Road Tripping (14 page)

Ethan started
the truck bouncing once again. Ashley began making some more passionate moans
and sighs.

She was feeling
pretty relaxed right now. Would have been perfectly content had it not been for
her body’s reaction to Ethan’s proximity and the erotic words she was shouting
into the dark night. But now her body was already sensitized, and she became
painfully aware of every brush, push, and thrust of Ethan’s body on top of her.

Oh, well. Maybe
her arousal would improve her performance. “Yes, Ethan, good, so good, so
amazing.” Her voice did sound more genuine to her own ears, like she really did
think Ethan was amazing.

Imagine that.

Ethan’s face
had sobered suddenly, and his expression was now focused, controlled, and
driven. He wasn’t even really looking at her anymore.

She was
starting to get worried about her physical responses when she felt a drop of
moisture on her face. It startled her, since it didn’t seem to come from
Ethan’s face, although he was definitely perspiring.

 Then she felt
another one. And another one. Until she finally realized what was happening.

It was starting
to rain.

At first, it
was just a sprinkle, but Ethan paused in his motion, and she heard a rumble of
voices from the bikers on the hill.

Then the clouds
opened up, and it was pouring for real.

“Shit,” Ethan
muttered, pulling off her. “Although, maybe for once disasters worked to our
benefit, since this is going to be the end of the show.”

It was indeed
the end of the show. From the sounds in the distance, the bikers were leaving
to get out of the rain. “Let’s get in the cab,” she said, straightening up.

She still felt
uncomfortably aroused, but she was also getting soaked, which was an almost
welcomed distraction.

They got their
stuff together and scrambled out of the truck bed and into the cab.

She was
shivering as she sat in the passenger seat and tried to dry herself off with
one of the least wet blankets.

Ethan was
wiping his face and forearms with another of the blankets. “You okay?” he
asked, eyeing her face carefully.

She knew what
he was asking, so she gave him a sincere smile. “Yeah. I’m really fine. I’m
glad we were interrupted when we were, though.”

“Me too.”

“Only now I’m
wet.” She shivered again and wished she had some cozy pajamas to change into.

“Come here,” he
murmured, re-angling the steering wheel and reaching out with his good arm to pull
her across the bench seat toward him.

She came
willingly, curling up in the crook of his arm.

He was warm and
strong and Ethan—even though he was just as wet as she was.

The rain
pounded on the hood, the roof, the windshield, and Ashley tried not to the
think of the arousal she’d just been feeling a few minutes ago.

“I bet you wish
you weren’t so sweet and hadn’t offered to fill Miss Horner’s truck up with
gas,” Ethan said after a few minutes. His hand gently brushed her wet hair back
from her face. “You never would have gotten dragged into this ridiculous
farce.”

The strange
thing was she couldn’t regret it. In spite of everything. She was closer to
Ethan now than she’d ever been before, and she didn’t want to take it back. “It
is kind of a farce,” she murmured, rubbing her hand idly on his flat belly.

He slouched
almost sideways in the seat so they would both be more comfortable. “A string
of disastrous cars. Ant nightmares. An orgasm-obsessed motorcycle club. And you
seem to be suffering the brunt of it all.”

“You’re the one
who got shot, Ethan.”

She felt him
release a long sigh. “I guess.” He tilted his head until it felt like he was
nuzzling her hair. “I don’t know another girl who could have made it through
all this, the way you have. Without ever losing your…”

“My what?” Her
breath hitched at the understated appreciation in his tone.

“Your spirit.”

She couldn’t
help but look up to check his expression, and she almost gasped at the warm
look in his eyes. She smiled and reached a hand up to caress his face. “You
have a pretty good spirit too.”

His face
softened even more. “I thought I was arrogant and bossy.”

“Well, you are.
But you’re more than that.” Afraid she might have revealed too much through her
affectionate haze, she added, “That wasn’t a crack about girls before, was it?”

“What?”

“You said you
didn’t know another
girl
who could have gotten through this the way I
have. Was that a crack about girls?” Her tone was teasing, not sharp at all.

“No. The truth
is I don’t know of another
person
who could have done what you have. And
put up with me on top of everything else.”

She smiled and
snuggled against his chest again, half-hugging him as she got more comfortable.
“You’re not that hard to put up with. It’s just that a person has to figure out
that you don’t mean most of what you say.”

It sounded like
he was smiling as he murmured, “And you’ve figured that out, have you?”

“Yeah. I’ve
figured that out.”

They fell into
silence, but it didn’t feel uncomfortable. It felt full, rich, meaningful.

Ashley was
feeling so close to him emotionally that it affected her physically. Her
unsatisfied arousal from earlier starting to build again, and she began to
shift against him as her body felt increasingly sensitized.

