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“Thank you for doing all this, it really is gorgeous out here and listen…” She paused for effect so I could tune into whatever she wanted me to hear. “The crickets are still out. I’ve always loved that about living in southern Georgia. We mostly get to skip winter and keep some of the ambiance that people further north don’t get.”
“Well, you just reminded me,” I pulled my phone out and hit play on the list of music I had queued up earlier. It was a bunch of slowed down, acoustic rock songs to help set the mood without losing what I liked about music.
“I love this playlist.” Nova sighed a thoroughly contented sound and then started harmonizing her soft voice to that of Chris Cornell’s. Before I knew what was happening, Nova slid closer to me and put her head down on my chest while dragging one of my arms across her body to hold her. Fuck me, but it was unexpected yet felt so fucking right. We stayed there like that for a good while just enjoying the music and the night before we got to know one another a little better.
“I don’t even know your name.”
“Yeah, you do.”
“No, I mean your real name. Most of the guys just use a version of their real name like Tripp and Kip, I’m assuming Mack is part of his name too, and Charmer isn’t far off either. Breakneck doesn’t sound like it would be even remotely close to what your actual name is though.”
“You’re right. It’s Troy Babbit, and honestly I haven’t been called that in a really long time, so it doesn’t even sound like it belongs to me anymore.”
“Troy Babbit,” she mimicked. “I would have never in a million years guessed that one.” Something inside my chest fluttered as I listened to her laughter. “How did you end up with Breakneck?”
It was my turn to laugh. “I used to race dirt bikes, still do sometimes, but not as often as I did when I was younger. Never had any fear of getting hurt. My bikes were always like an extension of my body, and I had this crazy confidence that was fucking unshakable. The older guys out there and even my own sponsors used to always say,‘That kid’s gonna break his neck if he keeps that up.’Some of the guys from the club heard it one too many times while I was prospecting, and it stuck.”
To my surprise, Nova laughed again, and I could feel the way her body moved against mine as she did. “What’s all that for?”
“Well, I honestly thought you were going to pull some, ‘I could tell you but then I’d have to kill you’ crap on me where your name was concerned.”
“What did you think my name meant?” I asked, curious to know where her mind had gone.
“Honestly?” She asked.
“Yeah, sweetness, always want your honesty, even for the little things.”
She hummed her agreement, probably meaning for me to do the same, and I would where I could. “I thought it meant that you break necks for a living. You told me your job for the club is as an enforcer, so it made sense.”
“That’s what our rival clubs think too. We try not to correct them on it, so keep the whole racing dirt bikes under wraps, yeah?”
She giggled out her response and I leaned in and took her lips with my own. The plan was not to seduce her just yet. A kiss at the end of the night, like last time, only a little deeper was what I was supposed to stick with, but I couldn’t help myself. Her laughter and the way she seemed to shed her troubles the minute she saw the twinkle lights on the gazebo drew me in and kept demanding that I get closer.
“I could spend forever just kissing these lips,” I announced the minute our mouths parted.
“Yeah,” she agreed dreamily.
“Tomorrow, I have to leave on some club business and won’t get back until late, but I wanted to go ahead and ask if you’ll go on a third date with me the next night.” She grinned up at me and nodded her head.
“I would love to, but does that mean this one is over?”
“Nah, we have all night out here if that’s what you want.”
“Just a little while longer,” she hummed.
“We still have food and champagne out here, too.”
“Yeah, we’ll get to that. Right now, I don’t want to move, just want to enjoy being here with you.”
“That’s good, sweetness because I want the same.”
Chapter 26
Nova
Breakneck was gone the next day while I watched Knoxville in the common area. There was no way I could stand to be cooped up in Kip’s bedroom all day, every day. Once I got the baby fed, changed, and down for his nap in the playpen, I pulled my schoolwork out. Kip had delivered a laptop for me to work on, so that I could keep up with my classes online. Thankfully, the school determined that there was a need for me to swap to online classes for the rest of the semester because it wasn’t something they usually allowed to happen.
“What the hell are you doing out here?” The woman with the giant fake boobs and fried blond hair asked me.
