by Amelia Gates
Headlights lit the ground in front of me steadily.
Very, very steadily.
As I turned onto the next street, so did the headlights. I quickened my pace, but they stayed right beside me. My mind raced. If it was Lizzie, she would have rolled the window down and called out to me, telling me to get the hell in before I got swept away by the wind.
If it was Dad, he would have blared his horn and pushed the passenger door open. My neighbors would have at least said something. I glanced behind me at the driver, but the rain was way too heavy. I could only barely make out the shape of a person’s head and even then, I couldn’t tell if said person was male or female.
I’m being irrational, I told myself. They’re just driving slow because they’re afraid of the rain. They aren’t following me. After all, there are only so many places to go in this town, and only so many ways to get there. Whoever it is, will turn off at this street up here. I walked and walked and the truck slowly drudged forward, past the street where I expected – and wanted – it to turn. Okay, maybe the next street. Definitely the next street!
I held my breath, waiting for the car to prove that it wasn’t following me. But it didn’t. The vehicle stayed with me all the way to the grocery store.
Every story my parents had ever told me about women being stalked, kidnapped, murdered, or worse raced through my head all at once. I was convinced now that this person, whoever it was, was after me with cruel intentions.
Heart racing and mouth dry, I ran into the store. People, I needed to be around people. They wouldn’t take me in front of a crowd. Kidnappers like their women stupid and weak and most importantly, alone.
Inside, I stood where I wouldn’t be seen from outside, but I could still see out the window. I watched the truck—a big green thing which might have been an SUV or a truck with a shell—hesitate for a moment, then continue on its way. A shaky breath of relief turned into a full-body shudder.
“Excuse me, ma’am, but you’re a hazard.”
“What?” I turned to face the voice, which belonged to a dark-haired teenager with an overwhelming gothic aesthetic in spite of her bright yellow uniform. She shot a pointed glance at the floor by my feet. I’d managed to create a rather large puddle.
“Oh! I’m sorry. I was just—sorry.”
She rolled her eyes and slammed a wet floor sign down beside me. Embarrassed, I slinked out of the store again. From beneath the awning, I watched the road, waiting. Maybe they’d just circled around. The truck wasn’t in the parking lot, which had been my greatest concern. I can make it to my road before they get back, I told myself. Adrenaline was making my head light. Channeling it into my legs, I bolted across the parking lot, dodging puddles—half of which hid ankle-killing potholes—until I met the trees on the other side.
My heart thundered in my ears and I laughed breathlessly. I must have looked ridiculous, and there was no need. The streets were completely empty now, and the rain showed no signs of letting up. If the truck had turned down a side street, there was a good chance it was stuck. Buzzing with the thrill of the real or imagined near-miss, I cut through the trees to the gravel road beyond.
I walked on that high until I came to that secret little hollow which was invisible from the road on one side and the trailers on the other. Then my heart dropped to my shoes. The truck was there, sitting sideways across the road with its lights off, blocking my path. I froze. I couldn’t get around it; there was a sheer drop on one side of the road, and trees too thick to get through on the other. I would have to go back, but to where? I had no idea who this was, or how patient they would be. It didn’t matter, I’d figure it out on the fly. I took one step backward, then screamed. As soon as I’d moved, the truck’s headlights had switched on. I turned to run, but the mud beneath the gravel made it slippery. My ankle twisted beneath me and I fell.
“Daisy!”
Kash? Seriously?
Ignoring my body’s objections, I pushed myself hard to my feet. The lights were back on and the pain in my ankle cleared my head. As the damn truck rolled closer to me, I recognized it. I crossed my arms and glared, waiting for it to roll to a stop beside me. The passenger window jerked down.
Kash sat behind the wheel, shock and concern all over his face.
“Kash, you ass! You scared the living hell out of me!”
“Yell my name a little louder, I don’t think your dad heard you. What’s wrong? You said to meet you here.”
“I didn’t say you should stalk me the whole way here!” I yanked the door open and stormed inside, dripping with mud and twigs and god knows what else. I crossed my arms and glared at him, freezing and furious—and relieved.
