Free Lost Hearts (The Unknowns Motorcycle Club Book 1) by Ruby Reid

food or…?”
     
    “Both,” he said.
     
    They finished washing the dishes in silence, but it was a comfortable silence. For reasons she did not understand, Amanda found herself thinking of the dream she’d had where Alex had been beckoning to her while she stood at Stephen’s grave.
     
    “I should probably go,” he said almost out of nowhere.
     
    The thought of him leaving and her being alone again made her sad, but she hid it very well. She searched for the satisfaction that still lurked in her, anchored by the slight twinge of pain in her back from their time on the floor. It was enough to keep her strong—to keep him from seeing that she did not want him to go.
     
    “Yeah,” she said. “A long day of riding, I guess. How long is it from here to Chicago anyway?”
     
    “Maybe another eight or nine hours,” he said. “As long as we leave by noon, we’ll be okay.”
     
    As if it had all been orchestrated, she suddenly found herself walking him to the door. It happened too fast for her liking and when she reached out to open the door for him, it was like moving underwater. He stood in the opened doorway, the street and the bright morning waiting behind him. He looked gorgeous.
     
    “All of that stuff you were saying before we ended up on the floor,” Alex said, looking at her. “How bad did it get?”
     
    An image of the pills she had nearly taken to end her life flashed in her mind but she shut it down. She wasn’t going to tell him that, especially now that he was on his way out. What sort of guilt might that cause him?
     
    “Not too bad. Just a lot of self pity.”
     
    “Well you have my number now, right?”
     
    “Right.”
     
    “So at any time you need someone to talk to, please call me. Will you do that?”
     
    “Yes, I can do that.”
     
    “Good,” he said.
     
    He leaned in and hugged her. As he did, she thought: One more kiss, please kiss me, one more time…
     
    But he apparently felt the same lure she did. If they kissed again, it was not going to stop at just a kiss. So he made sure to keep his cheek to hers as they hugged. They squeezed one another tightly and then, just like that, it was over.
     
    “Take care,” he said. “And seriously…call me when you need someone to talk to.”
     
    “I will. You be careful on that bike.”
     
    “I always am,” he said, waving to her as he headed down her sidewalk.
     
    Amanda stood in her doorway and watched him climb onto his bike. They exchanged a wave as he kicked it to life. There was something about seeing him on his motorcycle that made him look different—more defined and proud, perhaps. It was as if he belonged on it.
     
    He started rolling away and when he neared the end of her street, he gave another wave that Amanda could barely see. She returned it and even after he was gone, she stood there staring at the street, wondering what might have been.
     

CHAPTER ELEVEN
     
    Having what he had always known as a One and Done was usually something of a bragging right to Alex. A One and Done was, by definition, very much like a one night stand. It was having sex, knowing you would never see the other person again. Usually, it was designed this way. Given his line of work and his life with The Unknowns, he’d had quite a few One and Dones with his fair share of women. He’d left those encounters feeling satisfied and somewhat fulfilled.
     
    But as he pulled his motorcycle into the hotel parking lot, he didn’t feel that. Sure, he was satisfied; in fact, the sex had been incredible. As he had replayed it in his head on the drive back to the motel, he couldn’t get over the sight of her. From the way Amanda’s hair had fallen over her face when she had climaxed, to the way her breasts had perched perfectly above him for the brief amount of time she had been on top…it was all perfect.
     
    And for the first time, he felt something very much like guilt because of the fact that he was leaving. It was more than the