A few weeks had passed and Tess was slowly getting back into the rhythm of things again. She had taken some time off of the MC business to digest everything that had happened in Philadelphia. Now, all she wanted to do was move forward and forget about all of it.
The MC was gearing up for another ride that night. It was going to be a late ride, around midnight, so Tess had spent the afternoon sleeping so she would be awake later. She saw Rachel sitting at her desk working on her laptop. She had been a huge help the last couple of weeks in providing distractions through shopping trips and late-night girl talk sessions. She was very much like the sister Tess had always wanted.
“Good morning, sleepy-head,” Rachel greeted her. “All rested up for tonight?”
“You bet. That sleep felt so good. Nitro said something about dressing fancy. Any idea what that means?” She looked at the clock and saw that it was already 11:00. “We have half an hour… are you dressing up too?”
Rachel shook her head and said, “No… I have to work on these really plans tonight. I’ve got a huge list to get through before our meeting tomorrow. I hope you have fun though.” She grinned then and suggested, “Why not wear that crop tank-top that shows off that belly button ring of yours?”
“Yeah, I could do that, now that it’s nicer out.” Tess put on her skinny jeans and the tank top Rachel had suggested, then put her hair back in a pony tail. She turned around and asked Rachel, “How do I look?”
“You look perfect,” Rachel said with a grin. The way she looked, Tess wondered if there was something else going on, but she resisted asking for now.
Tess put on her vest and her tall riding boots and headed out to the parking lot. Nitro was waiting against his bike, looking handsome in his leather pants and vest with no shirt underneath. “Where is everyone? Am I late?” Tess asked, looking around.
“There is no ride,” Nitro reached for her hand, pulling her into his arms.
“There’s not?” Tess blinked. “But Abe said that everyone had to be there, especially me…”
“Do you know what tomorrow is, baby?”
“No…”
“I arranged for a private ride so that we could be somewhere alone on our one-month anniversary.” He leaned in to kiss her and she sunk into the kiss, speechless. No one had ever done anything so romantic for her.
They drove through downtown New York and Tess couldn’t get over how magical the night was. The city lit up with color and it glowed all around them in the starlight. At one point, they rolled into Central Park and went to sit on one of the benches.
“This is perfect,” Tess exhaled, leaning back in Nitro’s arms.
“You are perfect,” he whispered back, kissing her hair. “Happy Anniversary, honey.”
She turned to look at him and said, “I love you so much.”
“I love you too,” Nitro replied and kissed her again.