Road Tripping

by Noelle Adams

  The note was pretty much what Ethan had said it was. Explaining the situation. Forcing down the disappointment, she read the note again. And this time, she decided maybe there was more there than she’d initially seen.

  Ashley,

  I’m sorry to leave you like this, but you’ll be safer once I’m gone. There’s no reason for both of us to face the danger that's coming after me. I’ve left you the remaining cash, should you need it for anything. Call your folks or the police, whatever you think is best.

  I know you’ll be mad at me—probably never forgive me. I’m willing to live with that if it means I’ve kept you alive. At the risk of sounding melodramatic, Jones is more dangerous than anyone realized, and I’m not sure that I’ll make it back home. If I don’t, please know—despite the way I've acted—that there is no one else with whom I’d rather have spent the last week of my life.

  Yours,

  Ethan

  After having read it the second time, she gulped painfully and felt tears burning in her eyes. When Ethan had written this note, he must have been sure he wouldn’t be coming back. Which was terrifying on a number of levels—but most notably because it meant they were both still in that kind of danger.

  She read the last sentence several times, until she had memorized it. Glancing up, she saw Ethan making his way back to the truck, so she carefully piled the torn pieces of paper together and stuck them in her pocket.

  When Ethan got back into the pickup truck, he was looking at her curiously. “What’s wrong?” he asked.

  “Nothing,” Ashley lied, trying to pull herself together. “I notice you decided to make use of the restroom facilities despite your scoffing at me.”

  Ethan ignored her jibe and studied her closely. “Ashley, what’s the matter? You’re upset about something.”

  His perceptiveness and obvious concern were only making things worse. She felt her chest close in. “I’m fine.” She just wasn’t ready to talk about this quite yet. She had to get her thoughts and feelings in order.

  “I wish you wouldn’t lie to me,” Ethan said mildly, his eyes never leaving her face.

  “And how many times have you lied to me this last week?”

  He pressed his lips together and started the truck. They pulled back onto the county road in silence.

  She knew that Ethan was still watching her out of the corner of his eye, so she closed her eyes and put a hand up to her face in an attempt to shut him out.

  It was time for her to figure out some things.

  She had thought...well, she had thought a lot of nonsense. She’d been confused about her feelings from the very beginning, and maybe she’d been confused about Ethan’s too.

  He had rejected her verbally the previous day. He’d said he didn’t want to hurt her feelings or lead her on. But that might have been because he knew he was about to leave her behind.

  He hadn’t made a single move on her, hadn’t tried to pursue anything all week. That was the hardest to explain. But maybe it was based on something other than a lack of interest. Maybe...

  “Ashley, are you all right?” Ethan’s low voice broke through her extended reverie. “You’ve been so tense for the last ten minutes—you look like you’re about to explode.”

  And that was it. Ashley did explode.

  “Stop!” she cried. “Stop the car! Stop right now!”

  Ethan jerked and slammed on the brakes, veering off onto the shoulder of the road. “What’s the matter, honey? Are you sick?”

  “Just please stop.”

  The car had, by this time, come to a complete halt. “Ashley, tell me what’s wrong.”

  She fumbled with her seatbelt until she was able to unlatch it. Then she pushed open her door and stumbled out to stand on the side of the road. She took a few steps off of the pavement, so that she was on the grass. Then she just waited until Ethan came around to stand next to her.

  He put his hands on her shoulders. “Damn it, Ashley. Tell me what’s wrong.” There was anxiety as well as frustration in his voice.

  She looked at him in front of her—handsome, clever, brave, isolated, bewildered. And loved. Loved so deeply. Loved by her.

  “Do you have something to say to me?” She burst the question out into the stifling summer air.

  “What?”

  “Do you have something that you need to say to me?”

  Ethan’s face was totally confused. “Ashley, honey, I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He sounded almost helpless.

  “That’s what I’m talking about. What you just did, right there. You’re confusing the hell out of me. You’ve been doing it for the whole last week. And I really can’t handle any more. So if you have something to say, say it right now. If you don’t, then don't act this way anymore.”

  Comprehension was starting to dawn on Ethan’s face, but it was neither joyful nor relieved. In fact, if anything, he looked kind of sick. “What do you expect me to say to you?”

  “I don’t know. You just need to say it. Please.”

  “I'm sorry if I've confused you. But feelings aren’t the same as choices. And whatever my feelings are, my choices in this are limited.” He turned away from her slightly, as if he couldn’t bear to look at her face.

  She took a step closer and pulled him back toward her with a hand on his shoulder. “Ethan, please. I’m asking you. Please. Because I’m already in way too deep. And I can't help but respond to the things that you aren’t saying.”

  His eyes shot up from the ground, scanning her face for a few urgent seconds. “What do you mean by respond?”

  “I mean I’m responding, reciprocating, having emotional reactions to your behavior.”

  Something changed on his face. “What do you want to hear?”

  Ashley let out of hoarse roar of frustration. “I want to hear the truth for once.”

  Ethan rubbed a hand over his hair, which glowed copper in the sunlight, and glared at her impatiently. “Ashley, there is a whole range of the truth, from the easiest to handle to the totally overwhelming. You’ve asked for it. How much of the truth do you want to hear?”

