Linx
The last thing Linx expected to find when he got back to his car was Becca. She didn’t need his help, but that didn’t mean that he didn’t dig the fact that she sat next to him.
“What’s going on in that head of yours?” Linx asked.
She grunted. “My stress levels are way too high. I’m entering the realm of real-life stress.” She grumbled. “I don’t like it.”
“What can we do to lower your stress?” He used his smooth, hey-it’s-all-going-to-be-great voice. The one that worked on his sister Courtney when she was in a tizzy.
The heated seats were doing their job because Becca pulled off her parka and gloves and shoved them in the backseat. “I need to do something crazy.”
Well, he could be on board with that. “What do you consider crazy?”
They should set some parameters here because he—
“Have you ever gone sports car skinny dipping?” she asked, turning in her seat to face him as the car moved out of the lot. “I’ve always wanted to.”
“Um…” He slid his gaze to her. “If it involves driving my car into a lake, I’m out.”
See? Parameters.
Turning and leaning her cheek against the headrest, she grinned. “Lakes are frozen. I was thinking more like stripping down to nothing and cruising through town.”
He looked away from the road for a second, squinting at her. Was she for real? That was definitely not what he’d expected to come out of her mouth.
“The windows are tinted, no one will see.” She waggled her eyebrows.
“I don’t want to wind up on TMZ tonight.” He tapped a beat against the steering wheel as he paused at a red light. “I was thinking we stop at Jack in the Box for milkshakes.”
“That’s your idea of crazy?” she asked, clearly appalled. “Will you use your senior citizen discount, too?”
“Ha.” Apparently, Becca wanted to go rock star crazy and snort a line of fire ants or trash a hotel room. But he’d never gotten into drugs and didn’t particularly want to get locked up. Who would take care of Gibson if he didn’t get home?
“It’s gonna snow, so a frozen milkshake is unexpected. Even a little crazy.” He was also going to have to up his rock star game. Hewasacting like a senior citizen. Fine. Okay, they could get naked and go for a drive. They could do that and if the tabloids found out, who fuckin’ cared? He opened his mouth to tell her—
“Cookies and cream.” She settled in her seat and closed her eyes. “We’ll skinny dip another time.”
His dick stirred at the idea of Becca naked. Oh. Well then. Another time, he supposed.
Milkshakes it was.
“You mind if I make an extra stop on the way to your place?” he asked.
“That’s fine.” She leaned her head against the headrest and closed her eyes. “I’m just going to rest my eyes for a minute.”
He bit at the edge of his cheek. Little miss wants-to-do-something-crazy was too sleepy for anything other than milkshakes, anyway.
Maybe he should just drive her home after the Jack in the Box stop. They didn’t need an extra pit stop, not really. Although, even if his house wasn’t on the way to Becca’s, he’d been doing everything he could to make amends with Gibson since he’d taken him to the vet earlier that week. Gibson held a grudge better than Knox.
That was saying something.
Gibson had even chewed through the cord to the pet cam Linx used to keep an eye on him from his phone. Apparently, the feline wanted his privacy to mourn the loss of his nuts.
Also, perhaps, and this was probably more likely—fine, it was the truth—Linx wanted to stretch out his time with Becca because he felt lighter when they were in the same space. The muscles in his shoulders that seemed perpetually tense these days didn’t feel as locked up when she was around.
She smelled good, too. Like the chamomile tea his mom was always sending him to help with the persistent neck cramps, mixed with something flowery that made him think of springtime and the cherry blossoms in the suburbs of Nashville where he grew up.
Selfish bastard he was, he would not take her straight home. He merged with traffic, turning the other direction.
