Page 82 of The Nerd & the Ex-Con

“Gosh, Griff.” He bit his bottom lip and stared after the BMW screeching past us. “I don’t know. I sorta, you know, work here.”

“I’m not asking you to bend over my bike and drop your pants for me, Scottie. That’s later. Just a kiss.”

“Umm, okay.”

He placed a hand on my hip and kissed my cheek. My cheek! I let it slide, since I sensed how nervous he was.

“You heading home?” I asked.

“Yeah. Why are you here?”

“Can’t I just want to see you?”

“You can, but remember what I said about the flowers? Yeah, I’m not sure you should pop up here, though it’s really sweet of you. It’s just the other people I work with… Umm, it might be unprofessional to them, and I don’t want that sort of attention and gossip.”

I scowled. “Your workday ended at five.”

“Maybe we should go somewhere else so I can explain.”

“Fine. Get on.” I handed him the extra helmet I’d bought for him.

“Maybe I should follow you in my car.”

“This way will be faster. Come on. You love riding my bike.” I smirked and waggled my eyebrows. “You really love riding my bike.”

“Oh god.” Scottie glanced over his shoulder as if he expected someone to be lurking there.

“Okay, but remember, all these people saw you take me hostage.”

I chuckled. He couldn’t be that upset that I showed up here if he was joking. He settled the helmet on his head and got onto my bike. Someone wolf-whistled, but with so many people leaving the building, I couldn’t identify who.

“I’ll have to hand in my resignation tomorrow,” Scottie groaned, clutching my waist tight.

“Don’t worry. I’ll take good care of you. You ready?”

“Yeah.”

I rode off with Scottie, my earlier excitement returning as soon as we hit the road. Despite what he thought, this wasn’t a random visit. I knew not to make a habit of showing up at his work.

I loved having Scottie behind me. His comfortable weight against my back grounded me and made me feel like it was just the two of us in the world. Nobody and nothing else mattered.

Twenty minutes later, we rode into a nice neighborhood I’d visited earlier. I picked out the small two-bedroom bungalow-style house with a picket fence that needed painting. I rode up the short driveway and parked. What would he think?

I helped Scottie down from the motorcycle and locked our helmets to the bike. The house was hardly the best, but it was affordable.

“Where are we?” Scottie asked.

“Let’s go in.” I took his hand.

“Griff, should we be doing this?”

“Trust me, okay?”

He nodded and followed me up the steps. The real estate agent had left the front door open like I’d asked. I pushed it open and gestured for Scottie to enter ahead of me. He walked in cautiously. I couldn’t resist walking up behind him, hugging him from behind, and nuzzling his neck.

“I’ve got you right where I want you. Now to find some ropes to tie you up.”

Scottie chuckled nervously. “That’s not quite the threat you may think it is.”

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