Carnal Chemistry

by Katie Allen

  “Right.” He almost laughed. Cal wasn’t sure what was worse—her ass snuggled against his erection or her breasts pressing into his chest. “Sleep.”

  * * *

  Somehow he must’ve dozed off, since, when he opened his eyes, sunlight was creeping its way into the bus. Lauren was still sleeping, tucked into his chest with a leg caught between his. He was hard again—or still hard from the night before. He wasn’t sure which.

  Cal let himself enjoy it for a few moments. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d touched someone like this, lying so close together that their naked skin warmed each other. Lauren’s breath threw heated, damp air against his neck. His cock wasn’t the only thing reacting to her nearness. Cal’s whole body was enjoying the contact, actually relaxing for the first time in...he didn’t know how long.

  The sounds from outside filtered into their protected cocoon, reminding Cal that they had to get moving. With a low groan, he rolled onto his back. Lauren made a sleepy sound of complaint and followed him over, ending up on top of him. He laughed, unable to stop from stroking both hands across her back. He did pause before reaching her ass, though. There was lust, and then there was torture.

  “Five more minutes,” she muttered, trying to burrow deeper into his chest. Her head was tucked beneath his chin, her face hidden against him.

  He was tempted to let her sleep, but awareness of the ever-present danger hummed at the back of his mind. Plus, the lack of condoms was going to get him into trouble if he kept holding her like this. Lifting a hand from her back, he let it land on her ass cheek with a sharp smack.

  Her head jerked up. She glared, looking so much like a rumpled, hostile kitten that he grinned.

  “Miles to go, Lauren,” he said, giving her another tap on the rear that turned into a stroke before he could stop himself.

  “Fine,” she grumbled, sliding off him. “Bionic bastard.”

  Cal closed his eyes as her skin slipped over his. He was pretty sure that she was touching as much of him as possible for as long as possible. He was also pretty sure that his head was about to explode. When her thigh brushed across his erection, he snapped, rolling her beneath him.

  “You’re playing with fire, little girl,” he growled. Her eyes were wide, apprehensive, but her scent was all arousal. Cal kissed her, hard, before his teeth closed over her full bottom lip firmly enough to make her squeak. He released her and pulled away, just a bare inch, so he could still feel her fast pants against his mouth. Her hips twisted, lifting to grind against him.

  “Fuck,” he groaned, closing his eyes, trying to force down his desire, to clear the thick fog of lust from his brain. It wasn’t normal to be this turned on.

  “Cal?” Lauren wiggled beneath him, making his breath catch in his throat.

  “Give me a second,” he grunted, allowing more of his weight to press down, trying to still those insanity-producing squirms.

  “Not that this doesn’t feel really, really good, because it does, but I have to pee,” she said. “And you’re kind of squishing my bladder right now.”

  With another groan, he shifted off her. Lauren gave him a quick peck that fell somewhere between his cheek and his ear and shot a jolt of arousal to his already swollen cock. He would have grabbed her again, but she’d already rolled to her feet. He watched her as she bent over to dig through one of the shopping bags, knowing he was just torturing himself but unable to look away from her round, perfect ass.

  It only got worse as she pulled on a pair of jeans, her ass and breasts jiggling when she hopped a little as she pulled the denim over her hips.

  “Christ, you’re killing me,” he muttered, seeing her grin before she yanked his T-shirt over her head.

  “Revenge,” she said, stepping over him and grabbing her purse. She squatted beside him and offered another one of her quick pecks, this one on the tip of his nose. “For all those heavy boxes of office supplies I had to lug around just so I could listen to you grunt at me in the mail room.”

  She rose and opened the door just far enough so she could slip out, slamming it closed behind her.

  Cal let the back of his head thud against the floor. “I’m so fucked.”

  Chapter Six

  “You know,” Lauren mused, staring out the window, “Kansas isn’t so bad.”

  Calvin grunted. The sound wasn’t particularly encouraging, but they’d been driving forever, so she didn’t really care about his level of interest right then.

