by Holley Trent
He lifted a brow, not trusting her eager expression in the slightest bit.
“I’m serious, Hitch. It’s hardly even coffee. It’s basically just a watered-down gateway drug.”
He brought it close to his nose and sniffed. Smelled more like candy than coffee. “What is it?”
She wriggled her eyebrows and smiled broad.
It was so damned cute he wanted to pull her out of the car, lay her on the ground, and tickle her to death. He resisted the urge.
“It’s a blend of a few of the things available in the dispenser.” She counted off on her fingers. “That’s a vanilla caramel cappuccino with hazelnut creamer and three sugars.”
He felt his taste buds self-eject. “All that, huh?”
“Just taste it. If it you don’t like it, my feelings won’t be hurt. I’ll drink it and you can have one of the bottled waters in the bag.”
“Hmm.” He stared at the little opening in the plastic lid and wondered whether the substance could cause a diabetic shock of some sort. It smelled nice, but somewhat deadly, and if that’s what Ariel drank all the time, why was she so damned slim?
Come on. You’ve endured snakebites and tornadoes. You can drink a little bit of coffee. He brought it up to his lips and slurped a mouthful of the scorching stuff.
It was hot, so it took his tongue a few beats to actually register the flavor. He cut his gaze over to Ariel who was still grinning.
“Well?” she asked.
“That’s really freakin’ sweet.”
“But?”
“But it’s not that bad,” he conceded.
“A-ha!” She stabbed her key into the ignition and eased the car onto the service road.
“It hardly counts as coffee in my opinion, sweetpea.”
She did a little dance in her seat as she steered onto the highway. “Maybe not, but you’ll see. Gradually, you’ll segue onto less syrup and more coffee and you’ll be a junkie just like the rest of us. Gas station coffee is basically the bottom of the barrel. There may not be much caffeine in that flavored drink, but that sugar’ll keep you up for the foreseeable future.”
“You think I was going to fall asleep on ya?”
“You mean like I did on you last night?”
His cock stirred in his pants at the thought of her warm body and smooth skin. He yearned to feel its press against him with nothing in the way besides their sweat. What would that first time feel like? Would it go quickly, or would his demonic ancestry keep him on the job until she was through? He forced some more coffee down his throat before answering. “You had a long day and were tired … and relaxed.”
She giggled. “Relaxed. Is that a euphemism for someone who was experiencing post-orgasmic haze?”
“I guess it is.” She kept driving, passing cars and adjusting her mirrors as if it was a normal thing to be discussing sex with a person she’d only known a day.
“I usually like to reciprocate, you know,” she said.
“Ah.” He’d always had to be so careful, sneaking around with the girls, hiding here and there for a few minutes. There was never full-bore intercourse because as horny as the girls were, they figured half a sin was better than a whole sin. They’d pet and kiss and usually one or the other got off, but usually not both. Reciprocation? Rarely.
He reached into the paper sack and pulled out the two plastic-covered sandwiches. “Do you want turkey or ham?” he asked.
“Your choice. I’m not picky, and I didn’t know what you wanted.”
“I’m not picky either. Choice was a luxury at the compound.”
“Forgot about that.”
He peeled back the film on the ham and cheese, and handed it to her.
They ate in silence for a while, and John handed her chips and napkins without her even having to ask.
The quiet in the car wasn’t uncomfortable. It was the sort of quiet that reminded John of the night. The stillness, then, was expected and necessary. Cleansing, in a way. It helped chase away all the busyness and over-thinking from the day and gave its denizens a chance to start anew. So that silence in the car with Ariel was like something that was part of their cycle — their ebb and flow.
He’d never felt like that with any other woman. He’d always felt like someone should say something.
He stole a glance at her and his heart melted at the sight of her wide-eyed wonderment at the scenery they flew past. When her eyes weren’t on the road, she stared out her window at cattle fields and oil derricks as if they were magical things that didn’t exist where she was from.
Hell, maybe they didn’t. He didn’t know anything about North Carolina or the East Coast other than the fact it was probably humid and that the people there liked basketball.
“Well?” she asked, squeezing his left knee.
He let his forehead furrow and jaw slacken. “I’m sorry, did you ask me something?” How long had he been staring at her? Who was hypnotizing whom?
“I asked if you knew how to work a cell phone at all. I’m trying to figure out how far we’ll get today and kind of want to know where we’re sleeping tonight.”
We’re? Certainly she’d misspoken.
“Uh … ” He wrapped his fingers around the device she held out and drew it close. “I could probably figure it out. I’ve never owned one myself, but there were a few in the compound I got a chance to fiddle with.”
“I’m hoping we can make it as far as Arkansas tonight … ”
He scanned his memory banks for the bit of geography he’d learned as a kid. Arkansas … Isn’t that all the way past Texas and Oklahoma? If she makes it to Arkansas tonight, she’ll be home in no time.
She’d be home in two days at that pace.
