Then & Now (14 page)

She glanced around him to the off-road vehicle.  “Umm…I’ve never been riding before.  It looks dangerous.”

He shook his head as he escorted her over to his favorite machine.  “Not if ye know
yer bike.  Like this one.  This has a new Hemi-spherical design that is exactly 545cc's and carries a single overhead cam design. It has an electronic fuel injection which was a great move.  It made the Hemi wake up relatively easy.”

She let out a small laugh.  “I have no idea what
you just said.  But, I’m guessing it’s really cool by the way you said it.  So, I’m going to act like that’s amazing with a smile and an exaggerated expression.”  Doing exactly that, she brought her hand to her mouth with mock astonishment.

Caught off guard by her statement he flashed her questionable smile before barking out a deep laugh.  “You know Sophia Rhodes; I’ve never met anyone like ye before.”

“Is that a good thing?” 

“
Verra good.”

Heat flushed her cheeks and she quickly turned away.

He chuckled lightheartedly.  “I bet ye have no idea how charming ye really are.”

She gave him the most adorable confused look he had ever seen.

“I thought so.  Ye’re completely oblivious. ” He laughed loving the feel of the relaxed banter between them.

This time her smile reached those prefect green eyes.  “Well, Tristan Macklin.  It seems the charm is going both ways.”

“I try.”

“I doubt you have to try too hard.”

He found that with her staring at him with her kissable lips curving slightly at the corners, he couldn’t move, not for effect, but because for some unrealistic reason he couldn’t breathe with her so close.

Clearing his throat he stepped back.  She was affecting him more than he thought she would.  His mother once told him that soul-mates found each other this way.  His parents were true romantics.  And being raised by two love-addicts had him aware of things most men usually ignored.  Which had him suddenly unsure how to respond to her anymore.  If what his mother said about soul-mates was true, then he should take this with slow cautious precision.

Regrettably, he knew that slow cautious precision wasn’t how he was going to handle this.  He was going in head first, even if it was the shallow end of the pool.  

Nodding towards the four-wheeler he asked slowly. “So, do ye want to go for a ride?”

She gave the machine a long look before she smiled. 
“Yeah.  But you have to go slow.  Okay?”

“Whatever ye want.”
  He dropped his voice to a seductive hum.  “Just jump on behind me.”

She did as he said, although she sat way back on the bike.  Her hands roamed around the back as if looking for something.  “Where do I hold on?”

Several ideas popped to mind at her question, though he doubted she would be okay with any of them this early in the game.  “The rails at yer sides will work.  But don’t fash I won’t be going verra fast.  Ye’re safe with me.”

“I’m holding you to that.”  She mused.

He grinned at her delightful sense of humor while he started the engine.  It roared to life and he gave it some gas.  She let out a small yelp as she wrapped her arms around his waist.  He was going to thoroughly enjoy this.  Probably more than he should.

Everything inside her became charged. She loved the feel of his far too prefect stomach a little too much.  Apart of her had actually started to count the six sculpted abs that her fingers brushed shamelessly.  Snuggling her head against his back she was able to hear him chuckle softly. Inappropriately, she pressed her nose to his shoulder getting a wonderful whiff of the man she should be avoiding.

The intelligent thing to do was to tell him to turn the bike around and head back to camp, where she should be reading about secret crushes not living them.  Unfortunately, she wasn’t feeling very intelligent.

She would like to think this reaction was caused by some vendetta based on her boyfriend—who knew about her traumatic experience she had as a child—leaving her alone in the forest.  Though, she knew it wasn’t.  She wanted every inch of this sexy Scot, and she couldn’t control it.

Once she realized that he wasn’t going very fast she
released her hold enough to sit back further.  No need to grope him any longer than necessary.  It didn’t take long before she actually began to enjoy the ride.  The speed, the rhythmic hum of the engine, gave her the sense of exhilarating freedom.  It was unlike anything she had ever tried.  She couldn’t help but feel as if this was something she had needed for a long time now and was unable to explain it to anyone.  Yet, Tristan somehow understood.

He slowed the bike to a crawl, and then turned slightly back to her.  “Do ye want to drive?”

“What!  No…I don’t know how.” She stammered with panic.

Stopping the bike, he turned to see her fully.  “I’ll show you. 
‘Tis no’ that hard.”

Before she could react he jumped off the quad and motioned for her to scoot forward. She hesitated for a moment.  “What if I crash?  What if I wreck your bike?”

He leaned forward only a few inches from her face and whispered. “I don’t think ye’ll go fast enough.”

Remembering the rustic smell of him made her stomach quiver.  He was so close all she had to do was lean slightly and she would be able to taste him.  Banishing the thought she cleared her suddenly dry throat while she slid to the handle bars.  “You’re probably right.  But if any trees jump out at me….”

“They usually don’t do that.  However, if they decide to do so, I will right behind ye to take over.”  He reassured her as he climbed onto the back.

Making himself comfortable behind her, his thick muscular thighs enclosed around her.
  She swallowed hard as his incredible arms slid around her bringing his muscular hands to rest nicely on each of her own shaky ones. Warmth washed through her and pooled where it shouldn’t.  Cradled by his magnificent body, it took sheer willpower for her not to lean back into him. 

“This lever here,” Guiding her thumb to the black switch under the right handle bar, he continued to instruct her with his mouth not far from her ear. “
tis the gas.  Ye give that a little push with yer thumb when ye want to go.  And these silver things at the top of each handle bar are yer bakes.”

“Everything is controlled by my hands?”

“Aye.”

Taking a deep breath she tried to find her voice.  “This seems easy enough.”

“I think ye’ll catch on quiet quickly.”  His accent sang right into the shell of her ear causing a slight tingle to vibrate down her spine.  “Don’t fash ye’ll be fine.”

