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“Is it?” he asked, brows raising.

“My mom dated a guy with a bike for a year or so. He used to have to be the one to pick me up from school. I got used to the bike.”

“Let me grab you a helmet,” he said, dipping inside and coming back in just a minute. Then, instead of handing it to me to put on, he gently reached out to tuck my hair behind my ears. My insecurity ticked up. But Cain smiled as his finger traced the shell of my ear. “These are cute as fuck.”

Then the helmet went on and he carefully tightened it without getting my hair caught.

“That’s a good look. You ready?”

“For men with machetes? I don’t know.”

“I’ll protect you,” he said, touching my hip.

We made our way to his bike, and he climbed on and waited for me to do the same.

I was instantly glad I hadn’t done the smart thing and insisted on taking my own car as I slid on behind him. Sure, I knew from past experience that I could sit fully on my seat and hold myself in place with my thighs on the bike and my hands on the grab rails. But I went ahead and didn’t do that. I scooted in close, pressing my thighs to the sides of his and my front to his back.

He started the engine, then paused, reaching back and grabbing my wrists to pull them forward and wrap them around his torso.

I was glad he couldn’t see my face because I was beaming as I held on tight as he pulled out of his spot and onto the main street.

For just a moment, there was a familiar bottoming-out sensation in my stomach before I adjusted.

When he pulled onto the highway, I took the chance to pretend like I was freaking out a little and held on tighter, leaned my face into his back. The stupid helmet made it so I couldn’t really press my cheek to him like some part of me was begging for.

But it just felt good to hold him.

I hadn’t exactly had the kind of marriage that allowed for things like snuggling. Perry was cold, detached. He would push me away and lecture me about boundaries.

So I wasn’t going to judge myself for enjoying the sensation.

It was over too quickly when we pulled into the parking lot and Cain cut the engine.

When we were off the bike, he reached again to remove my helmet, even fluffing my hair up again for me. While I tried not to melt at the way his fingertips brushed my scalp.

“Ready to get scared?”

Without waiting for an answer, his hand went to my lower back, guiding me down past the craft station, then the field of pumpkins.

My belly tightened as we stepped up to the opening of the woods. But with Cain’s hand on me, with his strong body beside mine, I didn’t hesitate to start our way onto the path.

While the trees had lost a good chunk of their leaves already, the pines were still plush and sky-scraping—blotting out the sky, casting everything below into the eeriest of darkness.

There were the occasional glow-in-the-dark signs pointing you toward the various exits in case you felt lost or got overwhelmed. And every once in a while when the path curved, you could see the lights set up by the exit. But other than that, it was pure darkness.

I heard the chainsaw, but with the strange echo between the trees, it was difficult at first to figure out where the sound had come from. Until a group of girls screamed behind us.

Seeming to sense what was about to happen, Cain wrapped an arm around me and curled me into his chest as he stepped us off the edge of the path.

The girls came running, clinging to each other, some half-falling down before the group yanked them back upright so they could keep running.

Not far behind them, a man with a chainsaw and his white tee drenched in fake blood came leisurely walking past, a little chuckle escaping him as he went.

His head went on a swivel, almost as if he could sense us, and I felt myself tucking closer to Cain. He was happy to pull me tighter, to crush my chest to his.

The screams of the girls and the crunch of the scare actor’s feet drifted off into the distance.

Then we found ourselves alone in the dark woods, hidden behind a massive pine tree, nothing but the occasional shriek from a patron or eerie laugh from hidden speakers to keep us company.