He nodded. “Strong. That’s a good character trait. But you look like you could use a break, and to be honest, I’d like to get away from the house for a bit. Do you have a swimsuit in that luggage of yours?” He nodded at the trash bags, aka all her worldly belongings in the back of her truck.
Where was he going with this?
Her thoughts must have shown on her face because he chuckled. “I’m not sure what you’re imagining, but I was going to grab some dinner and head out to my favorite place to clear my head. You’re welcome to join me, unless you have better plans?”
He had her there. “Are you a serial killer?”
He frowned. “No. Uh, I’m not.”
Shoot. She’d done it again. “Are you sure you want to hang out with me? I have a tendency to say the wrong thing all the time.”
“Well,” he said, a slow smile gracing his mouth, “I think I can handle it for the next few hours. Why don’t you pull around back and we can park your truck in one of the garages. That way your stuff will be safe. Get what you need and I’ll meet you there. Go down the street and turn into the alley.”
She should tell him no and move on, but he was right. She had nowhere else to go, and she did need a break. Dinner with Hot Guy was not the worst option. “Okay.”
His smile actually made her heart beat a little faster.
No! No more men.
A few minutes later, she had her change of clothes, a bikini and her flip-flops and was waiting by the two-story garage. The building was almost as long as the house, and it looked like there was an apartment on top. His parents must have had a great deal of money. This place was at least two and half acres in the middle of one of the nicest neighborhoods in town.
At least from what she’d seen so far.
When Lila had said she could move in, Chelly had looked up Corpus Christi and saw there was a beach. That was all she cared about, being near the water. She’d been tired of being landlocked in Nashville. Just one more reason to move.
The grime from having driven for so long was now starting to get to her. She couldn’t wait to hit the waves.
The garage door opened and she saw Matt standing there in board shorts and a clean white tank shirt. Those arm muscles were a powerful aphrodisiac.
Hey, that’s the last thing you need! No guys—it was the number-one rule she’d made in the first hour of her road trip. Ever. Well, at least not until she had her business in a good place and her life straightened out.
“You can park in this bay, but let me move my bike first.” He rolled out a black motorcycle. It was big and powerful-looking, just like him. A sexy Marine on a motorcycle.
No! Just say no.
She gave him a quick grin as she pulled into the garage. That was when she realized what he meant about his mother’s collection. There was a new Ford truck in the next bay, but the rest of the garage was filled with antiques.
“Heaven,” she whispered.
He laughed as he opened her door to help her out. “Maybe to you. To me, it’s nothing but a headache. I have no idea what’s expensive or not. I mean, I can tell from some of the wood—walnut and maple—that it’s worth something, but I don’t know what year anything was made or the value of it.”
From where she stood, she saw a wardrobe from the eighteen hundreds and, if she wasn’t mistaken, the buffet was from the same period. “Do me a favor, when you decide to sell all of this, call me first? This is a gold mine. These things should be in an air-conditioned space. The heat and moisture will play havoc with the wood.”
He winced. “I collected it all in here so I could sort through it. I didn’t know.”
“How long ago was that?”
“About a month,” he told her.
Not too bad. “Should be fine for now. But you need to make sure none of it gets wet or it’ll warp. It’s warm and humid, but if it the temperature goes higher, you might want to think about moving the stuff back indoors, until you sell it. I can help you, though, at least, figure out what you should get for the really good pieces. You won’t get retail prices, but there are five or six premium items in here.”
He made a face and grunted. “You serious?”
“Oh, yeah.”
“Huh. Okay. I’ll have to take you up on that because I’ve got a lot of renovations to do.” He pointed at the bike. “We better get on the road if we’re going to be at my favorite spot in time.”
She wondered in time for what, but she figured he wanted to surprise her. After closing the garage door from a keypad, he passed her a helmet. She pulled it over her curls and then he helped strap it around her chin.
He climbed on the bike.
She eyed him warily. Not that she minded putting her arms around the hunk, but they had just met.
“I hope this is okay. It’s easier to use the bike rather than the truck to get where we’re going.”
She happened to like bikes and she didn’t want to insult the guy who had done her a favor and fixed her truck. “Works for me.”
He sat down on the massive seat. The sign on the side of the dark blue bike said Harley. She had some regulars at the diner where she’d worked who rode them. The chrome bike was a piece of art. It was customized with some slogans, Semper Fi she recognized, and a symbol she wanted to look up later.
“You can sit back here,” he said, patting the seat behind his. “Be careful of your calves with the exhaust pipe. Keep your feet up on the foot pads and you should be good.”
She did as she’d been told, but considered if her sneakers would have been a better choice, instead of the flip-flops. Though he was wearing flip-flops, so she wasn’t worried. What she didn’t know was where to put her hands. “You can wrap your arms around my chest or hold on to my shoulders. I recommend the chest since it’ll be easier where we’re going.”
He started the bike and the monster rumbled between her thighs. She wrapped her arms around his hard chest. He must work out every day, she thought. Her fingers itched to slide down and feel the rigid abs she knew were only a few inches below.
She was concentrating so hard on him that it was a good five minutes before she realized Matt had already driven them to the beach. The salty smell bit into her senses. She loved the water.
He steered into a burger joint and turned off the bike. “I’ll be right back, I’m going to grab us some dinner. Anything you don’t like?”
She shook her head, still trying to deal with the throbbing between her legs.
“I won’t be long.” Five minutes later he came out with armfulls of food, sodas and bottles of water. He stowed them in one of the side compartments of the bike.
“I could have helped you,” she said as he climbed back onto the motorcycle.
“No problem. I’m pretty hungry so I got a little of everything. We’re heading over there.” He lifted his chin toward the nearby hill and then put the bike into gear.
They rode right out onto the beach. It was slightly elevated and marked private. He stopped the bike and she climbed off.
“Is it okay for us to be here?” she asked.
He pulled a blanket out of the other side compartment and handed it to her. “It’s owned by some friends of mine. They let me use it whenever I want. Their place is up there.” He pointed up the hill again to a stunning beach house. “They’re gone this weekend, or there would probably be a whole crew of people running around. It’s the go-to spot for a lot of us on the base, especially on the weekends. Put the blanket by the fire pit. I’ll bring the