She lowered her gaze, rubbing the toe of her sneaker over a crack in the patio.
“Do you regret giving it up?”
She looked up. “It doesn’t matter, does it? I can’t go back and change it.”
“Your feelings matter to me even if the past can’t be changed.”
“I don’t know if I regret it. I couldn’t have ridden after we lost Eddie. I was traumatized. It scared me.”
“I know. It scared me, too. Does it still scare you?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know.”
He pushed to his feet and took her hand, bringing her up with him. “Let’s take a walk. I want to show you something.” He put the grate over the firepit, then went to the utility box on the back of the house and hit the button. Garden lights illuminated a path before them, leading into the woods.
“Whoa,” she said. “What kind of secrets are you hiding?”
“I’m about to show you.”
He slung an arm over her shoulder, and they walked along the path and through the bordering trees. When they got to the other side, he stopped by the brick column that housed a utility box and opened the control panel, flicking another switch. Spotlights bloomed to life, illuminating his five-acre motocross track, complete with a starting gate, berm turns, double and triple jumps, step-ups, tabletops, whoops (a long set of evenly spaced, few-feet-tall bumps that, if done right, riders skim the tops of), rhythm sections (continuous bumps that riders double, triple, or quad jump through), and other obstacles.
“Holy shit.” Her jaw gaped. “Did you build this?”
“Nah. Some asshole built it when I was sleeping.”
She bumped him with her shoulder. “Dare, this is amazing.”
“It’s a great track. Come on, let’s check it out.”
As they walked around the track, she oohed and ahhed about everything, her voice escalating excitedly. “Do you ride it often?”
“Pretty often. Some of the guys ride with me occasionally. You’re welcome to join me sometime.”
She tightened her hold on his hand. “I don’t know about that.”
“No pressure.” He drew her into his arms. “This is your track, baby. Ride it whenever you’d like.”
Her brows slanted, confusion rising in her eyes.
“I promised I’d build you one.”
She teared up. “But why would you, when you knew I gave it up?”
“Because you were grieving, and I thought you might give it a try again one day. Even if you didn’t, I wanted to keep the promise I made to the thirteen-year-old girl who had practiced her ass off, won trophies, and showed me that I could achieve anything if I tried hard enough.”
Tears slipped down her cheeks.
He took her face between his hands, brushing away her tears. “I hope those are happy tears.”
“They are, but I hate that I spent so many years being bitchy to you, while you were fixing my bike, making this track, and watching out for me.”
He gazed into her beautiful eyes and knew her tears carried tremendous pain, but that pain was coming out, which was a hell of a lot better than seeing her hold it in. “I fell in love with a stubborn girl who hates to cry, and I never saw your attitude as malicious. It’s your armor, and you wouldn’t be you without it.”
Chapter Twelve
BILLIE SHOVED HER hair dryer under the sink and rushed out of Dare’s bathroom Saturday morning, grabbing her underwear and cutoffs and pulling them on as fast as she could. They’d slept until eight o’clock, which neither of them ever did, and then they couldn’t keep their hands off each other in the shower, making her even later to meet her mother and sister for brunch at Grandma’s Kitchen, a diner in town. She quickly put on her bra and snagged her T-shirt from a chair by the dresser, willing herself not to look at Dare as he dried off from their shower. But that was like asking a starving woman not to eat, and she couldn’t resist stealing a glance. Her ridiculously needy body whimpered in desperation as he dragged the towel down his abs, biceps flexing. A slow grin appeared, and he stretched his arms out to his sides, giving her a full-on view of the orgasm master between his legs, which had turned her into a total nymphomaniac. Every time they were close, she wanted to be closer.
He reached down and gave his pleasure wand one slow tug, waking up the sleeping beast. She bit her lower lip. So unfair.
He raised his brows. “You could skip brunch.”
“I can’t. I promised my mom I’d be there. We don’t have breakfast together very often, like your family does, and after what my dad told me about how my pulling away from everyone affected them, I don’t want to let my mom down.”
“Babe, it’s okay. I think you should go. I was only teasing, or wishing out loud, even though I know you need to see your mom.”
She pulled on her shirt and hurried out of the bedroom, scanning the living room for her boots as she plucked the clothes she’d been wearing last night off the floor. Dare had stripped them off her the minute she’d arrived. She looked under the couch and glanced in the kitchen but didn’t see them anywhere. “Dare, do you know where my boots are?”
He came out of the bedroom wearing only a pair of worn jeans that hugged him in all the right places. “You kicked them off, and one hit the fireplace, remember?” He walked over to the fireplace and pulled her boot out from behind the fireplace equipment. “Found one.”
“Thank God.” She ran over to grab it and spotted her other boot behind a pillow on the couch. She snagged it and reached for the one Dare was holding.
He held it high out of her reach, and she glowered at him. “I just want a kiss, darlin’.”
It was hard to be mad when she wanted one, too. She went up on her toes, giving him a quick kiss, and sat down to put her boots on.
“I wish you were riding with me today,” he said.
He was going on a motorcycle ride with some of the guys. She loved riding motorcycles, but she’d given that up, too. She wasn’t afraid of them, but she wasn’t ready to jump on one again, either. “Maybe one day I will. You’re coming by the bar later?”
“Absolutely. I want to see you, and I’m meeting my father and brothers there after my ride.”
“They’re not riding with you?”
“No, they have shit to do. It’s just Rebel, Flame, Taz, and a few other guys.”
“Cool. Where are you riding?” She pushed to her feet, grabbed her keys from the coffee table, and went to grab her phone from the bedside table.
“Up to Stone Edge. Rebel’s buddies are bringing in six buses so I can practice my jumps.”
She stopped cold, a chill trickling down her spine. She turned to face him with her heart in her throat. “You’re jumping buses today?”
“Just six, they couldn’t get a seventh. Maybe next time.” He cocked his head, eyes turning serious as he came to her side. “Are you okay? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
“Maybe that’s because that might be all I see of you after today. I can’t believe you’re jumping buses. Why are you jumping buses?”
“Because it’s cool and fun, and I want to beat the world record eventually.”