Slow Ride (Riding with Honor) (16 page)

Looking at him now
, she was amazed at what only ten years had done.  He was still an attractive man and though not as fit as he’d been in high school, he wasn’t over weight… merely pudgy.  His hair had thinned dramatically and the signs of a receding hairline were already there.

“Oh my God, is that Dana Atkinson?”
a woman’s voice whispered too loudly.

Her eyes followed the words to land on a slightly overweight woman.  She recognized her as Miranda Harris and standing next to her was Valerie Love.  They had been on the cheerleading squad and Miranda had dated Jason off and on through high school. 

Much like in high school their heads were close together as they gazed at her.  Probably talking about her… looks may have changed but some things had remained the same.

“Dana?  Dana Atkinson?” Valerie said.

“Yes…” she answered, pasting a look of confusion on her face.

“Valarie… used to be Valarie Love…I’m married now
,” she said as they walked towards her. “You remember Miranda Harris?” she said pointing towards Miranda. 
As if she could forget either one of them
.

“I’m sorry
, it’s been a long time and I’m not good with names.  How are you both?” Dana lied.

“Well
, as I said, I’m married and have two little boys.  My husband has a table over there if you want to come and sit down,” Valerie offered.

“We should get something to drink first
,” Miranda said.

Was she trying to be mean or had she forgotten how ugly both she and Jason had been to her after the prom fiasco?  Maybe she wasn’t aware Jason was standing at the bar. 

It didn’t matter.  Squaring her shoulders she said with a smile, “Sure, that sounds great.”

As they made their way over to the drink table, Jason looked up and noticed her and then quickly looked away.  He looked…ashamed? 

It was hard to tell, but if he wanted to snub her she would do the same thing right back.  As they stood in line at the bar to get their drinks, she listened politely to Miranda and Valerie try to name each person that walked through the doors.

As the three of them stepped up to place their order she heard gasps and whispers behind her.  Ignoring the sound
, she ordered her drink but refused to turn and acknowledge the scene someone was making…
probably about her.
 

“Want me to tell you what your hair is making me think about right now?” Tommy asked as he moved up behind her so close that she could feel the
electrical current coming from him.

Her heart seemed to skip a few beats and then pick up speed. 
What was he doing here?
  How had he known that
she
would be here?  She hadn’t wanted him to come though he’d offered.  She didn’t want him to hear what these people might say about her.

Turning to him she said
, “Lilly told…”

Before she could finish he captured her lips with his and released them and then kissed them again…and again.

“Mmm…you look amazing, as always.  Here let me get your drink,” he said, picking up her drink and ordering a beer for himself. 

She could only stare at him.  He looked incredible…
good enough to eat.
  He wore dark denim jeans, with a button up shirt that he left un-tucked with the sleeves rolled up and dark boots.  His hair was windblown as was his usual style but together with the clothes he was…wow!

She noticed several people out of the corner of her eye staring at them but she couldn’t seem to pull her gaze away from his, especially with him so close and looking like…Tommy. 

“If you keep staring at me like that you won’t get to stay and visit with your friends for very long,” he said, kissing her again on the lips as he grabbed both drinks and offered her his elbow.

“Ladies…my apologies for being late, lead on and Dana and I will follow you
,” he said to Miranda and Valerie who were clearly checking him out.

As they made it to the table the DJ announced their graduating class
followed by the Valedictorian standing up and welcoming everyone and showing a slideshow of old pictures. 

Everyone laughed at them and thankfully none of them were of Dana.  Once the speech ended the DJ played a top ten hit from their graduating year.

Valerie and Miranda began talking amongst themselves and suddenly stopped when Jason came over to the table and sat down on the other side of Tommy.

“Hey your Tommy from Bobby’s Custom Chop Shop, aren’t you?” Jason asked Tommy
.

“Yea, who are you?” Tommy asked
.

“Jason Hemming, it’s nice to meet you.  I love
d that last bike you guys built for the competition in Arizona,” he said, offering his hand.

Without shaking Jason’s hand he turned to Dana and said
, “Were you two
friends
in high school?”

“I…
uh… not really… we weren’t part of the same crowd,” she said.

Shaking Jason’s hand Tommy grinned
, “I’m sorry I didn’t mean to sound all jealous, man, but she
finally
agreed to go out with me and having to compete… you get me.  I mean look at her…” he said, releasing Jason’s hand and then leaning over and kissing her again.

“You are even hotter than usual tonight.  I bet you were the subject of some schoolboy fantasies at
your
high school.” He finished with a sexy grin.

One of the guys who had been in the room that night joined Jason
, “Is that your bike out there?”

“Actually it’s a
new build we are doing…it’s one of four,” Tommy said.

“Mind if we sit with you guys?” Jason asked.

Tommy motioned to the empty chairs as Dana held her breath that they wouldn’t say anything to him about what she’d been like in high school.
Ask him why he would be hanging out with her…

“I thought you looked familiar when you came in
,” Miranda said.

“They know you?” Dana whispered
.

“No…they don’t know me…they may have seen me at bike shows or
on a commercial or something, but I’ve never seen them before in my life.  Why?  Something I should know?” he asked her with one of his flirtatious grins before kissing her again.

