"Nice," he commented in passing.
I giggled, feeling my doldrums lift. "What should I wear?"
"Jeans are fine," Adam smiled, motioning towards my recently discarded pair as they lay abandoned on the floor. "Just not those ones."
I grinned at him, still in disbelief as he stood watching me from the doorway. He looked so at odds with himself. He was wearing jeans and a black t-shirt, over which was a very sexy leather jacket, and he must have shaved that morning, because the longish stubble from the night before had been replaced by a faint shadow of new growth; over the top of his t-shirt I could see the edge of the large tattoo on his back crest up the side of his neck, his eyebrow ring glinted in the afternoon sunshine flooding my bedroom, and he held a bouquet of daisies with a boyish smile.
"What?" he asked sardonically as I stood studying him.
"Nothing," I giggled. "You're just…" I shrugged, pulling my newest pair of jeans from my closet and wiggling into them. Adam eyed the procedure with interest. "You're gorgeous," I supplied, feeling the words didn't do the sentiment justice.
"Says you," Adam's gaze was hungry as I pulled a tank top on over my bra.
"I thought you were going to put those in water," I teased as Adam's grip on my poor daisies became a stranglehold.
"Uh, yeah," he chuckled, glancing down at the quickly wilting stems. "Got distracted."
I scooped my hair up into a low ponytail before moving to the doorway. I stood on tiptoes to kiss Adam lightly, rescuing the daisies from his iron grasp. "Thank you for the flowers."
Adam growled lowly in his throat and pulled me closer, claiming my mouth with a sudden passion which drove the air from my lungs. My poor daisies were flattened between us and I couldn't have cared less as Adam's heated tongue explored the corners of my mouth; we were both moaning hungrily when Adam broke the kiss. His startlingly emerald eyes were hazed over with desire and his breath came as fast and hard as my own. All I wanted at that moment was to take him back to bed, but evidently he had other ideas.
Adam pulled the squished flowers from my hands and chucked them into the nearby wastepaper basket, laughing at my small noise of distress. "I'll buy you more," he smiled, tracing the edge of my lips with one long finger. "I'll buy you all the flowers you want."
I returned his smile slowly, liking the sound of that.
"Come on," Adam took my hand and dropped a kiss across my knuckles as he pulled me from the room. "Put your shoes on, I want to show you something."
In the entranceway Adam opened my closet and handed me my leather boots. They were knee-high with a tiny, little heel; I'd bought them during a retail therapy afternoon with Rhiannon and Adele and had hardly worn them. As I zipped them up the length of my calves, Adam handed me my leather jacket. I eyed the piece of clothing warily. It was late May on the Island and too warm for a coat.
"Trust me?" he asked as he noticed my skeptical expression. He helped me into my coat. "And this is for you." He handed me the shining black motorcycle helmet which he'd brought in with the flowers; I'd forgotten all about it. My knees shook. Satisfied at my appearance, Adam pulled me out the front door, laughing as I closed it behind me without locking it; no one really locks their doors on the Island.
"What do you think?" he crowed proudly as he stood on the sidewalk outside of my apartment and gestured towards the street. Parked at the curb was a huge motorcycle, bright red and black with miles of shining chrome. I took a step back towards the house.
"It's a 1965 Triumph Bonneville," Adam smiled brightly, pride evident on every line of his face. "It was my Dad's. I've been working on it for years; it needed a lot of work, but I think it's finally ready for a real test run. I had it shipped over from home and I've only driven it around town; I want to take it out and see what it can do."
I took another step back towards the house but Adam didn't notice my hesitation. He spouted off a bunch of gobble-dee-gook about carburetors, and frame models, and engines, and tires, and such; none of which I understood. In my hands the helmet he'd given me felt cold and hard.
"Lil?" he asked over his shoulder when he'd finally taken a breath.
"What's wrong? Don't you like it?"
"It's very nice," I offered weakly. "Very shiny."
