“Unbelievable.” His voice is soft in my ear. “Every time with you is better than the last. Every damn time, Jasalie.”
Whoever said love in an elevator is extra sexy wasn’t kidding.
With no notice, the car starts moving again.
“Crap.” I jump up. “Clothes, Dylan! Clothes!”
He throws me my bra, and then my underwear, before pulling his pants up.
I’ve just finished dressing when we reach the lobby where a staff member is standing. “Everything all right, Mr. Wild?”
“Yes, sir,” Dylan says. “We stopped in between floors for a few minutes. It wasn’t too long.”
The man turns to me. “Are you okay, ma’am? You’re awfully red.”
I pretend to fan my face. “I thought I was going to pass out.”
I hope I don’t smell like sex.
“Well, we’re going to have our maintenance crew check into it further,” he says. “Some people were waiting for this elevator and said they heard strange noises coming from it.”
Must have been the moaning.
I can’t look at Dylan, who says, “Thank you. Have a good day, sir.” He takes my arm and leads me away.
Chapter Twenty-Two
As soon as we leave the lobby, we go straight past the lone cameraman still in town and right for the car. Dylan opens the door for me, and I climb in. It’s a cool, windy afternoon in Tucson, the coldest one since I’ve been here. My satin purple top doesn’t do much to keep the chilly air off my skin.
We slip around to the back of the hotel and down a side street Dylan found. Making sure no one’s following us, we drive to the base of the mountains, and Dylan pulls off at a nearly-hidden trailhead. Even from this tiny parking lot, the mountains are clearly visible. And they’re still so beautiful my throat aches. Our car is the only one in the lot, and I exhale in relief. No cameras and no people, at least not right now.
We step out onto the trail and walk for a little while in silence until Dylan stops by a large flat rock.
“Is this good?” he asks me.
I nod. Here it is. The moment I’ve been doing such a great job of avoiding is here, and at this point, I couldn’t lie if I wanted to. It’s too late in the game. A large part of me just wants to get the truth over with, anyway. Trying to keep the secret from Dylan has been extremely draining.
“I want you to know more about me, but I don’t want to scare you off,” I say.
“You won’t.”
“You don’t even know what I’m going to say.” I smile at him. “How can you be so sure?”
“Because I love you, Jasalie.” He leans over and kisses me. “I. Love. You,” he whispers.
His cheeks are flushed, and his dark eyes are lasers as they pin me in place, begging me to say it back.
I give him what I can, as much of me as I’m able to.
“I just…” I fumble for the words. “I don’t get this. Us. I never believed in love before. Any kind of love.”
Dylan touches my cheek. “I guess I dropped the ball the other day at lunch,” he says. “Because I didn’t ask you those important questions you asked me. You know…what are your relationships like with your parents and your friends? I mean I know you were homeless for a time, so obviously, your life hasn’t been all roses.”
“It’s definitely not a pleasant picture.” My voice comes out in a hoarse whisper.
“Take your time.”
I sit down across from him on the rock and cross my legs. I drop my gaze and stare at Dylan’s black jeans for several seconds. The silence between us grows bigger, and I hate the tension so much that I start talking.
