“But I’m the one driving.”
“Chelsea!”
“Drew!” She mimicked his tone and that just pissed him off even more.
Raking his hands through his hair, he growled with frustration. “I wanted to get out and just work off some of this aggravation! Maybe walk around a bit! Is that too much to ask?”
“As a matter of fact, it is,” she replied primly.
“Excuse me?”
Nodding, she explained, “You’re being completely unreasonable right now. For all I know, we’ll pull over and I’ll go use the restroom, and you’ll leave me there! Then what the hell would I do, huh? You’ve essentially kidnapped me, and then I get dumped on the side of the road somewhere in the backwoods of North Carolina? Um…no thank you.”
“Kidnapped you?” he cried with disbelief. “Kidnapped you? How the hell did we end up there?”
“You lured me into your car under false pretenses, took me to multiple–and incorrect–destinations, and…”
“Hey, you’re free to leave at any time,” he snapped. “No one’s holding you against your will. As a matter of fact, you were free to walk away at any time! You could have gone into the airport when we were there, but you didn’t.”
Ha! Think about that, missy!
“Oh, really?”
“Yeah, really.”
“And you would have just let me go and not tried to stop me?”
Dammit.
“Okay, fine. I would have tried to stop you. But never at any point have I told you that you couldn’t leave. And, may I remind you, you didn’t seem to mind staying with me last night! Last night you were more than happy to be with me!”
All over me…whatever…
Gasping, she glared at him. “I cannot believe you’re throwing that back at me! How dare you!”
“Yeah, well…you know I’m right, Chelsea. And you know what?”
“What?” she snapped.
In that moment, Drew knew he wasn’t really mad at her. Well…he sort of was, but he was more pissed off at himself. She was right; Jimmy always was trying to tell him what to do, and he never seemed to appreciate all the shit Drew did for him. This entire situation had gotten out of hand, but he had no idea what to do to reel it in.
His entire body relaxed slightly. “I don’t regret a thing about last night,” he said after a minute. “It was an amazing night and I was having a great time with you all day until Jimmy interrupted.” Letting out a long breath, he leaned back in his seat so he was facing forward again. “I’m sorry, Chels. This whole situation is just crazy.”
She didn’t respond right away and he thought she was going to keep arguing with him, but when she did respond, she surprised him.
“Can I let you in on a little secret?”
“Sure.”
Glancing at him, she had a small grin on her face. “I’ve been having fun, too.”
“Really?”
She nodded. “Yeah. Really.”
He relaxed a little more.
“And you want to know something else?”
“What?”
“Now that they know, I kind of want to stop someplace else for the night and make them wait. You know, prolong their misery since they’re both too chicken to do their own dirty work.”
And right then and there, he fell a little in love with Chelsea Cooper.
10
“This is naughty. Very, very naughty.”
“Mmm…but so good, right?”
Humming with pleasure, Chelsea closed her eyes. “I never knew…I didn’t know…”
“Stick with me, Chels. I know what I’m doing.”
She had to agree.
If this trip lasted much longer, she didn’t know if… “Hey! Did you take the last strawberry?” she demanded. They were watching the sunset while having dessert for dinner on the beach at The Isle of Palms. Barefoot, toes in the sand, and enjoying decadent treats they picked up while strolling through town, and the rat bastard ate the last glazed strawberry. “I was saving that!”
Beside her, he chuckled and handed her the half of the strawberry he hadn’t eaten yet.
Actually, he fed it to her.
“Next time, call dibs.” His voice was low and gruff and so damn sexy that she was practically in a puddle on the damn blanket.
It was quite the one-eighty from earlier today. After their argument, Chelsea had driven for another hour before they changed places. It was then that they decided to do as she suggested and take a detour for the night.
And turned off their phones.
Chelsea wasn’t normally a mean person, but so much about her relationship with Bianca hit her–the way it was seriously unbalanced and how little her friend must think of her to pull a stunt like this. Granted, she knew there was kind of a good reason for Bianca opting to run away and elope–namely, Chelsea’s open aversion to the whole thing–but maybe she wasn’t the only one opposed to it?
They had basically grown up together and she knew Bianca’s whole family very well. On more than one occasion, she remembered Bianca’s father not being impressed with the things Jimmy did. Or maybe she was remembering it wrong for her own purpose. There was no way she was going to turn her phone on and call them and open that dialogue.
Sometimes ignorance was bliss.
And this situation was far from blissful.
Well, not the current situation she and Drew were in. That was pretty damn awesome.
“You have to try this salted caramel cheesecake,” he said, holding up a forkful for her. Turning her head to him, she opened her mouth and let him feed her. The flavor burst in her mouth as the creaminess of the cheesecake melted on her tongue. Unable to help it, she moaned, and beside her, Drew chuckled softly. “Right? I’m not usually one for salted caramel, but that was…what was the phrase you used last night?”
“Orgasmic,” she said, licking her lips. “I’m not sure that was orgasm-worthy, but it was pretty darn close.”
She felt him move closer, his breath warm against her ear. “Are you looking for more orgasms?”