Two days wasn’t enough. He needed more time to … Hell, he didn’t know. He kept forgetting that he had one specific task to carry out, but it was so easy to push thoughts of that assignment aside. All he had to do was look at her — think about how perfect she was.
Why did we have to meet like this?
He grimaced.
If it hadn’t been like that, he would never have met her at all.
• • •
Ariel covered her mouth with her hand and closed her eyes as she yawned at the stoplight. “God, I can’t believe how tired I am, even after all that sugar.”
There’d been at least two large coffees, two Cherry Cokes, a king-sized Snickers bar, half a family-sized bag of Skittles, and a roll of Oreos since lunch. She thought she’d be able to get a couple more hours of driving in.
She and Hitch had stopped in Oklahoma to study some roadside oddities and she’d ended up napping in the car for an hour afterward. There was still some daylight left and she was eager to make up the time, but she could hardly keep her eyes open.
“Yeah, it’s funny,” Hitch conceded, as they crept through Little Rock in search of the hotel Ariel’s travel app claimed had vacancies. He didn’t seem tired at all and he hadn’t had a nap. When she’d been slumbering behind the steering wheel, he’d entertained himself by walking the trail that ran beside the rest station she’d parked at. She’d actually woke, yet again, in a state of panic at his disappearance, but when her mind cleared enough to find his backpack still in the car, her panic eased off. He’d actually returned shortly after, and she questioned herself on why this man was having such an effect on her.
“I hope this place is okay,” Hitch said. “I’m not familiar with any of the chains and how good they are. It’s three and half stars. Is that good?”
She swung a hard right into the hotel’s parking lot and circled around for a well-lit spot. “It’s fine. That’s about what we had last night.”
“What would you be staying in if this were a vacation and not a prescribed road trip?”
That made her laugh.
“I’m not picky, really. As long as the place has interior corridors and a twenty-four hour front desk, I’m open. I reserve the right to complain later, though. Had you never been in a hotel before yesterday?” She killed the engine and wrapped her fingers around the door handle while waiting for his response.
He shook his head. “A couple of motor lodges here and there when I had to leave the compound on long errands. They weren’t anything special. It was just like being at home, especially with there being four of us in the room at a time.”
“Yeesh.”
Hitch met her at the trunk and gripped the handle of her suitcase before she could reach for it herself. “Thanks.”
“Least I can do. I’m not exactly pulling my weight, here.”
“What do you mean? You don’t have to do anything.”
They strolled into the lobby and joined the queue at the front desk. There must have been some sort of convention or conference in the hotel as there were dozens of people lingering around in fancy dress as country music blared from a nearby room.
Ariel scanned the conversing guests, and she could feel that the smile spreading across her cheeks was a smug one. Not a single one of those men in their rented tuxedos could hold a torch to Hitch, who outshone them all in old jeans and a faded tee-shirt. He was tall and tan and blond and probably met the Roman ideal of what Apollo the sun god looked like. Golden and bursting to the gills with life or energy or … hell, she didn’t know what it was. All she knew was that when was standing near him, she wanted to burrow closer — be possessed, even.
She startled as he wrapped his left arm around her neck from the back and set his chin on her right shoulder. It was as if he’d read her mind, but surely it hadn’t been that.
“You gotta understand I’m used to constant motion — doing things. Working hard. You have to let me help or I won’t know what to do with myself.”
As a unit, they took a couple of steps toward the counter as the line moved.
“I can think of some things you could be doing,” she whispered against his cheek.
“Like what?”
“Find anything special at the bottom of that brown paper bag?”
He stiffened behind her, then straightened up. “The one we left in the car? There was more in it? I thought after that bag of chips you pulled out, that had to be it.”
She shook her head and held her key fob over her shoulder.
He took them. “Be right back.” He nestled her suitcase next to her before he spun on the heel of his boot and eased his body through the dense crowd.
She giggled to herself as she watched him go.
While standing in front of the gas station’s rack of condoms and overpriced feminine care items, she’d felt a range of emotions she’d never before experienced in such close sequence. Bravery. Bewilderment. Brazenness. Embarrassment. Arousal. Last, following that wild-ass swing, had been resignation. She knew where she and Hitch would end up if she had her way, and this time she wanted to be prepared. No excuses. During that long drive, she expected he’d get to the bottom of the bag, fish out the packet of rainbow-colored prophylaxes, and say something about them. But he never did. And now she’d sent him on a hunting expedition.
She sighed as she dragged her suitcase to the counter.
Who am I? I don’t even recognize myself.
“Hi,” she said to the overworked clerk. “Ariel Thomas. Should have a one-night reservation. Made it this afternoon.”
The clerk tapped some keys and studied her monitor. “Oh, yeah. I took that reservation.” She clucked her tongue. Then she clucked it some more and darted her gaze up to Ariel.
Hitch returned right then carrying a paper bag that seemed much lighter than it had been minutes before. He must have dumped the trash. His grin was anticipatory, and Ariel felt an awakening in her gut.
She cleared her throat as she returned her attention to the clucking clerk. “What’s wrong?” She didn’t like that cluck.
