Page 46 of Flynn

“Why did you tell me to wear a dress if you knew we were going on a bike?”

I took my place on the bike and started it up before flashing her a grin. “You’ll see. Climb on, tuck yourself in tight against me and hold on around my waist.”

Ara had another moment of concern before she did as I ordered. I waited as she bunched her dress up around her legs and tucked it beneath her thighs to prevent it from flying up. The feeling of her pressed against my back was a relief, and when she gripped the sides of my shirt, I pulled her arms all the way around me and she shuffled closer, plastered to my back. I ran through a few things with her, how to lean, which side to climb off and why. And if she needed to stop for any reason, she could tap my stomach three times, and I’d pull over as soon as I could.

When I was sure she was ready, I kicked up the stand, checked for traffic in the mirrors and pulled away from the curb.

We rode for a good thirty minutes, taking our time along the coast, looking at the incredible views the island had to offer. At first her grip on me nearly restricted my breathing, but before long she loosened up and I could her hear excited exclamations from behind me as we saw new sights around the island.

For practically the entire ride, I couldn’t stop grinning. Having Ara on the back of my bike, trusting me to drive with her, was a gift. I knew she’d been worried about riding on a motorbike, and to have her trust in this meant everything to me.

Another fifteen minutes later, I brought us to a stop beneath the shade of an enormous tree and turned the bike off. Chiara climbed off the bike, wobbling a little after being on the bike for so long, and when she finally pulled off her helmet and looked at me, her face was glowing.

“Oh mygod!” she cried.

I laughed and stood up, placing her helmet on the seat and wrapping her in my arms. “I take it you enjoyed yourself.”

“That was amazing, Flynn. Thank you for taking me for a ride. Thank you for helping me grow a little,” she said, her eyes shining bright. Fuck, that look on her face… a man would crawl across broken glass to see that look every day.

“You’re more than welcome, Angel. I knew you’d enjoy yourself.”

She beamed and leaned up to kiss me, and I let it drag on for a long moment, enjoying the feel of her, the taste of her. When we pulled apart, she dragged in a deep breath.

“Okay,” she said and stepped away. “So, what are we doing up here?”

I moved to the bike and unbuckled the plastic tub I’d brought with us. Turning back to face her, I smiled. “I thought we could have a picnic.”

Her eyes went wide and then she grinned and did something of a skip-hop. “Really?”

Laughing, I took her hand and pulled her closer to the tree. “Yes, really. I saw this out the window yesterday when we were on our way toTheSandy Bar & Grill.It looked like a nice spot.”

Chiara helped me take out the blanket and spread it out near the trunk of the tree, and once we sat down, I pulled out the breakfast spread I’d packed. Croissants, fruit, cheese, a couple of cuts of cold meat, and a few crackers. It wasn’t anything amazing, but it was a good spread. I even brought a thermos of orange juice and one with coffee so she had options.

“This is amazing, Flynn,” she said softly a little while later as I poured her a coffee. “Thank you.”

“No need to thank me, Angel.”

Truthfully, I’d do this and so much more to make her happy, and I ignored the part of my brain that urged me to think aboutwhyI was so willing. I wasn’t willing to explore that yet, though, andso I shoved that thought away and concentrated on the here and now.

Conversation flowed easily as we ate, but I realized it had always been that way between me and Ara. There were no awkward pauses where we felt a need to fill a silence. There was no floundering for something to say or making lame jokes to diffuse a situation. She had a way of making me want to talk, even if what we were talking about was not something I usually liked talking about.

I was sitting with my back against the trunk of the tree as we looked out at the beautiful view and Ara sighed.

“What is it?”

She shrugged. “I want to do something nice for you. Today was amazing, and last night was…” She blushed, and I grinned.

“Fucking spectacular? World-rocking?”

She giggled and dropped my gaze. “All of the above,” she agreed.

Christ, she was good for a guy’s ego. “I don’t need anything in return, Angel. I wanted to do something nice for you. It’s as simple as that.”

She frowned slightly and shook her head. “It really is like that for you, isn’t it? There was no ulterior motive from you, no quid pro quo. You just wanted to do something nice.”

I shrugged. “I mean, yeah. I planned on seducing you as well, but the ride and the picnic wasn’t my way of softening you up to it,” I admitted. “I have other means of doing that.”

She laughed. She was so easy to talk to, so easy to be with. More silence fell, and a few moments later, I caught Chiara watching me with an expression I was becoming very familiar with, and I let a slow smile spread across my face.

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