should have moved out of the way.”
Evan’s grin widened. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d had this much fun. To that point, his life had been all about the work.
Dani was dressed and on her bike first, kick-starting the tall motorcycle on. “See if you can catch up,” she called before leaning the bike over and twisting the throttle. The bike spun itself around, and Dani took off back down the way they came.
God, what a woman. Evan jammed the helmet on his head, started up his bike, and took off in hot pursuit. The dirt tires bit into the ground as he followed the meandering trail through the jungle, listening for the sound of her bike. “Is this any way to treat a guest?” he said over the intercom.
“Hey, I took it easy on you before. Now the fun part begins.”
Evan grinned, noting that the reception was good so they weren’t too far apart. A moment later, he spotted her white bike through the trees ahead, and picked up his pace a bit. The rugged trail through the jungle was smoothing out, the trees growing thinner and sparser. Green grass lined the wider section of the road now, and he recognized the spires of the island’s castle off in the distance.
Dani was just ahead of him, standing upright on the bike, her knees absorbing the bumps in the road. Evan was steadily gaining on her as the road widened out and flattened more, obviously used more often. He twisted the throttle as they hit a straightaway, and shot past her.
“So, what do I get for catching you?”
“How about a swift kick to the... Oh shit. ”
Evan’s rear tire hit a rock he hadn’t seen until too late, and the back of the bike slid to the side. For a moment he thought he’d get off easy and just fall down on the inside of his lean.
Then the tires hit the edge of the embankment and caught, ending the slide abruptly. Evan went sailing through the air over the bike, straight toward the mess of vines and greenery beside the road.
Oh damn, this is gonna hurt.
*
S ome time later, Evan managed to limp the bike into the garage, with Dani hovering close behind.
“I’m so sorry,” she said for what felt like the millionth time, biting her lip as Evan carefully extricated himself from the bike. His shoulder throbbed like crazy, and his hip and right side hurt.
The accident hadn’t damaged the bike much beyond cosmetics, and despite Dani’s protests he’d insisted on riding it the rest of the way back. They’d still stopped for almost twenty minutes to let Evan get his bearings, but he’d insisted on getting right back on the proverbial horse.
Getting off now, however, hurt worse.
“I can call the doctor,” Dani started, then trailed off as Evan waved his hand at her.
“No, I’ll be fine.”
“Okay then,” she said, folding her arms stubbornly, “lift your right arm above your head.”
Just thinking about doing that made him wince. “I’ll go see him if there’s any major problems,” he said and then, at Dani’s dubious look, added, “I promise.”
She helped him out of his gear and made him sit while she put everything away. “You did really good out there. I wasn’t going light on you and you kept up.”
He grinned at that. “So you think I ride well?”
She looked up at him, saw the smile, and snorted. “Well enough for someone who hasn’t been on two wheels in, what, a decade?”
He hadn’t told her the specifics but she was pretty close. “Hell of a way to ease back into it,” he muttered, flexing his shoulder, and immediately regretted his words when her face fell. “I do know one thing you can do for me though.”
“Anything.”
“Let me take you to dinner.”
Dani’s eyebrows shot up. “Really?” she said, looking perplexed
Despite his aching bones Evan chuckled at her response. “You seem surprised.”
“Yeah. Well, no, not really. I mean, at the pool...” She trailed off, and Evan was amused to see her cheeks go red. “We’re completely different. What would we