Page 23 of Eden's Joker

He hardly slows down as he makes his way here, yet stops right in front of me. When he finally takes off his helmet I can see I was absolutely right about the intense look in his eyes—the one just for me. But he’s grinning, which softens his whole face. Especially after he takes in my outfit. I’m wearing a dress again, but not quite as girly a dress as the first time we went out.

This one is a long, sleek, emerald-green beach-type dress, with straps at the shoulder and a long slit along my left leg. His eyes caress the skin showing there. And I bet he can tell I’m not wearing a bra. Which my traitorous hardening nipples announce loud and clear, just in case he didn’t already know, as his gaze travels across them. I pull my jean jacket tighter. The hard, sharp look that passes across his eyes as I do can only be anger over denying him the view. But it’s gone in the next second.

“Am I late?” he asks.

What I was picturing in my mind was him saying nothing as he got off his bike and kissed me in that same life-altering way he did last night. I still feel that kiss all over if I concentrate. But I guess he’s all about keeping his distance today. Fine. I’ll make him see reason soon. Because there’s no point fighting this attraction we share. None at all.

I shake my head and smile at him. “Right on time. Where are you taking me?”

“Hop on and you’ll find out.”

I don’t need to be asked twice and I only pause long enough to put on my helmet.

Maybe I should be more careful of going who knows where with a guy I barely know, and without telling anyone who I’m with at that. But I just know that wherever we end up will be exactly where I want and need to be. So there’s that. And it’s enough.

“As long as it’s after a good long ride,” I tell him once I’m ensconced behind him.

He looks at me over his shoulder, still grinning. “Your wish is my command. Now hold on tight.”

He swings his helmet back on and revs his bike. And while I’m still deciding whether it’d be too much too soon if I wrapped my arms around his waist, the force of our take off makes the decision for me. I’m holding him so tight I can feel the hard outline of his six-pack against my forearms. And feel him laughing. He did this on purpose. When he said hold on tight, he meant it literally. And he made it happen. Good. Because I do tend to over analyze things. Like my brain is starting to do even know. Am I holding him too tight? Should I be holding him at all? Does he just want to fuck me or does he want something more like I do?

But it’s hard to over-analyze anything on the back of a bike. Especially with how fast we’re going.

He slows down once we reach a wide-open road that seems to stretch out for miles and miles, fading off into forever. We’re the only ones on it andmight as well be the only two people in the whole wide world right now. I’d love that.

For once, my mind’s not racing with a million questions and scenarios. It’s the wind in my face and the rumbling of his bike beneath me. It’s his solid presence in my arms, here just for me. To hold. To lean on, if I choose. I don’t choose right now. Instead, I loosen my grip on his waist a little and lean back into the wind, letting it cradle me as we speed along the empty road. Our road.

Oh, how I needed this. I’ve longed for it for years. But I didn’t even know it until just now. So many things he’s shown me already. And I bet he has a thousand more to show me before we’re done. I can’t wait.

The sun is starting on its downward path, the first hues of the golden sunset that we’ll have tonight already visible, when we finally pull into a town, which seems to have sprung out of nowhere right in our path. Pearl Springs, it’s called, and it’s a lot like the town we met in, only here, everything is clean and white, and the shops and restaurants lining Main Street all have a high-class vibe to them. He parks in a large parking lot at the edge of town, storing our helmets away on the back of his bike.

“Where to now?” I ask.

“It’s just down the road,” he says and offers me his arm like the perfect gentleman he seems to be today. Or trying to be. “I thought we’d just walk.”

I take his offered arm, the tremor passingthrough me as we touch reminding me of an earthquake. Why does this guy have such a such a crazy hold on me?

“Lead the way.”

That earns me a smirk that I can’t quite read into reliably. And I don’t know what that means. But in the next moment I no longer have to try and find out. Because the second shop we pass is a used bookstore that seems to take up one entire, white-walled townhouse all by itself. My steps naturally slow and before I know it, we’re standing still in front of it. The entire front window is one giant and incredibly imaginative Alice in Wonderland display. All the characters are there, little statues of them, painted by hand, it seems, and everything is so vivid it might as well be real. The little girl in me thinks I could just walk into the window and be there, inside my favorite story. There’s Alice, of course, and the White Rabbit checking his watch, but also the King and Queen of Hearts and the Cheshire Cat, with his signature grin. That’s what Tyler’s smirk reminded me of, this grin. He’s still wearing it on his face when I finally manage to look away from the display.

“I thought you’d like it,” he says.

“I love it,” I say. “How did you find this?”

He shrugs. “I was just riding by the other day and when you told me last night that this was your favorite story… well, I just had to bring you here. How’d I do?”

“Amazingly,” I say and give him a kiss on the cheek, because the urge to do it was uncontrollable. Iftouching him was an earthquake, the kiss is a volcano erupting. And I think he felt it too, because we’re both blushing as I step back.

He clears his throat and I have trouble meeting his eyes. “Well, now, that was something.”

I don’t know if he knows he said that aloud, so I just nod and stare at the display in the window. I hardly see it this time though.

“Wanna go in?” he asks.

“I thought you’d never ask,” I say and lead the way to the door where a gentle chime sounds as I open it. Apart from the white-haired lady behind the counter the store is empty.

She grins widely as she sees me, but it falters a little when she notices Tyler right behind me.

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