“No. You must’ve left out a few details.”
“Oh, well, I’ll just tell you as we go then. No big deal.”
I hear her laugh again. It soothes me, possibly more than it does her.
I carry her to Rusty’s car first. “Where’d you put her stuff?” I ask him.
“It’s in the trunk.”
“Let me get it out.”
“We’re going to the same place, man. Just leave it.”
“Nope. I’m taking no chances. You jokers could get lost or something and I’d be stuck with a woman who has nothing to wear but my t-shirts. She’d seduce me and I’d let her because I’d be helpless against her charms. Then I’d build us a hut on the beach and we’d never leave. Grace would be devastated and Mom would kill me. You see how ugly this could get?”
“Hey!” Cami exclaims. I grin when I feel her muscles clench with her chuckle.
“I’m just telling the truth. You can barely keep your hands off me. You know it’s true.” She slaps me on the butt. “See? But it’s nothing to be ashamed of. I’m irresistible. It’s my curse.”
“Poor guy! Born irresistible. What a nightmare,” she quips.
“We all have our burdens to bear.”
“Here,” Rusty says as he pushes two huge bags at me. “Take her shit and go. I can’t stand to listen to your constant self-deprecation for one more minute. Good God, man! Have some faith in yourself.”
Jenna and Cami laugh. Rusty shoots me an evil grin and I cart Cami back to my car, letting her down at the passenger side door. After stowing our stuff in my trunk, I open her door and usher her in with a flourish. “You’re riding in style, today, Miss Hines. Not one, but 500 horses will be delivering you to your destination. So, mount up!”
With a smile, she slides through the door and onto the original vinyl seats. I shut the door behind her. As I skirt the hood, I look in and see her smiling at me through the windshield. Watching me. There’s something just…right about seeing her in my car.
I push the thought away.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE - Cami
I listen to Trick talk about the horse he hopes to find, one he’s seen on two other occasions and is hoping to adopt when the town thins the population. It’s strange because as he talks about his dreams for “one day,” I realize I’ve never felt so…invested in someone else’s dreams before, in their plans or ambitions. But when Trick paints the picture of his future, of what he wants out of life, I find I’m in the dangerous position of putting myself into the empty space beside him in all those visions.
But that won’t be easy.
First of all, Trick has never given me any reason to think he wants me there. He’s never talked about anything permanent with me. Actually, he’s never really talked about his feelings much at all. At this point, I’m only hoping there’s more between us than just sex. Really great sex.
But the fact is, if anything, Trick has tried to keep me out of his life in any romantic way. Not pull me into it. Until recently, that is.
Since meeting Trick, I’ve acted like some lovesick school girl—thinking about him all the time, pining away for him. All I lack is writing his name all over my fourth grade social studies notebook. But we’re not kids. This isn’t play. Our choices have real consequences. For both of us. And I don’t know if either of us is ready for that, if what we have is even worth it.
Even as the thought goes through my head, I look over at Trick and my heart screams so loud it makes my eyes water.
Yes, he’s worth it! You’re in love with him!
********
After we stop for lunch and I get my belly full of carbs, my eyelids start getting heavy. A Lizard’s CD is playing softly in the background and Trick is humming along with it in his silky voice, lulling me right to sleep. I turn in my seat and Trick looks over at me. He smiles and reaches for my hand. He laces his fingers with mine and whispers, “Go to sleep. I’ll wake you up when we get there.”
So I do.
********
Something brushing my neck wakes me. Before I even open my eyes, I smell his soap. It’s Trick. It has to be.
I’m lying on my side in the front seat and he must be leaning over me. I don’t stir. I lie perfectly still to see what he’ll do next.
I feel his lips. He rubs them back and forth over the bare skin of my shoulder. I want to turn over and kiss him. But I don’t. Quietly, I wait.
“Rise and shine,” he whispers, now close to my ear. Chills break out down my arms, but I remain still.
His hand pushes my hair to the side, away from my cheek. He’s so close I feel his breath on my lips when he speaks. “I know you’re awake. The question is, how long can you keep quiet? Stay still? Not make a sound? Not move an inch?”
I would’ve acknowledged him when he said he knew I was awake if he hadn’t added the last part. But that changed everything. I warm to the game immediately, excitement tingling down my spine.
His lips graze mine and then slide across my cheek to my ear. “I hope you can hold out. This is gonna be fun.” I feel his tongue as it draws the lobe of my ear into his mouth. He bites down lightly and then moves on to my shoulder. He kisses all the way down my arm, to where it’s folded across my waist. Gently, he picks it up and straightens it, laying it along my hip.
I feel the warm air hit my belly when he pulls up my shirt. It’s all I can do not to jump when he lightly bites the skin over my ribs, just below my bra line. I want to roll over and let him strip me down like a stolen car, but I don’t. I can’t. It’s just too much fun to do it this way.
My breathing has picked up by at least a multiple of three and I’m pretty sure it goes up another notch when I feel Trick tug at the drawstring that’s holding my shorts in place.
He loosens it and pulls my shorts down on one side, exposing that super sensitive patch of skin right beside my panty line. And that’s where he puts his lips. Right there, no more than a few inches to the right of where I want them.
Desire pools low in my belly and heat shoots down my legs. His tongue sneaks out, wet and hot, and licks a path from where my legs are pressed together along my panty line to my hip bone. And he nips me again.
I’m just about to melt when I feel the fingers of one hand tickling their way up the crease of my thighs and sliding under the edge of my shorts.
Without thinking, acting on instinct and passion alone, I raise my top leg so he can find what his fingers are searching for. What I want them to find. But they stop. He doesn’t move a single muscle.