I need to show her the man that I am, the man I’ll always be for her because it’s what she needs. The shield. The lover. The carrier of her secrets.
But I need to earn her trust for that to work.
And she’s not there yet.
She shouldn’t be either. I can’t blame anyone for guarding their heart.
Fuck, I’m scared as hell about opening myself up to the woman who has already wrecked me in the best of ways, but I know it’s the only way to show her how sincere I am. She deserves nothing less. I’ll do whatever I need to do in order to get my woman to fall for me.
I don’t want to imagine a life where I don’t wake up every day with her in my arms. Fuck, no. Not happening.
“Is there anything you miss about wherever you were before?” Her head snaps around to look at me so fast that I can’t help but wince. It couldn’t have felt good. I hold my hands up in surrender and keep my voice soft, “You don’t have to tell me anything you don’t want to, but you clearly came from somewhere, it’s kind of part of being somewhere new.”
Her shoulders relax slightly, but she’s still tense. “Yeah, I guess that’s true.” She keeps glancing over at me, but I don’t push her.
I never want her to give me more than she’s willing to give. I have a million questions if she doesn’t want to answer this one.
“No.”
That’s it. Simple. To the point.
Honest.
I nod once and then grin over at her. “Favorite ice cream flavor?”
The small smile she gives me feels like an arrow to the heart. I want to collect all of her and keep her as my own. Can I? Would she let me get away with it?
“Mint chocolate chip,” she tells me and licks her lips.
“Good choice, Angel,” I praise her and nod my head.
She glances at me but just shakes her head like I’m the only being silly this time. “How about you?”
We walk for a few minutes as if I’m thinking about the question. Really, I’m giving her a moment of quiet, of easy and simple, between us.
“Superman.”
“You’re kidding,” she gasps and reaches for my arm again. “Superman? The red, blue, and yellow one?”
“That’s the one,” I tell her, loving the way her eyes are alight with amusement as she looks up at me. “Why,” I sound affronted, “what did you think I was going to say? Don’t tell me you’re stereotyping bikers now?”
Graycie doesn’t take the bait and all she does is roll her eyes. “I wasn’t going to speculate, but the very last flavor I would have ever imagined was Superman. And it’s not because you’re a biker,” she tells me while her eyes trail down my body before coming back up to meet my gaze.
“Mm-hm,” the sound is filled with disbelief as it comes out of my chest, but instead of further defending herself, she just casually shrugs a single shoulder while her hazel eyes twinkle with mirth.
“Lightning round?” When she grins and nods, I start, “Hot or cold?”
“Hot tea, cold coffee,” she fires back. There’s a short pause before she asks, “Car or plane?”
“Bike,” I deadpan.
She looks up at me, and time slows down before we both start laughing. With every step closer to her place, which Stan originally converted for himself because it gave his mom independence while being close if she needed him, I’m dreading the moment we get there.
I don’t want our time to end.
“Will you go out with me? On a date?”
“A date?” She echoes the words and when I look at her, she’s gone pale.