Christian checked the time on his big, black diver’s watch. “I might have a better idea.” He tugged his phone from his hip pocket and brought up his mobile web browser.
“What are you thinking?” Emily asked, wiggling into a more comfortable position.
Christian wasn’t exactly a contender for the title of Most Comfortable Lap. He was far too solid. Too hot. Even the freezing rainwater soaking her clothes wasn’t enough to combat the sheer magnitude of the heat coming off him.
Glancing over her shoulder, she expected an answer to her question. But instead,she discovered herself on the receiving end of the most sexually aggressive, completely carnal, totallyhungrylooks she’d ever seen.
Her breath sawed out of her so fast it almost hurt. Then the look on his face was gone, and she was left wondering if she’d imagined it in the first place.
She convinced herself thatof courseshe had. Given her poor performance when he lip-locked her, therewas no way he was considering a repeat. Which, okay, yeah, that made her pride prick up. She was overcome by the oddest urge to grab his ears and lay a doozy on him. You know, just to prove she could.
“I’m thinking there’s a way we can avoid the motorway, avoid being crammed into a motel room or this truck, and instead each have our own bed tonight,” he said, and she found her eyes glued tothe dimple in his chin. She’d always wanted to press a finger into it.
“Color me intrigued,” she said.
“Trenor Manor is in the middle of nowhere. It’s nestled back in a thick wood. And according to the website”—he pointed to the screen on his phone—“the house should be empty of sightseers in ten minutes. If things are still run as they were twenty-five years ago, the caretaker will lockup and set off soon after. We could break in and stay until the place opens up at oh-nine-hundred tomorrow.”
A manor house set back in a thick wood? Emily got the oddest impression that she was poised to enter a fairy tale. Would the clock and teapot come alive? Would she find herself dancing around in a yellow ball gown?
Beneath Christian’s smooth facade definitely lurked a beast. Troublewas, no amount of makeup or hair product would ever turn her into Beauty. She had none of the soft curves or cushiony flesh that men seemed to gogoo-goo-gah-gahover. Well, except for maybe her ass. Any extra weight she carried seemed to end up there. But even if you took her out of her leggings and sweatshirt and slapped on some lip gloss and mascara, the most she could hope for was passablypretty.
“It could work.” Ace’s expression was contemplative. “As long as we could get in and disarm the alarm system. I mean, this place has to have an alarm system, right?”
“Hi.” Emily waved to Ace. Then she pointed to Angel. “Have you met Angel? I don’t think he’s met an alarm system he can’t disarm.”
“Thanks for the vote of confidence.” Angel took his eye off the road to glanceinto the rearview mirror. If she hadn’t been watching him, she might have missed the slight narrowing of his eyes.
“What?” She tried to glance through the back window, only to be met with one of Christian’s perfected scowls.
Obviously shehadimagined that carnal, hungry look on his face earlier. Because now his fierce green eyes held a familiar irritation that raised her hackles.
She tried her best to ignore it and instead focus on the situation at hand. “What do you see back there, Angel?” she asked. Then thought,Oh, screw it. It wasn’t in her nature to back down from confrontation. “And also, Christian, why are you trying to fry my eyebrows off my face with your laser-beam eyes?”
“You’re squirming.Again,” he muttered through a clenched jaw.
“So?” Then she feltthe ungentle prod of his erection. “Oh.” She bit her lip, trying not to laugh. “Sorry.”
But she wasn’treallysorry. After that kiss, and certainly after he’d given her that disgusted look and promised it would never happen again, her ego could use the boost. Plus, it might be enough to stop her from kissing the holy Moses out of him.
You know, just to prove she could.
“We might havecompany,” Angel said. “There’s been a vehicle behind us for a while. Too far back to make out the color or model, but…”
He let the sentence dangle when they came to the Y in the road. Emily glanced right. Nothing but pasture, rolling hills, and the great, gray ribbon of the A39 in the far distance. To the left was more of the undulating Cornish countryside. But further along she could seewhere the open farmland snuggled up to the deep green of a forest.
“I suggest we wait here for a bit,” Angel said. “See what we see.”
And so that’s exactly what they did. They waited. In silence. Until Emily couldn’t hear anything except Christian’s deep breathing. Until she couldn’t see anything but the arm he’d wrapped loosely around her waist. Until she couldn’t feel anything but theheat of him all along her back.
Until she thought she’d go flippin’ crazy.
When she opened her mouth to say—she wasn’t sure what, anything to distract herself from everything that was Christian—Angel pointed at the rearview mirror. “There. See that?”
They all leaned toward the rearview mirror, but the vehicle behind them had already headed downhill, sinking out of sight.
“Couldbe nothing,” Ace suggested.
“Could be the authorities,” Angel disagreed.