"Well, come on," Adam said brightly, holding out his hand to me.
I shook my head. The bottom had dropped out of my stomach and I could feel my knees getting weaker by the second.
"Don't you want to go for a ride?" Adam asked, sounding hurt.
My heart wrenched but I couldn't get my legs to propel me forward. "I-I've never been on a motorcycle before," I confessed.
Adam laughed and came back up the sidewalk to grab my hand. "You'll love it, I promise. It's fun." His smile was bright, but there was concern in his green eyes. "Don't worry. I've been driving bikes since I was a kid. I'll take good care of you."
I approached the motorcycle with trepidation. "It's so big," I Mumbled, blushing. Adam took my hand and ran it over the smooth metal of the still-warm gas tank. It was obvious he loved the bike and I tried to appreciate it from his point of view. "It
is
very nice," I said in a wobbly voice.
Adam was standing behind me, his hand still covering my own as I stroked the warm metal. I could feel his breath in my ear. "Ride with me, Lilly," he whispered.
"I don't know how," I said softly.
Adam turned me around and kissed me with a lingering sweetness. "All you have to do it hold on."
Closing my eyes, I could feel the solid warmth of the bike behind me and the equally solid warmth of Adam in front of me. I took a deep breath and nodded quickly, agreeing before I had time to rethink my decision. I could feel Adam take the helmet from my hands and looking up, I watched him settle it snugly over my head and fasten it securely under my chin. His smile was mischievously sexy as he put his own helmet on.
He straddled the bike and threw another grin over his shoulder as I stood wavering on the curb. He looked so happy, so excited, that it was contagious. With a laugh I ignored the nagging, overly-cautious voice in my head and climbed on the bike behind him, wrapping my arms around the concrete wall of Adam's chest.
"That's my girl," I thought I heard him say as the bike roared loudly to life. The thrumming throb of the engine scared me a little and I jumped. Adam patted my hand reassuringly.
"Just hang on," he yelled over his shoulder. He kicked the stand out, threw the bike in gear, and we shot off down the street with an ungodly roar; I squealed loudly and could feel Adam's deep laugh as I leaned against him, holding on with every thing I had.
It was pretty stop-and-go in the city, and just as I was getting the hang of stoplights and going around corners we hit the edge of town. Adam did his best to look over his shoulder at me, but had to settle with squeezing my hand. "You alright?" he yelled.
I nodded against his back and he patted my hand again.
"Good. Hold on."
I took a deep breath and tightened my arms around his chest. Adam let out the throttle with a roar and we took off, flying down the red roads like nothing I'd ever experienced before.
It was amazing; the noisy rush of air, the throbbing heat of the machine, the complete lack of boundaries, the absolute freedom of traveling with nothing boxing you in. It was heady, intoxicating, and by the time we hit the first stop sign outside of town my fear had been replaced by giddy excitement.
Rust red roads and verdant green fields flew by us, dotted with sapphire ponds and harbors and the occasional turquoise sparkle of the sea beyond. I'm not sure if Adam had a destination in mind and of where we had been and where we were going I had no idea.
You can't get lost on the Island though, not if you grew up there, so when we came to an intersection I knew very well I motioned for Adam to turn right. He obeyed without question, following my silent signals at every corner until the road crested and ended, looking down over the cold, endless blue of the Atlantic.
Adam stopped and turned the bike off. I leapt off before he even had a chance to put the kickstand out. My knees were wobbly, my thighs ached, and my ass hurt like hell, but I threw off my helmet and spun about, beaming.
"That was fucking brilliant!" I shouted, throwing myself at Adam as he dismounted. He laughed loudly, removing his own helmet with a grin. He picked me up and spun me around.
"I knew you'd like it," he chuckled. "Did you see her run? She was perfect!"
But I wasn't thinking of the bike or the ride any longer; I was thinking of the man standing with his arms around me.
