Page 65 of Feeling the Heat: Part Two
The image of this massive man and the tiny dachshund rolling down the highway together is so adorable my ovaries might explode.
“Alright, gorgeous, are you ready?” Jackson asks, patting my hand resting on his taught stomach.
My heart rises into my throat, and I tighten my grip, planting my feet on the footrests and saying a silent prayer. “Yep,” I croak.
The engine rumbles to life, vibrating up through the seat. At least it’ll hide the fact that I might be shaking from nerves.
“Oh god,” I murmur as the motorcycle pulls out onto the street when there’s a gap in passing traffic. My eyes screw shut for a second, but that makes things worse.
“Breathe for me, Cami.” Jackson’s voice through the headset helps, and when I open my eyes again, I see that we’re barely going more than twenty miles per hour. “You good?”
“Maybe?” Now that we’re moving, it’s not that bad.
He’s careful as he navigates us through the city streets, the tail end of evening traffic thinning out as we get closer to the outskirts. As the nerves wear off and I relax into the ride, the purr of the engine and his nearness have a dull ache of need building between my thighs.
“Still doing okay back there?” Jackson asks when my breath hitches as he revs the engine and speeds up a bit.
“Y-yeah.” If we weren’t whipping down the empty street, I’m sure a cloud of my perfume would be choking us. “I’m good.”
Jackson chuckles and leans forward as he speeds up more,and I let out a squeal of surprise and delight as I grip him with all my might.
This is fun. No wonder he likes it.
I’m almost sad when he takes a turn into an empty parking lot, and slows to a stop. My heart is pumping hard from the adrenaline, and I tug the helmet off, my hair streaming out behind me in the evening breeze. The grin on Jackson’s face as he offers me a hand off the bike matches the one plastered on mine.
I beam up at him as he pushes a flyaway back behind my ear. “That was…awesome. Why did you stop?”
He chuckles. “We reached our destination. But I’m so glad you liked it. Felt incredible having you with me.”
“Yeah?” A flush rises on my cheeks at his heated gaze. I look away to stop myself from jumping him in the middle of… Wait, where even are we?
“Uh, why did you take me to an abandoned drugstore parking lot?”
He shrugs. “It’s secluded.”
“It’s creepy.”
Jackson shakes his head at me. “Appearances can be deceiving. Come on.”
My brow furrows as he takes my hand and tugs me toward the building. “Breaking and entering isn’t my idea of a fun date.”
He turns and rolls his eyes at me. “Trust me.”
“I do!” I huff, earning a pleased smile from the beta.
He tugs my hand again, and I follow, begrudgingly accepting that if Jackson says I’ll like whatever we’re about to do, I will.
We end up bypassing the boarded-up entrance, circling past an empty dumpster to the back of the building. “If you’resecretly a serial killer and brought me here to murder me, well played.”
Jackson lets out a booming laugh but doesn’t say anything as he pushes through a thin line of trees behind the building, making sure none of the branches scratch me.
“Seriously, what are we—Oh!”
I freeze when I see what’s on the other side of the trees. I didn’t realize how high up we were until I look down at the expanse of the city, sprawling out in twinkling lights below us. There’s a rusted railing to prevent people from tumbling accidentally over the edge of the steep hill we’re perched on, and an ancient picnic bench covered in moss.
It shouldn’t be special, but something about the forgotten, hidden nature of the spot has the tightness in my chest releasing. Jackson slides in behind me to wrap his arms around my waist and press his chest to my back as I continue to stare out at the unexpected vista.
“I know it’s weird, but I thought maybe you might like to go somewhere away from everything. I used to come here after work sometimes back when I was at the law firm I hated. Something about it felt like an escape. Like I could breathe again.”
