Page 38 of Peaches

She’s warm. Soft. Pure.

I need to takecareof her. To show her how fucking special and good she is. She’s the first person who’s ever looked at me like . . . like I’m a human being who fucking matters. And the last thing I want to do is ruin it. To prove her wrong.

Hazel eyes shine bright in my mind, looking up at me with so much of that trust I know damn well I don’t deserve.

I don’t even realize I’m pumping myself until I’m already coming.

* * *

Olivia barrelsout of her house like a bat out of hell, and my amusement splits my face open in a wide grin. Her hair is mildly damp, her cheeks flushed, and I do my best to memorize every detail as she springs forward down the front steps, nearly knocking her head against a plant that hangs from the overhead beam.

“Can I put this in one of those bags?” she shouts over the bike’s engine, holding up her purse. I nod, shifting my leg so I can open the one on my right because the left one holds our food. She tucks her purse in next to the backpack I’ve already shoved in, and then stands to look at me with a rushed smile. “Thanks.”

If she’s nervous, she doesn’t look it. She looks . . . happy.

“You ready?” I ask, eyeing the orange dress she wears beneath a white denim jacket. Its skirt is going to be hell for her on this bike, but the image of it has my blood pumping.

“Yep.” She takes the second helmet from my hands and buckles the strap beneath her chin. And then the weight and warmth of her surround me as she assumes her position on the seat behind me.

We take off down the road in front of her house, turning at the first stoplight. I open the throttle and send us soaring down the long stretch of open road as Olivia’s arms squeeze tight around me. In the minute or two we stay like that, life feels as damn near close to perfect as it’s ever felt.

Soon I’m slowing us back down, easing carefully off the shoulder and into the dirt lot that stretches far in the distance, surrounding a chain-link fence that circles the water tower reaching into the sky. Olivia’s lips ghost my ear, testing my restraint as she asks, “What are we doing here?”

“You need to eat.” I push out the kickstand with the toe of my boot and lean the bike on it, turning off the engine. Olivia climbs off, looking around, her hair a mess of gold beneath the stark black helmet. I stand and reach for her wrist, pulling her to me.Look at you, I think, on the verge of voicing the words.

Her smile is soft, her eyes bright, and I have to push down the sharp impulse to do something with all this want.Not yet, I add as she patiently lets me unfasten her helmet and pull it off.But soon. “Is there an invisible restaurant?” she asks. “Maybe a gateway to Narnia?”

I roll my eyes, resting both of our helmets on the seat before pulling out the canvas bag of food. “What planet do you live on?”

She laughs. “Your imagination is sorely nonexistent, isn’t it?”

If she only knew how savage my imagination has been. “We’re going up there.” I point to the large tank that holds the town’s water, a chipped redSFpainted in thick strokes across the middle.

She faces the sky, propping a hand over her brow to shield against the dying sunlight. “You’re joking, right?”

I smile. “Nope.”

Thankfully, she follows behind me as I lead us toward the steel ladder. “I thought we were . . .” Her voice trails off, dropping somewhere in the loose rocks beneath our feet.

“Fucking?” I ask.

I don’t need to turn around to know I’ve made her blush. “Well . . . yeah. Are you an exhibitionist or something?”

My hard laugh surprises me. “Or something,” I say, turning to look at her when we reach the bottom of the ladder. “You haven’t eaten all day, and after our last date you said you wanted me to show you more of myself. I guess what you saw today at the ranch is a big part of it, but there’s also a lot of other things about me no one really knows, not even my family. I figured I’d feed you in one of my favorite places before we . . . move on to other things.”

I’m right: her flush stretches from her neck to her cheeks. And it’s beautiful. She looks from me to the ladder and frowns. “Are we going up?”

“Yep.” I move out of the way, giving her access to go first.

“What if I fall?” Worry bunches between her brows.

“I’d never let that happen,” I say. And I mean it. “Plus, the ladder is caged, so even if you slip a little, you’re really not going anywhere.”

The look she shoots me is full of daggers, but then she’s moving to hook her palms around the rung at eye-level. She takes a deep breath. “You’re gonna have to live with it if I die, you know.”

I shake my head. Smack her ass. “Get up there.”

She yelps and laughs. And then she starts to climb.

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