They were led past a long, lighted bar where nicely dressed people sat and immaculately groomed bartenders mixed colorful drinks. Waiters dressed in starched white shirts and black pants circulated, carrying trays of food on silver platters, and more nicely dressed people sat at the tables, having what looked like cordial conversations. It was a far cry from any place Nicole was used to being since becoming an adult, and it made her happy to see evidence that the whole world didn’t count a dark, smoky bar where people were getting falling-down drunk, high on meth, and having sex in the corner as a night out.

The waiter greeted them, took their drink orders, and left them with menus. She had to keep reminding herself not to smile every time she looked at Zack. Partly she wanted to smile just because she was so happy to be there with him, but the other part of her could see that he was almost as nervous about being in the restaurant as she was, and she thought it was adorable. He’d gone way out of his comfort zone to make the night special for her and that meant so much.

They made small talk, mostly about Liam, until their food came. Zack had ordered the prime rib and Nicole the shrimp scampi. Once they started eating their entrée Zack said, “You know, I don’t know a lot about your past. You know all the creepy details about my parents. Where are yours?”

Nicole made a face. She knew she would eventually have to talk about them, but she wasn’t sure she really wanted to. She took a sip of her wine and said, “They live in Clarksville; that’s where I grew up. My father is a minister and my mother was a stay-at-home mother, but she did seamstress work on the side, mostly for people in our church.”

Nicole could tell that Zack was surprised to hear that. He looked like he was thinking about it for a minute and finally he said, “So how did the minister’s daughter end up with a guy like…you know who? Or hell, even me for that matter?”

“Well, you know what they say about sheltering your kids…it can be almost as bad as letting them run wild without any parenting. I was a good girl, for a really long time. I was a straight A student and I went to church and bible study and my friends were all from the church. It was all I knew, I guess. I went to parochial school and I wasn’t exposed to the real world. We didn’t have a television…I guess you can say I was almost a captive in my parents’ home. It made me shy and awkward. I had no self-esteem.” She paused to take a bite of her shrimp and another drink of her wine. Zack looked enthralled by what she thought was her boring life story. She smiled at him and went on, “After high school graduation I enrolled in the Christian college in town. I’m sure it was still much tamer than the regular colleges, but it was my first real exposure to things like dating and partying, even simple things like fast food and television. I kind of lost my mind. I started going to parties and running around with people that I probably shouldn’t have. I still lived at home, so I learned how to lie and sneak around. I met Spider at a party. His edginess was attractive to me and we almost instantly started seeing each other. He would come into town every weekend and I’d make up some lie to my parents about staying on campus or with a friend and I’d spend it all with him. My grades started falling, but I wasn’t smart enough to care at the time. My hormones had taken over. After about a month and a half of seeing him, I quit school, moved out of my parent’s house…and you know the rest of that sad story.”

Zack finished his last bite of steak and drained his beer. “So, what is your relationship with them like now?”

She rolled her eyes. “Nonexistent. The first time I tried to leave Spider, I went home. They both told me how ashamed of me they were for what I’d been doing, rather than being proud of me for trying to leave. It was miserable, and they made me feel ashamed of myself and worthless. I went back to Spider and that’s when I found out I was pregnant.”

“So, they’ve never met Liam?” She shook her head, sadly. She wished that Liam had “normal” grandparents, but she doubted that would ever be the case. “Do they know about him?” She shook her head again and felt her face go hot.

“Liam was such a blessing to me. He was the piece of my life that had been missing, and you know how much I adore him. I’m in awe of him. I guess I was afraid if I told them, they would shame me somehow and take some of that sparkle away from me. I didn’t want to risk it.”

Zack smiled and reached for her hand. “You know, Liam came from Spider and I thought knowing that would be too much even for me. But I can look into his little eyes and see his old man’s DNA…and I still love the kid. Grandparents, normal ones, anyways, get all mushy and squishy over their grandkids. I remember when I was a kid I used to ache to have grandparents like some of my friends did. Even old bikers soften up when a kid is involved. And Liam is not just any kid. I mean, he’s the first one I’ve ever liked.”

Nicole laughed. “You might be right. Maybe when all this custody stuff is over, I’ll find the courage to introduce them. I’m so glad you love him, Zack. He’s so lucky to have you in his life.”

He squeezed her hand. “I’m the lucky one, babe. Things will be better for us soon, I promise. I’ll make sure of it.”

* * *

After they finished their dinner and were both too full for dessert, Zack took her for a walk along the lighted path that led alongside the river. The big Mississippi paddleboats lined the shore, and some of them were lit up with music and lights and people that looked like they were having a great time underneath the stars. It was the first night in a long time that Nicole didn’t feel any anxiety at all, and she was beginning to be able to believe Zack when he said that somehow things would turn out okay.

When they walked back to the van Zack pressed his body into hers and gently pushed her back up against the side of it. He cupped her chin in his hand before bringing his lips down to meet hers and kissing her. Once again it was a hot kiss, but filled with so much more that she felt it all the way to her toes. Zack started to open the door of the van for her but he stopped and grinned down at her and said:

“You know, you can take the biker out of the clubhouse and dress him up…but you can’t take the clubhouse out of the biker.”

She giggled. “And what does that mean, exactly?”

He shrugged. “I was just standing in the parking lot of this fancy restaurant, full of the fancy food and the ten-dollar beer, looking at the sexiest woman alive and wondering…”

“Wondering what?”

“Have you ever had hot monkey sex in the back of a minivan in a parking lot?”

Nicole threw her head back and laughed. When she stopped laughing she said, “I guess I only clean up on the surface too, because that sounds like one hell of a fun idea.”

The windows to the van were tinted, and she stood and watched in anticipation as Zack opened the back and popped up the seat to make it lie down. There was about five feet of room on one direction and four in the other. Zack wouldn’t be able to lie all the way down, but Nicole didn’t doubt that he could work with that. He took her by the hand and lifted her inside, then he closed the back end and went over and climbed in through the sliding door, stopping to push down the automatic locks before he reached her and pulled her into another kiss. While their tongues danced together and they sucked and bit at each other’s lips, Zack moved them around so that Nicole was lying on her back with her knees just slightly bent to the side and he lay down next to her, tangling his legs up in hers. He let his hands gently rub her back as they kissed, and once things began to heat up, he began to push up the little dress she was wearing and his hot hands were soon sizzling against her bare skin. He didn’t stop there, though; he continued to push until it was underneath her arms and she wiggled around enough to allow him to slide it up over her head. Her strapless bra magically disappeared next and Nicole began working on the buttons of his shirt. While she did that, he rolled and tweaked her nipples between his fingers, making her moan. Once she had all his buttons undone, he pulled off his shirt and her palms were free to roam the hard planes of his chest. Most people didn’t realize that riding a motorcycle kept a man in even better shape than he might be if he went to the gym every day. Holding tightly to the handlebars and using his upper body strength to lean into curves kept his pecs and arms as cut as a bodybuilder’s. She could feel his hard thighs pressing into her through his jeans as well as his already throbbing erection.

He let go of her nipples, and she watched as he unbuttoned and unzipped his jeans and then shimmied out of them and his boots. Nicole could hear her own breathing and she wondered if people in the parking lot could see the way the van windows were fogging up. Once he was completely naked, he reached down and pulled off her panties and then pushed open her legs. Nicole trembled with delight when she felt his face dive down between her legs and his tongue begin to search out her moist lips and the spot between them that was tingling and aching for his touch.