Page 54 of Over & Out

“Exactly. It’s absurd, first of all, because imagine a group of, like, six triangle players.”

I start banging the triangle to an imaginary beat.Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding!

Hopper comes over and takes the stick from me. He dings the triangle dramatically, his eyes all serious on me.

I burst into laughter. “Youaregood at that!”

This time Hopper laughs too, a rare and stomach-tickling sound. “Apparently we were big in experimental rock circles,” he says.

It takes me a good amount of time to calm down after that.

Finally, Hopper asks if I want to keep jamming or see the ride he was thinking about taking out.

My laughter at that finally dies off after he whips the cloth off the most beautiful motorcycle I’ve seen in my freaking life.

“Shutup,” I say, walking around the red street bike, a Ducati Multistrada V4 S.

“Too bad you don’t ride,” Hopper says, a smile spreading on his face.

“You’d be okay with riding behind me?”

“Why not?”

“You might be the first man I’ve ever met who’s secure enough in his masculinity to be okay with that.”

He shrugs. “Not like my steel sword’s going to fall off.”

“Hey!” I exclaim. He just quoted the Duke. “That wasn’t in the movie, which means—Hopper Donnach, you read the books!”

“And you know that line wasn’t in the movie, which means you watched it. Possibly more than once.”

My mouth falls open. But I’ve been caught.

Hopper laughs. A big, chest-deep laugh I’ve never heard out of him before.

“You tricked me!”

And holy shit, his eyes actually darken like the Duke’s do in the books. He tilts his head forward. “Aye, milady.”

I swear toGodmy knees go weak. I have to grip the bike seat to focus on standing, like it’s a special new skill I’ve acquired. “Stop.” My cheeks burn like that time the Duke got scarlet fever.

Hopper tilts his head. “Wait a minute. What else have you watched? Youarea Hopper Donnach superfan. I knew it.”

His tone is teasing. Still, I narrow my eyes. “No, you cocky piece of—I’m aDukesuperfan. I was long before you pulled on those britches.”

Hopper nods, spreading his mustache with his fingers in that way of his that makes little tingles zip down low. “So it would do nothing for you if I said something like, ‘There’s pain in your heart, isn’t there, my sweet Daffodil?’”

I scream. I actually scream. “Stop!” But I’m laughing. And maybe crying. “What kind of monsterwouldn’tbe affected by that?”

Hopper laughs. Then he registers that I’m not just laughing. “Hey,” he says. “You okay?”

I wipe the tears from my eyes. “Oh my God. It’s so stupid.”

He walks around the bike, gently gripping my shoulders and dipping his face down so he can look into my eyes. He cups my cheek, the rough pad of his thumb brushing away a tear I missed. I feel myself flush, and it must be visible, because he glances at my cheeks, his lips turning up slightly for a moment before he meets my eyes again. For a moment, I only see the Duke, and, of course this makes me almost swoon.

“It’s not stupid, Chris,” Hopper says.

“Yes it is,” I squeak. “You’re not him. I just—those books have helped me through a lot. I’ve been reading them since I was a teenager.”

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