The Switch, Debra Kayn [best books for 20 year olds .txt] 📗

He patted the top of the desk and looked at the clock. "Go ahead and take an hour lunch. You've earned it."

"A half-hour is fine. I brought a sack lunch and planned to sit at the water." She laughed softly. "Any longer than that, and I'll burn."

"Even so, find some shade and take an hour." Johnny stood. "Trip is on his way over."

She clamped her lips shut, wondering how he knew Trip wanted to talk to her when a low rumble from outside grabbed her attention.

Her stomach rolled, and she shook off her suspicions that Johnny somehow heard the motorcycle before her. That was impossible. She was closest to the door, and she'd been jumping all day at every single noise, knowing Trip would seek her out at work.

Trip probably talked to Johnny sometime that morning and mentioned stopping by.

"I'll be close by in case we get a load of tourists, and you need help." She grabbed her sack from behind the desk and walked outside before Trip could come inside. What she had to say was better left until they were alone and away from her job.

Wanting to be the one in control, she walked to him before he could get off the motorcycle.

He shut off the engine and remained sitting on the bike. Standing beside him, she rerolled the top of the paper bag. The more she thought of what he'd said before he'd left Trina with her and then how he'd acted when he broke into her house, she had to tell him that she wouldn't allow someone to treat her that way.

"I took Trina home." She swallowed. "Speeder thanked me for watching her."

If she thought Johnny looked exhausted, Speeder appeared hungover.

She studied Trip, usually calm and almost cocky with self-confidence. Today, he looked at her as if short on patience and one swift poke closer to irritation. She had no idea how she was involved.

"When you asked me to watch Trina, you asked me to lie and say I hadn't seen you—nobody asked, by the way." She inhaled. "But if you think I'm going to forget you claimed your life was in danger, I'm not. I don't know what you're involved in, and I don't want to know. It's unfair to include me in whatever you have going. I barely know you."

"Life is dangerous." He shrugged. "I'm an Avery Falls Motorcycle Club member. Getting on a motorcycle and believing I'll have a safe ride every single day is a gamble."

She looked away from him. "I don't think that's what you meant."

"I was hyped up when I talked to you. Everything worked out okay. It was just club business."

"Then, it was especially stupid to bring it to my house when there are kids around."

"They were in no danger." He took her wrist, drawing her attention back to him. "Let's sit at the picnic table. You can eat your lunch."

She walked down to the river with him beside the boat ramp. Her appetite had fled the moment he'd appeared.

Instead of sitting with her legs under the table, she sat facing the river and leaned her back against the table.

Trip sat the same way and stretched out his legs in front of him. She set her lunch between them on the bench.

Several minutes passed without him saying a word. The silence gave her time to think about his behavior at her house. He'd put his hand on her chest.

He hadn't grabbed her breast, and it wasn't sexual—though her body's reaction to his hand on her was definitely something she hadn't figured out yet.

He'd acted as if he was feeling for her heartbeat.

Her face flushed, and she rested her eyes longer between blinks. Having him near always put a lump in her throat that was impossible to swallow.

"I do want you to know that you can't walk into my house without being invited. We don't know each other well enough for that," she said softly.

"I had to see you."

"You keep saying that, but you could've waited until a decent hour when I was awake. When Trina was awake. And knocked on the door."

There were some things she could overlook, but when it came to her children's safety, there was no wiggle room.

He looked at the water as if the conversation hadn't affected him. He was the most stubborn man.

She put her hand out. "Give me your phone."

He leaned to the side, took the cell out of his pocket, and gave it to her. She quickly put her number in his contacts.

"You might have to call a few times or leave a message. Cell reception is awful at the house. But, call me first before you show up. Give me a little warning." She handed back the phone.

A slight breeze blew over her. She had no idea why she was making it possible for him to reach out to her. Maybe over a call, he would answer her questions instead of saying the same thing over and over without really giving her a straight answer.

She hated that, for the first time since having kids, she found herself interested in a man who was closed off.

Trip had such good qualities. She'd seen how her boys responded to him. He talked to them as if they were equals and not children. Recognizing Zach's love of motorcycles, Trip had bolstered her son's love of riding while expecting Zach to listen and respect something more powerful than him.

Once she realized Trip's intent, and what a gift he'd given Zach, she could admit that she'd overreacted.

She glanced at his profile, setting her stomach to fluttering. He was drop-dead gorgeous with his dark hair that he kept short and even his thick black eyelashes. Sitting next to him, she appeared pale and light. He was all big and dark.

It'd taken her moving across the state to see a man who made her think about dating again. That was something she hadn't expected upon arriving in Avery Falls.

But the last thing she needed to do was get involved