Page 23 of Riding with the Bad Boy

Her head shot up. “Why would I do that?”

I swallowed down my nerves. “Because it would give you some space from all the wedding madness,” I suggested. “And I want you to stay with me.” There, I said it.

“Rocco.” I didn’t like the way she said my name. Almost as if she felt sorry for me.

“I’m serious, Danni.” I glanced over real fast. “I want you to stay with me. Not just this weekend.” I breathed in and took the plunge. “I want you to stay with me for good.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I don’t want this to end,” I told her. Man, I wished I could hold her hand. I thought about pulling over so I could look her in the eye, but I was too scared of what I would see. Staring at the road made my confession easier.

“I...I...” Was I ready to tell her I loved her if I didn’t know how she felt?

“I really like you, Danielle.” I felt like an ass for settling. “I’ve always liked you, and I know I said I didn’t do relationships, but I want to give this a chance with you.”

She was quiet for so long that I worried I was in for another heartbreak. Finally, I heard her shift in her seat.

“You don’t have to do this.” Her voice was so quiet I had to strain to hear it over the engine.

“Do what?”

“Pretend you want something you don’t.” She replied. “I’m the one who changed things on you.”

“I’m not pretending.” I shook my head. “I mean it. I don’t want to let you go.”

“I don’t what to let you go, but that’s just about the sex.” I could see her shrug out of the corner of my eye. “It’s better this way. No one gets hurt, and no one loses anyone down the road.”

“Better for whom?” I didn’t mean to get angry. I understood her fear, but damn it, I was doing all I could here. “I thought you said you wanted more, and here I am offering it to you, and you don’t want it?”

“I don’t want you doing this out of guilt or your desire to keep fucking me.” She shot back. “I don’t need you to be someone you’re not.”

Her words cut through me. Someone I’m not. Did she honestly believe I couldn’t be a boyfriend? That I couldn’t be everything she needed? Had I only been fooling myself this week?

“I really care about you, Rocco, but it’s better if we just accept that this is over.” She waved her hand between us. “I’m sorry.”

I didn’t say anything. My mind and heart were far too tangled up to reply. She was scared and there was nothing more I could do but let her figure it out.

I WATCHED DANIELLEwalk into the hotel and, in theory, out of my life.

Was this how things were going to be from now on? I’d see her around town when she was showing a house or there for a chamber of commerce meeting. Maybe we’d run into each other if we were both visiting Dermott and Daphne? She’s start dating, and I’d have to see some other asshole with his hands on the woman I loved?

Fuck that.

I pulled up Dermott’s number and put the call on speaker as I drove off. I needed advice, and as much as I knew Seb would help, I had a feeling Dermott would be better.

“Hey man, did you get the motorcycle?” He answered.

“Yep, and she’s amazing.” I had flashes of Danni bent over the seat screaming my name, and I had to breathe out to stop myself from getting hard.

“Cool.”

“Yeah.” I jumped right in. “How did you know Daphne was it? I mean, I thought I knew before, but I was wrong, and I don’t want to be wrong again. I can’t be. Not this time.”

Silence, and then he let out the loudest laugh I’d ever heard, although that could have had something to do with the radio volume.

“I knew there was something going on between you and Danni.” He kept laughing. I turned down the radio so his voice wasn’t so loud. “Daphne bet me I was wrong, but I knew it. Thanks, man, I’m going to have fun collecting.”

“Don’t you have enough money?” I asked, like my family didn’t make silly bets every time we stepped into a bowling alley.

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