with it.

He helped her off the bike and onto the sidewalk in front of the building.

“You’re my parking good luck charm,” he said. “This is it.”

He nodded toward the yellow brick.

She laughed again.

“What?” he asked.

She shook her head, trying to talk herself out of connecting dots that might not be there.

“A yellow brick building,” she said. “Are we following the yellow brick road?”

He scrubbed a hand across his jaw, smiling as he looked from the building back to her.

“Isn’t the Emerald City at the end of the yellow brick road?”

She nodded.

But he shook his head. “Then no. We’re not.” He kissed her once more, soft and sweet this time. “Because, Annie—I’m already there.”