  “It’s kind of hilly and pretty. I figured it’d be flat and painfully boring.” Granted, all her Kansas preconceptions were based on watching The Wizard of Oz as a kid.

  With another grunt, Cal said, “We’ve just crossed the border. Just wait another few hours. The painful part will come.”

  She laughed, turning her head to look at him. “Speaking of painful, my stomach’s going to start eating itself if we don’t stop soon.”

  “There’s jer—”

  “Don’t.” She cut him off, gagging. “Do not even mention jerky to me right now. There is a limit to the amount of dried beef that a human can handle over twenty-four hours, and we definitely discovered that limit—and exceeded it.”

  The corner of his mouth tightened, as if he was holding back a smile. “Twizzlers?”

  She rummaged through their plastic gas-station bag of snacks. “Gone.”

  “Sour Patch Kids?”

  Lauren made a face. “My mouth is raw from those little bastards.”

  “Pringles?”

  She grabbed the tube and turned it upside down, smacking the bottom. “Empty.”

  “Guess we’re stopping, then.”

  She whooped in victory.

  Giving her a sideways look as his smile broke free, Cal asked, “Hell, where does it go?”

  “What?”

  “All that fucking food.” He gave her another up-and-down glance. “You’re so little.”

  Lauren grinned. “High metabolism and lots of adrenaline rushes over the past couple of days. Plus it’s the junk-food rule of road trips—the more, the better.”

  He opened his mouth as if to respond but then closed it and frowned, his gaze flicking between the road and the equipment panel.

  “What’s up?” she asked.

  “Van’s acting up,” he grunted.

  “Uh-oh.” Her stomach tightened from something other than hunger. “How far until the next exit?”

  “Seven-point-two miles.”

  “Think we’ll make it?”

  He shrugged. “Guess we’ll see.”

  “Can’t you fix it? Maybe pull some VW engine maintenance data out of that high-functioning brain of yours?” Lauren asked, only half kidding.

  That earned her another sideways look. “Not much I can do. It needs a new fuel pump. Without it, we’re pretty much fucked.”

  “C’mon, you can MacGyver it up. A little chewed gum, a paper clip, some dental floss—good as new.”

  The look he shot at her, all amused exasperation, made her laugh. “Easiest just to trade it in.”

  Lauren stopped laughing. “Are we stealing another car?”

  “Trading.”

  “Okay, that worked when the victim was getting my very nice, trade-worthy car. No one wants this.” She waved her arms at the interior of the bus. “Even when it wasn’t dying, no one would’ve wanted this.”

  “Sure they will. It’s a classic.”

  Lauren opened her mouth to inform Cal that “old” and “classic” were not necessarily synonymous when her attention was caught by the engine’s chug as it started losing power. “That doesn’t sound good,” she said instead.

  “Nope.”

  As the bus’s speed dropped, she winced. “We’re going to be walking, aren’t we?” Just as she said the
words, they passed an exit sign. “Saved!”

  “Maybe,” Cal grunted, easing the VW onto the exit ramp. “Still have six miles to go.” He turned onto a two-lane road and Lauren saw the sign ahead.

  “‘Myron, six miles,’” she read. “Myron. Huh. That doesn’t sound like a town with a whole lot of amenities, does it?”

  “Eight hundred and eighteen people, a Rest-Up motel, the Myron Bar, a Dairy Queen, and a Gas and Grub. It’ll do.”

  Lauren stared. “Seriously? They enhanced your brain and then put useless facts about Myron, Kansas, in there?”

  He just shrugged. “Not so useless to us.”

  She had to laugh. “Thanks, crazy government scientists, for giving us information to help us get away. Well, at least so we know that we can go get a beer and a dipped cone in Myron, Kansas, while we’re escaping.”

  The van’s engine hitched again, and Lauren stopped laughing once more.

  “C’mon, hippie bus.” She patted the dash. “You can make it.”

  Sliding a glance at her, Calvin said, “You do know the bus can’t actually hear you.”

