Page 12 of Unveiled

He dried, dressed, and stepped into the living room in exactly fifteen minutes. Surprisingly, she was waiting on him, but she didn’t look like she’d just tossed something on. Julia was put together in a strappy green top, jeans, and a pair of short boots.

Rush caught himself smiling at how amazing she looked. Her hair was loosely braided to one side, her face clean and sun-kissed. Just a handful of minutes and she was ready to go. “You’re a rare woman, Julia.” The compliment just slipped out while he was imagining how badass biker she would look once he put his leather jacket on her.

“Why? Am I dressed wrong for a motorcycle? Or is Stavros’ place not this casual?”

“Nope and nope. I’ve just never known someone who could beat me at getting ready and look as beautiful as you do.” When she blushed, he noticed her freckles. Somehow, he’d overlooked them before, but for the life of him, he couldn’t imagine how. He reached into the coat closet and handed her a jacket. “Here, put this on.”

“No thanks, it’s way too hot.”

“It wasn’t a request, and it’s not for warmth, although when we hit sixty, you’ll be glad for it. It’s more for protection. Please, just wear it. Consider it a helmet for your arms.”

“Fine.” She answered with a warm look, one that felt as if they’d shared it a thousand times. “I’ll wear the arm helmet, but if I stink by the time we arrive, it’ll be all your fault.”

“Noted.”

They walked to the garage in silence. Rush hit the remote and daylight flooded in. Reaching for one of the helmets on the wall, he’d judged her to be a medium. Rush turned to find Julia not where he expected her.

Instead of by his motorcycle, she was standing next to his prized possession. He watched as she ran her fingertip sensuously along the lines of Betty. He never wanted to be a car so bad in his life.

“Holy shit, this is a Grand National.” He popped a half chub right there in the garage watching her touch a freaking car. Not just touch it, she was caressing it in awe. He was about to crank that up a notch if she really knew her cars.

“A 1987 GNX to be precise.” Her hand stopped and leapt off the hood like it was poison. When she turned to face him with her mouth agape, half-chub went full.

“Shut the front door! Really? They only made like a thousand of those or something.” She turned back to the car and he was all but forgotten as she bent down to look at it from all angles.

“Five hundred and forty-seven to be even more precise.”

“Wow. My dad wanted a Grand National so bad. He talked about it non-stop while we were rebuilding a piece of shit Regal he bought for three hundred dollars from some guy who had it on blocks in his yard.” Julia seemed lost in the car and the past. That deflated the problem in his pants. He’d never seen someone look so happy and so sad at the same time.

“I wish my dad were here right now. He wouldn’t believe his eyes. I can’t, either. I’m standing here with this amazing piece of machinery and I can’t share it with him. I’ll never share anything with him again.”

Rush closed the distance between them and had her in his arms before he gave a thought to what he was doing. His need to comfort her took over his entire being.

As soon as he wrapped her in his arms, she sank into his chest and cried. Rush said nothing, just let her give herself over to the grief she was feeling. What could he say anyway? There were no words that would help with what she was feeling. Instead of trying and possibly making it worse, he kept his mouth shut. That wasn’t Rush’s strong suit, he was a fixer. He fixed things, but she didn’t need someone to fix her. She wasn’t broken, just banged up.

The minutes ticked by and her sobs softened, but Rush still held her. I’ll never let go first, not with you. That thought rocked him back on his heels, but he pushed it away. This was about her, not his fucked-up ideas of relationships and women and whatever else was going on in his head.

A soft “thank you” preceded her pulling away slowly and dashing her hands across her cheeks. He missed her as soon as their contact was broken completely. Rush wanted to pull her back into his arms and kiss her senseless.

“You don’t need to thank me. But if you want to talk about. . .anything, I’m as good a listener as I am a hugger.” Rush couldn’t help himself, he wanted to make people smile, especially her. It’s what he did.

---