Page 15 of Clear Shot (Lauderdale Knights #9)

Hana

The day goes by in a blur. Between cleaning up the kitchen, showering, packing, and helping Aiden close the storm shutters, it’s almost dinnertime before we’re ready to go. He dropped off our suitcase an hour ago, and now we’re doing one last check to make sure we’re not forgetting anything.

“I think we’re good,” Aiden says, hands on his hips.

“Then let’s go.” I grab my purse and drape it across my body so I won’t have to hold onto it while we’re on the motorcycle.

I’ve avoided riding with him since we got married because I enjoy it far too much.

He took me riding a few times when we first met and there’s nothing like the feeling of being on the back of a motorcycle.

The insides of my thighs pressed against his hips and upper leg.

My arms around his waist, face against his back.

With the wind blowing through my hair and his strong body against mine, it’s heaven. If we could ride forever, I’d never get tired of it.

My hair’s in a ponytail now, though, and he hands me his extra helmet as we lock up the apartment and head down to the parking garage.

His SUV should be fine since it’s an underground garage, and the apartment is closed up tight.

It feels a little weird to be leaving the place I’m just starting to consider home and I pause for a moment, staring at the framed picture of us I’d taken such pains to put on the shelf.

He hasn’t noticed, or chose not to acknowledge it, and it’s a little bit of a bummer.

“You okay?” Aiden asks, glancing over at me.

“Yup. Let’s go.” I follow him into the hallway and down to the garage.

We get on his Harley Davidson and he pulls into traffic.

It’s a gorgeous day, with a blue sky and a light breeze. Humidity is low too, so it’s perfect for riding.

“Can we take the long way?” I yell. “I just need a few extra minutes of sunshine and the wind in my face.”

He grins and nods. “Fuck yeah.”

He guns it, taking off down the street and turning east.

Toward the beach.

That’s the cool thing about our current situation—we were friends first. So even though we’re in a complicated phase of things, we know each other pretty well.

He knows I love the beach, being on the back of his bike, and Chinese food.

He knows my paternal grandmother stepped in to help raise us after our mother died, and we’ve even talked about the reasons I don’t want to go back to Slovakia.

He knows me on a different level than most men I’ve dated, even serious boyfriends I’ve had.

Because Aiden is different.

I knew it the moment we met, which is why I took great pains not to sleep with him. And I really wanted to. Luckily, he understood the complexity of our situation with me being his teammate’s sister and the potential geographical distance between us.

So being friends felt okay. Normal. Easy.

Marrying him felt easy too.

Until now.

Now I’m struggling because I want him.

I want more than just a marriage that affords me access to a visa.

And I think he wants that too.

He just doesn’t want the same future as I do—and that’s something we may not be able to fix.

“Hang on,” he yells, as he pulls onto A1A and guns the engine. We lurch forward and my arms tighten around him.

God, I fucking love this.

I close my eyes and put everything out of my mind, allowing myself to just…feel.

The rumble of the engine vibrating between my legs.

The wind whipping across my face and arms.

Aiden’s warm, muscular body pressed to mine.

A stolen moment in time that belongs to just us.

Me and my husband.

Aiden and me.

It’s getting dark so street lights are on, but I barely see them as we zip past. Traffic is light, probably because everyone has already found a place to hunker down for the storm, so this is truly a special moment.

“Faster,” I whisper.

There’s no way he heard me over the engines and the wind, but he speeds up anyway. We’re that in tune to each other sometimes.

I should be afraid.

Going this fast is dangerous and illegal, but I trust him.

Aiden won’t let anything happen to me.

By the time we hit the Broward/Palm Beach County line, Aiden slows down and turns back west. It takes another thirty-five minutes before we get to Mr. Knight’s sprawling estate in the western suburb of Parkland, and the gate is open for us to pull in.

I don’t want to let go, or lose the magic of our ride, but there isn’t any choice.

“Go ahead and get off,” he tells me, “and I’ll put my bike in the garage.”

I nod and slide off the bike, avoiding his gaze because I’m afraid he’ll see how much I want to keep touching him.

