19. Dante

19

The way my girls jaw drops, and her eyes bug out is adorable.

"What are you doing?" she hisses at me, before twisting out of my arms to face her sloth of a boss. "I'm sorry Bruce. I was still on my break, but I'll?—"

The overweight man's eyes drop to where she's wearing her apron, and he rolls his eyes. Fucking rolls them, like some teenage girl.

"I've put up with a lot from you, but this…" he waves at me, "this kind of behavior is?—"

"Oh, shut up Bruce!" Becca snaps from behind him. Her arms are loaded with plates that she all but tosses onto the table waiting for them. "Everyone in this place knows that Amy is your best, most reliable, and hardest working employee."

The table she just served all nod their heads in agreement and Bruce's face starts to turn a disturbing shade of purple as he sputters.

With a grin, Becca turns her attention back to Amy, folding her arms across her chest and hitching her hip out. "What are you still doing here? I thought you quit?"

"I can't just quit!" Amy stammers, her head swiveling between me and her friend.

"Why not?" Becca asks her, with genuine curiosity. "This place isn't anything special. It's never given you a fraction of the loyalty you gave it."

"I—but—I can't just leave you high and dry in the middle of my shift!"

Becca shakes her head and pulls out her cell phone. Keeping it on speaker, we all listen as it rings.

"Hey Becca, what's up?" the voice on the other end says.

"Trina, I know it's last minute, but can you come in for the rest of the shift today?" her eyes flick to Amy and she grins. "Amy just quit."

"Amy quit?" Trina practically screams. "Damn, it's about time. I never would have put up with the way Bruce treated me for that long. Good for her!"

We all turn to look at Bruce who looks like he's about to have a stroke before he spins on his heel and stalks to the back.

Becca ends the call and the tables with customers all break out into applause.

"Come on, babe," I lean down to whisper against the side of her face. "We've got some catching up to do."

"I can't just quit. You guys—!" Amy tries to argue as I lead her towards the door. "How am I going to support myself and Molly! I need this job, we're moving into a new place!"

I pull us up short and spin her so that she's facing me. Leaning down, I whisper into her ear, "You got the money, didn't you?"

"Well, yeah. But?—"

I drape my arm around her shoulder and start walking again. "You can afford to take some time off then. And you can be picky about what job you take. I want you to be able to enjoy going to work, not to have to work because you feel like you need to."

Becca steps up to Amy's other side and whispers loudly enough that I could hear her easily even without my shifter hearing.

"This one's smart. You should listen to him."

Amy shakes her head, but I don't miss the slight smile curling her lips up.

We make our way out of the diner without any more argument.

"Wait, my car—" she sputters as I lead her to where my bike is parked.

"I'll have someone take it back to your place later," I promise as and I pull her over to where my bike it parked.

"Um, I've never ridden one of these before," she tells me as I settle my helmet over her head. It's a little loose, so I tighten the chin strap, but it'll be better than nothing. First thing on my list is to get her fitted for everything she'll need to ride with me. And Molly too. I've already been searching for which dirt bike will be best to start teaching her on.

Bending down, I look at her through the visor and give her a wink. Then I swing my leg over the bike and hold out my hand to her. She hesitates, but only for a moment before she takes hold of my hand and climbs on behind me.

With a turn of the key the bike rumbles to life and her arms squeeze around me. With one hand on the bar, I squeeze her hands that are clenched in front of my stomach and shout over my shoulder, "Hold on tight and lean when I lean."

She slams the visor down on the helmet and bobs her head.

I nudge the kickstand with my heel and we're off, leaving her high-pitched scream behind us.

Her hands have a death grip on my shirt, and it takes all my willpower not to show off and hot rod down the road, but I decide that I want her on the back of my bike again someday, so I behave.

With the afternoon sun beating down on us, I head for the mountains. It's the perfect day for a ride, with blue skies dotted with cotton clouds and surprisingly little traffic for a Saturday. The moment we hit the tree line, I turn off the highway onto a narrow, twisty road that will eventually lead to my cabin.

Letting off the throttle, I let the bike take the switch-back turns with leisure. With my girl pressed up behind me and her arms wrapped tightly around my waist, I'm in no hurry.

When we're about halfway up the mountain, I pull off the road and shut my bike off.

"Where are we?" Amy asks as I turn around and lift my helmet off her head. I bite back a laugh when her hair puffs out from static.

"I want to show you something," I say, smoothing the copper strands down for her and then helping her off the bike.

Grabbing her hand, I thread my fingers through hers and lead her into the trees and down a well-worn trail. The path winds through thick old growth before coming out on a rocky ledge that overlooks the city below.

"Oh," Amy's feet shuffle to a stop with her gasp.

Pulling her in front of me, I walk us over to a flat-topped boulder. Climbing on first, I pull her down to sit in front of me. Curling my arms around her, still holding her hand, I rest my chin on her shoulder. "What do you think?"

The view is breathtaking. The blue sky is dotted with puffy white clouds that cast dappled shadows into the valley below. A lazy river twists between the city and the base of the mountains, the choppy water glinting in the bright sunlight. Birds of prey glide on the currents.

It's cooler this high up, but I don't think that is what is causing the goosebumps to pebble her arms.

"I've never been up here before," she breathes. "It's beautiful."

Looking down at her, I take in her profile. "Mmm, beautiful."

Amy catches me staring at her and huffs out a soft laugh. "I shouldn't feel this comfortable with you. It makes no sense, the way my brain can't remember you but—" her fingers squeeze mine and she lets her head lean back on my shoulder. "—but my body is completely at ease in your presence."

I tighten my arms around her, pulling her into my body. "I never meant to let them take you. I thought we had more time, but they snuck in while I was in the bathroom coming up with a plan."

The way her body tenses for a moment cuts me, but then she relaxes again, letting out a soft sigh.

"I couldn't stop crying when I woke up. I thought that maybe something awful had happened, but…then I realized that I was mourning." She's quiet for several heart beats and I don't miss the way her hand comes up to rub at the healed claiming bite I left on her shoulder. "Can you tell me about that night?" she asks.

I press my lips to her temple and start with the first time I saw her in the diner. How I recognized her as my mate immediately, and then, when all my courting tactics backfired, I decided to use the auction to bring her into my world.

"I have been watching you outside your apartment every day. Making sure you were okay."

Amy twists in my arms so she can look up at me. "Wait… you—there was a cougar outside my apartment the other night. Was that you?"

I grin and she smacks my shoulder with the back of her hand.

"You scared me half to death!"

No, I didn't. I hated how upset she was when she saw me, but I know it wasn't from fear, but I'm not going to argue with her. Instead, I lean in and nuzzle the side of her face. "Can I show you something else?"

She nods and I lead her back to my bike. This time I push the throttle through the turns until she's screaming in my ear and squeezing my guts up into my chest.