Page 53 of Yours to Keep
“No.” A short laugh escapes him. “He wouldn’t let me touch them.”
Something dark flickers across his face, gone before I can catch it fully.
“Too dangerous?” I ask, still leaning against the bike.
A strange look crosses his face. “Something like that.”
The answer sits wrong, not for what he says, but for what he doesn’t.
Silence settles between us, and it’s easy this time.
Eli leans against the bike beside me. Heat crawls up my neck. He’s close enough that I can feel the warmth of him. Catch thefaint scent of his shampoo. Close enough that my thoughts start misfiring.
“So,” he says too quickly. “Tell me about the military.”
I laugh. “There it is.”
“What?”
“You do this, you know.”
His brow furrows. “Do what?”
“Every time the conversation gets near you, you redirect it back to me.”
His eyes widen slightly. “I don’t.”
“You absolutely do.”
His mouth opens. Closes. Opens again, “I…”
I grin. “Eli.”
His shoulders drop in surrender. “Maybe a little,” he admits, a small smile breaking through.
“A lot.”
“A little.”
“A lot.”
He laughs as we argue. The sound hits me square in the chest, sharp and warm. I want to hear it again. And standing here beside him, I finally understand what Deck meant. Maybe I don’t need to fix him, or need all the answers. Maybe what he needs isn’t saving; He just needs somewhere safe to breathe. The thought settles deep, heavy and certain. I want to be that place.
I can give him that. I want to be that.
Eli tilts his head. “What?”
I realize I’ve been staring again. “Nothing.”
His smile softens, “Liar.”
I just smile, the decision already settling into place. “Can you wait here a minute? I left something inside.”
He nods, and I turn, moving fast. I cut back into the building and head straight to Deck’s desk, where I know he keeps a spare helmet. I grab it, then head to my office, grabbing my jacket,wallet, and phone. On the way back, I snag Eli’s jacket and phone.
When I step outside again, I stop dead in my tracks. Eli leans against the Harley with the mountains and forest behind him framing him as if he is a piece of art. His face is tilted to the sun, enjoying the heat; His eyes are closed, and a small smile is on his face. His snakebite piercings glint in the sun, his body soft as he leans against the bike. My breath catches. The reality of how stunning he is slams into me like a truck.
He beautiful. Not in a way I can easily file away as a thought; It’s something more immediate than that, and I feel my body react to this man leaning on my bike. I realize then I need to see him on my bike. To feel him behind me. Heat floods my chest. Wanting him feels reckless, dangerous, impossible to ignore.
