Page 28 of Fastlander Fallen

“Fine.” She mimed zipping her lips.

He stood there with his eyebrow cocked, waiting, like he expected her to unzip her lips and say it again, but she was being a good girl and behaving, so she stared back.

After a few seconds, he said, “This is literally the hottest picture I’ve ever seen, and you didn’t even try.” He texted it to her, and then explained how to get on the motorcycle behind him, boots on the pegs.

And for the first time in her life, she held onto a man’s waist and rode on the back of a bike that was ten times faster than she had ever even imagined.

He opened it up once with her, and she thought she would die! But when he slowed down, she found herself laughing so hard, because the speed had gotten her stomach like a roller coaster.

She caught a glimpse of his bright-white smile in the sideview mirror, and for a moment, it stole her breath away. He patted her hands where she was clutching his waist, but he didn’t seem to need to tell her anything. He seemed to be telling her she did well, perhaps.

On a motorcycle, it was apparently only a five-minute drive to the hole-in-the-wall bar called the Rat Nest. The logo had a rat wearing sunglasses with a beer in its hand. The owner’s nickname was Rat. She’d known him since she was a kid.

Corey loved this place, but tonight was different. She wasn’t just here with Hallie. She had a very handsome, mysterious shifter helping her off his bike. They had parked next to a familiar motorcycle, and an excited fluttering filled her chest. It was Gunner’s bike, which meant he and Hallie had rode here on it, which meant they were practically a biker gang now.

She tried to dismount smoothly, but almost fell as soon as her heeled boots hit the ground. Ace caught her, steadied her, and laughed, thank goodness.

He helped her unstrap the helmet, then set it on the seat of the motorcycle.

“Won’t someone steal it?” she asked, concerned.

“Good luck to them if they tried,” he answered.

Oh. Right. He would just murder them or something. She really wondered what kind of shifter he was, but it seemed rude to ask. Gunner and Hallie’s helmets were hanging from Gunner’s handle and the backrest. Okay, this was how things were done. Cool. She was catching on.

He opened the door for her and waited for her to pass. Oooh, he smelled like cologne. That was hot.

“Did you just sniff me?” he asked.

“It’s your fault for smelling good,” she said cheekily.

“What are you drinking? I’ll grab it.”

“Twister.”

“A Twister?” he asked. “Never heard of that one.”

“It’s orange soda. This is the only place that serves it around here.”

He looked surprised, but not disappointed. “You got it. Hallie is right over there,” he said with a gesture.

“Um, can I come up to the bar with you?” she asked.

“Stage-five clinger?” he wondered aloud.

“Yep, that’s me.” Actually, it really was. She was ridiculous when she liked a man.

He looked at her a couple seconds longer, like he wanted to say something, but he turned abruptly and headed toward the bar. She followed easily on account of him parting the crowd ahead of her.

She grinned at him in thanks as he pulled out an empty bar stool. It was the only empty, but there was room to stand next to her, which is what he did. Nice and close. She studied his handsome profile as Ace ordered them both Twisters.

“I like that you didn’t pressure me to drink alcohol,” she said over the bar-noise.

“I don’t care if you drink or not. I don’t drink a lot. A beer here and there, but it’s not really my thing.”

“Does it mess with your animal?” she asked curiously.

His quick glance around said she was asking questions she shouldn’t in mixed company.

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