The Lease Up

13. Road Trip

Song for the chapter: The Feeling ft. Halsey

GABRIEL

"No, Preston again?" Vanessa looks around for my driver in the garage lot in my building.

"He has the weekend off, and it's his daughter's birthday today."

"What will people think? Two days of you driving around like us common folk?"

"I've been known to do that every now and then," I reply, enjoying the way her eyes smile when she laughs. However, her lips twist to a puckered frown and her eyebrows furrow when we stop in one of my parking stalls.

"I am not getting on that death on wheels contraption." She gestures to my sportbike, her damp naturally curly hair bounces with the shaking of her head.

Tossing her an extra helmet, I chuckle. "Live a little, Vanessa."

"I like living a lot actually, which is why I'm not getting on that thing."

Several minutes later, full of bartering and promising not to go over the speed limit, I finally manage to convince Vanessa to climb on. I don't even mind the death grip she has around my waist when we pull out of the garage.

Testing out the scale of her fear, I accelerate just a little down the street, chuckling when she squeals and hurls several colorful insults attached to my name. When we come to a stop light, I pat her thigh to reassure her. But she lets go of my waist to smack my helmet. Laughing, I reach for her hands, wrapping them around me before I continue driving.

When I pull up to the curb outside her building she hands me the helmet. "How should I dress?"

"In whatever you'd like, toots." I pull my helmet off in time to see her rolling her eyes.

"Toots? Your pet names get more and more ridiculous, Gabriel. Will you at least tell me what we're doing or where we are going?" She crosses her arms, impatience coloring her face.

Reaching for her hand, I pull her to me and she stumbles into my lap. "Dress casual, but if you choose to wear a dress, that's fine...easy access." A rose color paints her cheeks, while I tuck in some of her loose strands behind her ear, my hand molds to the curve of her neck, pulling her face toward mine, brushing my lips against hers.

Vanessa smiles against my lips, as her hands push against my chest, but she gives me a quick peck before she pulls away. "I'll hurry."

Fifteen minutes later, I look up from my phone and she's wearing denim shorts, with keds and a T-shirt, her make up is light and I love that she's let her curls stay instead of straightening it. She squirts some hand sanitizer onto her hands and tucks the small bottle into her over the shoulder bag.

"I couldn't help petting Sergio, but we don't need you making another trip to the ER," she teases with a smirk.

"You look beautiful."

She takes the helmet from my hands exasperated. "Stop being so cheesy."

"Fine, you look awful, hideous, grotesque."

Throwing her head back, she laughs. "That's better."

__________________

Vanessa groans when she climbs off the motorcycle an hour later. "If I had known you were taking us to Long Island, I would have volunteered to drive. My legs are sore." She stretches and bends down in front of me.

I gravitate to her, holding her hips. "I'll make it up to you later but you'll be sore for an entirely different reason."

The drive must have really taken a toll on her because instead of pulling away, she straightens and leans back resting her head on me, but I don't mind. Not one bit.