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Her words are a fist to my gut. ?
?What does that mean?”
“You’re both afraid to find out who you might be.” She lightly pats my cheek then lowers her hand. “That’s the type of fear that can damage your life. Help Emily and I promise you’ll be helping yourself, as well.”
Emily walks onto the porch wearing an old pair of Olivia’s boots, a skintight pair of jeans, thanks to Violet, and a T-shirt. A thin piece of blue ties at the back of her neck.
“I’m ready to go.” Emily warily takes in Olivia and then me. “Is everything okay?”
No, it’s not, but there’s not a damn thing I can do to fix it. I look Emily over and begin to imagine her in a bikini. Parts south of my brain start spinning fantasies that will never happen. I run a hand over my face. I’m looking forward to this too much. “I need your helmet, Olivia.”
“Don’t have it.” She turns her back to us as she returns to the living room. “It’s a short drive. Some wind in her hair won’t kill her.”
Eli might if he finds out I permitted Emily to ride without one, but it’d take longer to head to my house for Mom’s helmet than it would to go straight to the pond. “Let’s roll.”
I’m down the stairs and pulling my keys to my bike out of my pocket. Emily’s behind me. I straddle the bike then gesture for her to hop on. She sweeps her long bangs away from her face and massages her neck. “Seriously, are you and Olivia okay?”
Seriously, we are not. “How much did you hear?”
“Enough.” Emily nudges at the gravel with her toe. “She wants you to help me find the monsters haunting my past.”
Yeah, she does. “I can’t help you.”
“Can’t or won’t?”
“That is a fucked-up question because it means the same thing.”
“No, it doesn’t. One means you can help but you’re refusing to. The other means you would love to help, but you don’t have the ability to.”
I insert my key into the ignition. “Emily, when it comes to you, can’t and won’t share the same definition. Now get on the bike.”
Emily tangles her fingers near the end of her hair and hesitates.
“Are you scared?” I ask.
Furious dark eyes stab right through me. “No.”
“Have you ridden before?”
She shrugs a maybe then her shoulders roll forward. “No, but how hard can it be?”
Driving one? Harder than she thinks. “Direct blood of Eli McKinley has never been on a bike. It feels sacrilegious.”
“I’m a Jennings,” she corrects.
“So you’ve mentioned and you just told me you’re a virgin so let’s go over the basics.”
Her mouth slacks. “I never said I was a virgin.”
“Never been on a bike before, right?”
She nods.
“As I said, virgin. I’m in a hurry, otherwise I’d be willing to swap sex stories, but you can dominate that conversation because I’m more interested in yours. When you do tell me, talk slow since I’m a details type of guy.”
Emily morphs a shade of red that’s too damn gorgeous and I force my eyes away. She’s too easy to get lost in...lost in conversation, lost in those damn eyes, lost in her beauty and gentle sexiness, but getting lost in Emily is not an option.
“When it comes to the bike, I’ll take it slow. You’ll only be on it for a few minutes. Hop on and I’ll walk you through this.”