Hmm…that was a loaded question…
Smiling, her head fell back slightly. “That depends.”
“On?”
“Are we talking public orgasms or private ones?”
Drew’s tongue teased the shell of her ear before he answered. “I think I can give you both.”
Oh, my…
“Both, huh? Someone’s ego certainly doesn’t need stroking,” she said, sounding breathless to her own ears.
“All men need their egos stroked.” Another swipe of his tongue. “Among other things.”
And God help her, she wanted to stroke all the other things.
“How fast can we load up this food and be back at the hotel?” Chelsea was practically panting by now, and public orgasm be damned. She wanted them all, and she wanted them privately.
Drew placed a finger on her lips, and with her eyes still closed, she opened her mouth and sucked.
Chocolate icing.
Lots and lots of chocolate icing.
Maybe I do have time for a public orgasm…
He began kissing her neck as she sucked the chocolate from his finger. It was all a little heady, a little weird, and when Drew gently bit her throat, she was thankful for the mouthful of chocolate because she certainly would have cried out, and everyone within a mile of the beach would have heard her.
When she felt herself relaxing, Drew slowly pulled his finger from her mouth and placed a soft kiss on her cheek. “We can be back at the hotel in ten minutes.” Chelsea went to get to her feet, but he stopped her. She turned and looked at him questioningly. “Once we’re back in the room, we’ll see what other desserts we can use to make you come again.”
Desserts were quickly rewrapped and tossed into the bag, and there was probably a pound of sand in their blanket, but neither seemed to care in their haste to go. Fortunately, their hotel was right here on the beach so they really just needed to walk bac
k up the sand and over the long wooden walkway that led to the hotel property.
Chelsea found she was giggling like crazy and her laughter was contagious because Drew was laughing too–like they were sneaking off and afraid of getting caught.
Which…they kind of were, but no one was going to catch them.
Walking across the lobby, they made it to the elevator before Drew hauled her in close. “The things I want to do to you,” he whispered in her ear, causing her to shiver with delight.
“The things I want you to do to me,” she replied as the elevator doors opened. Luckily no one was inside and they had the space all to themselves–and hopefully all the way to the top floor.
All four stories of it.
She wanted Drew to kiss her, touch her, but there was something incredibly exciting about him keeping just enough distance between them that was also oddly arousing. Anticipation was building, and when the elevator doors opened on the fourth floor, he took her by the hand and led her to their room–a trail of sand flowing behind them from their blanket.
Once they were in the room with the door closed, everything dropped to the floor–the blanket, the bag of desserts, and Chelsea’s bra.
Although how Drew got that off of her so quickly, she wasn’t quite so sure…
Lifting her, she wrapped her legs around his waist and let out a small cry when her back hit the wall. His gaze was hot and so damn sexy, and all Chelsea could think of was how she thought last night was a fluke–that it was just going to be a one-night thing. But looking at him now, she knew that wasn’t possible. One night would have never been enough. Hell, two nights probably won’t be either. They may annoy the crap out of each other most of the time, but clearly it was working for them.
He didn’t kiss her yet, though. He was studying her until she started to squirm.
“Drew?”
She saw him swallow hard. “You make me crazy, Chelsea.”
And she couldn’t help but grin. “Funny, I was just thinking the same thing.”
“One minute I want to strangle you, and the next, all I want is to get you alone and have my way with you.”
She blushed. “I’m more than okay with that.”
“Yeah?”
Nodding, she said, “Yeah.”
But still he didn’t kiss her. “I feel a little guilty though.”
“Drew,” she whined. “We promised not to talk about Jimmy and Bianca again…”
One finger came up and covered her lips. “Not about that. I’m talking about how I’ve treated you in the past. How stupid I was for not taking the time to really get to know you.”
Wow…that was incredibly…depressing.
Honestly, the last thing she wanted to think about right now was their history and former dislike of each other.
“Right now, Drew, I’d really like you to get to know how much frosting you can lick off of me before I beg you to make love to me.”
Then she mentally crossed her fingers and prayed he would take the change of subject and run with it.
The searing kiss he gave her told her what she needed to know.
Mission accomplished.
Their room was large and as he carried her across it to get to the bed, he tripped on the corner of the area rug, banged into the coffee table, and Chelsea’s foot knocked the lamp off the nightstand, but neither seemed to care.
On the bed, she whipped her shirt off while Drew kicked off his sneakers. She shimmied out of her jeans while his shirt went flying.
“Grab the cake,” she said breathlessly. “I’m definitely going to want more of that icing.” Then she winked at him. “You should try some too.”
He leaned down and gave her another thorough kiss. “Baby, I already planned on licking it off of you.” With a wink of his own, he turned and ran across the room–without tripping this time–and grabbed the bag of desserts from over by the door. Chelsea was down to her panties and breathless with anticipation as she watched him place the bag on the bed before his jeans and boxers came off.
Yeah, this was way better than driving straight through to Bluffton. Right now, Jimmy and Bianca could be getting married and she wouldn’t care at all. They might be making a mistake, but at this moment, Chelsea knew what she and Drew were about to do was the best decision in the world.
