Summer Love_ A Steamy Small Town Romance Anthology - Piper Rayne Page 0,9

securing my curls in a messy top knot. “Is there something special about this stretch of road or something?” I don’t understand why we stopped here.

He doesn’t answer me. Instead, he opens up the storage compartments on the back of the bike and starts handing me stuff—a blanket, a small cooler bag.

“What’s all this?”

He turns and looks at me over his shoulder while he pulls two beers and another bag from the far compartment and then closes them both. “We’re picnicking. Let’s go.”

And with that, he heads off on a trail I didn’t notice that leads into the woods. I stand there for a second, stunned. Moose, tatted-up biker guy wants to have a picnic with me? But he’s not waiting for me, so I haul ass to catch up with him.

We keep a pretty good pace for about twenty minutes when we reach a clearing. It’s a huge field with tall grass and the odd wildflower poking up over top. The three feet high grass sways in the light breeze. The field slopes gently down for a long way and at the bottom is a lake that glistens before the mountain range.

It’s breathtaking and I stop walking for a moment to soak the scenery in. “How did you know about this place?” I ask.

He turns to me. “Sometimes when I go on rides, I’ll stop and hike into the woods. Noticed this trail once and discovered this.”

I’m trying to keep my defenses up around this man, but I can’t help but smile at him. “Well, thanks for bringing me here.” He blinks and his eyes widen. “What?” I walk past him farther down the field and he follows behind.

“Just wasn’t expectin’ you to give up the fight so easy.”

“Oh, there’s still fight left in me, don’t you worry.”

“I like a challenge, honey.”

I stop and turn to look at him and he walks past me with a chuckle then stops a few feet away, placing everything in his hands on the ground. Bringing my own things over, I help him set up. He tamps down the grass in our area so we have somewhere to sit and can still enjoy the view then he lays the blanket down and starts to set out the food.

He’s got some take-out sandwiches from Lard Have Mercy and potato salad along with some of Greta’s from Sweet Suga Things donuts. I’m practically salivating looking at the green tea donuts that are so wanted in Lake Starlight I wonder how long he waited in line this morning to get them.

We both take off our jackets and set them on the grass beside the blanket.

“This is quite the spread,” I say, sitting down.

“I aim to please.” He kneels down across from me, the food set out between us. Then he picks up one of the sandwiches and holds it out to me.

“Moose, what is this really all about?”

He stares at me for a moment, not answering.

But I need to know. It’s not that I wouldn’t enjoy another round in the sheets with him but I’m too fragile still to even think about doing that. I won’t be able to keep my walls up and then we’ll end up back where we were years ago. I think back to that day, hating the mental reminder of the look on his face when it all ended.

We’d just finished a round in the sack and I wanted to go again but I knew before I ever came to his place that night that it would be the last time. I was starting to feel things. Things that scared me and things I didn’t have time to deal with. My sole focus needed to be my mother.

So as soon as we were done I hopped out of bed and started to get dressed. “This is the last time I’ll knock at your door, Moose. I just wanted you to know.”

He sat up and the sheet fell to his waist, putting his delicious abs on display. “What the hell are you talkin’ about?”

I turned my back to him while I did up my bra and slipped my legs back into my jeans. “I can’t do this anymore. It’s too much. I have to concentrate on doing everything I can for my mom.”

“Bullshit.”

I looked back at him over my shoulder and he was out of bed in a split second, tugging on his boxer briefs.

“It’s not bullshit, it’s my life and I need to focus on my mom right now.”

He stomps over