“Hey.” He calls to me softly so I have no choice but to turn. “We’ll do that again.”

Then he guns the accelerator and heads toward the parking structure off to the side of the house.

It’s a five-car garage attached by a covered walkway and I can see there are already five cars in there.

But someone left a space for his bike and he maneuvers it in, and a man I don’t recognize goes over to make sure the vehicles are parked properly before starting to close all the doors.

Aiden meets me at the front door to the house and Mr. Knight opens it with a smile.

“Welcome. Come on in.”

“Thank you for inviting us,” I say politely. We’ve met a few times, but I don’t know him that well.

We move inside, but he stops us in the hallway. “Listen. My buddy Atlas has a private jet leaving out of the West Palm Beach airport in an hour.” He pauses. “But there’s only room for one.”

“Go,” Aiden says to me automatically. “I can take you and?—”

“No.” I don’t know where the word came from, but it pops out before I’ve really thought about what I’m saying. “If you’re staying, I’m staying.”

I’ve lost my mind for this guy.

I should be running for that jet but instead, I’m going to stay in a category 5 hurricane because I’m falling for my husband. There’s probably therapy in my future over this, but it’s too late now because Aiden is watching me carefully.

“Give us a minute, boss?” he asks quietly.

“Of course.” Mr. Knight walks away, and Aiden puts his hands on my shoulders.

“You should go.”

“Not without you.”

Our eyes lock, and the expression on his face reflects the same myriad of emotions I’m feeling: Worry, guilt, and confusion, tempered with a sprinkling of surprise and maybe a touch of pleasure.

He wants me to stay with him.

“I’ll be fine,” I whisper. “As long as I’m with you.”

“I can protect you from a lot of things,” he whispers back in a gruff voice, “but not natural disasters.”

“We’ll be safe here. Isn’t that why we came? Because we would be safe here?”

“Yes, but?—”

I lean over and firmly press my lips to his. “I’m not leaving you, Aiden.”

His hands move to my hips and then drop down to the top of my backside. “Are you sure?”

“Positive.”

“If anything happens to you?—”

“Nothing is going to happen. This place is a fortress. Did you see those hurricane shutters? We’re probably locked up tighter than Fort Knox right now.”

“What am I going to do with you, Hana?” He looks simultaneously pleased and exasperated.

“I guess you’ll have to stick around and find out.”

“All right.” He closes a hand around mine and we go in the direction Mr. Knight went.

We find him in a large family room area with a phone pressed to his ear. “Yes or no?” he asks abruptly.

I shake my head. “No. I’m staying.”

He nods. “Thanks, Atlas, but I guess we’re all set here…

yup. See you next week in LA.” He listens to something, smiles, and nods.

“Can’t wait to hear all about it. Safe travels.

” He disconnects and looks around. “Okay, Flora will show you to your room and then we’re grilling steaks out back.

I’m not sealing up the back patio until we have to. Go settle in and then meet us outside.”

“Thank you.” Aiden says to him.

“Of course.”

A woman whom I assume is Flora appears out of thin air and motions for us to follow her up the stairs. She leads us to a bedroom at the back of the hallway.

“It’s ensuite,” she tells us, “and the bathroom should have anything you need. Towels, soap, toothpaste, etcetera. This is the intercom.” She points to a key pad on the wall. “Just pick up the phone and dial zero. That gets you to me. If you need Mr. Knight, dial zero-zero-seven.”

I snort with amusement, and Flora rolls her eyes. “Don’t get him started. He thinks he’s funny.”

“I think he’s funny too,” I agree, and we laugh.

“Dinner will be ready in ten minutes. If either of you have any allergies, please let me know right away.”

Aiden and I both shake our heads.

“Excellent.” She turns and quietly leaves the room.

“This is nice,” I say, looking around. “Better than a hotel.”

“For sure.” He kicks off his boots and sits on the edge of the bed. “You sure you don’t want to get on that jet?”

I roll my eyes. “No. I do not. I want to stay here with you.”

My intention wasn’t for that statement to have double meaning but the moment the words are out, I realize they do.

And I have zero regrets.