Page 4 of August's Ride with Arrow

“Know a good place to watch the sunset around here?” I ask as he helps me get onto his bike.

Unsure of where to put my hands, I rest them gently on his shoulders, but he shakes his head and shrugs my hands off them. Immediately, I think maybe he doesn't want to be touched. I start looking for a place to hold on to the bike, but before I know it, he's got both of my hands in his and he's pulling them to wrap around his waist. The motion puts my chest very close to his hard back.

My hands rest on his T-shirt under his cut, and I can feel the ridges of his abs under the thin shirt.

“Hold on tight, Kitty Kat,” he growls, revving the engine.

We take off with a jolt, which causes me to tighten my arms around him, and I swear I can feel him laughing. He goes north through town, but once we leave the city limits, I have no idea where we are. I feel like I can trust him, which sounds completely crazy since we just met an hour ago, if that. Deciding to enjoy the beautiful scenery all around me, I take deep breaths to keep my nerves calm.

This is my first trip to South Dakota, so I want to take as much in as I can. We make a few turns off the main road, and just as I get nervous, he pulls over at a small parking lot that is big enough to hold maybe three cars. He parks his bike and turns it off. Then he gets off the bike and offers me his hand to help me get off, and I take it. As soon as his feet hit the ground, he's helping remove the helmet.

He sets the helmet on the bike, takes my hand, and without a word, walks down the sidewalk.

“There's a bench over here that'll be perfect to watch the sunset.” He nods, leading me over to the bench while never letting go of my hand.

There's a little play area off to the side, and I realize this must be a park, a small one that maybe only locals know about.

“So, what brings you to South Dakota?” he asks once we sit down on opposite sides of the bench. A silly feeling of not liking the space between us hits me. But I have to remind myself that I just spent however long on his bike pressed up against him, so he probably wants a little space.

“My friends and I just graduated college, and we're on a girls’ trip because I was outvoted, and this is what they wanted to do,” I tell him, leaving out the part about them saying I need to lose my virginity.

“Where did you want to go?” he asks.

“I found this beautiful rental cabin that had views of the Grand Teton Mountains and was close to the national park and everything. I was shot down because of the lack of guy choices that would be around.” I smile, letting him assume that I mean for my friends.

Penny and Bridget loved the cabin, and we thought about it until I got the idea in my head about losing my virginity. That's when things spiraled with our vacation planning.

“What about you? Are you only here for the bike week?” I ask him.

Some unreadable expression crosses his face before he masks it again.

“Yeah, we're here to network, but this isn't my first year.”

Since I get the feeling it's something he doesn't really want to talk about, I simply nod.

“Where are you from?” he asks, shifting on the bench and, I swear, he’s a few inches closer to me.

“I was born and raised out in Virginia, but I came out west to go to school in Denver. That's where I met Bridget and Penny, and also where I think I'm going to stay because I like it out here.” For some reason that I’m not willing to admit, I let him know that I don't plan on heading back east.

Then I have to give myself a mental shake. It's not like we're going to ride off into the sunset as a couple. This is a one-night stand, a weekend of fun at best, and the odds we will ever see each other again are slim to none.

“You like living in the big city?” he asks.

His eyes roam over me like he's trying to decide if I'm about to tell him the truth or not.

“Honestly, not really. I grew up in a small town, but I live just outside Denver, and the place feels small, so it's not too bad,” I say.

He nods his head like he agrees with me.

As we watch the sun go down, we sit and talk. He doesn't even complain when I bring my phone out to take photos of the sunset. This is huge for me because in the one short relationship I had in college, the guy hated when took pictures of nature.

Brian thought photos should have people in them and that taking pictures without people was a waste of everyone's time. When he realized I wasn't going to allow him to be the one to have my virginity, he became a waste of my time. My survival instincts must have kicked in on that one because I found out after we broke up he had been sleeping his way through college.

Turns out he was just with me to “bag a virgin.” That's why I'm not too eager to tell Arrow about my virginity.

As the sun dips below the horizon, Arrow stands and holds his hand out to me once again.

“We should probably head back while there's still a bit of daylight left,” he says.

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