Page 36 of Her Maine Risk

“Don’t pretend you know me.”

“I’m not,” I defend. “I was just trying to say that you could surround yourself with as many people as you’d like, and you could still feel alone, or lonely.”

“What makes you think I’m lonely?”

“I don’t know.” I shrug. “You seem to put on this bravado persona, but you still keep yourself at a distance. And I know what that’s like. I’ve always kept myself at a distance from people, my friends included. The difference being that they already know I do. They know I don’t talk about things unless I really need them. I don’t know why. I just… I guess I’m cautious? Guarded? It can make me feel like I’m alone a lot. But I know if I needed them, my friends would drop everything for me.”

“You think I keep myself at a distance?” he asks. “There’s nothing wrong with being guarded.”

“I know that. Better than most, really.” Placing my empty coffee mug down next to me, I lean forward on the railing and rest my chin on my hands. “But I think there will come a time when we have to let that guard down, right? Let someone see who we really are?” I meant to ask this all in my head, but the words seem to have spilled from my lips on their own.

“One day, yeah,” he says, and I roll my head to the side to look at him. I expected him to laugh it off, or make some well quipped joke, but he looks like he’s actually mulling over what I said.

I know there has to be more to him than what I see – the women, the attitude. But I didn’t think he’d actually admit that.

Maybe I judged him too soon?

“Do you want me to take you home now?” he asks after a minute.

I really don’t, but I have no excuse to stay longer. “Sure. But, uh, I’m kind of nervous,” I tell him, chewing on my bottom lip. “I’ve never been on a motorcycle before.”

“I know. It’s my lucky day, gorgeous.”

“How so?”

“Because I get to feel you pressed up behind me, straddling my bike, knowing that I’m the only one who gets to experience it.”

Laughing, I stand up and smile coyly over my shoulder before walking back inside. “For now.”

“Oh, gorgeous, don’t play games like that,” he says after me, and I just laugh to myself as I sit on his couch to put my boots back on.

Taking his sweatshirt off, I replace it with my kimono and leather jacket, hating to lose his scent. I was enveloped in it, and warmth, with his sweatshirt. But now I’m just chilly in my cold leather jacket.

When I turn around to tell him I’m ready, my mouth stays open – frozen. Alex has his back to me, and his ass is looking sexy in his boxers as he switches his sweats for jeans.

Sitting on the bed, he starts to put on his moto boots when he looks up, catching me standing stock still, watching him.

“See something you like, gorgeous?”

“What? No,” I say, looking down quickly, pretending to search for something in my purse.

His low chuckle vibrates through me, and I bite the inside of my cheek – holding back a moan. I wonder what that deep, throaty sound would feel like against my skin as he whispered sweet, sexy words in my ear.

“Ready?” he asks, and I look up, seeing him shove his arms into a leather jacket. Oh, sweet Jesus. He looks like James Dean. All he needs is sunglasses and a cigarette hanging from his lips.

“Mhmm,” I hum, shoving my hands in my pockets.

Following him out the door, he locks it behind us and I lead the way down the stairs.

I climbed these last night when I was drunk? Shit, they’re steep.

“Um, you have a helmet for me, right? I’m not trying to die.”

“I’d never let you get hurt, gorgeous.”

“That doesn’t mean I don’t need a helmet. I can’t just take you at your word.”

“You could try,” he says, running a hand through his hair, and looking at me with hopeful eyes. “But I know you won’t. So, yeah, I have a helmet for you.”

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