“Try me,” she repeated.
He laughed. “You asked for it.” He opened the throttle, not completely, but enough to give her a thrill of acceleration.
She let out a small squeal and clung tighter. Then she laughed.
A lovely warmth went through him. Her laughter was a precious thing, he knew that. Rare too. Likely hadn’t been heard by anyone for a long time. He felt both privileged and proud to have been there when it came.
I want to make her laugh over and over.
He passed a semi that was chuntering uphill, then smoothly rounded a right-hand corner on the edge of a cliff face. After that, he slowed, searching for the small track that would take them to the place he had in mind.
Passing a sign forMo’s—Best Apple Pie on the Pacific Coast, he took a right.
“Where are we going?” she asked into his ear.
“You’ll see. But I promise you’ll love it.”
She didn’t answer, and he hoped not for the first time she wasn’t anxious about his intentions. That she did trust him.
Eventually, the café came into view. There were only a handful of cars and wagons outside. When he pulled up in the shade, a scrappy-looking dog wandered over to say hi.
“What’s this place?” Tammy asked, releasing him.
He missed her arms around him as she swung her leg over the bike and looked around.
“Brooklyn used to bring me here, with my buddies Carter and Wyatt, when we were kids. The sign is right, best apple pie on the Pacific coast.” He paused. “You like apple pie, right?”
She removed her helmet and ran her hand through her hair. “Sure.”
“Good.” He got off the bike, took her helmet, and stowed it away with his. “C’mon, you gotta see this.”
“What?”
He grinned and had to stop himself from taking her hand or winding his arm around her waist. “You’ll see.”
Chapter Seven
Tammy couldn’t quite believe Jayden had persuaded her to go not just for apple pie but also for a ride on his shiny black bike.
The man was hard to say no to, she’d learned that much.
She glanced back at the Harley as they crossed the lot. Her first ride had been thrilling. The wind on her face. The vibration of the engine rumbling between her legs. The solid force that was Jayden’s body as she’d squeezed up close.
It all added up to making her former life with Gary feel like a thing of the past. She really had gotten away. Changed states. Changed name. Changed man.
Changed man?
No, she wasn’t ready for another man. Would she ever be after what she’d been through?
Jayden was so different from Gary. Polar opposites. Not just in looks but in the way they treated her. Whereas Gary spoke with his fists, Jayden looked deep into her eyes and gently teased bits of information out of her, as if she were some puzzle he was piecing together.
Jayden pulled open the door to the café. “We’ll go through, get a seat on the terrace.” He paused. “Hey, Mo, two of your biggest slices of apple pie, with cinnamon cream.”
“Coming right up, Jayden love.” A portly woman behind the counter raised her hand.
When they reached the empty terrace, Tammy stopped in her tracks. The view was incredible. Like nothing she’d seen before.
They were higher than she’d thought, and below them, the scrubland, dotted with cacti, gave way to the suburbs and then the vast ocean. The sun sparkled off it, giving the illusion it was coated in a million diamonds. To the right, she could see LArising from the haze.