  “Can’t hurt.” She kept patting. “What a good hippie-mobile. Just another...what? Three miles?”

  “Two-point-eight.”

  “At least that’s more walkable than six.” Lauren sat back. “I’m not sure what’s wrong with me.”

  Cal looked at her, his eyebrow raised. “Abso-fucking-lutely nothing, far as I can tell.”

  She had to smile at that. “Thanks. I just mean, we’re running for our lives here, but there are moments when I forget about all that, and it starts to feel like we’re on a fun road trip.”

  Glancing over, she saw his mouth tighten.

  “I know,” she sighed. “It’s messed up. Being around you just makes me feel...safe, I guess.” And horny. And really happy. She caught the inside of her cheek with her teeth before she could say the last two things out loud. Looking over again, she bit down harder when she saw the muscles clenching and releasing at the curve of his jaw.

  “Laur, I’m not—” He clipped off the rest of his words as the engine rattled and died. The bus coasted, rolling forward silently. Cal guided the bus to the side of the road, allowing the momentum to move them along until they slowed to a crawl. He stopped the bus and yanked the emergency brake.

  “Grab all our shit and shove it into that duffel I bought,” he said, tucking up the wires hanging beneath the dash. “We’ll lock the doors so no one’s in here digging around. We should have a couple days before they tow and search it.”

  Lauren dove for the back and started shoving bags of their belongings into the oversized duffel bag. Everything—packaging, tags, plastic bags, even their tied-up sack of travel trash—went in. She figured clearing out a stolen VW was kind of like camping in that they’d leave it like they found it, albeit not working and several states away.

  “Toss me the disinfectant wipes, would you?”

  Digging through a couple of bags, she found the container and chucked it in his direction. He caught it, pulled out a couple of wipes and started wiping down the steering wheel.

  She cocked her head. “Not that it isn’t thoughtful of you, but do you really think the owners of the hippie-mobile are going to appreciate the cleanliness after we stole and killed their beloved bus?”

  “Prints,” he grunted, wiping the back of the rearview mirror. “They know who we are, but there’s no reason to get sloppy and end up with you on file as a suspect for vehicle theft.”

  “Right.” She turned back to filling the duffel bag. “That whole ‘fun road trip’ thing? Not feeling that so much anymore.”

  They finished clearing out the bus in silence. Cal locked the doors with the wad of wipes in his hand, did a quick rubdown of the door edges and handles and then tossed the wipes into a plastic bag, tied it up and tucked it into the duffel. Taking the bag from her and leaving Lauren with only her purse to carry, he crossed the grassy ditch next to the road.

  “Bye, little hippie bus.” Lauren gave it a wave over her shoulder as she followed. “Thank you for your service. We will never forget—”

  “Lauren!”

  “What?” She trotted to catch up with Cal. “I feel bad. Shouldn’t we be following the ‘no man left behind’ rule?”

  “Inanimate object.” He glanced back at the bus. “Especially inanimate right now.”

  “I can’t help it. I get attached to vehicles.” Trying to keep up with Calvin was making her puff. “Why are we off-roading it, anyway? Shouldn’t we follow the road to Myron?”

  “Nope,” he answered, not slowing as he strode toward a thick line of trees.

  “Why?”

  “Because someone will drive by on the road.”

  “And that’s bad?” She ran a couple of steps so she was next to him. “We could hitch a ride.”

  He rolled his eyes and added a Midwestern twang to his voice. “‘So, where you folks headed? That your VW on the shoulder back there? Dwayne could bring his wrecker and give ya a tow. He prob’ly could fix it up for you in a week or so. Now that I’ve connected you to the broken-down, stolen VW bus, let me memorize what you look like so I can give a real nice description to any law enforcement officials or lab employees who might come sniffin’ around.’”

  Lauren swung her purse, whacking him on the leg. “Sarcasm hurts, you know.”

  “So does getting caught.”

  “Ass,” she muttered under her breath, letting him get ahead of her again. “You’re making me all paranoid.”

