Page 36 of A Love Song for Dreamers

“And you didn’t tell me about it yesterdaybecause…”

Annie shakes her head. “Because it didn’tmatter.”

I don’t believeher.

It’s not my business, but it feels as if it is. The concern I felt for her, the irritation and contempt towards this faceless guy is still there, but it’s competing with something I’ve beenignoring.

The pull I’ve always felt when she’saround.

Knowing she was with someone made it easier not to stare at her too long, to think about what used tobe.

“Do you still have your bike?” she asks as she shifts inside the rentalcar.

“Yeah. It’s inLA.”

Annie shakes her head as she reaches for the seatbelt. “I always imagined you taking me onit.”

Adrenaline surges throughme.

“I imagined taking you on ittoo.”

The way my voice drops leaves no question as to what I’mimagining.

Her hands freeze on the seatbelt, those full lipsparting.

I force my attention out the windshield before she can reply, but as I pull out of the parking lot, it’s all I can thinkabout.

Her on mybike.

In mylap.

Bending her over my arm while I rock my hips into her, against her, that red hair trailing over thehandlebars.

Because the moment she told me she was single, the ruleschanged.

Not the rules for what happens next between us, but the rules for what goes on in my twistedhead.

We go back to my place, and she heads for the pullout couch in mysuite.

But I stop her, tugging her toward the bedroom. “You’re not sleeping on thecouch.”

I go to the dresser and grab a clean T-shirt, tossing it at her. She lifts her hands in surprise, catching it. “Thanks.”

“Sure.”

I reach for the bottom of my shirt and strip it over my head, tossing it on the nearbyarmchair.

Her eyes widen on mybody.

The last times we were together physically, I took my pain out on her. My fear. Myfrustration.

I want a chance to prove I’m not that guy anymore. Not because we have a future together, but because I want to show her the man I became while she wasn’tlooking.

I want to know if I can still make herscream.

“What’s that?” Annie’s attention drags to something across theroom.

I turn and see the object leaning against the wall by the dresser, the one that’s so familiar I barely notice itanymore.

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