I stood on tiptoe and kissed him until my lungs ached and Adam responded with equal fervor. The blood pounded in my ears and the sea wind whipped the escaped tendrils of my ponytail across my face and still the kiss went on.
I ran my hands through Adam's short hair and laughed against his lips.
"No wonder you keep it so short," I gasped as we broke apart. "It's hot under that helmet."
Adam's chuckle echoed my own. "It's hot under this jacket too." He shrugged the heavy leather off and slung it over the back of the bike. "So where the hell are we anyway?"
I threw off my own coat, relieved to feel the fresh sea air against my heated skin. I grabbed Adam's hand. "Come on," I said, and with a quick smile over my shoulder I led him to the edge of the bluff.
The vista of the sapphire Atlantic spread infinitely out before us, but I didn't pause long before I started picking my way down the sandy slope to the shore below. Adam followed, scrambling easily down to the rocky beach like he'd been doing it for years.
The beach below was sheltered and private; Adam whistled lowly.
"What is this place?"
"This is my beach," I smiled widely.
"Yours?" Adam looked confused. "You own it?"
I shook my head, laughing. "No, but I've been coming here since I was kid." I pointed along the shore to a small, yellow house which was perched jauntily on the bluff about three kilometers away. "That's where I grew up."
Adam's emerald eyes widened and he took a few steps further out past the dune we'd scrambled down. "You lived there?" His voice betrayed him as the city kid he was. "That's amazing."
"Yeah," I admitted with a laugh. "It
was
pretty cool."
"I'm jealous," Adam sighed. "I grew up in the suburbs." He picked his way down to the water's edge and looked out over the crashing surf. I hung back and watched him take in the view. It was so familiar to me that I felt like I knew every rock, every seagull, every grain of sand, but I tried to see it through a stranger's eyes. Smiling, I stole up behind Adam and wrapped my arms around his chest, just like I had on the bike.
"Pretty amazing, huh?" I whispered into the soft fabric of his t-shirt. Adam nodded but said nothing.
The next time he spoke his deep voice hitched in his throat. "Why'd you bring me here, Lilly? Why
this
beach?"
"You drove," I teased, afraid to answer the question truthfully. "Why'd you bring me out on your bike?"
Adam turned so his back was to the ocean. He looked down at me and smiled his slow, sexy smile. "I don't know. I guess it felt important to me. I wanted you to experience it. I thought you'd know me a little better once you had."
I watched the earnestness settle on his handsome face. "Exactly," I said softly.
If he hadn't bent down to kiss me right then I would have risen to find his mouth. As it was we met each other half-way and the world tilted precariously as a result; and whether it was the thrill of the motorcycle ride, or the crash of the waves coupled the fresh sea air, or whether it was just the amazing man kissing me, but at that moment I wanted Adam more than I'd ever wanted anyone.
I could feel the solid length of his erection pressing against me, so when I reached down to unzip his jeans it surprised me when Adam jumped back in shock.
"W-what are you doing?" he stammered, laughing.
I arched an eyebrow and tried his fly again. "The thing which progresses naturally after a man kisses a woman the way you just kissed me."
"What? Right now? Right here?" Adam asked incredulously.
"Yes," I giggled. "Right now. Right here." I ran my fingers lightly over his jean-clad erection. "Unless you don't want to?"
"I- I never said
that
," Adam moaned. "It's just… what if someone sees us?"
I looked up at him and bit back the urge to laugh; instead I spread my arms wide. "Who's going to see us Adam? There's no one here! There's no one for miles and miles."
"Won't we get sand in uncomfortable places?" Adam asked.
"Oh probably," I giggled. "It gives us an excuse to shower together later."
Adam's emerald green eyes lit up and reached for the strap of my tank top, sliding it and my bra strap down from my shoulder. He planted a small kiss where the fabric had been. I watched the procedure silently, my breathing ragged.
He traced an invisible path across my shoulder, making his way up my neck.
"Think I should get a tattoo there?" I gasped, amazed by the lightness of his touch.