Hard to Handle

walking into. “The host, Rick, and I dated. Briefly,” she added.

Aiden nodded but said nothing, his handsome face unreadable.

“I ended it. I don’t even know why I let it get as far as I did.” A flash of something lit Aiden’s eyes. Anger? Hurt? She couldn’t tell. “I mean, it didn’t get that far, but I definitely went to more two- for-forty-dollars dinners than I wanted to. This is the first time I’ve seen him since I dumped him. And I can’t not go, since he’s my customer,” she said, unable to stop rambling. “I guess I’m asking you to come with me because I need…”

“A buffer.” Aiden finished.

She bit her lip. The definition of irony was asking Aiden to be a buffer when Aiden was the one she needed a buffer for. She nodded.

Hand still on her car, Aiden leaned his head through the open window. Sadie held her breath, watching his lips draw closer to hers. He stopped short of brushing her nose with his and she licked her bottom lip.

His voice was a low rasp when he spoke. “Why didn’t you say so?”

Before she’d succeeded to pull air into her deflated lungs, Aiden was in the car, belt buckled. “I’ll even let you drive,” he said with a wink.

Sadie pulled onto the street, utterly distracted by the heat emanating off her passenger. Woodsy-smelling, toothpaste-commercial-worthy Aiden Downey. Right next to her. Her hands grew damp on the steering wheel. He was sitting too close, was too distracting. Operating the gas pedal and steering wheel simultaneously wasn’t normally an issue she struggled with.

Maybe she should let him drive.

His bare arm brushed hers as he turned down the radio, sending goose bumps to the surface of her skin and her thoughts into dangerous territory. She jerked her arm, nearly veering into a cornfield.

“I was planning on taking the bike out,” he said, sounding terribly calm. Being near her hadn’t robbed him of his faculties. “It’s the perfect night for doing something outside.” He glanced her direction. “I’m glad you invited me.”

Sadie flinched. She could picture him weaving along a dark ribbon of unlit road on his motorcycle. She refused to get on one. That hadn’t changed since last year.

“I can’t believe you still hate Sheila,” he teased, picking up on her thoughts. Or maybe he noticed her absently rubbing her arm with her free hand.

“If she weren’t lethal, I might give her a chance,” Sadie mumbled.

“Maybe you should give her a chance anyway.”

She spared him as long a glance as she could before returning her eyes to the road. His loaded statement seemed to be about more than her motorcycle phobia.

When Sadie knew she was getting close to Rick’s house she pulled out her cell and studied the GPS on the screen. They passed a sign, then another, but Sadie couldn’t read the street names despite her squinting, straining, and bending over the steering wheel.

“Keep hunching like that and I’ll have to find you a bell tower to live in.”

She sat up. “You’re hilarious.”

He grinned over at her, attractive even in the eerie blue lights emanating from the dashboard. Her pulse skittered. “Did you consider asking for my help?” he asked.

She hadn’t. And it wasn’t like she could forget she had a copilot. His presence clogged the very air she breathed. But asking for help hadn’t occurred to her. Not once. Why was that? Because I never ask for help came the swift but sure answer.

Rather than examine the reasons behind her actions, she handed him the phone. “Here.”

Aiden dropped it in the cup holder. “You have a ways to go.”

“You know where we are?”

“Friend of mine used to live out here—Peachpine Road.”

“Peachpine?” She wrinkled her nose. “Berrymaple? What kind of weird neighborhood is this?” His chuckle sent another wave of goose bumps over her arms. She liked talking to him. Even about nothing.

“All the lanes back here are a mash-up of fruit and tree names,” he told her.

“Nuh-uh.”

“Yes-huh. There’s Grapewillow, Raisinfir, and Cantaloupe…uh, Dogwood.”

His hesitation gave him away. “You made that last one up,” she said, swatting him playfully. He caught her hand and didn’t let it go.

“You got me,” he said softly. A moment later, he pointed. “Berrymaple.”

Sadie took her hand back. The slide of his fingers against hers made her want to sigh. She turned down the long lane, missing his touch already.

“Spooky,” Aiden said, checking out their surroundings.

It was, a little. Tall trees shrouded the lane in darkness, their fading leaves waving overhead and blocking out the stars. They parted to a massive field where silhouettes circled a huge bonfire burning in a clearing. Sadie angled her car into the grass and parked. Hers was one of few four-wheeled vehicles, the rest of the space littered with motorcycles.

“You didn’t tell me it was a biker party. I would have brought Sheila.”

“Yeah, well, I didn’t think of it,” she lied.

Aiden tsked. “She’s gonna be mad when she hears about this.”

“You have an unhealthy relationship with that bike,” Sadie said, dropping her keys into the pocket of her hoodie.

“Yeah, I have a weakness for gorgeous ladies,” Aiden quipped, adding a long-lashed wink. Sadie was glad the interior of the car was dark so he couldn’t see her face grow warm. On Aiden, something as simple as a wink packed enough innuendo to bring the female population to their knees. And she was already showing her weakness for him tonight.

Sadie retrieved a six-pack of beer from the backseat and got out. Aiden took the beer and caught her hand with his free one.

She looked down at their linked arms, Aiden’s tanned one resting against her fairer skin. “This okay?” he asked, his voice gentle.

She nodded and he gave her fingers a reassuring squeeze as they walked. At least it felt reassuring to her. Yes, he made her pulse jump-start, conjured up goose bumps, and heated her cheeks, but something about him also calmed her. Always had.

They broached the outer rim of the party, and a few people turned to watch them. She pictured what they must see: Sadie, with a tall, buff, dark-blond-haired guy. A guy holding her close to him, claiming her. She liked that much more than she should.

“Sadie!” someone behind her squealed.

“Jade, hi!” Sadie caught the tattooed twentysomething against her in a tight hug. Jade held on a little too tight—maybe for support. She smelled like a distillery.

“I meant to text you,” Jade slurred. Every year they promised to catch up between Summer’s Passing parties. It never happened. Sadie doubted they had much more in common than the yearly shindig.

“This year. We’ll do it this year,” Sadie assured her.

“For sure.” She held up a water bottle filled with a brownish liquid and shook it. “I started way early.” She seemed to notice Aiden and stuck her hand out, wobbling slightly in a pair of wedge sandals. “Hi. Jade.”

“Aiden.”

Jade held his hand longer than the social norm, then turned to Sadie and blurted, “He’s superhot.”

Aiden’s deep chuckle near Sadie’s ear caused the fine hairs on the back of her neck to stand on end.

Jade beamed up at him. “That wasn’t a whisper, was it?”

He shook his head. “Afraid not.”

Before Jade could embarrass herself further, another “Sadie!” interrupted them. Sadie turned to greet more once-a-year friends and introduce Aiden to everyone in as vague a manner as possible. This is Aiden. He works at Axle’s. Almost everyone knew the place, and had good things to say about the store, and about Axle. Sadie watched in awe as Aiden answered questions patiently. The man did not know a stranger. They