Shane

The weather turned crappy. Like really crappy. Nonetheless, Markayla left the warm, dry building that afternoon and unlocked her bike from the bike rack not far from the door. The rain had been light to moderate throughout most of the afternoon, but now it was coming down hard. Less than sixty seconds and her clothes were nearly soaked and plastered to her skin. The twenty-minute ride home was going to seem like an hour. To make matters worse were the whipping winds. Then she saw someone coming toward her. A tall, wiry guy in a long trench coat, head bowed as he moved through the driving rain. He glanced up, and she saw that it was Shane. "Hey, you leaving now?" he asked. "Yeah." "No car?" "No. I always ride my bike." "Oh, wow." "Yeah," said Markayla, shielding her eyes from the falling raindrops, "especially since it rarely rains here." Shane laughed. "It just had to pick today of all days, huh?" "Yeah, but oh well. It's only water." "Come on," he said, reaching to swoop up her bike as if it were made of air. Not having a chance to protest, Markayla followed him to his car, a mid-size sedan that was only a few years old. "You don't need to do this." "Yeah, I do," Shane said, flashing a quick closed-lip smile as he popped the trunk. "Are you sure? I really hate to put you out." "You're not putting me out, though personally, I wouldn't care if you were." He hoisted her bike into his trunk and secured it with nylon straps. She admired the way he moved. Strong. Confident. "Well, thanks then." "Get in," he said as he proceeded to the driver's side. She slipped into the dry interior. "Nice car." He smiled again and started the engine. "Thanks. Even if it might not be what you're used to." Used to? What was she supposed to be used to? "Where to, ma'am?" Markayla giggled. There was just something humorous about the way he asked in a goofy sort of way, as if he were more than happy to be her servant. She gave him the address. "You know the place?" Shane nodded. "Kind of a ritzy area, isn't it?" Markayla shrugged. "Not sure if I'd go so far as to call it that, but it's definitely an upscale neighborhood." He pulled out of the parking lot and onto the drenched street. A moment or two of silence passed. "Mind my asking if you live near here?" "I'm about a half hour away. Maybe a little less. So do you drive places other than to work?" "No, I don't drive at all. Just never learned." Shane said nothing and kept his eyes on the wet road. "What a shame, huh?" "Not at all." "Well, aren't you a nice guy then. Do you know how many times I've gotten ridiculed for not conquering my driving phobia? Too bad I wasn't in some Middle Eastern country, I've been told, where most women don't drive anyway." Shane snorted. "We all have fears. Some we can conquer and some we can't. Nothing wrong with that." Markayla smiled. She liked this strange and somewhat imposing guy. "At least I conquered the spiders." Shane chuckled. "You did?" "Yeah, working in a pet store where they sell tarantulas will do that to you." Shane laughed harder than she'd heard him laugh before. Damn, he was hot-looking. The straight silky hair. The icy yet sexy bluish-gray eyes. The cute dimples in the cheeks. The smooth young skin. "It's the blue house right over there," she said, pointing a handful of minutes later. Shane swung into the driveway and came to a stop. "Husband home?" She nodded. "He should be getting up in an hour or so." "Liking graves much, is he?" With a shrug, she said, "Time will tell. Thanks so much for the ride, Shane. I really do appreciate it. A light rain would've been fine, but riding in wind-driven sheets of rain is definitely not so fine." He turned to her and smiled softly. She felt herself blush and turned away to reach for the door handle. "No problem," Shane said as he got out of the car and retrieved her bike from his trunk. As Shane was pulling away a moment later, something hit Markayla. Shane had started slowing his car down right before she pointed out her house. He'd known which one it was.