AllFreeNovel
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He has done a lot for me, but that doesn’t mean he cares. It’s in his nature to be nice. He brought me the ladder when I was trying to hang curtains, curtains that he knew I was only hanging to block him from my sight.Curtains that only got used for one weekend, but that’s beside the point.He took care of me when I had cramps. He walks me out at night. He moved all that fucking furniture for Devon. That’s normal stuff to do for someone you don’t care about.Right?
Chapter 23
Luke
“Some things you don’t want your Grandad’s advice about.”- Grandad Ernie, after twelve-year-old Luke discovered a stack of Playboys.
“Join me for dinner, sweetheart?”
“Of course,” Allie replies with a scoffing laugh, as if having dinner together is something we do every night. “Where should we go?”
“I have that handled.”
“Handled? Like you made reservations?”
“Handled.” We aren’t going to a restaurant. I’ve spent the whole day introducing her to people, catching up with friends, and trying to keep every guy at the track from ogling her. Tonight, it’s only the two of us. I’m not sharing her with anyone, and she is getting my full attention.
“When you picked me up, I figured we’d be going to brunch or something. This was so unexpected.”
“In a good way?”
She beams up at me from her spot on the other side of the bench seat in my truck. “In the absolute best way. I think I might be totally obsessed with motorcycle racing now. Actually, I know am. I’m totally obsessed with it. The energy at the track is electric.” I chuckle at her use of electric, the word that always comes to mind when she smiles. Every time I looked at her today, it lit up her entire face. “When can we go again?”
“Whenever you’d like.” My plan in inviting Allie today was to let her experience my world. I hoped she would like it, feel the excitement of it, and her response was better than I imagined. “They have races every weekend during the season, always at different tracks. I can check the schedule, but I think the next time they’re out here is in July.”
“Count me in,” she says, pulling her left leg up onto the bench seat between us and turning to face me. It’s a struggle to keep my eyes on the road when I can feel the full weight of her attention on me.
Reaching across, I squeeze her knee. She doesn’t shy away from my touch, and I realize she never has. Well, not since that first time I threw her over my shoulder and carried her out of my shop. I can’t blame her for that one. She could have walked out without getting hurt; I was just being a dick. And I wanted to hold her. “I liked having you by my side today.”
Watching Allie at the track revealed a new side of her, the side that fits into my world. Seeing her on the backdrop of asphalt and motorcycles that I’ve defined my life by, felt like snapping the final piece of a puzzle into place.
A sense of pride filled me more and more with each new person who was captivated by her presence. Cam’s been sold on the idea of her for months already, telling me he’s never met someone more perfect for me and asking when I’m going to get my shit together and make it happen.
Even Kiara, who can be tough to impress, liked Allie. Kiara’s protective, like a big sister, after watching me grow up at the track. I wouldn’t be surprised if their conversation was a mirror of the talk Devon gave me last night. Although, it couldn’t have gone too badly. Before we left, she told me, “She’s got it bad.” It’s tempting to believe her.
“I liked being there with you,” Allie says, tempting me further. She’s still turned sideways on the seat, watching me, but when I turn on a dirt road, she pulls back and swivels around. “Where the fuck are we?” She laughs. “What happened to dinner?”
“We’re on our way to dinner.”
“You know I’m not going to be fishing for my dinner or some shit, right?”
“You won’t have to kill your dinner. We’re almost there.”
“I didn’t expect you to be so big on the surprises, Pine, but I’m into it.” She moves on from the subject of dinner immediately, settling back into her seat and recounting the details of Cam’s race for me, the way someone would recount the highlights of a movie when they’re walking out of a theater. “I thought there was no way he’d make it, but then he finally passed that guy on the blue bike.” She covers her pouty pink mouth with her hand, interrupting herself. “Don’t tell him I said that. I always believed he’d win. But anyway, it didn’t look like there was space for him to fit his bike past the other guy, but he fucking did it!”
The amazement in her voice when she talks about my best friend shows yet another reason she fit in so perfectly today. She knew nothing about racing, but jumped right in. “He’s notorious for going for the tightest gap, pulling off passes no one else would dare to try.”
“That doesn’t surprise me one bit. He’s really...” Her voicetrails off as I park the truck. Dozens of massive wind turbines come into view, each tower topped with three long propeller-like blades. The setting sun casts a yellow light against the white behemoths, creating an impressive view. She points up through the windshield toward one that’s casting a shadow across the truck cab where we sit, only its tower visible. “You know these are the reason I named my coffee shopTurbine? I’m obsessed with them. I even have a tattoo of one.”
I had a good idea that’s how she picked her coffee shop’s name, but the tattoo is a surprise. “Oh? I’ve never seen it.”
She raises her eyebrows suggestively and bites her lower lip in a way that tempts me to peel off every piece of clothing she’s wearing until I discover where she’s got that tattoo hidden.
“I fell in love with them the first time Devon and I drove down here from Oregon. I’d seen some before, but out here there are so many, and they’re lined up so perfectly, like gigantic protectors of the desert.” Allie’s speaking picks up speed in the adorable way it always does when she’s excited about something. She unbuckles her seatbelt and slides closer to me on the bench seat, waving her hands to emphasize every other word. “Did you know they’re like twenty-something stories tall? I looked it up once. And the tips of the blades are moving way the fuck faster than the center part that’s connected to the tower. Like, 200 miles per hour, I think. I bet you can’t even get that fast on a motorcycle.”
She can’t really think that.“Of course, I can.”
“Bullshit!” she exclaims, mouth dropping open incredulously.
