Page 7 of Forever With You

It was Nick on a motorcycle.

I remembered seeing it parked outside Thursday but had totally forgotten about it. He’d parked right outside, near the front, and as he stepped off the bike, he tugged his helmet off. One arm went up and he scrubbed his fingers through his hair. I watched as he turned to the back, behind the seat. He started to lift something and that’s when I forced myself to turn away from the window.

Pivoting around, I took a deep breath and waited while my heart rate kicked up, doing a tap dance in my chest. Less than a minute later there was a knock at the door. Slowing down my steps, I went to the door and peered out through the peephole just to make sure it was him before I opened it.

“Hey,” he greeted me, his lips curling up. A blue plastic bag dangled from one hand and a helmet was shoved under his other arm.

I stepped back. “You said twenty after.”

He followed me, nudging the door shut behind him with his booted foot. “Or less. You’re forgetting that part.”

“Ah, I am.”

Nick lifted the bag as he strode past me, into the kitchen. “Brought us something.” He placed the bag down on the counter and reached in, pulling out two bottles. “Got an opener?”

Flipping on the overhead lights, I went to the drawer near the stove and pulled out an opener. “Apple ale? I like that. How’d you guess?”

He took the opener from me and flipped off the lids with expertise. “I figured you’d like something sweet.” He offered a bottle.

The glass was cool against my palm. “I also like it hard. ...” His gaze cut to me, and I grinned. “My drinks, that is.”

Nick chuckled. “You seriously just said that?”

“I seriously did.” I grinned as I lifted the bottle to my mouth, taking a small sip.

He shrugged off his leather jacket, tossing it on the counter beside the bag. “I think I like you.”

“You need to remove ‘think’ from that statement,” I told him. “For it to be accurate.”

Another rough chuckle rolled out of him as he picked up his bottle. “Well, since we’re being completely honest with one another, I wasn’t really hopeful when it came to you showing up at the bar.”

I raised a brow as I lowered my bottle. “Oh really?”

“Yep.” His throat worked on the drink he took. “I knew you’d show up. It was inevitable.”

“Inevitable?” I repeated. “That’s a pretty powerful word.”

His heavy gaze met mine, and the twisty motion in me returned with a vengeance. “It’s the truth.”

“You’re a cocky bastard, aren’t you?”

“And you’re a cocky chick?”

I laughed then as I leaned against the counter, across from him. “Maybe.”

“I like it. I can tell you’re the kind of person who doesn’t play games.”

Nursing my drink, I crossed my legs at the ankles. “And you can tell this already?”

He nodded. “The moment your eyes met mine yesterday, I could tell you were the type of girl who knows she fucking stops traffic just by walking outside. You own it. There isn’t a single bashful or coy bone or muscle in your body.”

“And you could tell that just by looking in my eyes?” I snorted.

“Actually, I could tell that by those tiny ass shorts you had on yesterday,” he remarked, surprising me. “There is not a single female out there with legs as long as yours who doesn’t know that every guy they come into contact with is picturing them wrapped around their waist.”

I blinked, knocked off my game once more with him. A moment passed before I recovered. “So, you like my shorts?”

“I fucking loved those shorts.” He grinned as he lifted the bottle to his mouth.

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