Ride with Me

by Ruthie Knox

[Cocktails and Books]

Lexie Marshall has been training for the ride of a lifetime, but doesn't want to ride the 4,000 mile TransAm trail by herself. So she places an ad in hopes of finding someone to spend the summer with her riding across the country. She thinks she finds the perfect person in Tom Geiger. In her mind, he's a 50-ish, fatherly figure and would be a great companion. She soon finds out that the Tom Geiger in her mind is much different than the man she meets.

Tom has spent the past five years hiding away from his guilt, embarrassment and shame of his family. He's disillusioned with everything and wants to spend the summer riding across America by himself, not babysitting some woman with her high tech bike and equipment and her incessant need to map their every last move. So while he vows he ditching her as soon as he finds her a new partner, Tom finds himself liking Lexie more and more and unwilling to let her partner with anyone but him.

I loved Tom. Even though he comes across as an ass, he's a man who has been deeply hurt by pretty much everyone who is supposed to love him...so he's a little jaded. But he's also riddled with guilt. His involvement to stop his father and his company from ruining the environment ended up ruining the company and thousands of workers lives. He's disillusioned with pretty much anyone who says they care for him (with the exception of his sister), because all he's witnessed the past five years is the scorn of his family as they disowned him for doing what was right. But one little woman, one who irritates him with her inability to let go and be spontaneous on their ride breaks through his walls.

Lexie has a bad track record when it comes to picking men, so she figured she got another one wrong when she meets Tom. He confuses her and emotionally drains her with his mood swings, but even when she's mad at him and not speaking to him he still manages to get under her skin. She also knew what her breaking point was with Tom and when he pushed her to it, she "walked" away knowing she couldn't go further they way things were. I admired her for that, but I don't know if I'd "walk" away from him, knowing I was still riding with him for many more days.

This is a book that has been sitting on my Kindle for a while. Now I have to wonder why I waited so long to read it. I really enjoyed it. Lexie was a strong woman who wouldn't let loner Tom push her around. She gave as good as she got and that was just what Tom needed to snap out of his five year pout and re-enter the land of the living. This one was worth the ride.