Page 9 of Laying it Bare Biker Style: Ryder

For the rest of dinner, we made smalltalk and I managed not to ramble too much. When we were finished,we threw our plates away and Ryder put the empty pizza box on thecounter in the corner beside the refrigerator. Then he leanedagainst the marble and studied my face.

“Even though we don’t needto make a run to the store, do you want to take a ride on the backof my bike? The fresh air will do you good. I think it will helpyou relax and hopefully sleep well tonight.”

Oh my God. A motorcycle ride. Icouldn’t stop the nervous excited butterflies from taking flight inmy stomach.

“You’ve never been on abike, have you?” His dark eyes twinkled with amusement.

“It’s written all over myface, huh?”

“In huge block letters. Butit will be fun and safe, I promise.”

“I trust you.”

He gave me an odd look I couldn’tdecipher, but it bordered on a cross between pleased and hesitant.“Finish your water and get ready to go. We’ll leave in five. Oh,and I liked you wearing my shirt, but you look good in that outfitas well. It’s probably more comfortable too. And definitely betterfor a ride.” With that, he strolled back the hall.

I downed the rest of the first bottleand then half of the second before stopping in the bathroom andthen meeting him back in the kitchen. I followed him into thegarage where he led me over to his bike.

“That’s my Hog. AHarley.”

It was a simple black, no othercolors. “It’s very . . . impressive?”

He chuckled. “You’re not sure you likeit?”

“No, it’s very nice. I justdon’t know how you compliment a bike.”

Snatching a helmet from a bench alongthe wall, he stopped in front of me and situated it on my head,tucking my hair into it. “You complimented it just fine. Now whenwe get back to the house later and you tell me it was one hell of aride, that will be a great compliment.”

After he threw his right leg over hisbike, he patted the spot behind him. “Straddle the seat behind meand wrap your arms tightly around my waist.”

I did as he instructed, my heartthudding wildly against my ribs, and pressed my cheek to theembroidered Twisted Flames patch on his vest, represented by orangeflames waving behind a skull and cross bones.

The garage door opened and he easedthe bike onto the driveway. Then once the door closed behind us, hedrifted down to where the road started, turned left and hit thegas. We cruised at a reasonable speed until we left theneighborhood behind us and hit a back road that took us more into acountry like area with stretches of road and very little houses.Then the bike gained momentum and it was like I was flying or morelike riding a thunder cloud. The rush of adrenaline was likenothing I’d ever experienced before. It was exhilarating but at thesame time calming and I could almost forget the horrible thingsthat had happened to me. I could almost pretend we were a coupleout for an adventure, without a care in the world. As his bikesoared along the country side, the smells of grass, hay, and farmanimals became crisper; the heat from the setting sun more vibrant;the country air whipping around us like playful pats; it was likemy senses opened up to a supersonic level.

I lost track of time and place and hadno idea how long we had cruised along the back roads before hestopped the bike at the end of a hay field.

He twisted his head to stare down atme. “You look like you are thoroughly enjoying yourself. But Ithought maybe you’d like to pause and watch the sun start to setand give your ass a little break before we head back.”

I hopped off of the bike and stoodthere just gazing at the hues of orange, purple, and red thepainter must have brushed the clouds surrounding the orange ballwith as it dipped toward the horizon. My body was relaxed but atthe same time re-energized.

“Ready to headback?”

I smiled over at Ryder. “Thank you somuch for this. I really needed this.”

“You’re welcome. But I loveto take off on my bike to clear my head too. So I did this as muchfor me as for you.” He patted the spot behind him.

For a moment, I worried my being herewas cluttering his head, but I quickly shoved it aside. He had toldme he wanted to help me and I had no reason to doubt he wasn’tsincere. Besides, he belonged to a club. I was sure there wasalways some type of business on his mind. He could have needed toclear his thoughts for many reasons. And really, someone asinsignificant as me couldn’t be one of them.

After crawling back onto his bike, Isnuggled up against him once again and allowed the sense oftranquility to rush over me as the motorcycle ate up the miles totake us home. When we pulled into the garage, the sun had longsince set and the serenity that had washed over me during theinvigorating ride settled deep in my soul, soothing away thetension from my muscles. Except in my ass, but there was noescaping that.

Slipping off of the bike, I unsnappedthe clasp on the helmet and slid it up over my head before shakingmy tangled hair. “Well, that was one hell of a ride.” I shot him aplayful grin.

“And I really believe youmean that.” Taking the helmet from me, he set it on the bench. “Youlook sexy with helmet hair.”

“You look sexy riding amotorcycle.” And when I didn’t have a problem with my mouth justrunning, I had an issue with saying lame shit. Shaking my head, Iwalked toward the door.

“Sweetheart, I look sexyall of the time.” After unlocking the door, he punched in a codeand motioned for me to step inside with him following.

Somehow I miraculously managed to keepfrom uttering my agreeance.

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