Page 67 of The Belle and the Biker

I hurry to yank open the front door and then stop in my tracks with the door wide open.

Crash is there, all right, but I barely recognize him. He's wearing a three-piece suit that's too big for him, and he's nervously tugging at his necktie like he's afraid it's going to strangle him. And he's trimmed his beard.

On the rickety table, there is a snowy white tablecloth and a bud vase with a single fake sunflower.

"Sunflowers weren't in season," he says, looking embarrassed.

But he remembered.

"It's perfect. That way, it won't die, and I can keep it forever."

I look at the place settings. He has half a dozen forks, spoons, and knives for each of us. He's mixed in steak knives and butter knives and teaspoons and tablespoons. There are three water glasses next to each plate.

He's cooked two delicious, fatty steaks, my absolute favorite, and baked potatoes and got us a bottle of red wine. He's already poured it—into water glasses.

Tawny and Tank were keeping me busy so he could do all this for me. They never even really needed me to go to the vet.

"I figured you could use some cheering up." He looks anxiously at the table. "Did I set it right? I remember your great-aunt had a lot of extra silverware. That's a rich people thing, right? You always put out extra silverware and glasses? I mean, I knew some rich people once, but they were kinda more new money, and they just had normal place settings, but…"

Vaguely, I wonder when he knew rich people. It doesn't matter, though. What matters is what he did for me today. He, Tawny, and Tank. I've been an absolute crab for days, and instead of running for the hills, they rallied for me like family.

"You did it exactly right." I blink back tears.

"And I got this suit." He tugs on the necktie again.

"You don't have to wear that for me," I tell him. "You're perfect the way you normally dress; that's the Crash I fell for."

"Oh, thank God." He quickly undoes the tie, unbuttons the top buttons of his shirt, and shucks out of his jacket.

"More," I say.

He gets a roguish gleam in his eyes.

"How much more?"

"Strip down to our skivvies."

"Why, Miss Savannah. I never thought you'd ask."

He shucks out of the suit so fast you'd think it was on fire, and I do the same with my clothes. I stand there openly admiring. I love that I no longer have to hide how hot I find him. He's got the perfect broad chest, narrow tapered waist, muscular legs…

Then he does a double take.

"Wait, did you say that you fell for me?"

"The first day I saw you."

He pulls out the chair for me to sit down and then sits in his chair.

"You had a funny way of showing it."

"Well, so did you," I huff at him.

He nods, cutting into his steak. "I guess I could have tried harder. I could try harder now, and I could be less crude."

"I could be less judgmental."

"Yeah, that's true."

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