It had been almost a full trimester since I’d ridden on the back of Hunter’s motorcycle.

My maternity doctor, bless her heart, had cleared me for riding on the back of a vehicle like this, but that had been a couple of months back.

She was probably going to kill me now.

Hunter made the best of the trip, driving a few under the speed limit all the while. Without a word, I knew he was trying to keep me feeling safe and secure against him. It was another little way in which he showed how meaningful I was to him, and I appreciated it, as always.

But between the growing baby perched above my bladder and the heavy rumbling of the engine, I must have made him stop at a gas station every fifteen minutes.

In the end, it was more like seven hours. All that time riding bitch on a throbbing, smoky motorcycle was grueling enough without the goddamn pregnancy symptoms.

At least it wasn’t my first rodeo…

* * *

At the time I was a young, rebellious seventeen years old, my long hair fluttering in the wind. My arms were tightly wrapped around the tall, handsome biker as he drove us just over a dozen miles south of downtown Phoenix.

We were young and drunk on love.

Fate had been kind to us that night. Dad was buried up to his eyeballs at the precinct with a string of highly publicized robberies, and there was no way that he’d be home before 3AM. On Hunter’s request I’d pulled out an ironclad, rainy day alibi to cover my tracks.

My illicit boyfriend had kept our trip a surprise, telling me only to pack us a light picnic. All I knew was that we were heading somewhere “where we’ll be safe from your Dad. Hopefully.”

But it wasn’t long before I worked it out.

“Hunter…” I gasped.

I planted my lips on the nape of his neck. He leaned his skull back a little, turning slightly with a smile. “I thought you’d like this.”

“I haven’t been here since the last time with Mom, before she passed…”

Turning his attention back to the drive, he called out through the wind. “We don’t have to do this. I can take you somewhere else if you want.”

“No,” I replied into his ear. “It’s perfect.”

I knew that atop the low, nearby summit was the vantage point called Dobbins Lookout. There were two main ways to get up there – a drive, for those who just wanted to take a quick snapshot, and two miles of hike for the rest of us.

Hunter parked the bike in the parking lot near the trail entrance. Briefly glancing over at the only other vehicle, he let me down from the back of his bike with a kiss.

“They won’t find us here,” I reassured him.

“I know, I know…” He scratched the back of his head. The danger of my dad catching us was serious, but I couldn’t help thinking that Hunter was cute when he was nervous.

I unfastened the basket from the back of the bike and threaded my fingers into his. Together, we began the hike up towards our date spot.

Along the way up we passed another, older couple. Both appeared to be in their upper thirties, grinning at us over their glasses.

“How is it up there?” Hunter asked in passing.

“Splendid!” The man chuckled.

The woman pulled a little closer to him with the dropping temperature, giving us a quick wink. “Have fun, kids. The view’s spectacular.”

I gave them a polite smile as Hunter led me ever upwards through the rugged trail, keeping his eye out for anything dangerous or slithering. Rattlesnakes were common in these parts and Hunter had already told me tha t he’d had to face off against a few snakes in his youth. Knowing he knew what to do made me feel safe in his company.

After maybe twenty-five minutes of steady walking, we climbed up to the summit. Hunter’s hand released from mine as we surveyed the peak, spotting the familiar few benches. Some were better than others, and I picked a fairly solid one closer to the edge.

Together, we took our seats in front of that wide, majestic valley view of sprawling Phoenix. Its downtown skyscrapers looked positively tiny from up here, barely punching up from the muddled web of buildings. Dozens of miles away still, distant hills and peaks hung low against the hazy horizon.

We’d arrived just in time to catch the setting sun. Against the low cloud cover, the darkening sky was a heavenly canvas of orange, indigo, and lavender.

“It’s so beautiful,” I gasped.

“Yet, it pales in comparison to you.”

I punched him lightly in the arm. “You’re not cheesy, Hunter. Don’t be cheesy right now.”

We shared a laugh as I began unpacking the picnic. I’d baked chocolate chip cookies, sliced up green apples with caramel, and thrown together a medley of triangled sandwiches: turkey and mayo, ham and swiss, chicken salad...

Hunter put an arm around me as he took his second bite. “You outdid yourself, kiddo.”

“It’s not much, I know,” I shrugged.

He shook his head. “It’s perfect.”

I took another bite of ham and swiss – my favorite – and chomped through crispy lettuce as I leaned my head on his shoulder.

“This is perfect,” I nodded lovingly. “Thank you for bringing me here.”

After I swallowed and brushed my lips with the back of my arm, I leaned in towards him for a kiss. Hunter welcomed it and pulled me into a deep, passionate kiss, his breath faintly touched with chocolate and turkey.

“You taste strange,” I scrunched my nose.

“That’s what happens when you don’t let me wash my food down,” he chuckled before reaching for a bottle of cool, crisp water.

“I didn’t say I mind it.”

With a smile, he pressed a fingertip below the line of my round jaw. Dressed in black with a dark, renegade smirk on his lips, Hunter pulled this rebel sheriff’s daughter into a deep kiss that proved his deep, overwhelming love for her...

For me.

As I gazed into his dark, soulful eyes, with the most beautiful sunset of my life painting the skies before us, I knew in an instant that that was the night we would lose our virginities together…