When they reached the open road and the moon provided the only illumination other than the automobile’s headlamps, Mattie reached for his hand once again. It felt so natural, weaving his fingers through hers, yet Leo had never done this before. Not with Mattie. Not with anybody.
He liked it... but that didn’t mean it was necessarily safe.
“Shouldn’t you have two hands on the wheel?” Leo asked as casually as he could. He really should have released her, but he couldn’t. Not yet.
She shot him a quick look before returning her eyes to the hard-packed dirt road. “How about a compromise? I won’t increase my speed, and we keep touching each other.”
She was driving at a sensible pace, so Leo settled back in the leather-upholstered seat. The evening air gently buffeted his face, a cool contrast to the orange-colored inferno still raging inside him.
“What are you thinking about?” Mattie asked.
“You,” he admitted. It was surprisingly easy to confess his internal thoughts. After all the years he’d kept them hidden, he would have thought he would face some sort of barrier. But they just seemed to flow, and not even in some released-dam sort of way.
Mattie smiled in the moonlight, the air ruffling her short curls. Her hair looked like dark shadows, but he didn’t need the sun to show him that her locks glowed with fiery redness.
“I like that,” Mattie said, and even her words sounded like a grin.
“Me thinking of you?” He rubbed his thumb against her palm, drawing circles on it with slow precision.
“Yep. It makes me feel all gooey inside, like a melted caramel.”
He barked out one of his rare bursts of laughter at her turn of phrase. “I’m glad, because I’m planning on doing plenty of it.”
“Thinking of me?” Mattie asked, her voice rising almost girlishly at the end. He liked hearing the giddiness, knowing he’d caused it.
“Constantly.”
“I’m going to be a giant puddle all the time, aren’t I?” The wind caught Mattie’s happy laughter, carrying the lilting melody into the night.
“Maybe.” Leo’s voice had taken on a flirtatious tone that even he didn’t recognize. He didn’t know when he’d last felt this carefree—maybe never. “You’ll get used to it.”
“I suppose so...,” Mattie said airily before she trailed off. Suddenly, she whirled in his direction. Her eyes glittered in the silvery light, the myriad of color lost in the darkness but not the intensity. “Wait! DoImake you a puddle?”
He hesitated. Should he reveal this weakness to her? Should he confess how much power she wielded over him, hadalwayswielded over him?
His momentary pause evidently confirmed her suspicions.
“I do. I do!” She paused and then added suspiciously, “How exactly are you a puddle when you’re constantly arguing with me?”
“Hard-coated exterior,” Leo admitted.
“You know I’m going to keep on penetrating it.” Mattie quickly sent him one of her cockiest grins.
“That’s exactly what I’m afraid of,” he said dryly.
They fell into another silence, this one a happy, contented one. It reminded Leo of the days before the war when he, Alfred, and Mattie would lie on their backs for hours, watching the clouds and talking about flying. Well, talking and listening. Mattie and Alfred had done most of the chatting and he the contemplating. But tonight, it was just the two of them, and they were both enjoying the quiet.
About ten minutes later, they arrived at Vera’s castle. Somehow, even bathed in moonlight, it looked fairy tale–like instead of foreboding. Leo still couldn’t believe he was living in such whimsy. Climbing out of the Duesenberg, he stared up at the spires stabbing the star-studded sky. Mattie snagged his fingers once more.
“Come on.” She gave a tug as she slipped off her high heels with her other hand. “We have a beach to explore.”
They ran like carefree schoolchildren. The full moon provided ample light, but they still slowed when they reached the edge of the bluff. Although it wasn’t a sharp cliff, the trail was still steep enough that they couldn’t barrel down it. As soon as they had picked their way to the bottom, Mattie turned toward him and smiled. “Shoes off, Mister!”
“Is it a requirement?” Leo laughed.
“At beaches? It sort of is. Don’t you want to feel the sand between your toes again? It’s soft and sinky.”
“Sinky?” Leo repeated with a chuckle.
