We travel three or four miles before losing sight of the tree illuminating the center of town, then as Anna directs me with hand signals alone, I pull onto a gravel covered road, storage sheds lined in rows, and at the very back of the lot, a frozen pond reflecting the moon’s light off its surface.
“We used to keep a bunch of decorations and stuff in one of the storage sheds here.”
As I bring the car to a stop, slipping the gear into neutral and pulling on the parking brake, I leave the engine running so we don’t lose the heat.
So Anna doesn’t grow cold and ask to leave anytime soon.
“We had so much of it.” She unbuckles her belt, turning on the seat and resting the side of her face against the leather. “After a few years, people started donating stuff. It was nice of them to do, but it got to be too much, so once we ran out of space in our garage, we had no choice but to hire a storage shed,too.” She slow-blinks, her long, beautiful lashes coming down to kiss her supple cheeks. “I handed a lot of it back to the committee once I decided I was done, cleared out enough to consolidate my garage at home, and moved whatever was left here, back to the house.” She casts dreamy, happy eyes toward the front. “I always thought it was amazing how the pond would freeze every winter, but fish could still swim, even under the ice.”
I settle back and drop my legs open, unzipping my coat now that the car is toasty warm inside. Reaching across, I take Anna’s hand and smile when her lips curl higher. “You come here to watch them often?”
“Every single year since I put them there.” She draws our joined hands up, flattening her palm against mine. Studying the contrasts, I suppose. “I went to Gorzone’s pet store in town forever ago and dropped a few dollars on a bag of fish. They’re self-sufficient these days, so I don’t even need to throw food in for them anymore, but in the coldest parts of winter, I always feel a little guilty, like maybe they’re cold. So I come for a drive and make sure they’re okay.”
Daring, with a playful sparkle in her eyes, she draws my hand closer and presses a kiss to the heel of my palm.
My heart stumbles in my chest, quickening and slowing. My stomach swirls, and, fuck it, my cock thickens in my jeans.
The Road Runner’s engine ticks softly, warm despite the cool night air outside. But in here, my entire world revolves around Anna’s tongue lazily tapping the callused section of my palm.
That one contact, that single moment, steals the oxygen from my lungs.
“Have you ever wanted to just drive?” She draws the tip of my finger to her lips. Her eyes become stars in a dark sky, hervoice, sultry enough to set my body on fire. “Just drive until there’s no road left. Until you’re in a whole new world and nobody knows you.”
I choke on a desperate inhale, swallowing to lubricate my painfully dry throat. “More often than you think.”
Surprised, she meets my eyes. “Really?”
“Mmm. More now that I’m in a car with you.”
Her exhale is almost silent, a breathy whisper as she shifts closer. The perfume of her hair mingles in the Road Runner’s warm air, tickling my nose and filling my lungs. But somehow, the car feels smaller tonight than it has any other time we’ve been in it together. The outside world presses in around us, so silent it almost becomes a roar, so still, the graceful flutter of a fish’s tail becomes the only movement in my peripheral vision.
Anna takes the tip of my finger between her lips, suckling and drawing me to the edge of my sanity.
“Fuck.” My eyes roll into the back of my head, even asherpulse beats in my veins. “Jesus.”
She hums her pleasure, inching just a little closer and resting her knee on my thigh. “You should look at me when I’m trying to seduce you.”
I snap my eyes open, hungry and violent and so fucking close to taking what I desperately need. Searching her playful gaze, I’m lost to her taunting grin. Her stroking tongue.
“I like how you look at me.” She folds one finger down and moves onto the next. “I never knew what it was like to exist on the complete opposite side of a park, and still, I couldfeelsomeone watching me.”
“Makes you oblivious.” I curl my hand around the back of her neck and draw her closer. “People watch you everywhere you go. You’re a fucking magnet, dragging the rest of us alongin your wake, and you make it look so good, we don’t even mind being stuck on you.”
I lean into her space and nibble on her bottom lip. “You hit me with your fucking car, and Istillcan’t help but want to be near you.”
She chokes out a silly laugh, closing her eyes and twisting in the tight confines of the cab until she’s on her knees, towering over me. Her lashes flicker open, her perfect brown eyes warm enough tofeel,then she cups my face in both hands and drops her lips to mine.
I grab her hips, the searing pain in my shoulder nothing more than a quiet whisper in the back of my mind. Pulling her onto my lap, I bring her down over my cock and remain immeasurably thankful for the denim barrier between us.
Furiously intolerant, too.
It’s a heady mix of pleasure and pain, of elation and disappointment. It’s a reminder to back the fuck off and take nothing more than she’s ready to give. But then she lowers over me, grinding down and offering so much more.
“You can touch me.” She peels my hand away from her hip and up to her breast.
Her sweater remains between us. Her shirt. Her bra. But I feel her pounding heart, anyway. Her eagerness. “I wanna touch you.”
“Anywhere.” I tilt my head back and enjoy the slide of her tongue over mine. Her hungry lips and devastating willingness. “Anytime,” I rasp. “I’ll never say no.”
