Pulling up her GPS app, she noted that they were out in the middle of nowhere Kansas. They’d already passed one exit that had food and lodging, and the next one wasn’t for another twenty miles. She relayed the information and he cursed again, scrubbing his hand over his beard and mouth.
“Dammit,” he sighed, then shook his head. “That’ll have to do if there’s no where else to pull off.”
The wind picked up fiercely around them, buffeting them back and forth, and the rain continued to lash at the vehicle harshly. Twenty tense miles later, he flipped the blinker on and slowed down for the exit, then laughed dryly when they realize the nearest town was another five miles away. They headed in the direction the GPS indicated, the sky growing steadily darker, the storm around them not lightening in the slightest.
Three miles away from their destination, a faint pop sounded through the vehicle, and then a wobbling rumble started. She turned to look at him with her mouth dropped open, eyes wide. “Oh my god. Is that—”
Travis pulled them off to the side of the road carefully, turning the hazard lights on to flashing, then put the car in park. He shook his head, laughing, then turned to look at her. “A flat tire? Sure is, baby girl.”
“I’m so sorry,” she whispered, twisting in her seat. He just grinned over at her, shrugging those impossibly wide shoulders, then reached out a hand and slid his palm over the back of her neck, squeezing lightly. She shivered at the contact.
He blew out a breath, looking around the darkened sky beyond. “What do you think the chances are of getting a tow way out here?”
She picked up her phone and wrinkled her nose, turning the phone to face him. “There’s no service, Travis. Maybe a car will come by and see us?”
“We can only hope,” he chuckled, then sighed again. “Well, shit.”
“I’m really sorry,” she whispered again.
He squeezed her neck, letting his fingers strum along the curves of her neck, just below her hairline. “It wouldn’t be a cross-country road trip without a little adventure, huh?”
“Oh yes, this is exactly the kind of adventure I’m sure you were hoping for when you so gallantly volunteered to drive me across the country, Travis,” she deadpanned. He laughed, grinning over at her. God he was so handsome when he smiled like that. It did wonderful, awful things to her middle. And her heart. But she wouldn’t think about that right now.
He twisted in his seat, then unbuckled. “I’m going to hop out and see what the damage is, you stay here.”
And then he was ducking out of the driver’s door, slamming it shut as he was immediately pelted with the torrential rain. She watched through the rain slicked windows as he jogged around to the rear passenger tire, and then he disappeared from view. She twisted around to try and see him in the passenger side mirror, but the rain was so impenetrable and heavy, and the sky had darkened so much that she couldn’t make out his form.
She squinted at the dark spot that she thought might be Travis, but then she startled with a jump when the driver’s door opened and he slid back into the seat. His hair was soaked, clinging wetly to his face, neck, and shoulders. Rain droplets rolled down his bare arms, and his t-shirt and jeans were drenched, clinging to his skin. She didn’t miss the way that wet t-shirt clung to every ridge and muscle of his shoulders, chest, and abdomen, her mouth going dry.
“Looks like we picked up some sort of metal spike; it’s stuck in there good,” he said, wiping his hands over his face to clear the water that still dripped down his brow, nose, and cheeks. He glanced behind them and his eyes widened. “There’s a car coming. Stay here.”
“Travis—”
But again, he was sliding out of the driver’s door as soon as the car got close, and Roxy sighed in relief as it slowed, pulling up behind them, also putting their hazards on. She watched again as Travis cautiously stepped up toward the other vehicle, just barely able to see his outline through the downpour. He came trotting back, and then climbed back in. The poor guy was soaked clear to the bone now. The car’s hazards turned off, blinker coming on to guide them back onto the road, and then they watched as the red glow of the taillights faded in front of them.
“They’re going to go down the way and send a tow truck back for us. We can only hope someone close by has the right sizedtire, though with the way our luck is going right now, everything is going to be closed for the night.”
“I really am so sorry, Travis—”
He turned to look at her through the semi-darkness of the vehicle, his gaze sliding over her face, to linger on her lips. She swallowed hard. His eyes slowly rose back to hers, and he rasped, “Roxy, I would drag this damn trip out for weeks if I could, just so I don’t have to say good-bye to you in a few days. I’ll take every extra second I can get with you.”
Twenty-Eight
He wanted to lean across the damn console that separated them and kiss her. The way her eyes widened at his words, the way her lips parted in a stunned, silent gasp. He wanted to taste that awe on her mouth, to shock her a little further by tangling his tongue with hers. Wanted to haul her over to him and bury his fingers in her hair, hold her to him until they melded together.
But he didn’t, of course. Because the truth of the matter was that they didn’t have weeks left. They had days. Mere days until they would part for good. And he knew if he let himself have her now, he would never want to let go. She had burrowed under his skin like it was her own, weaving her way into his very soul. And he hated it. Hated the ticking clock that was counting down the hours and minutes that he had left with her.
Leaving her was going to be the hardest thing he’d ever done, second only to saying good-bye to his mother, and that was without the added emotional damage of finally having her, feeling her everywhere. He needed her to stop looking at him with those damn expectant eyes. They were his kryptonite.
“Don’t look at me like that, Red,” he whispered through the grayish gloom, the only sound in the vehicle the pounding of the rain on the roof and their breathing as they stared at each other.
“Why not?” she asked, licking her lips again. He nearly groaned with the effort of holding himself back, not giving in and giving her what she was damn near begging for with those eyes.
“Because I don’t have the strength to tell you no.”
A yellow glow lighted on the side of her face, growing brighter as the seconds passed, and he forced his eyes away from her face, looking out the windshield. A set of headlights moved toward them, and then the orange running lights on the top of the trucks cab signaled that the tow truck had arrived. It passed them, pulling over so that it was directly behind the 4Runner.
Escaping the tension and need that was running unchecked in the cab of that car, Travis climbed out and into the rain for a third time, meeting the tow truck driver by the shoulder of the road.
