Free Valentine (A Standalone Novel) (Bad Boy Romance Book) by Claire Adams

across her perfect features.
    I stepped up and took it from her as a
chuckle escaped me.
    "Here, let me help you." I
couldn't help but look her in the eye as I worked to get the helmet on her.
"Never been on a bike before?"
    "I've never done a lot of
things." She pursed her lips, and I couldn't tell if she was being flirty,
honest, or sexy. Maybe all three.
    "Well, it's time to live a little
then, I guess." I got on the bike and offered her my hand. "Come on, princess.
Your chariot awaits."
    "Don't call me that." She sat
behind me stiffly as if completely uncomfortable.
    "Wrap your arms around me." I
paused. "Princess."
    The soft chuckle that left her warmed me.
She knew I was teasing her, and she liked it. It was my turn to stiffen when her
arms wrapped around me tightly. My heart started to beat harder, faster. I
wanted her to cup my groin, press her lips to the side of my neck, and promise
me more than something quick to eat. My damn hormones spiked once again thanks
to the beautiful girl sitting behind me.
    Her breasts pressed to my back, and I
stifled a groan. Maybe riding on the bike together wasn't a good idea, at all.
    "Let's go." She squeezed me
harder, and I let out a grunt before shaking my head and starting the bike. We
would be good together, good for each other, but it would never happen.
    She was someone, and I was nobody. A nobody that was happy to remain as such.
    Life was easier that way.

 
    *

 
    "So, tell me about the basketball
team. Have you always played?" I sat down with our tray of burgers across
from her. I'd almost had to twist her arm behind her back to let me pay, and while
I should have simply relented and let her get it, I just couldn't. Some part of
me wanted to impress her with anything I could and not buying lunch would have
been the opposite of that, in my mind.
    "Yeah, it's my one freedom. My
parents are insanely strict, but they let me have basketball in exchange for me
keeping my grades up and staying out of their hair as much as possible." I
could see a bit of sadness tugging at the edge of her eyes as she shrugged. She
had so much more to say, but we didn't know each other enough for her to open
up to me just yet. I prayed we would, on one hand, and knew it was fruitless on
the other. "What about you? Any sports or do you just enjoy riding your
bike?"
    "I love the bike, and swimming is my
thing. Seems like an odd combination, I know, but I love the feeling of
powering through the water and pushing myself as hard as I can." I took a
bite of my burger and looked up to catch her staring at me.
    Her eyes were the color of the grass on a
summer day, and it took me a moment to break the intense stare between us. My
mother would have been thrilled that I was talking with a normal girl, and I lamented a little over the fact that I wouldn't
get to take her home and impress my mom with her. This was a onetime thing –
period. We didn't fit in each other’s lives, not even as friends.
    "We have a great swim team at UMN.
You should try out." She nibbled at a fry before unbuttoning her jacket
and tugging it off. "The guys are-"
    "Assholes." I let my eyes moved
down to take in the thick globes of her breasts through her sweater as my cock
hardened painfully. She had to be a goddess under her clothes, my type of woman
to a T.
    "What? Some of them are decent."
    If she noticed me checking her out, she
didn't show it.
    "None of them that I've met." I
tugged the collar of my shirt to the side to reveal a few of my tats.
"They're not too fond of anyone having marked up their skin, and they're
quite mouthy about it."
    "That's stupid." Her eyes moved
down my neck, leaving me to feel a little more bare than I ever had around a woman. Was she
interested? Did I turn her on? Scare her? Thrill her a little? I wanted to
know what she was thinking.
    "Maybe, but it's the world we live
in." I finished working on my burger as she talked a little about her
business law class that morning. I loved the sound of her