Possibly in the history of the world.
“I should warn you,” she said, hoping she sounded serious. “I’m extremely ticklish.”
Drew loomed over her. “And you should know that I promise to be extremely gentle.”
“Oh. Okay, then.”
His tongue ran from her belly button up around her nipple and onward to the shell of her ear. “And thorough.”
One of them might not survive this.
But what a way to go.
“I’m regretting not having dinner.”
“We did have dinner, but it was cake and sugary goodness.”
“Yeah, but now it’s almost midnight and I’m starving.” And as if on cue, Drew’s stomach rumbled from hunger.
“Maybe we can do Grubhub or Uber Eats or something. Although we still have snacks in the car…”
“Oh, God. No more cake.” Groaning for dramatic effect, he rolled toward her. “I’ll get my phone and see what’s available at this hour.” And this time, he was the one to climb from the bed naked and walk across the room to get his phone. When he turned around and walked back toward the bed, Chelsea was resting on her side watching him.
And smiling.
He took that as a good sign, that she liked what she was seeing.
And maybe he sucked in his gut a little and flexed his muscles.
“There aren’t a lot of options at this hour, but we can definitely get some burgers from places that are more like pubs than fast food.” He looked up at her. “Is that okay with you?”
She sat up, holding the sheet over her breasts. “Definitely. You pick the place and order any variety of bacon cheeseburger and fries, and I’ll be happy.”
“A girl after my own heart,” he laughed as he sat back down on the bed, tapping out their order. “Drinks?”
“As much as I want to say milkshake, I think I’ll be fine using the soda machine down the hall.”
“Yeah, me too.” He finished the order and placed his phone back down on the nightstand and maneuvered himself so he was lying back beside her. “Thirty minutes.”
“Sounds about right.” She stretched, and it was so tempting to pull the sheet down so he could see her properly, but it was probably smarter for them to put some clothes on. Last night’s room had a separate bedroom with a door; this room was just one big open space. As if reading his mind, Chelsea stood and walked over to her suitcase. “The driver will just have to deal with me being in pajamas.” She pulled something from her bag and held it close when she turned around to face him again. “Or do you have to meet them down in the lobby? I thought that’s the way some hotels do it.”
“Honestly, I didn’t even think about it. Let me call down to the front desk and ask.” Sitting back up, he used the hotel phone to call down. He heard Chelsea go into the bathroom and thought it was cute how she was suddenly modest. He had licked and tasted every inch of her, and the images of her writhing on the bed were permanently burned into his brain.
“Front desk. How can I help you?”
“Yes, this is Drew Russo up in room 415. We just ordered food that’s going to be delivered. Do we need to meet them down in the lobby or will you let them come up to the room?”
“You’ll need to meet them down in the lobby, sir.”
“Oh, uh…great. Thanks.” He hung up and groaned. Going down to the lobby required more of an effort for him to get fully dressed again. Just as he was resigning himself to it, Chelsea walked out of the bathroom.
“Do you need to go to the lobby?” she asked.
“What is that on your shirt?”
“What?”
“That’s a different nightshirt from last night, i
sn’t it?”
“Um…yeah.”
“Why?”
After walking around and picking up the clothes they had discarded of hers earlier, she turned to face him. “Because hotel beds are just…I don’t know…icky. I refuse to wear the same pajamas twice after sleeping in one of these beds.”
“Well, you really didn’t wear last night’s one to bed. It only made it as far as the living room.”
“Yeah, but then it spent the night on the hotel room floor.” She shuddered. “There was no way I was putting that back on.”
“But what if we’re here for another couple of nights? Then what?”
She shrugged. “I guess then I’ll have to keep sleeping naked. Will that be a problem?”
“Not for me,” he said with a lecherous eyebrow waggle.
Best motivation to drag out this trip ever.
Tonight’s nightshirt had a cartoon moose wearing a bathrobe and slippers with the phrase “I need a mooseage” under it. It took him a minute to get the pun, but then he chuckled. “That’s funny.”
“Yeah, I kind of have a thing for quirky pjs,” she said with a small laugh. “I know it’s ridiculous, but…”
Standing, he walked over and wrapped his arms around her. “It’s not ridiculous at all. It’s cute. And I never would have pegged you for wearing something like this.”
“You mean you thought I wore flannel, grandma pajamas?”
“I wouldn’t say grandma…”
With a playful shove, Chelsea stepped out of his arms and walked over to the door. After picking up her purse, she walked back over and pulled out a couple of dollar bills. “For the vending machine. If you can grab a soda and some water, that would be awesome.” Then she looked him up and down. “But you should probably put some pants on first.”
“You mean I can’t just walk down to the lobby like this?” He feigned indignation. “Just what kind of place is this that a guy can’t walk around naked to go pick up his food?”
Chelsea put her purse down on the coffee table before coming back over to him and patting his shoulder. “The normal kind. The question is, what kind of places do you normally stay at where they do allow it?”
He snorted. “Please, I would never stay at a place that allowed that.”
Wrong Turn: Road Tripping Series Page 12
