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But as he started our tour, Pike immediately put his hand up. “Hey, quick question, can you talk about the car in the lobby?”
The guy’s face lit up. He seemed excited that someone actually had questions and wanted to participate instead of standing there gaping at him. “Yeah, that’s a car we just have on rental, it’s the first car to beat three hundred miles per hour!”
“No shit, really?” Pike said, and I was glad there weren’t any kids in our tour group. “I heard about that but I didn’t think that they were touring it in a smaller city, last I heard it was at the Petersen Auto Museum.”
“Bugatti’s giving it a tour of the country.”
“I’d kill to test drive that thing.”
“Oh man, so would I.” The tour guide waved his hand. “If you want to see, we have this older model from Bugatti that’s…”
I tuned the guide out a little as we were led into the first gallery, where there were a bunch of old, classic race cars. The guide pointed out a couple and Pike just about lost his mind.
“These are classics, babe,” he told me, and my heart skipped a beat at the use of the nickname. “Collectors mostly have these now, and you only get to see them at the yearly auto shows.” He grinned at the tour guide. “I don’t suppose that I can take one of these for a test drive?”
“I think you’ll have to be content with just looking,” the tour guide replied.
“What do you guys do to keep them from rusting? Do you have an in-house mechanic, or…?” Pike didn’t sound arrogant or challenging, but friendly, like he was genuinely curious and wanted to know. I loved that about him. Pike probably knew more about cars than the tour guide did. Hell, I’d actually bet money that he knew more than the tour guide did. But he wasn’t arrogant about it. Instead he was asking questions about something that he didn’t know.
The tour guide liked us enough that he let Pike climb into one of the cars, an old Ford, and take his picture with him sitting in it. The rest of the people in our little group seemed amused by the back and forth between Pike and the tour guide, listening with rapt attention, their heads going back and forth between the two men like they were watching a tennis match.
I felt so damn proud. Pike was so much more than just a troublemaker or the town ‘bad boy’. He was good at what he did, he was passionate about it, and people were engaging with it. They loved it. I was sure that none of these people were into cars, or at least not as into them as Pike was, but by the end of the tour they seemed as excited about them as he was, asking a bunch of questions of both the tour guide and Pike, and I could only stand there and feel overwhelmed with pride.
“That was amazing,” I promised him as we walked out of the museum and back towards our car. I nuzzled into his side and Pike wrapped an arm around my shoulders, giving me warmth. Snow was falling gently, blanketing us, and fuck, it was so picture perfect. I never wanted this moment to end. “You can definitely run a garage with that attitude, Pike, people loved you in there. The tour guide, everyone.”
“You really think so?” he asked. “I mean, we still have to worry about the money but—you think I could run all the… the marketing and stuff too?”
“You’ve always been a charming rascal. Now look at you using your powers for good.” I nudged him playfully, and Pike laughed.
He let go of my hand to grab the car door and I quickly bent down, scooping up some snow. There wasn’t a ton on the ground, but enough for a quick snowball. “Yeah, well—”
I flung the snowball at him and it hit him right in the face.
Pike spluttered, and then dove for me. “You little shit!” he said, grinning and laughing, grabbing me and then grabbing some snow as I squealed and struggled. Pike was too strong for me, though, and he shoved a handful of snow down my back, making me shriek as the cold slid down my spine.
“Turnabout is fair play!” he said, dancing out of my reach as I tried to grab him and give him the same treatment.
“My clothes are going to be soaked now, I hit you in the face, there’s a difference!” I said, but I was laughing too hard, I couldn’t make myself sound angry.
“Well, then, we’ll just have to get you back and get you out of those clothes,” Pike replied, sounding smug.
I flipped him off. “Your seduction attempt needs work.”
“Oh, I haven’t even begun to seduce you,” he promised me, his voice suddenly dropping down and going thick and purring, and I swallowed, my mouth going dry.