The woman pulled her pink-frosted lips into a cringe. “Looks like we had to move a couple of guests because of central air issues. Since you hadn’t checked in yet, we had to bump you.”
“So, I have no room?” Ariel wasn’t much of a whiner when it came to this kind of error, but the idea of getting back into her car and setting out in search of a hotel with vacancies when she was so very tired made her want to bark.
“Well, we have a room, but I just want to make sure you’ll be comfortable in it.”
“What’s wrong with it?”
“Well, nothing’s wrong, per se. Actually, you have two options. I can put you in a ground floor, handicapped assessable room for the same rate, or I can bump you up into a suite for a ten percent extra surcharge.”
Ten percent didn’t seem all that unreasonable. “A suite sounds nice, actually. Does it have a full-sized table? We haven’t had dinner yet.”
She giggled. “Oh yeah. Full-sized everything. It’s the honeymoon suite.”
The first thought that flicked through Ariel’s mind was People have honeymoons in Arkansas? The second was Like hell if I’m going to submit a receipt to HR for reimbursement that has HONEYMOON SUITE itemized on it. How awkward would that be?
Hitch must have tapped into the source of her discomfort, as he interjected, “Honeymoon suite sounds romantic, doesn’t it, sweetpea?” He nudged her foot with his own and raised one brow at her.
What’s he up to?
She gave a slow, but unambiguous, nod.
“I think so too, sweetpea. You deserve to relax,” he said before turning his attention to the clerk once more. “We’re moving cross-country for work. Company’s footing the bill.”
Realization dawned on the clerk’s face. “Oh. I see. Well, I can split the receipt and you can pay the up-charge separately, if you want.”
He gave her grin that could deglaze ceramic. “That’s really helpful, uh … ” He stared at the woman’s full breasts for a moment, which made Ariel want to stomp his foot with her own.
Then she realized she was reading her obstructed nametag just like he had with the waitress the day before. He seemed big on names.
“Ashley,” he finished.
“You got it.”
Ariel handed the woman her credit card. “What time does room service stop serving dinner?”
“Nine, hon.”
“Thanks.” She signed the receipt with a flourish and bobbed her head toward the bank of elevators. “Want to eat upstairs?” she asked Hitch. Food was the furthest thing from her mind at the moment. She was tired, but being with him wasn’t exactly exerting work.
He shifted the paper bag to his left arm and pulled up the handle of her suitcase. “Sounds great. I’d love to get comfortable. It’s been a long drive.”
“Too long.”
They cleared away from the queue and headed toward the elevators. With each step she took, she felt more awake. Invigorated, even. She could be up all night with the way her body thrummed with excitement. That was the kind of juice that could have kept her on the road until dark. She knew coffee didn’t have a damned thing to do with it, though, and the feeling probably couldn’t be replicated.
She stabbed the Up button and offered her escort a little grin.
He smiled back. He knew where the evening was going as well as she did. He was holding the proof in that paper bag. If he was concerned at all about losing his virginity to a woman who’d picked him up from a roadside, he certainly didn’t show it.
Suddenly, she tensed as if she’d been injected with a shot of ice water. His virginity. A lump formed in her throat that seemed too large to swallow and the lobby’s air suddenly seemed too thin to breathe.
His virginity. She didn’t want to be responsible for that. That was a lot of pressure. He’d remember that coupling for the re
st of his life, whether it was good, bad, or ordinary. She didn’t want to turn sex into a performance, by any means, but she couldn’t just lay there with her eyelids fluttering while he did all the work. Or would he expect her to be the one on top? The experienced one?
They stepped into the open elevator with her still ruminating over what was about to happen, but before she could formulate a plan of any sort, a man slipped in between the closing doors.
“Whew!” he said with his back to the doors and offering Ariel, then Hitch, a giant grin.
Ariel stared.
“Thought I’d miss y’all. Hitch, you didn’t hear me calling you? I know it’s been a long time, but that’s no way to treat your brother.”
Brother?
She studied the man. Tall, lean, dark-haired where Hitch was blond, but there was a definite resemblance there. Same blue eyes. Same sly grin. Naturally, he was gorgeous, and there she was, standing in a cramped elevator with wrinkled clothes, wearing no make-up, and her hair probably looked like she’d combed it that morning with a plastic fork. Just her luck, really, to be wedged between two drop-dead sexy men and to look like she’d just clawed her way out of a grave.
She whimpered, though probably neither heard.
Hitch’s expression shifted from one of confusion, to stunned horror, to annoyance.
What’s going on here?
She looked from one man to the other, trying to get a read on their relationship, but that information seemed closed off to her. As if a wall had been erected.
Finally, Hitch said, “What are you doing here?”
The brown-haired brother shrugged. “I’m on the road a lot, remember?”
Hitch lifted a brow, then turned his gaze to the digital display that told them what floor they’d ascended to. Two to go.
“Just made a little overnight stop. Heading to Utah, towing some cars. Saw your ass and said to myself, ‘Shit, that can’t be Hitch’.”