“I was going to offer you a ride, but I figured you wouldn’t want to be seen getting in the car with me—”
“Oh, like some big truck following me wouldn’t get more attention than me climbing into somebody’s cab in the middle of a rainstorm.”
“You looked right at me, I thought you knew it was me in here!”
“I couldn’t see you through the damn window in the rain, Kash.”
Realization crossed his face, making him wince. “Oh. I thought... oh. Okay.”
I stared. “No, no, finish that. You thought what?”
He was concentrating hard on moving the truck through the downpour. “I thought you saw me and decided not to flag me down. I was leaving it up to you.”
I was shivering too hard to answer, so I just shook my head. Sure, that made sense—if you didn’t know Kash. He took orders just fine, but he had never been one to sit around waiting for them. He used to push Hunter to make decisions, some of them maybe a little bit faster than he should have. His passive behavior made me want to pick a fight with him, but those shivers kept breaking up my thoughts before they could turn into words.
He glanced at me and frowned. “I’ll flip around up here. You should get changed before you freeze.”
“Freezing isn’t the worst way to go,” I said through chattering teeth. “I’ll just turn the heater on. I’ll be fine, really.”
“Don’t touch that!” Quickly, his hand shot out and he grabbed my hand, holding it tight. The warmth of his touch spread through my body. Not enough to stop my shivering, but definitely enough to get my mind going in a different direction. “Sorry,” he said. “This thing’s been sitting under cedar trees for around six years. You flip that switch and you’re going to be in pollen hell.”
“Mm. Fair. Well—it’s really just the clothes making me cold—if I could get out of those, I think I’d be fine.” I kept my tone neutral and didn’t look at him directly, but I could feel his warm surprise and hear his sharp intake.
“Hm, yeah, yeah, that’s true, but um…I mean, the truck’s kind of public, and your clothes will be just as wet when you put them back on. I could always take you back to my—oh, damn it, never mind.”
“Wait, why never mind? That sounded like it was going to be a good idea.”
He growled a heavy sigh. “Leroy. He never leaves that damn desk and he’s a talker. Talks to everybody about everything. Do you know how much I know about Mrs. Jameson’s bunions? Everything. I don’t even know what bunions are, but I know she had to exchange all of her high heels for slippers and she’s mad about it.”
“I don’t even know who Mrs. Jameson is,” I said.
“Me neither! You see? People who don’t even know you will be talking about you if we go there.” He pulled the truck over at the side of the main road, right at the end of the asphalt where it turned to gravel. He put it in park then slung his arm over the back of my seat, turning to look at me. His eyes were full of regret and his mouth looked hungry.
“Not that I don’t want you to get comfortable,” he said, his voice warm velvet. “I’ve missed a lot more than just your smile.”
My heart leapt with such force that it splashed down to my thighs, heating me from my belly button to my knees. His eyes were locked on mine, pupils dilated, irises burning. The rise and
fall of his chest was like a magnet. I slid toward him, the dusty bench seat streaking my clothes, and put my hands on his shoulders.
“Kiss me,” I breathed.
He pulled me into his arms as though he’d been waiting for that invitation all his life. His mouth was a comforting fire on mine, all the excitement of a theme park with all the security of my own bed. Bed—God, how I wanted him in my bed. His big, warm hands ran over my wet clothes—then under them. As his skin touched mine I arched, pressing my ribcage to his palm, willing him to go farther. Wanting and needing and craving so much more than he was giving me right now, but yet panting like he was giving me everything. When his lips touched the spot on my neck just underneath my chin, my body heated up a hundred and ninety nine degrees. I wasn’t just on fire, I was burning.
“Kash,” I whispered. He traveled his kisses higher, capturing my mouth with his and sucking hard. I was breathless from his kisses. But if never breathing again was an option, I’d have taken that, as long as it meant his lips would stay on my mine, his body close to mine.