Her hand became
more presumptuous too. Stroking his chest, his abdomen, dying to go lower
toward his groin.

Then somehow it
was, quite apart from her conscious will. She wriggled a little as her knuckles
brushed against his groin.

He was hard,
the bulge tight and obvious in the front of his trousers. She sucked in a
breath, the knowledge making her own feelings that much more intense.

“Ashley,” he
rasped, jerking slightly and then adjusting in the seat.

“Ethan,” she
murmured, feeling shy and excited at the same time. If both of them wanted
this, then surely it wasn’t such a bad thing. Surely it wasn’t something she
had to be so afraid of. She moved her hand so she was palming him gently,
experiencing a matching tightening between her thighs.

He gave a hard
jerk and a ragged gasp. “You shouldn’t—”

“It’s okay. I
kind of…if you want to—”

With a guttural
sound, he moved her hand off his body and then he moved her body away from his.

She
straightened up, startled, confused, and disappointed.

He was flushed
and damp—either from remnants of the rain or from perspiration—and something
was painfully stretched on his face. “I’ll be right back.”

“But it’s
raining. Ethan, where are you—”

He reached down
to pull one of the guns up from under the seat. “If anyone approaches you,
shoot them.”

Then he was out
the door and striding through the rain, away from the truck before she could
figure out what had happened.

Well, that made
some confusing things clear. Whatever his body’s reaction to her, he obviously
didn’t want her at all. He wouldn’t let her be with him that way.

It was fine. If
felt kind of crushing right now, but it was probably better in the long run.
She would never be able to have the safe, neat, secure life she wanted if she
got involved sexually with Ethan.

She’d talked
herself into this by the time Ethan returned fifteen minutes later. He didn’t
say anything. Just resumed the same position, slouched sideways on the bench
seat. Without a word, he pulled her against him again.

She didn’t
demand an explanation. She didn’t complain about the way he’d treated her. She
thought she understood, and she could live with it.

She wanted him.
A lot. In ways she’d never realized before. But she could resign herself to
never having him, since that was what he wanted and that was probably best.

She just
snuggled against him and tried to get to sleep.

And it was end
of the sixth day.

near
the Quad Cities, Illinois

Ashley awoke once again snuggled
up to Ethan.

She was no longer
even embarrassed about it, so she didn’t try to pull away or pretend to still be
asleep. She shifted a little, stiff from their awkward sleeping positions in
the cab of the truck, and felt him adjust his arms around her.

Glancing up,
she saw that he was awake. “Hey.”

“Morning.” He
half-smiled at her.

She raised up
one hand and tried to tame her hair a little. She could only imagine what it
must look like after getting wet last night.

“I don’t think
that will do any good,” Ethan said, his partial smile turning into a full one.
“Your hair is far beyond such minor aid.”

Groaning, she
lowered her head back down to Ethan’s chest. It seemed a very intimate gesture.
One she would never have dreamed of doing four days ago. But it felt nice—she
could hear his heart beating. And since he didn’t object or try to get up, she
figured she’d indulge herself while she could. “You’re supposed to tell me that
I look enticingly tousled.”

“You look
tousled all right,” he murmured. His hand had idly moved to the center of her
back.

“But not
enticing.” Her voice was slightly muffled by his skin. She raised her head to
glare at him. “Thanks a whole fucking lot.” It was funny how the events of the
night before hadn’t seemed to change anything significant between them.

“I thought we
already had a talk about your language several days ago,” Ethan continued, a
smile in his voice. “You’ll offend my delicate sensibilities.”

“I guess you’ll
just have to spank me after all.”

There was a
rather awkward moment after that one, as both of them thought about the
possibility. Recovering quickly, although she felt unnaturally hot, Ashley went
on, “And here I was thinking that you had been getting slightly less smug. But
you have to go and prove me wrong again.”

“I can only be
what I am,” he said with an exaggerated sigh. “Even six days with a woman as bossy
and demanding as you can’t change my true nature.”

Ashley tried
not to giggle at his resigned expression. “I think you’ve gotten it mixed up a
little. You’re the bossy and demanding one. I’m just muddling through as best I
can without strangling you.”

“Believe me,”
he drawled. “That goes both ways. You are the most infuriating woman I’ve ever
had the misery to know.”

They smiled at
each other.

After a moment,
Ashley glanced away. “You did go to sleep last night, didn’t you?”

“Of course.”

Ashley studied
his face carefully. “You’re lying. You stayed awake all night again. You and your
martyr-complex.”

He didn’t try
to deny it. Just shrugged slightly.

“How is your
arm?” Ashley asked when he didn’t respond.

“Good,” Ethan
replied, meeting her eyes evenly.

She scanned his
expression once more. “You’re lying again. Make sure you take your pain
killers.”

