Golden Lies - Barbara Freethy [98]
He pulled back and undid her helmet, taking it off of her head. "You're awesome."
"I'm a mess." She put a hand to her hair, which was loose and tangled, then laughed. "But I don't care."
"Neither do I." He took off his own helmet and tossed them both to the ground. "Now, let's do this right."
She met him more than halfway, as eager for the kiss as he was. She wrapped her arms around his waist, pressed her breasts against his chest, and let her tongue sweep the inside of his mouth with a demanding need she hadn't thought herself capable of. Today was a day for firsts.
A honking horn broke them apart as a car maneuvered around them and headed up the next hill.
Paige knew she should have felt embarrassed, ashamed by her behavior on a public street no less, but there was laughter bubbling up from deep down inside. And she couldn't stop it from bursting out, especially when Riley was already laughing.
"Stop," she said, getting a side ache. She turned away from him. "If I look at you, I'm going to keep laughing."
"It's good for you."
She turned back around. "You're good for me." His laughter stopped. His expression changed like a cloud over the sun. "Paige—"
"Don't say anything." She held up her hand. "This is a great moment. Let's just leave it at that."
"I knew you could make it up that hill."
"You had more faith in me than I did. You've done this before, haven't you?"
"A few times."
"Like every day?"
"Three or four times a week," he admitted. "But not just this hill. There are always higher hills to climb, especially in this city."
She wondered what the hills really stood for. She doubted he would tell her even if she asked. Instead, she looked down the hill from where they had come. "I did pretty good."
"You did. Ready for the next one?"
"No way."
"You said that before."
"Maybe next time."
He studied her thoughtfully, then nodded. "Maybe next time. Ready for the best part?"
"Going down?"
"Absolutely. You earned it. Now enjoy it."
She put her helmet back on and picked up her bike. She had a momentary fear of the steepness of the downhill ride, but she pushed it away. Today was not a day for holding back but for going forward.
She sailed down the hill, the wind in her face bringing tears to her eyes—at least that's what she wanted to blame the emotion on. She knew she was lying to herself. It wasn't the wind making her cry; it was the feeling that she'd finally broken through. And the odd thing was she hadn't even realized she was holding back until now.
"How was that?" Riley asked her as he joined her at the bottom.
"It was good, but it wasn't the best part," she admitted. "The best part were those last few feet at the top of the hill."
His eyes burned bright at her reply, and they exchanged a long look of complete and total understanding.
"Was it that way for you, too?" she asked.
"It usually is," he admitted. "But today the best part was when I was kissing you, and you were kissing me back."
She smiled at him. "I hate to break this to you, Riley, but you could have had that kiss an hour ago when we were standing in your garage."
He laughed. "Now you tell me."
"I'll race you back to your apartment."
"Feeling cocky, are you?"
"Absolutely. And I like it!" She hopped on the bike and began riding back the way they had come. It didn't matter if she beat Riley or not. She'd already won the biggest battle of the day, the one going on inside herself.
Chapter Eighteen
Alyssa jogged up the stairs to her mother's apartment Saturday afternoon and knocked on the door. As she waited, she found herself foolishly smiling, which was pretty much what she'd been doing since she'd left Ben's apartment the night before. She'd had a good time with him, better than she'd expected. In fact, he'd reminded her of what she'd liked in