Page 12 of Tentacles for Christmas
Rowen blanched at my wink and I got to watch the color bloom on his pale cheeks. He had less freckles than when we met at the end of summer, so the blush stood out even more. I had to hope it wasn’t too far.
“You think… I mean–” Rowen cleared his throat as he set his load down in the back of the truck. “Thank you?”
“You’re welcome.” Chuckling I put my stuff down as well and waited for the man to close up the truck and say goodbye. Turning to find Rowen checking me out, I finally bit the bullet. “Are you hungry?”
“Yes, I do,” Rowen answered quickly before rubbing his beard and blinking. “I meant, yes, I am.”
Holding back my grin at how adorable he was, I made myself more clear. “Do you want to get something to eat with me?”
A tentative expression passed over Rowen’s face, something between excitement and fear, and I swear something changes in his eyes. The pupils looked longer and the brown almost looked like it flashed. But the sun was setting, and he had glasses on, so it was probably a trick of the light.
Before I could take my question back, he replied. “I would, yeah.”
“Awesome!” I couldn’t hold back my wide grin. Rowen had finally said yes to a date with me. “How about the pizza place with the silly name?”
“The Firehouse,” Rowen informed me, though I did remember. He was shy, but I liked how direct Rowen was. “Do you want to go now?”
“Sure,” I agreed, eager to get the date part of our evening started. Only one problem… “I walked here, though.”
“Oh, I drove my bike,” Rowen explained, and started walking towards the parking lot. “Would you be comfortable on the back of my bike?”
Would I be comfortable holding onto the hottest man in town, my body pressed against his?
“Abso-fucking-lutely!”
Resisting the urge to reach out and take his hand, I followed Rowen to his bike, one of the last vehicles in the lot. It was low to the ground, black with red details, and had “Harley Davidson” painted on the side of the gas tank. The back seat didn’t have a backrest, but to me that meant I would have to hold on tight.
A hardship I would be happy to endure.
Rowen offered me his helmet, and when I made a face he shrugged. “It’s only a mile or two up the road, and we don’t have many cops around here. I’ll be fine.”
The idea of him crashing and getting a head injury didn’t sit right with me, but I had to trust he knew his own capabilities. “If you insist.”
“I don’t want you to get hurt. That’s the most important part.”
Shoving the helmet over my thick curls, I found my hair made up for having a smaller head and the helmet fit alright. Rowen made sure the strap was tight before straddling the bike and telling me to hop on.
Taking his hand, I threw my leg over the back of the bike and gave him space as the engine roared to life and he straightened us up from the kickstand. As much as I wanted to cling to him, consent was a thing.
Rowen took the decision off of my plate when he reached back, tugged on my hand to wrap around his belly, and I was forced closer. Not that I was complaining.
“Ready?” Rowen called over the engine and the muffling effect of the helmet. I nodded as the warmth of his body seeped into me. “Hang on tight.”
With pleasure.
The drive up Main Street along Blue Lake was pretty and I loved being pressed against Rowen, but was sadly as short as he’d said it would be. When we parked at the pizza place, I hopped off first and handed Rowen the helmet.
“That was fun! Can we do that again, sometime?”
Oops. Did I just ask for a second date before we were fully into the first one?
Thankfully, Rowen only laughed. “Sure. Maybe around the lake or a lesson like you mentioned?”
Damn, who was this man and what had he done with the oblivious customer who kept turning me down? Still, I was glad he remembered.
“Sounds like a date.” I bit my lip to temper my excitement in case I’d gone too far, but Rowen only tilted his head towards the entrance. Not a yes, but not a no, either.
We walked into the building, and I almost tripped on the rug. Rowen caught me.