One year later...

Los Angeles, CA

"Okay, you've got the address to the house in your GPS, right?"

Nasaan nodded, the mop of hair on his head bobbing with his movements. "Good. Take your time, enjoy your ride, don't speed. LAPD isn't like Eloise or her deputies. You know what I mean?"

He nodded, said, "Yup. I'm good," then picked up the helmet I'd bought him for his birthday last year and tugged it on over his hair. It was a slick, matte black Seena Momentum with Bluetooth. According to Tori, he even wore the thing around the house.

He balanced himself, flipping up the kickstand on this year's birthday present, a Nez Custom bike, midnight black, courtesy of me and his mom. He'd been accepted to several schools, so the fact that he'd be leaving was an inevitability. The more she thought about it, the more nervous Tori felt about letting him take a very old, vintage bike away from home.

So she built him one. We'd unveiled the gift at his surprise 17th birthday party, and then told him to pack a bag.

The next day we loaded the bike onto a rental truck, along with her first order of custom builds and he, Tori and I drove from Cloudcroft to LA for the week. He was spending his Spring Break touring colleges around California, with the hope that he'd choose UCLA so he could be close to me. I also hoped we'd get to take a ride along the Pacific Coast Highway. Nasaan had never seen the ocean and I wanted to be the first to show it to him.

Tori and I stood in the driveway and watched Nasaan rev the gurgling percolator of an engine and speed off down the street. I heard the whine of the bike for several seconds after he disappeared.

"Exactly what I told him not to do." I glanced over at Tori. She tried to frown but didn't quite make it.

"Well, that's a teenager for you. On a brand new bike." She tilted her head up, smiling into the view of deep green trees and luxury homes hiding in the spaces between.  "In the Hollywood Hills. For the first time."

"Yeah. I guess. He needs a haircut. That helmet will fit better, I think, with shorter hair."

"Why didn't you tell him that?"

I shrugged, dropping my arm around her shoulders and guiding her back toward the house. We were alone in my Hollywood mansion and I wanted to take advantage of that.

"The kid thinks I'm cool right now. I didn't want to be the heavy, all ‘do something with your hair' about it. Besides, I feel like that's a mom thing to say."

Tori laughed, tipping her head back. "Oh, no, no. We grow our hair long. Letting the hair grow freely and naturally signifies free flow of life, a growth of spirit. I always want Nasaan to feel free; I don't ever want to hold him back, so we don't argue about hair in our family."

"Oh. Well, I guess I've gotta let it go, huh?"

"Yeah. You do. Besides," she said, stopping to turn so she was facing me. She combed her fingers through my shoulder length hair, then smoothed down my beard. My eyes started to roll, because I already knew what she was about to say. "He's not the only one with free flow of life going on, and we let you keep your hair long."

"You do let me keep my hair long. Actually you beg me not to cut it, but same thing." I dipped my head to kiss her, then grabbed her hands and continued our journey back to the house. "C'mon. Let's talk about this new dream you're cooking up. Leo Enterprises might be interested in helping you put it together."

We walked through the garage, up the stairs and into the kitchen, settling on bar stools after I poured us each a cup of coffee. I'd come downstairs that morning to find Tori out on a balcony, sitting in the sun with her sketch pad, drawing and making lists, but she'd been shy about showing me what she was working on.

"So can I see it? What you were drawing this morning?"

Tori's cheeks were pink, but she slid the sketchbook over to me, facedown. "Don't laugh," she said softly. "And don't...I mean, I thought about Nez Custom for about ten years before it happened, so don't think it's something I want right away."

"Okay..." I flipped the sketchbook over and almost disregarded the cover but something caught my eye.

Nez Custom Bikes & Repair- LA.

I tried not to show it, but I was surprised. Nez Custom- NM wasn't even a year old. We'd blown through design and construction, both on Tori's shop and a little breakfast and brunch spot next door in about nine months. Tori quickly started stealing repair business from area shops and even some a few towns over. In fact, she'd hired several mechanics so she could concentrate on designing and building new bikes.

Soon after she opened, a few friends placed orders for our charity ride later this spring, so she'd been busy, her hands had been dirty and she'd been overwhelmingly happy.  But now... she wanted to expand?

"So, why another location? And... not that I don't want you here, but why LA?"

Tori pursed her lips, blowing out a breath and turning the coffee mug around and around between her hands. A few seconds passed, but I wasn't in a hurry and didn't push for her answer. I was insanely curious, though.

"I've been thinking and talking a lot with Nasaan about his future. A lot is going to be changing, really soon. He's leaning pretty heavily toward UCLA, you know. With the scholarships he could apply for, some money from the tribe and help from his dad, the burden on me might not be so heavy. Plus, you've generously offered a room here and that would cut down on living expenses. Though, the way he eats..."

I chuckled, she laughed. His appetite was a running joke. And I guessed I had to learn how to make that sloppy joe omelet. 

"And I would worry less. It's not too far from home, but far enough where he feels like he's away from home, you know what I mean?"

I nodded, but I only sort of got it. I never got to leave for college. When I left home I went pretty far away, but then I was doing something totally different and I wasn't on my own.

