Warrior (Relentless #4)(181)

The waiter came out to ask if we wanted dessert, and instead of declining as most women did on a date, Sara asked for a big piece of tiramisu. When he laid the large serving in front of her, I raised an eyebrow.

“You want some?” she asked, picking up her fork.

“No thanks. Never cared for it.”

She narrowed her eyes at me. “How can you not like tiramisu? It’s the best dessert ever invented.”

She took her time eating the dessert. Watching her close her eyes and savor each bite, I decided I liked tiramisu after all. When she slowly licked the spoon clean, I made a note to bring her here often.

“That was great,” she said as we left the restaurant.

“So what would you like to do now?” I asked when we reached the Ducati.

Her eyes lit up. “We aren’t going home?”

“Not unless you want to.” If she kept looking at me like that, we might stay here all night.

“Can we ride around and see the city?” she asked hopefully.

I looked at her bare hands. “Are you sure you won’t be too cold?”

She pulled on her helmet. “Not if I can use your pockets again. How is it that you’re so hot…? I mean your skin is hot when mine is cold,” she stammered.

I didn’t need to see her face to know she was blushing again. Grinning, I fitted my own helmet over my head. “My Mori controls my body temperature. You’ll be able to do that too, eventually.”

“That’ll come in handy,” she mumbled.

I sat on the bike, and she climbed up behind me. When she wrapped her arms around me and slid her hands into my pockets, I loved how natural it felt. She was still shy about intimacy, but we’d come a long way since our first meeting in that club in Portland.

I took my time driving us around the city because the temperature had dropped since we’d left Eldeorin’s.

“You’re not cold, are you?” I asked her.

She tightened her hold on my waist. “No, this is great. It’s not as cold at this speed.”

“We’ll go slower on the way back.” I mentally berated myself for not thinking about how cold it would be for her on a bike. “I should have taken one of the SUVs instead.”

Her helmet moved between my shoulder blades when she shook her head. “I’d rather ride a motorcycle than in a car. Greg used to give me rides on his bike, and I loved it. I asked him to teach me to ride, but he didn’t want to upset Nate.”

Hearing about her love of motorcycles pleased me. “I can teach you, if you still want to learn,” I said, turning us toward the Boardwalk.

She let out a short laugh. “You’ll let me ride your motorcycle?”

I chuckled when I pictured her trying to handle my bike. “No, I’ll get you something smaller and less powerful than the Ducati to start on.”

“When can we start?” she asked earnestly, pulling another laugh from me.

“Let’s focus on your training right now. Besides, I need to find the right bike for you first.”

I was already thinking about models that would comfortably fit her smaller frame. Ducati had some smaller models, and so did Harley Davidson. Although, I’d have to start her out on something with a lot less power.

“What is that?” Sara asked, interrupting my train of thought.

“That’s the Boardwalk,” I said as we approached the amusement park. “The rides are closed, but I thought you might like to walk through it.”

“I’d like that.”

I parked the bike, and we walked through the park. Sara didn’t want to stop at any of the attractions until we found a funnel cake vendor.

“I’ve never had a funnel cake before,” she told me.

“We can’t have that.” I pulled out some money as she happily told the man what she wanted.

She grinned at me as she held up the chocolate-covered cake. “Thank God for a high metabolism.” She took her first bite of the cake and made a happy sound. “This is so good. You sure you don’t want some?”

“No, thanks.” Watching her enjoy herself was enough for me.

She bit into it again. “You don’t know what you’re missing.”

My breath hitched when her tongue came out to lick her lips, and I wanted to pull her to me and kiss every bit of chocolate from her mouth. I spotted a dribble of chocolate on her chin and reached out to catch it.

Her eyes followed my thumb to my mouth, and I thought I heard a small intake of breath when I sucked the chocolate from my finger.

“You’re right; it’s delicious.”

I took a piece of her cake and ate it, not because I wanted it, but to keep me from grabbing her and making out with her right there in front of everyone.

She quickly finished her cake, and we resumed our stroll to the end of the Boardwalk. She turned to start back, and I stopped her.

“Let’s take the beach instead,” I suggested.

She nodded, and we made our way down to the sand. Before we’d gone ten feet, I brought up her training, hoping she’d tell me what had been bothering her.

“How is your training with Aine coming along? You haven’t talked about it much.”

She heaved a sigh. “That’s because there’s not much to tell. I stopped blowing up stuff, so that’s a good thing, I guess. I don’t understand why I can heal things but I can’t do anything else. Sometimes it feels like I’m going to explode if I don’t use my power. It’s so frustrating.”