  She stared at him dumbfounded, hardly believing that they had gotten to this point so quickly. She had been expecting more of a battle. He was about to tell her, say what she needed to hear. Her heart was drumming painfully, and her breath was coming out in short gasps.

  Not wanting to completely pass out, she thought she better start with something safe. “What is the easiest part of the truth to handle?”

  Ethan’s eyes blazed abruptly hot and hungry. And then he said in a husky voice, “All right. This is the part of the truth that is easiest to handle. I want you so much it’s making me crazy. I keep picturing you beneath me, moving over me, writhing against me. When I hear your voice, I’m thinking about how it will sound moaning with pleasure when I make you come. I keep imagining how you'll feel when I’m inside you. I can think of almost nothing else. I’m always aroused. Constantly dying to make you mine.”

  Ashley’s mouth dropped open stupidly. She felt a delicious heat spark somewhere between her legs and radiate in waves from her center. Trembling a little, she whispered, “That’s really the easiest thing to handle?”

  “Lust is never the deepest thing. Or the most important.”

  “Oh,” Ashley responded, swallowing hard. “What’s the most overwhelming part of the truth?” When he hesitated, she added, “I want to know it all.”

  He glanced away for a moment, but then caught and held her gaze. There was something so deep in his green eyes that Ashley immediately lost her breath. “I think I want to spend the rest of my life with you.”

  Ashley let out an embarrassing squeak. “What?” she croaked, when her throat started to work again.

  “I said I want to spend the rest of my—”

  “Okay. I heard.” She gulped and swayed slightly on her feet. “That’s more than I was thinking to hear.”

  Inexplicably, Ethan started to chuckle. “I told you
it was overwhelming.”

  Ashley was trying to stop shaking, but not doing a very good job of it. She peered up at Ethan’s bemused face and inquired, “Can we find some middle ground between lust and forever?”

  Ethan tilted the corner of his lips into a half-smile. “I love you?”

  “Is that a statement or a question?” She was starting to feel her way back to solid ground, as they went through this familiar verbal dance.

  “It’s both. It’s a statement—I do love you—but I was asking if that is a good middle ground.”

  Ashley grinned up at him, thinking that her chest might actually overflow with mushy feelings. “That’s a perfect middle ground.”

  They stared at each other for a minute. Finally, Ethan looked a little awkward and prompted, “Well?”

  “Oh,” Ashley said with a start. “Well, of course, I love you too.”

  They stared at each other for a little while longer. Ashley tried not to swoon on the grass beside the empty road.

  Suddenly, a semi-truck came rushing by. The sound and whoosh of air as it passed them startled Ashley, causing her to squeal and shy back from the road quickly.

  Very conveniently, she ended up in Ethan’s arms.

  She clung to his shirt and tilted her head up with her most enticing look.

  Ethan gave her a little smirk. “It was only a truck. I didn't think you were quite so skittish. But maybe we should get going again. We shouldn’t be standing on the side of the road if our pursuers happen to drive by.”

  “Oh, okay,” Ashley sighed in disappointment. Then she pressed against him even closer. “Can I please get a kiss first?”

  Ethan’s eyes were very speaking, but he didn’t move immediately.

  So she teased, “I guess you’re afraid you won’t live up to your reputation. I don’t blame you. I’ve experienced some really good kissers. You probably couldn’t hope to equal the kind of kiss I got from—”

  Ethan kissed her, his lips closing over hers to silence her stream of words. After only a moment, she opened her lips to his tongue. She reached her hands around his neck to pull his head closer, wanting him inside of her as deeply as he could get. After a minute of lovely play of lips, teeth, and tongues, Ashley instinctively started to rub her pelvis against Ethan’s.

  That was when he pulled away.

  “That was pretty good,” she said, flushed and breathless and happy. “Almost the best I’ve ever had.”

  “Almost?” he repeated, elevating his eyebrows. He was trying to act all cool and smug, but he was panting just as much as she was.

  “Almost. But after I give you a few pointers, I’m sure you will improve your performance. Some people need a lot of practice before they can get it right.”

  Ethan growled and yanked her toward him again. With his hands on her hips, he pressed her middle against what she discovered was a growing erection. She released a foolish, wordless sound of delight, and had the strong suspicion that she no longer looked unimpressed.

  “We were talking about kissing,” she managed to gasp, grabbing onto his shoulders for support. “I never doubted your talents in...other areas.” But just to verify things, she rubbed herself against him again.

  Ethan groaned very softly in his throat and removed his hands from her butt. Then took her face between his palms and murmured, “Maybe we should try the kiss again so you can correct your first faulty judgment.”

  “Okay. I’ll be the first to admit if I was wrong.”

  So they kissed again, standing on the side of the road, in the middle of nowhere in Iowa. And this time, Ashley had to pull away to keep herself from jumping him then and there.

  Eventually, they got back in the pickup truck and started driving again, both of them rather dazed and befuddled.

  After several minutes of contented silence, Ashley finally asked, “So what was holding you back? I mean why was it so hard for you to come out and tell me? Did you really think I didn’t feel the same way?”