"But I've also been thinking about you and I and what we're building. It's nice, right?" I nodded, agreeing wholeheartedly.  "It's easier than I thought it would be to work with you, and it works for us, me and you. So what if, when the business slows down for the winter in Cloudcroft, I had another shop to focus on? The weather here means people ride their bikes all year round. I could be knee deep in repairs and maintenance alone."

She started to get excited, leaving the mug on the counter and turning her body toward mine. "I'm not saying that you'd do the same thing as before- in fact, I don't want you to do that, seriously. I want to see how we do the first year. Then... maybe spend some time here, like you spent time in Cloudcroft. Pick a building, renovate. Enjoy LA and this Hollywood mansion with my boyfriend. And see if lightning will strike twice for me."

I grinned at the boyfriend part. Our relationship was unique, so we hadn't been much for labels, but I still liked knowing she thought of me as someone that belonged to her. She definitely belonged to me.

"Okay, I get it. What about the house? And Kaya? What... what happens to everything back home?"

"Kaya keeps the house, of course. If she gets lonely she can take some time off and come to LA. There's such a thing as a Traveling Nurse. And I'll be in Cloudcroft for peak business season. Which is, like, three months. Then I'm twiddling my thumbs, when I could be working."

Tori paused, her brown eyes wide and seeking mine out. Looking for fear... or any other kind of reaction, I guessed. "What do you... what do you think? Are you... scared? Does it sound like a shitty idea? Am I moving too fast? What?"

I shook my head and grabbed her hands, which had been involuntarily flailing. "Honey, honey, honey...chill. I think it sounds good. I really do."

"Good." She stared at me like I'd said it was just okay. "Not great, not wow Tori that's a brilliant idea?"

"Tori, I think it's a good idea. I also think it needs time and fleshing out, just like Nez Custom did, but if this is something you want, you'll make it happen. I'll be right here, ready to offer whatever kind of help you need."

She sighed, seeming to sag with relief.  "Eric will be happy to hear that we don't have to go through Leo for this location."

"True. Although, between you and Pepper's Breakfast & Brunch next door, he's making a nice penny off of rent right now. He might insist."

I leaned forward and kissed her, then kissed her again. "I'm excited to see what happens. And I'm excited to have Nasaan here, because it means his mom will come visit me."

"Are you sure? I don't want to invade your space. I mean, you live a different life here and I don't want to assume I can just-"

I cut her off by covering her mouth with mine. Every time I released her, she tried to keep arguing but I kept kissing her until she just stopped.

"You done?" I asked her. She nodded. "Good. Because... well, do you remember when you got mad at me because you thought I was trying to take your family? But really you were scared because I was way too comfortable at your house, with your kid and your sister? I fell right in and made myself at home and I actually stuck around. You weren't expecting or even hoping for that."

"But I explained-"

I lifted a hand to quiet her. "I'm not bringing that up to argue with you. I'm saying... you were right. Not in an evil way, but I was eerily close to your family. It was necessary, right? We'd never be where we are today if we didn't just accept that this was meant to be. You, me, us... Nez. This family. And I'm thinking that this..."

I picked up the sketchpad and flipped through the first two pages of drawings- a one story store-front, a two story flashy shop, a couple of Nez original bike designs- and set the book on the counter in front of her.

"I think this is just the next episode, the next step for us. It feels natural. It feels real, it feels like something you can do. It feels like something we can do together. Look, this is definitely not what I was looking for when I hopped on that bike last winter. But a year later, I'm in love with this woman who's incredibly talented, like an artist. And her kid, who's funny and real and I'm thankful he thinks I'm cool. And a really mean nurse with a smart mouth that I can call if I need a reality check."

Tori smiled, then giggled. "She's having a tag made for her spot at the Nurse's Station that says Nurse Ratchet."

"Good," I said, laughing. "She needs to warn everyone around her that she brings the pain."

The room fell silent as chuckles faded away and the reality of what we were discussing began to hit the both of us full force. We hadn't even really talked about the first step in our relationship and here we were discussing a bold and ambitious future. I loved it, man. Every second of it.

Tori exhaled a long, soul clearing, lung emptying breath. I felt the weight of everything that she kept rolling through her mind all the time melt away. She grabbed my hands again, pressing my palms together and trying hard to wrap my big man hands in her delicate ones.

"This... us thing we have going on? We work, somehow. And I don't want to do anything that's going to mess with that. I'd be fine to stick with one location for now if you even had an inkling of a thought that LA wouldn't work-"

"Not gonna happen," I said, cutting that right off. "If this is officially what you want, I will help you make it happen."

I leaned forward and dropped my lips on hers, then let them linger, then deepened the kiss until intensity grew to a point where I was hoping we could relocate and enjoy some time alone.

Then I heard the whine of a motorcycle in the distance. Shit.

"Man, I was just getting ready to get down. Sounds like the kid is on his way back," I mumbled against her lips. "Raincheck?"

Tori groaned, a little whine coming through, too. "Get me all worked up and then tell me I have to wait."

"Hey, he's your kid. Tell him to stop showing up at inconvenient times. I'll make it up to you later."

"Goody," she said, then kissed me and hopped off of the bar stool. "A chance to beat that ass."

The rumble of the bike was loud, now. Nasaan must have been sitting in the driveway. I slid off my stool to follow her downstairs.

"That's not... not what I meant. But... it's okay."