Page 81 of Your Soul to Keep

He grinned. “Stupidly handsome?”

I harrumphed in response.

Laughing, he hauled me into his arms as I squirmed and laughed. “Did you not just say half an hour ago that you had no regrets?”

“Gabe,” I groaned.

He dropped his mouth to my ear. “Remember when we used to go go-carting? Kayaking on Crystal Lake? Fishing in Little River? Remember the day we leapt off the bluffs at Hailey’s Falls?”

“That was supremely foolish,” I reprimanded.

“It was,” he conceded, looking down for a moment. “But we made it. And we’re older and wiser now.”

I leaned back and gaped at him. “Are we? Are we really, Gabe?”

He looked down his nose at me, his smile smug. “We are.”

I relaxed in his arms as I eyed the bikes.

After my dad got sick, I became a cautious, timid little thing. Gabe coaxed me back out of my shell and uncovered a hunger for adventure I hadn’t felt since. There was a time when this wouldn’t have phased me in the least.

Suddenly, the bikes didn’t look so scary.

“Besides,” Gabe murmured in my ear as he turned me around. “We’re taking the ATVs this time. We’ll save the bikes for next time.”

I slumped with relief in his arms, and demanded, “Why didn’t you say so?”

He laughed. “If I’d led with the ATVs, you would have argued just the same.”

“Maybe,” I muttered.

I looked at the ATVs, excitement unfurling in my stomach.

“There’s my wild baby,” he praised, his eyes warm on my face. “Let’s have some fun before we die.”

I snorted out a laugh and took his proffered hand.

21

Oops

BecauseIwasabeginner, Gabe suffered through the extended safety lesson with me. Then, suited up in rental gear, we chose our ATVs. At first, bumping over the uneven terrain, I braced my legs and arms in an attempt to cement my ass to the seat.

But as I accustomed myself to the feel of the machine, I loosened up. By the time we hit the trail, bookended between the guide in front of me and Gabe behind me, bumping along at speeds I never would have believed, I whooped and laughed.

Sheltered.

Protected.

Free.

The change in clothes came in handy but did little to make up for the mud and dust on my hands and face nor the sweat pasting my hair to my head.

How did he manage to look so delicious?

Back at my house, my legs jellied from the drain of adrenaline.

Together, we stumbled up the stairs and into the shower.

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