“Bossy, bossy,
bossy,” Ethan grumbled, moving her hand from where it was resting on his chest.
“I was planning to drive today. I don’t need any drugs.”

“I’m driving. You’re
still injured and feeble. Take your pills.”

“No.” Ethan’s
lips took on a very familiar sneer.

“Yes.” She
wasn't giving up on this. She was stiff and sore from sleeping in the cab all
night. She couldn’t imagine how he must feel.

Eventually, a
very grouchy Ethan ended up taking two of his pain pills.

***

If they had been able to take
the interstates, they could have been in Sioux Falls with only seven more hours
of driving. Even by the back roads, with any luck, they should have been able
to make it to South Dakota late that night.

But if the last
week had taught them anything, it was that they never had any luck.

However, things
were going pretty smoothly after the first couple of hours. They were in Iowa
at last. The roads were straight and flat. Ashley was going well over the speed
limit, and there was nothing around but farmland and a lot of blue sky.

Ethan was in
another mild drug-induced haze. But he had only taken two pills this time, so
he was conscious and basically coherent.

Her drug-aided
interrogation the previous day had been so successful that Ashley decided she
might try it again. But before she got to the questions she really wanted to
ask, she thought it might be best to test the waters first.

“So have you
dated anyone recently?”

“What?” he
asked, rather groggily.

“It was a
simple question. Have you dated anyone recently?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

He gave a
half-shrug. “The kind of girls who would be willing to date me are not the kind
of girls I’m interested in.”

She thought
about that and decided it was probably true. His reputation would prevent some girls
from going out with him. The nice, old-fashioned girls like her who didn’t want
to date a bad boy.

“But still,
there’d be plenty of women who’d be interested in you.”

“Not really.”
He sounded resigned. Almost bleak.

“What the hell
is that supposed to mean? Why wouldn’t women be interested in you? You’re
good-looking and reasonably intelligent and kind of funny and nice enough and
even sexy when you aren’t being obnoxious. Why wouldn’t women be interested in
you?”

He blinked. “I
just meant they wouldn’t really be interested in
me
. I could have found
a date, no problem. But it wouldn’t have been
me
they were interested
in. Just the guy they thought I was.”

She thought
about that for a long time, and it made sense to her. Because the bad-boy
moonshiner was really not the real Ethan.

“Thank you, by
the way.”

She turned to
stare at him. “For what?”

His lids were
lowered halfway, but he was still watching her intently. “For your defense of
me. It was impatient and less than eloquent, but I think it must have been
genuine.”

Of course, it
had been genuine. She was washed with self-consciousness, but she tried to make
some kind of recovery. “No problem,” she said matter-of-factly. “I figured that
someone has to be on your side occasionally, if only to keep you in line.”

She had looked
back at the road, but when she turned her head to observe his expression, she
almost lost her breath. Her heart started pounding wildly. Ethan’s eyes were so
naked, so tender, that she thought she might melt away. “It’s been a long time
since anyone has defended me,” he murmured.

And there it
was again. That irrepressible hope. It sure looked like Ethan might feel
something for her. Surely Ashley couldn’t be misinterpreting his face that
much. So in the blissful glow from his tender regard, she summoned up all of
her courage. “Ethan, do you think we could talk about—”

Before she
could finish the sentence, she heard a startling and disheartening noise. Felt
the pickup truck pull roughly to one side. Struggled to keep it on the road.
“Shit,” she muttered, pressing on the brakes.

Ethan sat up
straight, shook his head roughly to force himself back to alertness. “Blown
tire?”

“Yes,” Ashley
responded, pulling off onto the side of the road and coming to a stop. “Damn
it! Why does this keep happening to us?”

They both got
out of the truck and walked over to the front tire on the right side. It was
completely shredded. A few small pieces of it were strewn behind them on the
road.

Ethan leaned
down to peer at it. “Hopeless. We’ll have to buy a new one if we can get to a
garage.”

“That’s a
pretty big if. What do you want to bet that we don’t have a spare in the back?”

“No bet.” Ethan
walked over to the back of the truck. Lifted up the cover over the nook for the
spare tire.

His face lit
up. “Well, what do you know? Maybe our luck is changing.”

Ashley clapped
her hands in pleased surprise. “A spare? Seriously? Something must be wrong
with it. Nothing is that easy for us.”

Nothing was
wrong with it. They put it on with very little trouble and had only one
squabble about who would get to do the tightening.

“Too bad we
can’t drive all the way to South Dakota on the spare,” Ashley said as they got
back in the car. “But I guess we better try to find a gas station with a
garage.”

Ethan nodded.
“That’s just a temporary spare. No way will it get us to Sioux Falls.” He
paused for a minute. “But the problem is we have to pay for the new tire.”

