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Her phone lit up with a text, and silly hope bloomed in her chest as she fumbled to hold up the phone to see the screen. It was a message from Corey. I’m outside whenever you are ready.
Dejected, Hallie shoved her phone into her purse and laughed at herself. He probably hadn’t even seen her message to the Bangaboarlander website, but she had been thinking over it all day at work. She’d even rushed home and gotten all gussied up for this meetup that she’d completely constructed in her mind.
“This is so dumb,” she whispered as she set a five-dollar bill on the table for the soda water.
“You deserve better,” the sweet lady at the next table told her as she passed.
Hallie gripped the plate of cookies tighter and tried to smile. “Thanks. You guys have a good night.”
She didn’t deserve better. She didn’t deserve anything from that man. He had already put himself at risk to protect her, and he didn’t know her at all. Hallie didn’t feel like explaining that to the nice couple though, so she just walked out of the bar without a single look back.
Outside, she checked the parking lot to make sure there was no one paying too much attention. Back to feeling scared everywhere she went. Derek knew where she was, so the happiness she had found here in Laramie was snuffed out.
Corey was parked at the back of the lot. She flashed her lights a couple of times, then shrugged up her hands in question.
Hallie shook her head. He hadn’t come.
“Maybe he didn’t get the message,” Corey said as she got inside the car.
“Or maybe he isn’t interested in revisiting last night’s weirdness. It’s okay. More cookies for us.”
Corey was staring with a pity that matched the nice couple in the bar.
“I’m fine. I don’t care. I just wanted to say thank you.”
Corey nodded and pulled out of the parking lot, and as they hit the main road, Hallie watched the buildings of the small town square blur by until Corey slowed. “Uuuuh, Hallie?” she asked softly.
Startled, Hallie looked around just in time to see a familiar all-black motorcycle settle right beside Corey’s door at the red light. The rider was dressed in black jeans, a black T-shirt, black riding gloves, and the helmet with the mirrored gold visor she’d memorized from last night. He was looking straight ahead, but angled his head slowly and stared for a three-count before he twitched his head in a come-here motion.
“This is the hottest thing I’ve ever been a part of, and it’s not even about me,” Corey whispered.
“I can’t go out there.”
“Why not?”
“The light is about to turn green!”
“I don’t think he gives a shit about stopping traffic,” Corey argued.
“Right.” Hallie shoved her door open and gripped the cookies, jogged around the back of the car, and came to a stop beside him. “Hi.”
Gunner’s helmet tilted down to the cookies and then back to her, but he didn’t say anything.
“I tried to message you, and then I went to a bar and I thought you might show up, so I made these.” She shoved the cookies at him. “They’re for you. To thank you. For you know…taking a bullet for me.”
He just stared.
The light turned green.
Someone behind Corey honked, and she rolled down her window. “Fuck off!”
Gunner straightened up, his boots on the ground to steady the motorcycle. He unfastened the helmet, then slid it off his head. This was the first time she’d seen his face in full, and oh…my…goodness.
She’d never seen a more striking man in all her life.
He had some faint scarring on the right side of his hairline, and he had dark whiskers from a couple days’ growth. His face was chiseled, his lips masculine, and his eyes…well, his eyes captured her completely.
They really were two colors. She hadn’t imagined it last night after all.
