“I’ll just have to make sure that if that situation ever arises, my ego is made of vino instead of water, then.”
“Have you had an award for your comedic statements yet? ‘Cause, really, Samuel, I applaud your complete and utter lack of hilarity.”
I grin. “University has made you eloquent, Jennifer, and I see Devon has made you your usual snarky, bitchy self.”
“I’ve always had a way with words.” She puts her feet on the dash, and I clench my jaw. “You just bring out the best in me, Sam.”
“Get your feet down,” I order.
“Oh, don’t you like it?” She turns her face to me, her eyes wide and innocent.
“This isn’t the first time you’ve been in my car, Jen. You know it’s my baby. She stays clean.”
She grins widely, her sapphire blue eyes twinkling. “Then I won’t tell you about the splatter of cow shit on the back.”
“You’re kidding,” I deadpan.
“Absolutely not.” She shakes her head.
“Fuck sake,” I grumble, turning onto the link road.
“Bet my Uggs aren’t quite so evil now, huh?” she says smugly, settling down into the seat.
“Not really… But I hope you’re wearing a jumper over that jacket.”
“I haven’t. Why?”
“Because there’s two inches of snow in London, and when I left this morning, it was still going.” I grin.
“You’re kidding?”
“Absolutely not,” I throw her words back at her.
“Fuck a duck,” she curses, reaching forward to turn the heater on. “Could have told me before I got in the flippin’ car.”
“Where’s the fun in that?”
She grunts, and I chuckle quietly to myself. Yeah, this journey is gonna be as fun as it will be sexually frustrating.
~
I sigh and look at my phone. Dead battery. “Is your phone working?”
She huffs like extracting her phone from her Mary Poppins size bag is such a chore, and it probably is.
“You bringing the kitchen sink back with you? Is yours broken?” I motion towards the bag.
“Nope.” She rifles through it. “But there’s a high chance I’m considering keeping a blender in there for your balls.” She pulls her phone out triumphantly.
“Why would you put a blender in there for my balls?”
“Because you’re the most infuriating person on Earth. As you well know.” She holds the phone out, and I look at her. “Take it then!”
“Why can’t you do it?”
Her blue eyes narrow at me. “I have no idea why you want a phone, Bing. You never told me.”
Twat.
I take the phone and do a quick Google search for a nearby travel lodge, B’n’B, anything that could get us apart. Five hours of being next to her in this car watching the scenery change from green to white has felt like a f**king age. I catch her crossing one of her long legs over the other and tapping her knee out the corner of my eye, and I purposely look at the phone. I don’t really see anything. It’s more of a blur on a white page as I imagine what...
Nope. I’m stuck in the middle of nowhere and have no idea where we’re going to go tonight until the roads are ploughed. I am not going to fantasize about the crazy ass blonde next to me. Fuck knows I’ve spent enough time doing it since our almost kiss at Dad’s party last year.
“Anywhere?”
Yeah... The walls, the car bonnet, the... Oh.
“What?” I blink, and look at her. She frowns.
“Have you found anywhere to stay tonight?” she asks me slowly.
“You don’t need to talk to me slowly, Jen, I’m not deaf.”
“No, but you are stupid, so you could always misunderstand.”
“Keep it up, and we’ll be sleeping in the back seat of the car,” I threaten.
“I’m not sleeping anywhere with you.” She laughs. “That’d be like social suicide, you do realise that? I have a bad ass reputation to keep up and it doesn’t involve staying in even the same room as London’s playboy.”
“Unfair,” I flinch slightly anyway. “I’m nowhere as bad as I used to be, and you know that. Call Mum and get her to find us somewhere to stay.”
She tilts her head towards me. “You’re not as bad as you were, I’ll give you that, but you’re still like a dog on heat sometimes.”
“You realise it’s the females that have heat, right?”
Her lips curve into a smile. “That’s the point I’m making, Samuel.”
I lean over the gearstick, putting her phone in her hand, brushing her fingers with mine. Her face is inches from mine, her eyes focused on mine. “Anytime you feel like letting me prove you wrong,” I say in a low voice. “I’ll be more than happy to oblige you, Jen.”
Her fingers tighten around the phone, and her eyebrows shoot up. “I’m sure you’d be more than happy to try, Sam, but I’m unsure if you could satisfy my needs.”
I laugh, moving even closer. I can feel her breath across my mouth, and the urge to close the gap and take that breath from her is stronger than ever.
“Believe me, Jen, I could satisfy every need you have and then some you didn’t even know about.” My eyes flick down to her slightly parted lips and back up. “So don’t push me into proving it.”
“You wouldn’t dare,” she challenges.
“It’s not a secret I’m as attracted to you as I am annoyed with you. I’m just better at hiding it, so yes. Yes, I would dare, and I’d enjoy every f**king second of it.”
Her eyes are full of warring emotions, and she finally settles on anger. They narrow, and she yanks the seatbelt out. I lean back, smirking smugly with the knowledge I’ve got to her.
“I don’t even have a word in my giant repertoire strong enough to scream at you right now,” she hisses, pushing the door open.
“The only word you need to be screaming at me is my name, babe,” I reply, watching her climb out of the car.
She gets out, stops, and turns to me. She opens her mouth for a second, shakes her head, then closes it again, apparently settling on giving me the finger instead. I grin as she slams the door. I win that round.
Chapter Two
JEN
“You have got to be kidding me.” I lean over the counter in the travel lodge. “One room?”
“I’m sorry, miss, that’s all we had available when the phone call was made. The lady I spoke to assumed you’d rather have one room than none at all,” the receptionist says, his eyes scanning my body.