Page 10 of Sly (Dragon Riders MC 5)
And when I saw the pristine lake stretching out in front of us in the middle of a meadow, I gasped.
“My God,” I breathed.
“Give me a second. I got a blanket in my other compartment,” Sly said.
I watched in awe as we parked by the immovable waters. Sly slid his helmet off and got off his bike, preparing a space for us to sit down and eat. He spread the blanket and got out our food as I watched him in awe, and I was in such shock at the subtle romance of it all that I had completely forgotten to take off my helmet.
Until he walked over to me and eased it off my head.
“That probably feels better, doesn’t it?” he asked.
I snickered. “A picnic?”
He stowed the helmets away. “Not a fan of them?”
I shook my head quickly. “No, no, no. I love them. I just didn’t take you for a picnic person.”
He chuckled. “There’s more to me than meets the eye. Just like there is with you.”
And when his eyes met mine, I didn’t even hear the danger in his last response.
Though, I should have.
I should have taken it to heart. I should have cut things off right then and there. But instead, I took the hand he offered me as he helped me off the bike. I followed him over to the picnic blanket along the lake’s shoreline as we began to eat. And as I hummed and gasped over how absolutely incredible the food tasted, I felt Sly’s eyes on me the entire time.
“I’m so sorry. But this is fucking fantastic,” I said with my mouth full.
He popped a fry into his mouth. “That’s why I took us there. Best fucking seafood in town, but only the locals know about it.”
“Well, I grew up in this town, and I didn’t know shit about that place.”
I felt his eyes on the profile of my face. “You grew up around here?”
I slowly looked over at him. “I mean, I haven’t lived here for a few years now. But when I was a kid, yeah. Me and my brother lived around here.”
“Where at?”
I pointed off to the west. “Toward downtown. Well, what we call ‘downtown’ around here. It hasn’t been downtown ever since the splash pad got moved to the other side of town. But at one point in time, that strip of shops with those boutique stores and—”
“—oh, oh, oh! I know where you’re talking about. That street that has all those shops on one side and all those medical practices on the other?”
I nodded fervently. “That’s the one! Scout’s Lane used to be Main Street back when I was a child. And those medical practices used to be all sorts of things. Like, the movie theater. Oh, man, I loved that movie theater. They had these reclining seats with cup holders and little desks you could pivot in front of you to put your snacks on. I spent so many of my Friday nights at that place.”
I looked over at Sly and found him devouring my every word, and suddenly I felt in the spotlight.
“My apologies. I ramble sometimes when I get excited,” I said.
He took my hand. “Never apologize for getting excited.”
My eyes fell to our connection. “I loved growing up here, you know.”
“What made you leave then? For so many years?”
My eyes turned out toward the water. “I don’t know. Just… school. I went to this community college a couple of towns over to try and start a new life for myself.”
“What was wrong with this life?”
I shook my head. “Nothing. Nothing’s wrong with it. I guess I just grew up with such immense family pressure to be this successful person that I just wanted to get away from the pressure for a little while.”
“And you just stayed away?”
I sighed softly. “Yeah, I guess I did.”
He scooted closer to me. “What kind of pressure were you under?”
I leaned my head against his shoulder. “Well, my parents built their own e-Commerce business after my father got laid off from a few jobs. My mother figured, ‘Hey, if you can’t hold down these jobs, let’s just make you a job.’ And they fucking did it. Sold it off a few years back and they’re currently living up their retirement in Italy, of all places.”
“Sounds like the life.”
“Yeah. It does.”
“But why didn’t they give the business to you and your brother?”
I scoffed. “Million-dollar question, huh? I don’t know. I mean my brother’s always had his own ambitions and goals in life. Lofty ones, too. And me? I guess I was always that child that flew by the seat of my pants. Made it up as I went along. I got a useless Associate’s degree and ended up working as a paralegal there for a while before the office closed down for good.”
