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It only confirmed for me yet again that it had to end here. With me. No matter what it took. “A drive sounds nice.”
Fang escorted me around Vaughn, and I avoided looking him in the eye. I ran upstairs to change, then grabbed my purse from the entranceway. Outside in the crisp morning air, I rubbed my chilled arms briskly. “It’s cold out here.”
Fang pulled his jacket on. “Yeah, I got up early this morning and made a fire to keep the house warm. Wasn’t expecting to be out here with you, but your jacket is beneath the seat.”
I blinked at him. “I have a jacket?”
He shrugged. “After I drove you home the other day, I realized you didn’t have one suitable for being on my bike. So I bought you one…”
He handed over the leather jacket, still with the tags on it.
I caught sight of the price tag and did a double take. “You can’t afford this.”
He pushed it toward me again. “You need it. Queenie helped me pick it out. She swore you’d like it, but if you don’t, I’ll take it back. Get you something else…”
I slipped my arms into the sleeves and smiled up at him. “It’s perfect. I’ve never owned a single article of clothing that cost this much.”
He reached behind me, to the tag at the back of my neck, and snapped it off. “Now you do.”
He moved back, his face mere inches from mine. His gaze darted to my lips.
I sucked in a breath.
The thing about Fang and I was, we hooked up. We kissed in the heat of the moment, tongues tangling as foreplay, winding us both up for the main event.
We’d never kissed without it leading somewhere else.
Nerves suddenly flooded me, and it was like I was thirteen all over again, never been kissed, and standing in front of a boy, wondering if it was going to happen.
He seemed just as indecisive.
The moment passed.
He cleared his throat and straightened. “Come on, let’s take your new jacket for a test drive.”
I nodded, getting on the bike behind him and wrapping my arms around his waist. He tried to start the engine but jerked his hand away from the accelerator like it had burned him. He swore low beneath his breath to cover the sound of pain he’d let slip.
I peered around his broad back. “What happened?”
“Nothing. I’m fine.”
I slid farther around, and for the first time that morning, properly looked at his hands.
Two fingers on his right hand were swollen to twice their normal size. Which was alarming because his hands were huge to begin with.
I slapped his arm. “That’s broken.”
He shrugged. “Probably.”
“You need an X-ray.”
“Nothing getting drunk won’t fix.”
“You aren’t getting drunk at ten in the morning.” I slid off the bike and took my keys from my purse. “Come on. I’m taking you to the hospital. They can check your head while we’re at it.”
“We were going for a drive.”
“Yeah, well, we still are. Just now it’s to the ER.” I folded my arms across my chest when he didn’t budge off his bike. “Move it, Fang!”