AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Yet here she was.
“Put this on.” Aidan handed her a graphite gray helmet.
She placed it on her head, and Aidan adjusted the straps for her, his beautifully rough fingers grazing her jaw line. She closed her eyes as he secured his own helmet and relished the lingering heat of his touch. When he swung his jean-clad leg over the bike and straddled the seat, a spark ignited between her legs.
Beautiful, beautiful man.
“Get behind me, okay? And hold onto me. Tight.”
She climbed aboard and tentatively touched his waist.
He turned around, and his gaze—green this time, like a dark emerald—rocked her. “I said tight. You don’t want to fly off, do you?”
She wrapped her arms around him and buried her breasts in his back. Muscle, pure muscle. And so warm. Her nipples hardened into tight buds.
“Perfect.” He started the engine. “Something you should know.” He spoke loudly over the pipes. “When we turn, lean into the turn with me.”
“Lean in? But I don’t want to fall off.”
“You won’t. Centrifugal force. Don’t be scared. I’d never let you get hurt.”
Her heart believed him, though she didn’t know why. But her head? “Never?”
“Never. I promise. Are you ready?”
She gulped. “Yeah. Sure. I’m ready.”
He smiled at her—Lord, he was gorgeous—and then he turned around and kicked the bike into gear.
Within seconds Kristen wondered why she had been frightened. She had her arms and legs wrapped around Aidan’s wonderful body, and she was flying. The wind flowed through the long tresses hanging down out of her helmet.
So free. So alive.
They rode through the foothills and into the mountains. Kristen breathed in the sweet scent of pine, the spicy perfume of Columbine. And best of all, the musky heated aroma of Aidan in front of her.
Only the soft cotton of his forest green T-shirt separated her from his heated skin. Her nipples stiffened even further, and she eased away from him, convinced she was poking two holes into his back. As if on cue, he cut a curve in the road, startling her. She tightened her arms around him again and thought she felt the vibration of a chuckle.
Aidan pulled the bike into a small crevice in the canyon, parked, and helped Kristen dismount. She removed her helmet.
“So where are we?” she asked.
“Just off the canyon a bit,” he said. “I found this place a while back. It’s impossible to navigate in a car, and hikers rarely come here because it’s off most of the worn trails.”
“Well, then.” Kristen licked her lips. “Why exactly are we here?”
“I want you to see something.”
“What?”
He took the helmet from her, snapped the strap, and hung it from the handlebars of his bike. He did the same with his own and then took her hand in his. “Come with me.”
He led her up a rocky pathway, lifting her over the steeper stones.
“Where are we going?”
“Wait and see.” He entwined their fingers together.
His hand was warm but not sweaty, so large, so very masculine.
Though her body was ever aware of Aidan’s virile presence, Kristen’s thighs burned from the climb, and her feet weren’t well protected in her canvas tennis shoes. Aidan had on black leather biker boots, so he couldn’t know how her heels were aching.
“If I’d known we were going rock climbing, I’d have worn different shoes.”
He didn’t answer. He simply lifted her into his arms and carried her the rest of the way up the stones. Without meaning to, she wrapped her arms around him and caressed his rock-hard shoulders. Could her nipples get any harder? Yeah, they could, and they did. Within a few minutes he set her down.
“That wasn’t rock climbing, love.”
Love?
“Just a quick peak climb. Only a few hundred feet from where we started.”
“But why?”
“Because…”
He pulled her back to him and shifted their bodies so that Kristen was looking down into a valley rimmed in red rock. No, red wasn’t the word for it. Vermillion. Even that wasn’t quite right, but she couldn’t find another word to describe the amazing hue.
“Aidan.” She breathed the piney air into her body. “This is beautiful. Just beautiful.”
“I’ve never brought anyone else here.” He tightened his arms around her.
She turned to look into his green eyes. And yes, they were definitely green today. And sexy. Oh so sexy.
“You haven’t?”
“No.”
“Why did you bring me? We barely know each other.”
“I’d like that to change.” Gently her he turned her to face him. Her senses leapt to life. “I want to know you, Kristen Ross.”
“Me?”
“Yes, you. Only you.”
“But you could have any woman. I mean any woman. Why me?”
“You’re beautiful. And you’re kind.”
She laughed softly. “Beautiful I’m definitely not. And kind? Maybe, but you don’t know me. How can you even say that?”
His fingers grazed her shoulder. So warm.
“I’ve been coming to your shop for months now. I know how kind you are. How you always take the time to help a child find a book, even when you know he isn’t going to purchase anything. How you befriend your customers. Why do you think your shop continues to thrive even though there’s a Barnes and Noble a block away?”
