Charity Case - The Complete Series - Piper Rayne Page 0,144

kisses his penny and tosses it in.

“What did you wish for?” I ask.

“I’m hoping the same thing you did.” He takes my hand in his again. “Now I want you to fill me in on everything I missed over the past five years.” He guides me down the path farther into Grant Park.

I chuckle. “In a nutshell, I got my degree and had a string of jobs until I landed this one.”

“Come on. I want all the details. I want it to be like I missed no time in your life.”

“Well, I walked out of our apartment and sat in my car for an hour…”

He frowns for a second and then says, “Let’s skip to a few months after you left me.” There’s no anger in his voice, just a calm acceptance.

“I transferred to the city.”

For the next hour, I tell him about going to school in the city versus the country town where we met. We discuss the reason I couldn’t seem to find a job I liked, about how I ended up at RISE. My parents, Skylar and Beckett, Zoe and Vin. Lastly, he admits he saw Mikey at a club three years ago. When he asked about me, Mikey punched him in the face.

“He did not!” I cover my mouth with my hand, aghast as we approach his bike.

“I told him I missed you and wanted your number.” He hands me the helmet.

“I guess he didn’t like that?” I strap it on.

“I had to tell my boss I got elbowed in a basketball game.”

“Why did you wait so long? You could have looked me up.”

“It wasn’t the right time, I’m glad Mikey knew that.” He puts on his own helmet. “How about a ride for old time’s sake?”

I smile. “Thought you’d never ask.”

“The sun’s heading down pretty fast, so just a quick one up Lake Shore and then back to your place.”

I nod, climbing on the bike ready to assume my koala bear position. “Dean?”

“Yeah?” He waits to start the bike.

“Go to your place after the ride.”

He doesn’t turn around, but he places his hands over mine where they rest around his stomach.

“Are you sure?”

My arms tighten around him and I nuzzle my head. “I’m positive.”

“You sure you still want the ride?”

I giggle. “A romantic ride down the lakefront sounds like great foreplay.”

“Screw the bike, I’ve got other foreplay moves.”

He turns the ignition, the bike roaring to life. Doing a u-turn, we head the other way.

I take one giant step to the edge of the cliff praying it’s deep water below and not just a bunch of jagged rocks.

Forty-five minutes later, the sun has slipped beneath the horizon. When I come out of my dazed state, we’re pulling into a garage. He parks the bike and for once, Dean says nothing, leading me to the elevator, and pressing the button.

My hand is in his and my body is hyper-aware of our proximity, my thoughts focused on what we’re about to do.

He presses floor nineteen and we ride up in silence. Is this weighing on both of us? We’re about to make a decision that we can’t take back.

The doors slide open, and he holds his hand out in front of him for me to step out first. Then his hand is tucked around mine again. My heart pounds as we bypass door after door until we reach the one at the end of the hall. Apartment nineteen twenty-one.

Dean lives in apartment nineteen twenty-one.

There’s something weird about not knowing where he lived until this moment. I can’t help but wonder what’s on the other side of the door.

I lived with Dean for four short months. I knew his bad habits of toothpaste all over the sink, of leaving empty shampoo bottles in the shower, not rinsing dishes before putting them in the dishwasher. I knew what he smelled like in the morning, or how he couldn’t sleep without his hand on my ass.

Now, I know nothing. For a man I thought I knew everything about, I’m just now realizing I no longer know anything about the man beside me.

“You don’t have to,” he says, noticing my eyes fixated on the door.

“I want to.” I glance over to him.

A soft smile wraps around his face. He’s happy I want to take this next step.

“Welcome to your future home.” He pushes and holds the door open for me.

I smack his stomach and try to tamp down my expectations as I walk over the threshold.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” I