Read The Burning Point for Free Online Page B

force, and the sissy bar behind you."
    "Yes, captain," she said meekly, more interested in the warm, solid feel of his body. No wonder motorcycles were so popular. This had to be the sexiest way of traveling since damsels rode pillion behind knights. And she was sharing the bike with a guy who knew about both Isadora Duncan and centrifugal force!
    He pulled the helmet shield over his face, and took off. They went down the alley at a relatively sedate pace. Then he turned the bike into the street and hit the gas. She gasped and clutched Donovan's waist as her knees locked around the bike. He wasn't kidding that she would feel exposed! It felt as if the bike was going to shoot out from under her. They were probably only going about the speed limit, but it felt a lot faster.
    She tensed when they whipped around a corner and the whole bike leaned. After a moment of panic, she remembered what he'd said about trusting inertia. This was just physics in action. Since Donovan was obviously in full control of his vehicle, she began to relax and enjoy the speed, the intimacy of the two of them slicing through the night.
    As the wind whipped through her hair, she called over the roar of the engine, "What a terrific way to travel!"
    "Except when it's raining," he yelled back. "Or in a cicada year!"
    As the wind destroyed her elaborate hairstyle, she threw back her head and laughed with giddy delight. Her legs were freezing from the knee down, but who cared? She was doing something outrageous with the most gorgeous guy she'd ever met.
    Her distress about the fight with her father began to fade. In her bones, she was sure that someday she would work at PDI. She could see herself there. If she couldn't go in the front door, she'd sneak in the back. For now she'd lie low and study architecture. After she graduated from college, she would just show up at the office and work wherever help was needed. Sam might never publicly retract his opposition, but he'd get used to having her around. Eventually, she'd become part of the company.
    Feeling better, she gave herself up to starry night and icy wind and warm embrace.

 
    Chapter 5

    ∗ ∗ ∗
    To Kate's regret, it wasn't long until they slowed to enter a rowhouse neighborhood with parked cars lining every street. Donovan turned right, then left, before coasting to the curb between two cars. He turned off the engine and lowered the kickstand in the sudden silence. "A great thing about bikes is that there's almost always parking space where you want it."
    Kate surveyed the brick rowhouse. The owners were the first on the block to put up their Christmas decorations, and cheerful multicolored lights outlined the roof, windows, front door, and the iron railing that ran up the steps. The bushes hadn't been neglected, either. In fact, she saw with delight, there was a shrine to Mary in the corner of the yard and the Blessed Mother wore a crown of sparkling white lights. "Shall I go in, or would you rather I skulked out here?"
    "Too cold for skulking." He hesitated. "I'd better warn you, my relatives can be pretty...overwhelming."
    "I'm not easily whelmed," she assured him.
    A smile tugged at his lips as he took off his helmet. "Don't say I didn't warn you." He shook out his hair, and she wanted to touch it.
    As she swung her leg over the saddle, her skirt slid up to mid-thigh. His gaze locked on her bared leg with laser-like intensity. It was worth half freezing to see that expression in his eyes. She shook her skirts out, then finger-combed her wind-tangled hair in a vain attempt to make it behave. "I must look like the wicked witch of the west."
    "Nope. Glinda the Good Witch after a Kansas cyclone."
    Helmet under one arm, he guided her up the walk with a hand at the small of her back. His touch was light, but it left her quivering with awareness. She felt...cared for. Though Donovan couldn't be more than a year or two older than she, he seemed more mature than anyone else she had dated. More man