Without a Hitch(38)

“Abby. We are not riding on this thing. Get off.”

“Hmm…the last time you said that, I was dressed a wee bit differently, don’t you think?” I press the accelerator, and I jolt forward a few feet. Holy geez, does this thing pack a punch! I wobble in my heels on the narrow floorboard, and I’m nearly positive Blaine just let out a rather undignified shriek.

Glancing over my shoulder, I find him racing toward me, white as a ghost. It makes me laugh even more, and because I sometimes revert to being a toddler, just as he reaches me, I press the accelerator again, this time prepared for the jerky take-off.

His resounding growl has my core clenching.

“Come on, Blaine. I don’t have all night. Audra is counting on me, and five hundred people are waiting for her.” I force my tone to sound exasperated, but a grin ekes its way out too.

“Pepper,” he rumbles through clenched teeth.

When I feel his heat getting close, I scoot forward again, not even attempting to rein in my laughter.

I’m just coming to a stop when his hands clasp my waist. “I’m going to smack your ass for that.

Tonight. Possibly before the reception is over as punishment. You’ll finally be forced to hold in that sass so no one hears.”

My breath catches in my chest, and my eyes get hot. I blink feverishly. “There’s no way,” I object, just as he steps on behind me. I’m forced to turn one foot sideways so we can both fit.

“Never underestimate me, Pepper.” He leans in so his front is plastered to my back. Then he places a hand over mine on the handlebar. “I’ll steer the ship from here on out, darling.” The endearment drips with sexy innuendo. I’m fairly certain my knees knock together, and not from the bumpy ride our scooter is giving us.

“You left me.” His voice is raspy and so quiet that I barely hear it over the wind whipping around my face. “I was beginning to believe you were a memory meant to haunt my dreams for eternity.”

I crane my neck to scan his face, but he’s wearing a mask of indifference. Had I imagined his vulnerable tone? He maneuvers the scooter around pedestrians while I’m stuck in my thoughts.

“You’ve thought about me? I—I mean, it was one night.”

“Yes. And now it will be another.”

The feminist side of me wants to stomp my foot at the presumptuous nature of this bossy jerk, but every other part of my body is doing the macarena.

“That’s a bold statement.” That’s it. Obviously, my body and mind go on vacation when this man is around, leaving an outspoken, sassy, take-no-prisoners version of myself. And I’m shocked by how much I like this version of me too.

“I only tell the truth.”

We come to a halt, and my heart skitters like it did the first time I saw the library lit up like a fairy garden. “It’s so magical.”





C HAPTE R 1 3

LOCHLAN

“I t’s so magical,” she gasps as she hops off the wretched scooter. I’m going to have a word with Nova about that. But as I stare at Abby, all I can think is she’s the magical one. The damn organ in my chest flutters at the realization, but internally, I tell it to calm the fuck down.

I offer my hand as we climb the steps, and something I can’t place settles over my entire body. A sense of calm, of belonging. A rightness. Like my world has been running on a treadmill in a dark room, and she just showed me all the wide-open spaces I’ve missed out on.

My throat feels itchy, and as she withdraws her palm from mine, my chest hollows out like it’s trying to follow her.

She slips out of my jacket and hands it to me. “I have to get these to Audra. Thank you for your help, Blaine.”

She disappears through the hidden double doors to our right, and I stand there feeling empty and clutching my chest.

Bloody hell. Instead of entering the reception right away, I slink into the shadows and remove my phone from my pocket. A while ago, my friend Colton asked me if I believed in love at first sight. At four in the fucking morning. I’m not prone to such fantasies, but my father is, and I’d told Colton that.

I'm unsettled as I stand here, staring at the closed door Abby just entered. So, against my better judgment, I message my friend.

Lochlan: Why did you ask me about love at first sight?

Colton: Holy shit. Did you get bit by the love bug?

Colton: Or are you sick?

Lochlan: I’m just asking.

Colton: For no reason?

Lochlan: Nothing concrete.

Colton: Because when love hit me, it hit hard. When she walked away, I felt as if my soul had gone with her.

Colton: I spent months walking around clutching an invisible ache in my chest that hurt worse than any physical pain I’ve ever experienced.

I nearly drop my phone when I glance down to find my fist clutching my dress shirt above my heart.

Lochlan: What if it doesn’t last forever?

Colton: I’m going to assume you’re going through some sort of crisis, so I don’t have to find you and kill you for insinuating my love isn’t forever.

Colton: But to answer your question, I would rather have experienced her love and lost it than never live in her light. We could get hit by a bus tomorrow. I’m not willing to hibernate indoors because of it.

Colton: Listen, Loch. I know you have a wealth of love to give, but I also know your views on marriage and why you think the way you do. Don’t let the fear of where it will end keep you from a magical beginning.