Lower, Kash’s hands traveled, first rubbing the heel of his hands against my breasts. My nipples tightened so hard it hurt to be touched and hurt not to be touched. I felt empty when he removed his hands, but that emptiness didn’t last for long. Cupping me through my jeans, Kash rubbed at my center. I was out of my mind and I knew it, but I didn’t care. I wasn’t just on cloud nine, I was in heaven.
Until I wasn’t.
If I thought what Kash was doing to me woke all my senses, the bang that rang through the air double-woke them as something hit the truck hard enough to knock our teeth together.
“Ow!” I pulled away and rubbed at my mouth, but my anxiety had already kicked into high gear. It’s Dad, he found us, he knows everything, he’s going to kill me. Kash must have had the same thoughts because he flung me out of his arms and peered through the window for a second before flinging the door open. I grabbed at him, but he wasn’t leaving—just sticking his head out into the rain.
“It’s a tree,” he said as he wiped rain water out of his eyes. “Uprooted sapling. Water’s rising, I better get you home, Daisy girl.”
I bit my lip hard. I knew he was right, but I couldn’t stop looking for a way around it. Home didn’t feel like the right place to be right now. In fact, tree on top of the truck, uncomfortably wet from my hair all the way to my center, this is exactly where I wanted to be. All my reservations had dissolved over the last week, leaving only this gaping maw of desire. My body ached for more, desperately thirsty for Kash’s touch.
He looked at me for a moment, eyes smoldering, then glanced out the window at the rain. “It’s up to you,” he said quietly. “Just be sure you’re thinking with your head and not your-” He paused and laughed a little.
Think with my head. Yeah, right. My head had nothing to do with my decisions just then and I knew it. I couldn’t think with him right there, looking all gorgeous and rugged and familiar. I wanted to explore him, to learn his body. I never felt like I belonged anywhere more than when I was in his arms. So I squeezed my eyes shut and took a deep, cleansing breath, holding myself in a tight embrace to smother the skin-level desire. There was nothing I could do about the fire in my core. Not on my own, anyway. The only one who had the power to extinguish it was Kash.
“Kash…” His name came out a whimper and I pressed my lips tight together.
In an instant, his arms were around me again, his hands in my hair, the warmth of his body smothering the chill of my soaked clothes. His lips hovered a millimeter from mine, his breath a hot kiss on my face.
“Kash.” More a moan than a whimper, but it told him everything. I couldn’t resist him. I couldn’t be the one to put a stop to this momentum, I didn’t have the strength or the desire to break away. I wanted him like I’d want a cold drink on the surface of the sun. I clawed at his collar, pulling his lips to mine, smothering my wanton noises with his kiss. I reached for his cock, finding it firm and ready, pressing against the zipper of his pants, twitching just that much more as I made my move to unzip him.
Another displaced bit of forest bumped into the truck and this time the tires shifted beneath us. Kash pulled away and forcefully pushed me into my seat.
“Buckle up,” he said. “Whatever we do, we aren’t going to do it here. I’d be damned if I die without really getting to taste you.”
Lightning cracked across the sky and I shivered, fingers fumbling with my seatbelt. It felt like God and the universe was against us, throwing trees and electricity across the sky. Thunder roared in the background, the vibrations of it tumbling against my eardrums just as hard as it tumbled against the truck. Loud as it was, my desire was louder.
“Hurry up,” I told Kash, my voice all breathy and pathetically desperate. If he didn’t know it before, I’m sure by now he knew that since him, there’s been no one. Not on my mouth or in my bed or in my heart.
Kash fought against water and mud to get us turned around. The top-heavy truck shuddered and tipped, rocking under the force of the downpour. It was blacker than black outside now and the headlights barely made a difference. We were driving blind, deafened by the storm, unable to feel the road beneath the river of mud.
“Kash.” I said his name through gritted teeth this time as the truck fishtailed through a puddle as deep as the rims.
“Quiet.”
I clenched my jaw shut and locked my fist around the oh-shit handle. My heart thundered with arousal-turned-terror, and the rest of my body didn’t know if it was cumming or going.
