“Crap. It’s in my backpack.”
“Where’s your backpack?”
“On my back, where it belongs. Just put me on the trunk, and then I’ll dig it out. Sorry. I’m like a helpless newborn in the rain.”
I eased her onto the trunk and watched as she searched through her pack.
“Got it!” She held the keys up and unclicked the lock.
I leaned in, intending to scoop her up and carry her to the front seat, when I got a good look at the girl. Jess’s dark hair was sopping, those perfectly brushed strands now long and stringy and clinging to her cheeks. Water poured down her face and pooled in her eyelashes, but there wasn’t an ounce of frustration. She smiled up at me, finding the joy in the moment. Her face, those lips. In a move that was totally unexpected on my part, I dipped in, cupped her face, and kissed her. Jess didn’t flinch away, instead meeting me halfway and crushing her lips to mine. It was frantic and wild, exactly like I expected it to be with a woman who lived free.
And as our mouths wrestled in the rain, I trapped her lip in my teeth, grinding us to a halt. Jess groaned, pushing out with her tongue and fighting me for control. I could’ve taken her right there on the trunk of her car, and I honestly thought she might let me, but that was when the hail began.
“Oh! Fuck you!” I yelled up to the skies.
Jess dissolved into a fit of giggles as she once again wrapped herself onto my body. Lifting her off the trunk, I kept my hands squarely on her ass while carrying her the short distance to her car door. I deposited my new prize onto the driver’s seat—where she’d been all day—and was about to jog around to the other side when Jess grabbed hold of my neck and drew me back in. Her tongue took a swipe at my lips, forcing them open and once again locking our mouths in a primal kiss.
Still gripping my face, Jess drew back, her eyes smoldering as streaks of water cut lines across her face. In that moment, I wasn’t sure I’d ever seen anyone as beautiful. I snuck in and took another kiss from her.
“You’re crazy.” Jess laughed, and it was a joyous sound. I wasn’t sure how to even describe what I was feeling other than to say Jess was quenching a thirst that I hadn’t even known I had.
“No,” I replied. “You make me crazy, and I swear, I don’t know if I like it or not.”
Jess buried her head into my neck and whispered, “You like it.”
* * *
“Cats or dogs?” Jess asked, using her nails to comb through her wet, tangled hair like a makeshift brush.
“Dogs,” I answered.
“Me too,” she said. “Okay, now you go. Remember: opposites. No explanations.”
“Yes, Jess, I get the concept of the game.” I grinned. She was a bit of a micromanager, that one, but maybe her organization was just what I needed to get my life back on track.
“Odd or even?” I asked.
“Odd, of course.”
“Odd?” I balked, blinking in rapid succession. “What kind of monster are you?”
“The kind who likes the number thirteen.”
Oh, god, she was one of those. “I can’t even go to sleep unless everything around me can divide into itself.”
She laughed, no doubt picturing me counting my surroundings before shut-eye.
She continued with our game. “Kids or no kids?”
“Meaning do I have kids, or do I want kids?”
“Either or.”
“Hold on. When did this turn into a full-on discussion? You’re contradicting your own rules.”
Her eyes flashed, and she snapped at me like a yappy dog. “Just answer the question.”
I flinched, thinking she was serious, but she threw her head back and howled with laughter. “Sorry. I couldn’t help myself.”
