Page 73 of My So-Called Perfect Life

“Savage would have been shanking you.” I say. “You’re lucky that’s all I did.”

Ryan seems to find this interaction all too amusing as he just stands there grinning. “Ladies, ladies . . . no fighting. There’s enough of me to go around.”

“See . . . it’s all good, Dani,” Mercy instigates. “We can both sit on his bike.”

“Don’t push me,” I glare at her. “I have a key to your place and will slip in, in the middle of the night, and shave your head.”

My threat goes ignored as she just laughs. “Whatever. Just get on the man’s bike.”

I shake my head adamantly. “Not a chance.”

“Come on, Dani Girl,” Ryan says grabbing my hand, pulling my body into his. “Live a little.”

“I want to live a lot, not just a little, hence why I’m not getting on that bike.”

Ryan places a finger under my chin and lifts it, looking me directly in the eyes as he speaks. “Do you honestly think I’d let anything happen to you?”

His words are sincere, I have no doubts about that. “Not everything is within your control, Ryan.”

“Trust me. Be adventurous with me,” Ryan counters. “Adventure never hurt anybody.”

I quirk my eyebrows at him. Has he so quickly forgotten? “The last time I decided to be adventurous, I gave you Chlamydia.”

His smile is bright, almost brighter than the sun setting behind him. “And look at how great that turned out for us?”

I nibble my lip as I stare at the bike behind him. Could I get on that thing? The way Mercy was talking before, it seems like something to experience.Remember that time you thought you’d have to be scraped up like roadkill after Ryan was finished with you?My subconscious asks.This . . . this is that time.

Ryan pulls me flush against him and stares into my eyes. “I’m not going to force you to get on this bike Danielle. But I think you’d enjoy letting your hair down a bit. I’m not going to strap you in and then hurdle through the city streets at a hundred miles an hour. We’ll start off slow. I was planning on heading just outside of town, on the back roads. A quick little trip and then back for the evening rush at the bar. What’d ya say?”

I want to sayHell No!but part of me also wants to sayHell Yeah!thinking about holding onto him and letting him take me on one of his adventures, even if this is just a little one for him.

“Oh, for Christ’s sake.” Mercy throws her hands up. “Will you just get on the damn bike?”

Ryan cocks his head to the side and raises an eyebrow in question.

“You promise you aren’t going to let me die?”

His laugh is rich as he tosses his head back drawing my attention to his Adam’s Apple. “Dani Girl, I swear"—he places his hand over his heart—"on my life, I won’t let anything happen to you.”

* * *

Wrappedin leather pants over my shorts, a leather jacket over my t-shirt, and a helmet that Ryan bought for me, I sit on the back of Ryan’s bike ready to crap my pants.

“Wrap your arms around my waist,” he directs. “Make sure you stay loose and lean with me.”

I squeeze my arms around him as my heart hammers inside my chest as if it’s on crank or crack or speed. He starts the bike and the metal comes to life. It purrs under me sending vibrations throughout my body. I press further into Ryan and squeeze my eyes shut knowing that he’s about to pull away from the curb.

“Trust me, Danielle,” he shouts above the roar of the bike.

He gently pulls into the street going slow. My heart knocks against my rib cage.

Okay, this isn’t so bad.Ryan doesn’t zip down the block but keeps his word and goes at a low speed.

The air whistles through the helmet as I watch the buildings, streetlamps, and bus stops go by. I see when Ryan reaches the exit for the freeway to take us out of the city.

My fingers dig into Ryan’s side as I close my eyes as if that will help ward off the increase in speed I know is coming with getting on the highway,

A tension ball of fear is lodged right in my throat closing off my airways as the bike propels forward. I gasp but it feels like I took in zero air. A tingle runs through my body. An excitement zings as the wind picks up my hair. I can feel the way Ryan’s abs flex with the turn, and the bike under us surges onto the road like a bat out of hell, or at least it feels like it.