Kash’s muscles bulged with effort as he spun the steering wheel. His eyes twitched with laser precision trying to see all the obstacles that remained unseen in this darkness. He could do this. Dumping all my faith and hope and terrified internal bargaining into my gaze, I turned my eyes on his temple and held them there.
He didn’t take his eyes off the road but when he spoke, it was with calm confidence. “We got this, babe.”
That last word shifted my entire being back into a state of furious arousal. We got this, babe. Babe. God, how long had it been since he’d called me that? Since anyone had called me that. Would it even sound the same from anyone else’s mouth, or do the same things to my body? I doubted it. His confidence was contagious, releasing me of my fear enough to let me look out the window.
Main Street looked like the world’s longest crosswalk. Silver streams crossed black asphalt at every intersection, beautiful and deadly under dancing blue electricity. The lightening wasn’t striking so much as crackling, drawing a lattice in the sky.
“Hold on,” Kash said.
I held. The alleyway beside us was the only one not spitting water, as it ran downhill from Main. He twisted the wheel sharply and took us down, down to the pond-sized puddle at the bottom. I was sure we would hydroplane sideways, but he took us right on through. The road twisted up the side of the mountain, carved through solid rock and sheltered by ancient trees. It was also pitch black with a sheer drop on one side, but beggars can’t be choosers.
The drive to the Scenic Overlook was the longest two miles of my whole life. The truck didn’t slip, and water didn’t threaten to push us over the side, but the hairpin turns jumped out at us with no warning whatsoever. Headlights only went so far before being reflected and refracted by curtains of rain, blinding us to whatever lay beyond.
When he finally pulled over in a snug little space next to the mountain, my hands had cramped, frozen into fists and I was shaking from head to toe—I couldn’t tell anymore if it was from cold or fear. Kash blew out a long breath, then flashed his cocky smile at me.
“That was fun! Let’s do it again,” he whooped.
The utter lack of sarcasm in his tone shocked my whole system. Next thing I knew, I was laughing so hard that tears streamed down my face and I fought for air, but I just couldn’t stop. His rich, rolling laugh joined mine, and before long we were draped helplessly together, hooting and gasping.
I wiped th
e tears from my eyes. “Holy shit, Kash. We’re alive!”
“And nothing else matters,” he said, kissing the back of my hand. “When you’re alive and free, everything else is just gravy.”
I felt his words in the pit of my stomach and every crevice of my heart.
He turned my hand over to kiss my wrist and I gasped with pleasure. “Then pour some gravy on me, baby.”
His chuckle was full of lusty intent, and I swallowed it hungrily. His mouth battled mine, an erotic contest for dominance, as his hands traveled up my soaked shirt.
“You’re going to catch a cold in these things,” he growled. “Let’s get you out of them.”
“Yes,” I breathed.
Bare skin didn’t have a chance to get cold. Kash was all over me, his mouth on my neck, his hands running over my thighs, my belly. I kissed him again and again, reveling in the feel of his hardened muscles, so much bigger and firmer than they had been the last time I’d touched them.
I wanted him inside me. I angled my body for him, groped at his hips, silently begging him to enter. But he grabbed my wrists and pinned them to the bench seat, his gaze burning into mine.
“Not yet,” he growled.
Then his mouth was busy. He lapped gently at my earlobe and nipped it, then dropped kisses down my throat to my collarbone. My breaths came in trembling gasps as his lips closed around my hardened nipple, his tongue flicking at the sensitive tip. One, then the other, then his kisses ran down my quivering belly.
His name escaped my throat in a warm, throaty sob as his teeth raked over my hip. Jesus! I moaned. And moaned. And moooaaanned like he was giving me the full length of him. It would have been pathetic if I gave a damn. But I didn’t.
Releasing my wrists, Kash’s fingers found their way to my thighs, tickling over them until they slid over the slickness at my center. He hesitated, trembling lips blowing hot breath on my clit, fingers poised.