  “I don’t know. At first, I thought you didn’t care about me anymore. Then, when I thought maybe you did, I couldn’t get past how…how bad I was for you, how much trouble I’d bring into your life.”

  She thought about that and had to admit he was partly right. He was a criminal—whether he wanted to get out of it or not. He had a record that would affect his future. Plus, he had a crazy moonshiner sending hired guns after him.

  He wasn’t exactly a picture-perfect choice for a boyfriend.

  But still…he was Ethan.

  She asked, “But you’re okay with things now? We’re together now?”

  Ethan nodded, moving his hands back to the steering wheel. “Yeah. I guess I’m just not selfless enough to let you go after all.”

  “And this isn’t just a casual thing? Because I know we’re just starting out, but you know I’m kind of old-fashioned about romance, and I don’t really want a casual relationship.”

  “Did you hear what I said beside the road back there? The thing that was too overwhelming? I’m as committed as it’s possible to be.”

  “Well, that’s okay then,” Ashley said, wondering if it was really healthy to feel this happy, if she was going to have to pay for it later. “Good. Then can we please stop somewhere to have sex?”

  As Ashley waited for Ethan to respond, she glanced at her watch. Two o’clock in the afternoon.

  And they were barely halfway through the eighth day.

  Day Eight and a Half

  Carroll County, Iowa

  “Ashley,” Ethan began, an edge in his voice.

  She sighed. She should have known it wouldn’t be that easy. “You don’t want to?” she asked innocently, trying to look bland and artless.

  “Yes, I want to. Were you even listening on the side of the road back there?”

  “So what’s the problem then? I want to. You want to. We have all afternoon free…”

  “You know exactly what the problems are. Do you actually think this is an ideal time to consummate a relationship?”

  “Feels like a pretty good time to me.” When he just gave her a significant look, she added, “Well, I suppose you’ll say we just got together and shouldn’t rush things.”

  “There is that. Although it’s pretty far down on my list, and I’d be willing to be talked out of it if that was the only issue.”

  Normally, she would have been all for going slow with a guy, but she’d known Ethan all her life. It felt like they’d been kind of together forever.

  She really wanted to have sex, and Ethan was an obstacle to that goal.

  “Then I guess it’s the fact that we’re being pursued bad guys. You probably think they’ll catch you with your pants down.”

  “Honey, when we make love, my pants will be all the way off. But surely you aren’t going to argue that we should stop less than four hours away from Sioux Falls—when our vehicle finally seems to be holding together—to risk being caught because we can’t control our sexual impulses.”

  “Well, it certainly doesn’t sound like a good plan when you put it that way. But we haven’t seen any sign of bad guys for two days. I think we’ve given them the slip.”

  “Not for long. They’ll know by now exactly where we’re headed. They’ll be waiting for us there.”

  “And I suppose you’ll say it isn’t wise to make a substantial decision like having sex under such stressful circumstances. And that we should wait until things are more settled before we make mad, passionate love to each other.”

  He gave her a significant look.

  “Damn, damn, damn. I really wanted to make love with you today.”

  Ethan grinned at her, meeting her eyes deeply. “Would you mind saying that again? I’m having a surreal moment here. My dreams are miraculously materializing before my eyes.”

  She shivered at the look in his eyes. “I really wanted to have sex with you today. Of course, I’ve really wanted to have sex with you all week. At least, after the first day.”

 
“I’ve got you beat then,” he said in his most superior tone. “I've wanted you from the minute I saw you at that gas station. It made me so furious to see you going around in that outfit, showing off your luscious body to anyone who happened to drive by. It was all I could do not to snatch you up and run away with you on the spot.”

  She felt a rich, heavy sensation in her belly as the smugness in his voice transformed into possessiveness. “Okay, you win on that. And, if you really don’t think it’s a good idea to have sex, then we don’t have to.”

  He rubbed his face, as if he were conflicted. “I do want to. I just don’t know if it would be smart.”

  She was suddenly hopeful about this afternoon after all. “Well, if you think about it, since the bad guys think we’re on the run and scared, they’ll never believe we stopped to have sex. It will throw them completely off the scent and get them totally confused. They must have expected us in Sioux Falls days ago. The more we delay, the more anxious they’ll become. And what better way to delay than to make love for the rest of the day.”

  He made a throaty sound of amusement. “I can promise you a pretty good time, but I’m not promising to last the rest of the day.” He paused. Then finally gave her a hot smile. “I suppose it really is the most reasonable decision. I’m not a man to refuse to see the logic in someone else’s argument.”

  He was trying to act mild and composed, but Ashley recognized tightly coiled tension underlying the matter-of-fact expression.

  His hidden intensity aroused her immediately. “Good. Let’s pull over at the first convenient spot.”

  “What?” Ethan darted his eyes toward her, clearly taken aback.

  Ashley started getting worried at this reaction. “I thought you said we could have sex. I just want to get to it as soon as possible. Any convenient grove of trees will do fine.”

  “I’m not going to have sex in the back of a pickup truck,” Ethan said in outrage, the arrogance back in full force. “You can’t be serious.”