Page 33 of My Secret to Protect

He’s obsessed with her, and we can use that. I just need to remember that this thing between us isn’t real, and it’ll all be just fine.

I pick up my cell and open a message, ready to text Bree for the first time since she gave me her number today.

Me: Let me take you out tonight.

The dots of a reply start, then stop, then start again. And then it comes.

Bree: Like, as friends?

I can’t help the small smile as I read her words, knowing she doesn’t want to get too far ahead of herself.

Me: Nah, not as friends, pix. Wear something nice. I’m taking you on a date.

The thumbs-up emoji she sends in response makes me laugh loudly at her straight-to-the-point, no-fuss attitude as I pick up my sandwich and take another bite.

Not real, Arlo. It is not real.

Nineteen Years Ago

‘Canyougetaway?’I asked her as she leaned against the front of the van after bringing me a drink. She nodded. ‘I can’t be seen taking you out, so can you meet me?’

‘Yeah, I can.’ She smiled. I was taking her out on a date. Viking would put me in the ground if he found out after he warned me to stay away, but I didn’t care. Weeks of conversations, weeks of getting to know Bree, of her smiles and laughs, and the way she looked at me had me convinced that I’d risk anything for her.

‘7-Eleven. Eight o’clock?’ She nodded, smiling wide as she backed away. ‘Wear jeans. I’m taking you on a ride.’

I winked, and she bit her lip, and goddam, it was going to take all my strength to keep my hands off her, but I needed to. She wasn’t what I was used to or one of the girls at the club. I respected them, and I would never treat them badly, but they were there for sex, they knew it, they were happy with that, and we took advantage of it. It was my only experience of sex, it being on tap, but Bree was something else. She was the thing I never realized I was searching for until the moment she climbed out of that car all those weeks ago. I wasn’t going to blow this because I couldn’t keep my dick in my pants.

I got there early. I didn’t want her to be waiting alone, so I was leaning against my bike, my ankles crossed, when she pulled up into the parking lot and climbed out of her car.

I’d spent so long convincing myself how different she was from the women I was used to that I forgot who her dad was, so seeing her in jeans and boots, a black shirt and leather jacket hit me straight in the dick. Fuck. I was in trouble. I came into this so confident, but this girl, with her long brown hair and smart mouth, was going to have me on my knees.

‘Hey, short stuff,’ I said as she approached me and smiled. ‘You look good in leather.’

‘So do you.’ She moved her attention to my bike. She’d only ever seen me in the van, and I loved the way her eyes moved over my girl in appreciation. ‘Nice bike.’

‘Thanks, I assume you’re not new to riding.’

She smirked now and reached for the spare bucket helmet I’d brought for her, securing it on her head.

‘I’m not.’ I pulled mine on and straddled my bike, and she climbed on behind me, her thighs hugging my hips as she leaned forward and brought her hands around to my stomach so that her chest was pressed up against my back. ‘In any way.’

Fuck. End of me. She was going to be the end of me.

‘This is pretty,’ Bree said as we reached the spot I had dreamed of bringing her to. It was a forty-five-minute ride with her pressed up against me, and I never wanted to get here because it felt too good, but now, seeing her take in the view of the city, her hair full of the wind from the ride, her curves silhouetted against the setting sun, I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.

I pulled out the blanket I brought and laid it out on the ground so we could sit.

‘I love it up here,’ I admitted as she turned to see me sitting and moved to join me.

‘You bring girls up here often?’

‘Never, pix,’ I said, reaching up my hand to push her hair behind her ear.

‘You’re pretty smooth and kinda pretty, in like a really obvious way.’ I laughed when she rolled her eyes. ‘I bet they fall over themselves to be alone with you.’ For the first time, I saw some insecurity in her eyes, and I hated that.

‘I’ve never brought anybody else up here, Bree. Just you.’

And then she moved, giving me no warning before she pressed her lips to mine, and I knew I’d been right. I knew as my mouth moved against hers, her tongue rolled against mine, as I laid her down and her hands pushed up into my hair, as she moaned against my kiss and pulled me closer to her, that this girl was everything to me. One kiss changed the entire trajectory of my life, and nothing had ever felt so good.

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