  He stopped at the tree line and waited for her to catch up. “Told you.”

  “Told me what?”

  “You shouldn’t feel safe around me.” He turned and weaved his way through the trees.

  She glared at his disappearing back as she stomped after him. “I know. I just can’t help it.”

  * * *

  Lauren didn’t love nature. She didn’t love it at all.

  The “path” through the woods was little more than a deer trail. Thorny bushes grabbed at her legs and her new winter boots weighed down her feet and made her clumsy. Her only other footwear option had been her heeled boots, and she didn’t think she could’ve jammed her swollen and blistered feet back into those torture devices.

  It was more than a little perturbing to see Calvin, who was carrying the duffel filled with their belongings, maneuver through the trees with little apparent effort.

  “It’s like he’s a freaking deer,” she muttered, tripping over a tree root. “No, a badger, mean with sharp teeth. No, a skunk!”

  Her snicker cut off when he shot her a sharp look. “By the shitload of noise you’re making back there, I’d guess you were a herd of elephants.”

  She glared at his back. “I’ll show you a herd of elephants, skunk-man.” She scanned the ground and saw a pinecone next to the trail. She scooped up the pinecone and hurled it at the back of Calvin’s head. It bounced off harmlessly, but it was enough to get his attention.

  Before she could blink, he’d dropped his bag and had her back pressed against a tree.

  “You are extremely aggravating,” he growled.

  “Me? Watch how you’re throwing those stones around your glass house there, buddy.” To her annoyance, Lauren’s voice had gone all husky and turned-on-sounding. She couldn’t help it, though, not with Cal’s hips pressing her tight to the rough bark behind her.

  He stared at her, his black eyes hard and narrow, his jaw tight. “We’re staying at the Rest-Up tonight.”

  Lauren blinked. “O...kay. That was sort of random. I thought you’d be talking more about how irritating I am.”

  “Hell yeah, you are.” Cal shifted his hips and a hard, denim-covered bulge dug into her belly. “You’re also fucking hot.”

  “Yeah, you too
,” she said. If the evidence of his arousal hadn’t been pressed against her, distracting her, Lauren would’ve been embarrassed by her dreamy voice.

  The corners of his mouth turned up. “We’re buying condoms before we check in.”

  “Okay,” she breathed.

  His smile grew as he closed his hands around her waist and hoisted her up so they were face-to-face. Lauren squeaked as her feet left the ground, but she quickly forgot that she was dangling in the air when he kissed her, one of his hard, short, bossy kisses. He lowered her back down and turned to the abandoned duffel.

  “C’mon.” He hoisted the bag and started walking.

  Lauren blinked a few times, coming back to the reality of chilly woods and Cal’s quickly disappearing back. Snatching her purse off the ground where she hadn’t even realized she’d dropped it, she scampered after him as fast as the annoyingly bumpy and narrow deer path allowed. Despite the rough going, she couldn’t help but smile, thoughts of a motel room, condoms, and Calvin dancing in her head.

  * * *

  Thankfully, the trip through the woods eventually ended at the edge of Myron, and they were able to walk to the Rest-Up motel on an actual paved sidewalk. Lauren did a skip to catch up with Cal.

  “Can we eat actual food tonight?”

  His mouth twitched. “No more beef jerky and Sour Patch Kids?”

  She gagged while doing another skipping step to keep up with him. “Gross. And slow down, daddy longlegs. Some of us are short and slow.”

  “Jesus, Lauren. Did you just call me Daddy?”

  She laughed and gave his arm a shove, which, as always, did not throw him off balance even a little bit. “Did I mention you’re gross?”

  “At least I don’t have twigs in my hair.”

  “Seriously?” Her hands flew to her head. Sure enough, there were pieces of bark and even dead leaf chunks caught in her ponytail. “You just let me walk through town like this? You suck.”

  “C’mere.” His hand caught her upper arm, tugging her toward him. Turning her so she faced away from him, Cal started pulling bits of twigs and leaves out of her hair, swatting at her hands until she lowered them out of his way.