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The map loads, and there’s a truck stop about ten miles up the road. From the looks of it, it’s a pretty big one too, which surprises me. I tap it and sit back, stretching my legs out. I wonder if I should mention what I’m thinking, or if I should wait. We’ve only been driving thirty minutes. I glance down at my lap to make sure looking at her bare legs hasn’t given me a boner. That would be embarrassing.
It did.
I shift again, cocking the leg closest to her. She’s too busy messing with her phone to notice.
“Did your dad find out?”
She shakes her head. “He’s probably still asleep. Serena’s gonna talk to him first and try to smooth it over.”
“Your sister’s a good one,” I say. “She really loves you.”
“Yeah,” she says softly.
“I don’t know how, but she reminds me a lot of Jamie. They’d get along well.”
Her nose scrunches as she thinks. “Is he the peppy one?”
“Like I’m not?”
She laughs. “You’re not in the slightest. I’m surprised you made a career out of being onstage, because you’re pretty introverted.”
The truck stop appears in the distance. It’s one of those huge operations with double sliding glass doors leading to glossed floors and rows of food, clothing, toys, and anything else a person could need on the road.
“I can be extroverted,” I murmur, pulling into the enormous lot.
She makes a hmm sound, taking off her seatbelt. Before I have a chance to even grab my wallet, she’s out of the truck and heading to the door. I scramble to fall into step with her as she enters the building.
“Where you running off to?” I say.
She glances up through her lashes. “What? You can’t catch me?”
Oh, I’m not the only one thinking those thoughts.
“I can catch you,” I say. “Just give me a wide open space with nobody else around.”
Her jaw drops. I grab a pack of beef jerky and head to the coffee bar. She follows me, and, when I hand her a paper cup, she shifts closer.
“I think you’re a lot dirtier than you let on,” she whispers.
I shrug. “Fuck around, find out, baby. I’d love it if you did.”
She’s speechless, and that’s probably on me for holding back the few weeks we’ve known each other. Tonight, I’ll find a hotel and show her a thing or two. That reminds me—I don’t have any condoms. My mind drifts, wondering if it’s coming on too strong to tell her right off that I need to pick some up. My problem comes to an abrupt end when she hands her full cup of coffee to me.
“I need to use the bathroom real quick,” she says, jerking her head at the red sign hanging a few yards away.
“I’ll pay up.”
She nods. “See you at the register. Oh, and get me donuts. I like the chocolate-covered kind that comes in the paper bag.”
I smile, storing that information away for later. She disappears around the corner into the bathroom, and I grab both coffees in a carrier before making a beeline for the toiletries. There are a few condom options, a few lube options too. The lube might be ambitious, but I get it anyway, because it’s always a good idea to have it on hand. Then, I check out faster than anyone has ever checked out and shove everything in the bag beneath her chocolate donuts. I have no idea why I’m trying to hide it so hard, except I don’t want her to feel pressured to do anything with me.
As spunky as she is, there is a power imbalance happening. I don’t want her to feel like, in order to ride with me, she has to fuck me too.
With her, I’m trying to be all kinds of careful.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
SABRINA
