Page 77 of Psycho

I grabbed the keys to my bike.

I hadn’t taken her out on the bike before, but it was a nice day, and the last thing I wanted to be in was inside the encased space of my truck.

We walked out to the garage where I stored my bike and opened it, moving over to the helmet I had set on the backseat for her.

She pulled on my arms to get me to stop walking when she realized where I was leading her.

“Are we taking your bike?”

I turned and looked at her, my skin tingling from where she was still touching me.

“Yes. Is that a problem?”

“Yes, it’s a problem! I don’t want to fall off!” She yanked on my arm harder. I didn’t think she was even aware she was doing that.

I scoffed. “I’ve been riding since I was twenty. You really think I would let you fall?”

“Twenty?” She eyed me curiously. I waited for her to tell me what was on her mind. Then, “How old are you?”

One side of my lips curved up in a small smirk. “Thirty-seven.”

Her mouth gaped open. “You’re seventeen years older than me!”

“Is that a problem?”

“If I say yes, will you leave me alone?”

I laughed. Fuck, she was cute.

“Put on the helmet, baby.”

She shook her head. “I’m not your baby.”

I made a small noncommittal sound in the back of my throat and looked down at the hand she was still holding. She dropped it as if my skin burned her.

I turned away and grabbed her helmet.

She didn’t stop me when I put it on her and buckled it up. I pulled out a pair of Ray-Ban sunglasses and put them on her. I looked down.

Fucking adorable.

I shook my head at my thoughts.

Since when did I think of something or someone as adorable?

Maybe with Roman’s baby pictures, but now that fucker was grown and ugly.

There was nothing adorable about him.

His son, yeah… and now her.

I climbed on my bike and started it, the engine growling loudly in the space between us. I held out my hand to her, and she eyed it, looking like she was about to run.

“Scared?” I taunted.

She glared at me before she slammed her much smaller hand into mine. I wrapped my own around it, taking in the softness of her hand as I helped her climb on and pulling her in close to me before she could really react.

I felt her tense, but I didn’t say anything to that.

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