“I know.”  She said quietly.

“Then stop shaking.”

Knowing it had nothing to do with operating the intimidating machine; she only nodded at his comment. Thankful that she had put her hair back into ponytail, and had grabbed a jacket, she eased the thumb-sized accelerator giving the quad some power.

The four-wheeled beast lunged forward nearly scaring the life out of her.  She felt his strong hands wrap around hers as he chuckled softly.  “Easy.  She only needs a little gas.”  He gently pressed his thumb over hers, showing her what he meant.  At once the device did as commanded at a tranquil speed.

Letting up on her thumb, but not her hand, he said.  “She’s all
yers.”

“Okay.”  Pushing as hard as he had she began to gain control of the speed.  Little by little she gave the quad some gas increasing its pace.  The trees started to fly past as the wind whipped the lose hair around her face.  She was really enjoying herself.  Maybe she should invest in one of these four-wheeled monsters.

Tristan extended his finger to a turnoff a little ways up the road indicating where he wanted her to go.  Slowing the off-road vehicle she took the turn with ease.  Proud of herself for this little accomplishment she quickly brought the quad back to speed.

“Right up here is where they’re doing the testing.”  He warned her by leaning against her body with his beautiful voice humming right into her ear.         

Bringing the bike to a stop, she couldn’t control the smile on her face.  She couldn’t remember the last time she had that much fun.  Apart of her almost didn’t want it to end.

“
Ye’re a natural.”  He praised as he climbed off and came around to face her.

“Thank you.  That was a lot of fun.”  She smiled unable to control the excitement in her voice.  Rolling her eyes she turned away from him.

“I’ll tell ye what; if ye give me a minute to check on a few things we can go back out.  Would you like that?”  He asked with a tilt of his head.

“Yes, very much.
  But you don’t have to.  I mean, I know you’re working and everything.”

“Nonsense.
  If ye want to ride again then that is what we will do.”  He gave her a quick wink with a devastating smile.

Oh that smile did things to her that she shouldn’t acknowledge.  “I bet you get whatever you want with a smile like that.”

His smile widened.  “Ye bet I do.  Well at least that’s what my mother says.”

Shaking her head faintly she took one long
look at him.  “You know, you’re not what I expected.”

“And what did ye expect? 
A kilt?  Some bagpipes?  Trust me, I’m not verra good on bagpipes.  Nor do I like wearing a kilt.”  He teased.

“Why?  I bet you have great legs.”  Clamping her mouth shout she scolded herself for the remark.  He was making it way too easy.  His personality was so laid back it was hard not to be playful even if she was crossing major lines.  She was engaged to this man’s employee for crying out loud.     

“Well, thank you.  But it’s not my legs I worry about.  It gets rather windy in parts of Scotland and there isn’t much protection under those things.” 

The image that came to mind at his comment had her laughing. “Afraid the other boys will get intimidated?”

His deep laugh joined hers.  “Maybe a wee bit.”

She had a feeling that ‘a wee bit’ was a huge understatement.  Refusing to allow her mind to wander onto dangerous territory any longer she changed the subject. “I thought you would be like all the other rich men I have met.  It’s nice to see you didn’t let your money refine you.”

“No.  The only good thing that came out of my money was the fact that I got to play more and work less.”  He let out a heavy sigh. “Unfortunately, I took too much advantage of that wee perk.  Now, someone is enjoying my money on a beach somewhere.”

He was talking about the money that his ex-employee stole.  She remembered John talking about it.  Of course, John thought that Tristan was an idiot for not paying closer attention. 
Although he used more colorful word instead of idiot.

“You can’t blame yourself for someone else’s transgressions.  You trusted him to do his job and he failed you.”  She shook her head and gave him appointed look. “That can’t be your fault.  I mean, that’s why you hired him to begin with.”

A strange expression— too quick for her to read—pasted over his handsome face before he smiled.  “I’ll be right back.  Then I want to take you on a trail I think ye’ll like.”

“Alright.”

She watched him walk into the crowd of his employees who had gathered around one of the other machines.  Two women from the bunch turned to stare at her.  Even though they waved with simple smiles, Sophia got the impression that she was competition. 
Which was utterly ridiculous.  She belonged to someone else.

They had nothing to worry about.  They were probably more his type then her anyway.  Hell, the only reason Tristan was being so nice was because he found her alone.  He most likely felt sorry for her.
A ludicrous feeling pitted her stomach at the thought.  What if this was all a pity play?

“Ready?”  He asked coming up next to her.

She took in the grin on his face and the deep contrast of his eyes.  This had nothing to do with pity. The realization of it should have startled her.  Although it didn’t. The truth was that she wasn’t sure what to be concerned about.  That he wanted her, or that she wanted him as well.  Trying to shake the feeling off, she found that she couldn’t help but want to be his type.

“Sophia?  Are you ready?”
He asked again placing his hand on hers.

Her eyes dropped to their joined hands and for some unknown reason her mouth took over and everything she should be concentrating on was ignored.  “Can I drive?”

“Of course.”  He smiled while climbing onto the bike.  Leaning into her he whispered wickedly.  “I prefer it back here.”

She started the bike without turning to face him.  Like the fool she was slowly becoming she found herself actually giggling at his comment.

She drove for some time, enjoying the view and the feel of the man behind her, until the road became too intimidating.  Stopping at a small turn out she glanced back at him.  “I’m not sure that I can drive anymore.  This road looks unstable.”

He shook his head with a wink.  “Nah, it only looks that way.  This wee toy you’re on was made for this.
Though, until ye trust this monster a little more I’ll take over.”  Jumping off the back he grabbed a helmet off the rack.  “This will make ye feel safer, and give me peace of mind.  I would really hate for ye not to enjoy this.”