Page 50 of Things Good Girls Don't Do

He shook his head. “I’ve told you before, Firecracker, it’s not a bike.”

“Chopper, then. Are you going to kiss me or not?”

He kissed her and she leaned into him, not caring if anyone was watching.

I don’t want this to end.

Katie knew it would, though; he wasn’t the type of guy to stick around. He’d told her himself he didn’t like to stay in one place too long. He’d lived in six towns in the last twelve years, and when it got to the point that he was ready to go, he did.

Although he did say the house in Rock Canyon was the first one he’d ever owned. That meant something, right? Even on a subconscious level?

“I think your kisses are like crack,” she murmured.

Chuckling, he said, “If I’m crack, then you’re sugar. Probably why I can’t taste the bug. You’re so sweet.”

Katie melted at his words and pulled away reluctantly. “So, what do you want to do?”

Swinging off the motorcycle, Chase stretched out his arms and back, making his muscles twist and ripple. He was so wonderfully made; it was like a bunch of women picked all the best parts of a man and put them together to build him. Even the small studs in his ears added to his sex appeal.

“What do you say we just walk around? I haven’t really been up here except for snowboarding back in February.”

Of course he snowboarded. “Yeah, I don’t do that. Snowboard, I mean. The only thing I do in the snow is sledding down very small hills.”

Her stomach rolled excitedly when he draped his arm around her shoulders and said, “Well, maybe we’ll have to change that.”

She glanced up at him, and he looked a little surprised, like he couldn’t believe he’d said that. He might be regretting the slip, but it gave her hope. If he was imagining them doing things together in six months, maybe he wasn’t thinking this was just a casual thing anymore either.

Chapter Ten

CHASE PULLED UPto Katie’s house at half past ten and she was yawning as she swung off his chopper. He’d had a great time with her, making her try sushi, and laughing when she’d made a twisted, disgusted face. They’d checked out the town, and she’d told him about the different stars who lived in the area, even taking him to what she said used to be Bruce Willis’s house.

Afterward she’d shown him this beautiful place, where a creek ran just under the majestic Sawtooth Mountains year-round. They’d sat under a pine tree, him leaning back against it and her leaning back against him. She’d told him more about her mother, about watching her friends dye their hair or get second holes in their ears, and her mother telling her that employers didn’t want to hire people who didn’t look professional. She’d never wanted to do anything major, but her mother had not been a big fan of anything that altered the appearance unnaturally.

“That’s what started my list at Buck’s,” she’d said. “I was just sitting there thinking how I’d done almost everything she had wanted and I was alone, while other women who had done everything else had husbands and families. It wasn’t fair.”

He’d hugged her. “It’s not about how good you are or how many rules you follow. You just have to meet someone you can stand to live with for a lifetime and go for it.”

“Gee, that’s romantic. Not someone I can love, just stand,” she’d said.

“Girls always want to talk about their feelings and beat a subject to death, whereas manly men like myself like to just say, ‘Hey baby, you wanna do this thing?’” he’d said.

She’d burst into that charming laugh, ladylike snort and all. “Not all guys are like that.”

“Uh, yes they are, unless they’ve conformed to the romantic-comedy standard of what a relationship should be.”

“I’m not looking for the perfect rom-com relationship. I’d just settle for someone to love me for me.”

“You mean the sweet, docile version of you who cuts hair and never steps out of line, or the quick-witted, naughty girl who isn’t afraid of anything?” he’d asked.

“I want to be both. I can follow my mother’s ideals without letting people take advantage. And I can tell people how I feel without being brutal. I just need to find a happy medium,” she’d said.

After that, the subject had changed to her work. How much she loved cosmetology, creating something that brought people so much joy and confidence.

“That moment when I’m done blow-drying or curling and I show them their hair, it’s like they’re seeing themselves in a new light. They feel good and they walk a little straighter. Not that I always have happy clients, but for the ones that get that little spark afterward, that’s why I love it.”

He’d understood what she meant. She was an artist in her own way, just like he was.

They’d spent several hours in that place, talking, teasing, and touching. He couldn’t seem to get enough of being near Katie. She was soft and warm, with just enough spice. She really didn’t like to hurt people’s feelings, which he had to give her mom props for. She’d raised a decent human being.

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