Page 68 of Truths

“Can I help you clean up the mess?” he asks once she settles down.

Pulling back, Sutton looks into his eyes. “You want to help clean?”

“I know how much this mess is driving you crazy,” he says with a smirk. “It'll go faster if we do it together.”

Nelson carries the last large, black bag of broken items to the dumpster, and Sutton has vacuumed and swept up everything. As she looks around, she wants to break down crying again as she sees everything that needs to be replaced. Thankfully, she didn't have much in terms of sentimental items around for Ryan to destroy.

“Do you need a place to stay tonight?” Nelson asks as he walks back inside.

“I'm going to Dad's place. I think we need some father-daughter time together after everything.”

He nods. “I think that'll be good for you. Both of you.”

“I don't have to leave right now, though,” she says and walks up to him. “Thank you for helping me clean up. It did go quicker.”

Cupping her face with his hand, he smiles at her. “Anytime.”

“The bed has been cleaned off.”

He looks pained, and she can't decide how she feels when he shakes his head no. “Not tonight.”

“What?”

“You've been through a lot, and I also said a lot. It's kind of sensory overload for you.”

“Yes, and physically doing a lot could also help.”

A shaky breath comes out, and he tenses beneath her hands on his chest. “I feel like I need to prove my words with actions first.”

“Like the thing you do with your hips?” she asks, wiggling her eyebrows.

He groans, and he hardens against her hip. “Yes-I mean, no.”

“What are you saying, Nelson?”

“I'm saying that we need to go on a date. A real date. And if we end up in bed, me doing that swirling thing with my hips, great. But, and I can't believe I'm saying this right now, it doesn't feel right to take you to bed tonight.”

Leaning back, her eyebrows raise. “I didn't know bikers needed it to feel right to take a woman to bed.”

“I didn't either,” he groans. “And trust me, I want nothing more than to strip you naked and ravage you. It's actually taking every ounce of self-control I have, which is far more than I thought I had, not to throw you over my shoulder caveman-style and toss you on that bed.”

“What constitutes a date?”

“I'll have to get back to you on that,” he says with a smirk. “I've never taken a girl on a date before.”

She laughs. “Not even in high school?”

“No, I pretty much just met women under the bleachers or the backseats of cars. Theirs, not mine, because I had a bike.”

“Wow,” she says. “You got around.”

“I used to be proud of it, but right now... I don't feel so great about it.”

Shaking her head, she looks up into his eyes. “How about dinner and then a movie at your place?”

“Why my place?”

“Well, the things I may want to do to you during the movie aren't suitable for a public audience, and I kind of don't have a TV anymore.”

---