Page 44 of Searching for Love

To her surprise, a beautiful black Harley Davidson sat in the back of the unit.

“You have a bike?” She walked over to it and ran a finger over the flawless paint job.

“I do. When I have someplace to park it besides the street, I’ll bring her to Pride.” He smiled.

“She’s a beauty.” She didn’t know much about motorcycles but loved riding on them. Her brother had one a few summers back and had taken her on many rides.

“We could take her for a spin,” he suggested. “If you want.”

“Yes,” she said, sounding a little too eager.

“Okay, let’s get everything cleared out first. We should be able to get it all in one trip.” He stepped over to the furniture. “The sofa should probably go first, which means, we have to move everything else out to get to it.” He glanced at her. “A quick warning, this sofa is a lot heavier than your red one.”

She nodded. “I can handle it.”

“We’ll go slow.” He handed her a lamp. “For now, let’s set everything over here.” He took another one and set it off to the side.

Whenever she’d moved things with her family, Wyatt, and her dad did all the heavy lifting while she and her mother stood back.

But Lucas was counting on her to help him with the heavy sofa and, for the first time in her life, she was grateful she could help. The men in her family treated her like she was fragile and too weak. Lucas didn’t.

They got the sofa and the rest of his things safely into the truck, including his massive flat-screen television, which he’d put in the back seat. She couldn’t help but wonder how they were going to haul the sofa up the stairs to his apartment.

“Here,” he said, handing her a helmet and then helping her put it on. She stood by while he pulled on his helmet and then rolled the bike out of the garage.

“Will your truck and things be okay here?” she asked.

He nodded. “Yeah, the place is gated. Hop on.”

She lifted her leg over and slid behind him, wrapping her arms tightly around him.

“Ready?” he asked.

“Yes,” she said, enjoying the feeling of him against her and the bike under her.

Once they were out of the storage unit, he slowly weaved through the back roads until they hit the open country road. They left the straight streets lined with homes with perfectly manicured yards and started passing fields filled with alfalfa, tall grasses, cattle, horses, and even goats. The smells of the small city were replaced with dirt roads, country air, and, to her mind, home.

She didn’t have to wonder why anyone would love traveling like this. With the warm breeze on her face, she felt more alive than she had in years.

“How are you doing back there?” Lucas asked when they stopped at a stop sign.

“Wonderful.” She sighed. “We should do this more often.”

“Agreed. I’ve missed going out on her. Ready to head back?”

She groaned a little. “I suppose.”

He chuckled. “Next day we have off, I’ll take you on a longer ride.”

“Deal.”

He made a U-turn and headed back the way they’d come.

By the time he pulled into his storage garage, she was addicted to riding.

“I need to stop off at my mother’s place quick and then maybe we can head to Baked for some pizza before unloading everything,” he suggested.

“Sounds great.” She sat back to enjoy the drive to his mother’s house. The one-story ranch home wasn’t far from the storage unit.