Page 23 of Spike

All my life, I believed myself to be average, but when Spike was with me, he made me feel special, one of a kind.

"Sorry it took so long," I said, making my way to him. "I enjoyed the shower too much."

"Installed new shower heads in all the rooms just a month ago," Rooster said proudly. "Glad to hear that."

Yes, I did take my time enjoying the water pressure, but I also took embarrassingly long to pick out clothes to wear for our breakfast date.

This did count as a date, right? It should have been easy, picking an outfit, because I didn't really have a lot of choices.

Still, seeing Spike's expression made it all worthwhile.

"I have something to show you," Spike told me, a mischievous glint in his eyes.

He held out his hand, and I automatically took it. His large and callused hand contrasted a little with my smaller one, but it sure felt warm and nice.

Spike dragged me outside, and for a moment, the early morning sunlight made me squint.

He reminded me of a kid on Christmas day, and the thought amused me because I didn't think I'd be able to see a tough biker bear like him in this state.

Then I saw what he wanted to show me, and my jaw dropped. This was not my same car. My sedan was dented, and paint was peeling everywhere.

This one was shiny and smooth, the paint new.

Spike let go of my hand, pulled out my car keys, which I remembered leaving in the ignition when I ran to the Dirty Stallion.

When he started the engine, my sedan practically... purred. At least it sounded like a purr.

Did they take out the entire engine and replace it with a new one? While I knew next to nothing about car repairs, I did know that couldn't be cheap.

Spike got out, grinning, offering me the key. My hands shook as I accepted it.

"Spike, I have no words. What did you guys do? I can’t—“ I began to say that I couldn't afford it, but that would just make me sound incredibly ungrateful, and I didn't want that.

"Thank you," I finally said, tears in the corners of my eyes.

"Hey," Spike said, walking up to me and brushing my tears away.

"No one's done anything like this for me before," I whispered.

To that, Spike only pressed a kiss to my forehead.

"Kiss me properly," I said, unsure where this audacity was coming from.

Spike then kissed me thoroughly on the mouth, and I furiously responded, inviting him to kiss me deeper.

The world seemed to fade away in that moment, leaving only the two of us and the warmth of his lips against mine.

It was a kiss filled with unspoken promises, and I found myself savoring every second of it.

7

GRAY

"I...wow," was all I was capable of saying when Spike pulled away.

It was a good thing too, because my jeans felt a little tighter, and I could also feel Spike was in the same state.

"Yeah. That's the perfect word to use when it comes to you," Spike said.

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