Page 81 of Not Part of the Plan
Emma glared up at him. “I’m starting to get a little tired of people thinking they know what I will and won’t and should and shouldn’t do.”
“That’s the spirit.” Niko slid a leg over the bike and patted the seat behind him. “Come on. It’s only three blocks, and I’ll split Carter’s twenty with you.”
He saw the rise and fall of her shoulders, her sigh of defeat.
Reluctantly she climbed on behind him. “What do I do with my hands?” she asked as he revved the engine to life.
“Hang on to me. Tight.”
It took her only two blocks to warm up to the bike enough that she demanded that he loop back so they could ride longer. Happy to oblige, Niko drove them out of town and grinned until his jaw hurt at Emma’s joy. He’d known she’d like it, known it would unlock that part of herself that she kept tamped down with rules and schedules and shoulds and shouldn’ts.
He had suspicions it had to do with her mother and needing a sense of control over her own life. Emma thought she could control her way through life and, in doing so, cut herself off from fun. He’d caught glimpses of her desires that ran that vein. There was nothing controlled or regulated about the girl who rode him to the stars on that park bench. He liked prying her open, liked delving beneath that prickly surface.
Emma tightened her arms around his waist, and he felt like all was right with the world.
She whooped in his ear as he accelerated down a straightaway, pasture on their left, woods on their right. He stuck to the speed limit, mostly, and let the roads lead them for another ten minutes before turning back toward town.
They made an entrance onto Main Street and drew even more eyes when, upon dismounting, Emma yanked off her helmet and gave him a smacking kiss on the mouth.
“Liked it, did you?”
“I want one,” Emma said definitively. “I want you to teach me how to ride, and then I’m getting one.”
“My pretty little bad ass.” He tapped her nose with affection. “How about we market—or whatever the appropriate verb is—first, and then we’ll go for a long ride this afternoon?”
“And maybe an even longer ride tonight?” Emma asked coyly.
“I see you two rode over,” Carter interrupted, standing on the sidewalk behind the handle of the double stroller.
“When I saw Niko brought his bike I just begged for a ride,” Emma said, batting her lashes at Carter. “I’ve always wanted to ride a motorcycle.”
Carter dug out his wallet. “You are so full of shit, Emma.”
She snatched up the twenty he pulled out and grinned. “Don’t bet against me, Carter. You’d be surprised what I’d do just to prove people wrong.”
Niko and Carter watched her sashay across the street to the market.
“Women,” Carter grumbled.
“Yeah. Women,” Niko grinned. “Where’s yours?”
“She’s helping man the stand while I walk the twins to sleep.”
Niko glanced down at two wide-eyed toddlers. “It doesn’t look like it’s working.”
Carter peered over the roof of the stroller. “Damn. I’d better walk faster.”
Niko grabbed his camera out of the bike’s saddlebag and jogged across the street. He found Emma pretending to admire the braided candles at a stand run by a woman who was a hundred and ten if she was a day.
“Ear wax melts the most evenly,” she was explaining to Emma.
Emma very carefully set the candle back down and wiped her hands on her jeans. “There you are!” she said to Niko in bright desperation. “It was nice seeing you Mrs. Allmamen.”
She latched onto Niko’s arm and steered him into the crowd. “Hurry before she tries to sell us breast milk yogurt.”
Niko stopped in his tracks. “Are you sure you don’t want a couple of nice ear wax candles for your dining table?” He jerked his thumb over his shoulder. “Because I could go back and get them for you.”
“That’s disgusting. You’re disgusting. And what’s with the camera?”
