She had hoped a few minutes by herself would help calm her enough to make it through dinner with him. Instead, the warm water rushing over her overly sensitized skin had only heightened her need. One kiss was all it had taken to arouse her beyond reason. She was no stranger to self-pleasure, but something told her that instead of taking the edge off, touching herself would only make her crave his touch more.

Anticipation and heightened pleasure, she also suspected, were quite closely linked. And when she and Rafe finally came together—if the two kisses they’d shared so far had been anything to go by—it would be explosive.

She should have guessed that just kissing Rafe would be better than any other sexual experience she’d had. He’d tasted so delicious—a little salty from the hard physical work he’d been doing all day, and fresh and wet from the lake at the same time.

She was heading into the living room when her phone rang. She could see Rafe waiting for her on the front porch—hopefully wallowing in all the things she might have been doing in the shower for the past thirty minutes—and would have just let it ring until she saw her new business partner’s number on the small screen.

"Hi, Cord. I’m just walking out the door for dinner."

She listened with one eye on Rafe as Cord quickly told her that he’d found the perfect Seattle storefront and had emailed her several pictures of the space. "That’s great. I promise to log on and look at the photos before I go to bed tonight. I’ll give you a call back in the morning." He told her they’d need to make a deposit as soon as possible, before one of the half-dozen new cupcake makers in Seattle decided to snap up the space. "I’ll transfer the money into your account tomorrow. That way, we’re ready to jump when we need to." She felt bad about cutting the call short, but for one night, chocolate could wait. After disconnecting, she put a couple small boxes of chocolates into her bag.

Despite the fact that Rafe was staring out at a truly serene and peaceful lake view, he looked tense.

"Good shower?"

Brooke didn’t bother to stifle her delighted laughter at his rather growly question. "Amazing." She grabbed a coat and was already heading down the steps and out toward his bike when she took a deep breath, then boldly added, "But it would have been even better with you."

She didn’t turn back again to see how her sexy comment affected him, but she was pretty sure she heard him stumble on the gravel. If he wanted to mess around with her by forcing a twenty-four-hour waiting period on them, then she was more than happy to mess with him right back, she thought with a wide grin.

Especially when the good girl inside her had just learned how truly satisfying it was to be bad.

Back on the beach, his desire for her had been obvious enough that she doubted it would have taken much more than stripping off her wet clothes for him to forget about the stupid waiting period and just take her. But despite how badly she’d wanted that, she also understood that while seducing Rafe was bound to be amazing, both of them as equal partners in seduction would be so much better.

She wouldn’t ever regret being with him or second-guess it.

She didn’t want him to regret or second-guess, either.

His motorcycle was a sleek black Ducati. She barely knew anything about motorcycles, but even she’d heard of this brand. Brooke ran an appreciative hand over the smooth, shiny finish.

Rafe reached into the saddlebag and pulled out two helmets, one big and one a little smaller. She hadn’t thought about whether or not he’d have a second helmet with him, but even though she was glad he did—she wanted to be wild, but there was a big difference between wild and stupid—she couldn’t help but wonder why.

"You get a little line right here—" He reached out to stroke the tip of one finger between her eyes. "—when you’ve got a question you want to ask me."

That one little touch was all it took for her breath to go. "I’m just surprised you have a second helmet." One clearly sized for a woman.

"Mia’s got a thing for my bike. When I realized I wasn’t going to win the battle to keep her off of it, I bought her the helmet so she’ll always be safe when I take her for a ride."

Rafe was great for so many reasons, but right at the top of the list was how much he cared about his family. A moment later, he reached out to push a lock of hair that had fallen out of her braid behind her ear, then slid the helmet onto her head and did up the chin strap for her.

At last, the grin she’d been dying to see came as he looked at her. "Damn, you’re cute."

For so many years, she’d hated that word. Cute. But when Rafe said it, it didn’t sound bad at all.

"What do I need to know?"

"Lean with me into the corners. Follow the line of my body. And promise me that whatever happens, you won’t let go of me."

"I promise."

His eyes darkened for a split second before he put on his own helmet and climbed onto the motorcycle. She swung her right leg over the leather seat and when it turned out to be wider and taller than it looked, she instinctively reached for Rafe and put her arms tightly around his chest. They fit together so that her legs cradled the firm muscles of his hips and thighs and her br**sts pressed tightly into his back. She loved feeling the hard and steady beat of his heart beneath her fingertips.

"Ready?"

"Never been readier," she confirmed, hoping he knew she wasn’t just talking about the bike ride.

* * *

The ride into town was much too short as Rafe pulled over in front of the Italian restaurant less than ten minutes later. Brooke pulled off her helmet and shook out her hair, feeling like a new woman.

"That was amazing! No wonder Mia’s in love with your motorcycle. That was easily better than sex."

"If that’s the case, it sounds to me like you’ve been having sex with the wrong men."

She shivered at the heat—and the confidence—in his tone that told her in no uncertain terms that sex with him would be miles better than any ride on a motorcycle would ever be.

"Maybe," she agreed in a voice made breathless both by the ride and by the way his words had affected her, "but I think I want a motorcycle anyway."

She could tell by his expression that he didn’t like the thought one bit. "You can ride with me whenever you want."

She raised an eyebrow. "You don’t think I can handle one?"

"At this point, I don’t think there’s anything you can’t handle, Brooke...but I’d rather you rode with me."