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“Thank you.” The tears were audible in Megan’s voice, but visually she maintained her composure. “But what am I supposed to do now?”
“Come with me.” I tangled my fingers in hers, and few things had ever felt more natural. After leading her to my motorcycle, I handed her the helmet I kept in a saddle bag.
She fitted it on without question. I draped my leather jacket from a different saddle bag over her shoulders, and she slid into the sleeves. The coat was too big on her, which looked sexy as fuck. She made herself comfortable behind me on the seat. It was impossible to ignore how good she felt pressed against my back, her arms around my waist, as the engine rumbled to life beneath us.
And then we were peeling out of the hotel parking lot.
I didn’t suspect that where we went was as important as the fact that we were going, so I pointed toward the streets with the fewest lights and lightest traffic.
We rode for about half an hour in silence, Megan half-wrapped around me, the wind whistling around us. I’d drive like this forever, but I had to stop for gas first. I pulled into the next gas station.
While I filled the tank, Megan sat sideways on my bike, keeping it balanced. She pulled off the helmet and held it in her lap. “I’m done with relationships,” she said softly. “Carly’s got the right idea—love is for suckers and idiots and I’m tired of actively pursuing being both.” The defeat in her voice was heartbreaking.
“Hey. You’re not either one. No one who knows you thinks that.”
Her laugh was short. “Easton and Gretch think that.”
“No one who knows you andmattersthinks that.”
She shook her head. “I’m still done. Right now. I’m declaring it in front of God, everybody at this gas station, and you. No more romance. Not for me. I’m done.”
“All right.” It hurt to hear, but I didn’t blame her.
“Thank you. I’m saying that a lot today, but I mean it.”
I lifted Megan’s chin to look her in the eye. “Always. I hope you know that.”
“I do.” She still wore the heavier than normal makeup from wedding prep, which enhanced and exaggerated her entire face. Black-rimmed, blue eyes studied me through thick lashes. The bright pink of frustration dotted her cheeks. And full, red lips shone in the glint of the sunlight.
Fuck, I wanted to kiss her. Dip my head, close the distance between us, and refresh the memory of how incredible it felt to have my lips pressed against hers. With everything that had just happened, doing so was tacky and ill-timed. But I wanted it anyway.
Not that I ever really stopped wanting Megan.
So I turned my attention to putting the gas hose away instead. While I fought with desire, a new impulse struck. I was brilliant. “You need a distraction. Something to take your mind off this.” Something that marked this momentous occasion of her leaving that fucking bag of slime behind.
Not that I was going to phrase it that way to her. “I have the perfect idea,” I said.
A hint of a smile sneaked onto her face. “Are you going to tell me, or do I need to guess?”
“I suppose I could tell you.” I pretended to consider my options for about half a second. “Do you remember when we were in high school?”
The wash of emotions that splashed across her face was a rollercoaster, but if I’d blinked I would’ve missed it. I could guess at what she was thinking, and some of it was the same for me.
When I first met Megan, she was fifteen and I was sixteen, and I was enthralled. But she was my best friend’s younger sister, and already dating someone. I was happy with her company, though.
The points where our paths diverged held some dark memories for me of back then.
Those didn’t matter right now. “Do you remember your list?” I asked.
Her eyes grew wide. “No. I mean, I do, but… that was ages ago.”
Back then, she’d seemed enthralled too, if not for the same reasons. She wanted to know about all the places I’d been in the world. All the things I’d done. And I was happy to tell her.
“We should go through your list,” I said. “Unless you already have.”
Megan shook her head. “No. I’m sure I’ve done one or two things, but I don’t even remember what was on there.”
Every time I’d told her a new story that she loved, she found something new she wanted to try. Skydiving, BASE jumping, performing for foreign nationals, and more.