Glancing around the table
, she noticed that Jason looked really uncomfortable and the women looked jealous…
of her!

“No…” she whispered against his mouth.  Then finally meeting his gaze she was lost for a
moment until he winked at her as though he was letting her in on a secret.

Her cell phone rang and she backed away from him.  Answering the phone
, she could barely hear over the music playing.

“I owed you one from this past week so…you’re welcome!” Lilly sang and then laughed before hanging up.

Tommy stood up and grabbed her hand. “Dance with me,” he said, pulling her along behind him.  Then giving the DJ a thumbs up, he led her to the dance floor.

“Tommy, I don’t dance that well
,” she whispered.

“Miss Atkinson…
don’t worry I’m the man and
I
lead,” he said before kissing her on the lips and pulling her into his arms. 

The song was one from Lilly’s Motown CD that she had played in the car and they had sang along to on their way from the salon to the department store the day of Gretchen’s party.

My God he could sing and dance
.  As he moved her around the dance floor he said, “I’m not much good at singing Motown hits but this song is perfect because you
are
like a shining star to me, Dana.”

“
Don’t ever let the smug bastard put you down again.  He looks older than me and isn’t even thirty yet.  I don’t know what he did to you, Lilly wouldn’t tell me… but I don’t like it that he’s in your head… lying to you.  I want to be in your head… telling you the truth… in your heart earning your love.  Give me a chance,” he whispered against her face.

Several other couples came out onto the dance floor and as the song ended he kissed her again as those around them cheered and the next song started to play. 

He led her back to the table and then went to get them another drink.  Looking around she wondered how long she would have to stay here before she could cut out with Tommy. 

Tommy was her friend…
Lilly was her friend… hell the roughnecks at Gretchen’s party were more of a friend to her than these people were.

“So
you
are dating Tommy, huh?” Jason asked almost in disbelief.

“I guess so…” she said looking around for
Tommy at the bar, turning to her he winked before turning to the bartender to order.

“You’ve changed a lot
, Dana… I mean wow… you look nothing like you did in high school,” he said after a couple of minutes.

Forcing herself to stop staring at Tommy
, she looked around at Jason.  She met his gaze and held it before saying, “You’ve changed a lot from high school too… you don’t look like you did back then either.”

Miranda and Valerie snickered.  Jason appeared to be ignoring them
, “I uh…I wanted to say I’m sorry for what happened between us back then.  I was pretty immature and I’ve grown up a lot since those days,” he said after a long awkward minute.

“I thought you said you hung around in different crowds?” Tommy said
, setting her drink down in front of her and then sitting down in his chair and leaning into her space.

“We did hang around different crowds… we never dated…
or were even friends really,” she said looking at him.  She could not keep her gaze from drifting to his mouth.  It was firm and felt so good on hers.  “I don’t really know any of the people here that well at all.  I’m not real sure why I came.”

“Well
, sorry buddy, but whatever chance you had in high school is gone now,” Tommy said, glancing briefly at Jason before devouring her again with his gaze. “Want to finish up the test ride on the new bike Bobby and I finished today?”

“The motorcycle you were working on the other day when I was at the shop with Lilly?”
she asked.

“No
, this is the first one of the four, it’s all done and the one I was working on was the second one,” he said, standing up and pulling her back out of her chair.

“Bye
, it was nice to see you all again,” she lied as Tommy pulled her away from their seats leaving their full drinks behind.

“Are you sure you don’t want to stay and rub that bastard’s nose in his loss some more?”
he asked her with a laugh.

“I doubt I was rubbing his nose in anything
,” she smiled.

“Oh
, I promise you were,” he laughed again, putting his arm around her and pulling her to him as they headed toward the parking lot.

“Well
, I’m not interested.  In fact I don’t think I ever really was… not like I’m interested in… you.” she said.

Tommy stopped walking at her words.  “Don’t tease me
, woman, I can’t take it.  I want you so bad I ache.”

“I’m not teasing you
, Tommy,” she said. “But I do think we need to talk… so much has happened and I…”

“Yea, we do need to talk.  Follow me to my house,
it’s closer,” he said, kissing her and slowly rubbing his fingers along her neck.

He released her and headed across the parking lot toward a motorcycle that sat low to the ground with high handle bars.  Dana watched him for a minute before hurrying to her car. 

She followed behind him in her car and was surprised when he pulled up in front of a nice two story home in a quiet neighborhood.  It wasn’t in the area of town that Edna’s house was located but wasn’t in the upper class area either.

He got off the bike and headed over to where she stood and taking her hand led her inside.  It was a cozy
bi-level home and though it looked lived in, it wasn’t messy.

“I need to pull the bike into the garage
,” he said, kissing her and then heading through a doorway.

Dana heard the garage door open and made her way into the kitchen.  She noticed several of the items Gretchen had made in class hanging on the refrigerator.  It was too dark to look out the bay window that was off of the dining area.

Tommy re-appeared in the doorway and she could hear the garage door closing.

“I’ve never had anyone here before except for the guys and Gran once right after I bought the place.  It was my mother’s dream house.  After she died it kind of became this obsession of mine to own it
,” he said.

“It’s beautiful
,” she said as she fingered one of Gretchen’s art projects.

“Come on, I’ll show you around
,” he said.