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He’d always been ready to help, ready to figure things out.
And he was still helping me with solutions, even though I really didn’t deserve them.
I cut my eyes in his direction, careful not to turn my head that way.
I might want to stare at him until my eyes were finally able to drink their fill of the most beautiful man I’d ever seen, but I didn’t wanthimto know that.
The interior of the truck was dim, the only light the ambient glow of the dials on the dash.
Gate drove like he always did, one wrist slung over the top of the steering wheel, other hand relaxed on his thigh.
When we’d been together, that free hand had usually been holding mine. Or touching me in some way that linked us physically. And if I were on the back of his Harley….
I couldn’t even think about it.
The rush of adrenaline. The affection. The sex.
Gate’s goatee was more salt than pepper now. His hair, threaded with the same silver, was shorter than it used to be.
The lines around his eyes had deepened, but they just added a masculine character to his face.
Gate had been a man when I’d left, but now he was aman. A completely different animal. One that intrigued me, but also scared me to death.
The man driving me home had wrestled his demons and won.
He’d weathered life’s storms and come out on the other side.
He was still and he was quiet, almost like he was some kind of exotic predator.
And I missed him with every breath that I took.
The driveway in front of my house was short and wide, more like a courtyard with a gate, so when I hit the key fob and the metal whirred open, Gate angled in as much of Talon’s truck as would fit.
I finally turned his way, intending to offer my thanks, but he was already out of the truck and standing in the headlights, the nighttime silhouette making him appear larger than life, like a hero straight off the pages of an ancient war epic.
Popping the door and doing the auto running board routine again, I found my feet on solid ground and circled the truck to join Gate.
“Thank you so much for….”
“Keys,” Gate cut me off, holding out the hand that wasn’t carrying boxes of food.
I frowned, “What?”
“Give me your keys,” Gate said. “Gonna make sure you’re okay before I leave.”
Well, that seemed simple enough.
So I dropped my keys into his waiting palm and followed him to the front door.
He didn’t stop there, but once inside, flipped on the lights and kept walking.
“Um, Gate?” I called behind him. “I’ve got this.”
Nothing.
“Gate?” I yelled a little louder. “I’m fine. I’ve got better security than the Pentagon.”
He circled through the kitchen to drop off boxes, and then I sighed as I watched him bound up the stairs two at a time.