Ashley hadn’t
even thought of that. “Oh no. We don’t have enough money.”

“We barely have
enough money for food, and I don’t think we can assume we’ll get there tonight,
not with the way things are going. I’m not spending the rest of our cash on a
tire, even if we happen to have enough to afford one.”

She thought for
a minute. “We still have Miss Horner’s gas credit card. We can use the card if
we can find the right chain of gas station with a garage.”

“I guess that’s
the best we can hope for. They probably won’t be tracing her credit, since they
couldn’t know we have her card. I’ll have to pay her back a fortune after this
whole ordeal is over with. We better find a phone so we can call around and see
if there’s one anywhere in the vicinity.”

They came
across a gas station about fifteen minutes later that had a pay phone in the
parking lot. Ethan flipped through the ratty phonebook and started to make some
calls. When he got back into the car, the outlook clearly wasn’t good. “The
only one with a garage is back in Davenport.”

Ashley groaned.
“We have to go back to the Quad Cities? That’s almost two hours away.”

“It’s that or
try to steal another car.”

“I don’t think
we should risk that. We’ve been fortunate with this pickup. We don’t need the
cops after us again.”

“So back to
Davenport.” Ethan sighed. “Let’s hope the spare tire will make it.”

It did. Barely.

***

“An hour?” Ethan’s voice was dripping
with arrogance. “How does it take an hour to put on one tire?”

 “Could be
two,” the placid mechanic said vaguely. “Hard to say.”

Ethan took a
step toward the man. “Would you like to explain why it will take so long to
replace our tire?” His voice was soft, silky, dangerous. He was angry—but not
the grouchy or passionate wrath he normally directed at Ashley. This was an icy
fury. Ethan was clearly at the end of his rope.

The mechanic
seemed oblivious. “Others here before you. Have to wait your turn.”

“Then maybe we
can just have the tire and put it on ourselves. We’re in a hurry.”

“Don’t allow
that,” the mechanic explained slowly, as if he were talking to a child. “Have
to put tires on ourselves.”

Ethan advanced
another step, and Ashley was suddenly afraid that he was going to push the
mechanic against the greasy garage wall. She hurried over and took Ethan by the
arm. “Darling,” she said sweetly, giving him a discreet glare. “Let the man get
back to work. We don’t want to keep him from ever giving us the tire.” Her tone
clearly expressed another message. Namely—shut up.

“I’m sure I can
get him to change his mind.”

Ashley pulled
him away. “We’ll wait our turn,” she said, pitching her voice so the mechanic
could hear. “And be grateful for such good service.”

After dragging
him outside, she let go of him. “What is wrong with you?”

Ethan blinked.
“I was about to get him to make our tire a priority. I would have, if you
hadn’t interrupted.” He didn’t look quite so icy now. In fact, an angry fire
had sparked in his eyes.

“You were about
to make him mad, and he doesn’t need our business that much. He could have just
decided not to sell us a tire.”

He released an
impatient huff of air. “That’s ridiculous. I know what I’m doing.”

“I don’t think
you know as much as you think you know. You can bulldoze over everyone because
you always think you know best.”

Ethan was as
angry as she was, in a very different way than he had been with the mechanic.
He reached out to put his hands on her shoulders in his urgency. “When have I
ever tried to bulldoze?”

“You bulldoze
all the time! I don’t think you’re even aware that you do it.”

They were
glaring at each other, both breathing heavily, and Ethan’s hands were strong
and heavy on her shoulders. Then the fire of anger abruptly transformed in the
connection of their eyes. It reshaped itself into something equally fiery, but
of quite a different nature. Suddenly, absurdly, Ashley thought that she was
about to be kissed.

She
wanted—really wanted—to be kissed.

She had no idea
what would have happened had she not noticed something out of the corner of her
eyes. A man getting out of a dark sedan.

“Cute Guy,” she
squeaked, grabbing at Ethan’s white T-shirt.

Ethan whirled
around, scanned the lot, and then forcefully propelled Ashley around the
outside corner of the garage. He pushed her against the wall where there was
less chance of her being seen. “How the hell do they keep finding us?”

“They’re
obviously luckier than we are or are experts at tracking people. What are we
going to do?”

Ethan took his
hands off her and turned toward the front of the garage. “You stay here out of
sight. I’m going to check things out.” He started to walk away from her.

She grabbed him
by the arm. “What are you doing? They’ll see you.”

Ethan tried to
shake off her grasp. “No, they won’t. I want to hear what’s going on.”

“Ethan, no.
Don’t be stupid. Stay with me.”

“Ashley, I know
what I’m doing. Stay out of sight. I’ll be right back.”

And he actually
walked away from her, leaving her to hide behind a corner.