His Dakota Heart by Lisa Mondello

Author:Lisa Mondello [Mondello, Lisa]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2015-03-30T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Five

Tears filled Nina’s eyes as she tried to focus. When she wiped her tears away, she felt Gray kneeling by her side, breathing hard. His face was hovered above her. Laughter had been replaced by concern.

“Are you okay?”

Once she knew he hadn’t fallen, she pulled herself up from the cold ground, resting the weight of her body on her elbows. “I’m fine.”

She glanced over at her bicycle in the middle of the driveway and saw that the handlebars were detached from the rest of the bicycle frame.

“Unfortunately, the bike isn’t.” Her laughter started anew. Nina laughed until her stomach muscles started to hurt. “Now you know why I upgraded to the SUV.”

When he realized she was fine, Gray laughed, too. “Did you jump off the bike on purpose?”

Nodding, she said, “I didn’t know what else to do!”

Gray shook his head. “You could have asked me to stop.”

As she sat up, she brushed the moist dirt from her jeans and her shirt. “Yeah, I could have done that. But jumping was more fun.”

“And you didn’t hurt yourself?”

“Gray, I’ve been thrown a time or two from my horse. I think I can handle a bumpy dismount from a bike.”

He stood up and extended his hand to help her to her feet.

Looking up at him, she said, “I don’t think I’ve laughed that hard in a long time.”

He smiled. “That’s what I love about being with you. I always laugh when I’m with you. It feels good.”

He reached out and brushed away an errant strand of hair from her face. The contact of his skin against hers made her dizzy. Looking into his gray-blue eyes, the heat was unmistakable. She wanted to kiss him. She had dreamed of it many times before, but she always pushed those dreams aside.

The screen door slammed. She couldn’t see if it was from one of the movers or one of her parents. But the intrusion was enough to break the connection between her and Gray.

Gray stepped back and then bent down to pick up the bike. The handlebars were only attached to the bike by the brake cable. He held onto the seat and started laughing again, which made it hard for Nina to hold back from laughing too. She wiped the moisture from her eyes as Gray pushed the bike up the driveway. They walked around the dumpster, still laughing from their failed bike ride.

As the front of the house came into view, Nina saw her father. He stood at the garage door and stared at the two of them as they laughed. His expression sobered her immediately.

“I thought you two were cleaning out the garage?” he said.

Nina cleared her throat. “We were just getting rid of the bike.” She turned to Gray and tried her best to hold back her smile. “Yes, I think the bike should go in the dumpster.”

“Will do.” With one fell swoop, Gray lifted the bike with the dangling handlebars and tossed it over the side into the dumpster. The frame of the bike hit the wall on its way down and made a loud bang.

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