“Yeah, I couldn’t do much about the ash-like taste of hotel coffee, though. Sorry.”
“It’ll work.” She looked toward the door, nervous about the trip today. Well, more so about being alone in the car with A.J. for so long. The console between them in the SUV didn’t provide enough space to prevent her from breathing him in last night. It didn’t prevent their arms from bumping. The slight touches sent jolts through her body causing inappropriate thoughts. “We better get going since we have a lot of driving to do.”
He made no move to follow her suggestion. Instead, he flashed a grin, that playful tease of his lips lighting yet another fire in her chest, the one that had a tendency to throw off sparks and light fires elsewhere in her body. “You’re still surprised I got us a two-bedroom suite, aren’t you?”
“Oh come on, tell me you didn’t consider discreetly bribing the woman at the front desk to say they were all out of suites so we’d have to stay in the same bedroom? Or try to persuade me that we had to pretend to be a Mr. and Mrs.?”
“It is the twenty-first century.” A.J. took a swallow of his coffee and winced. “Men and women can travel together without people assuming they’re sleeping together. But I draw the line at pretending you’re my sister.”
Ana had no desire to pretend he was the brother she never had, considering there’d been at least fifty naughty scenarios starring A.J. streaming through her head during the drive to Roanoke last night. Fifty more than acceptable.
“I’ll be driving today,” he informed her when she’d remained quiet.
One more quick sip of her bitter coffee had her deciding to chuck it into the trash. “And how’s your head?”
It was certainly possible he’d hit his head one too many times over the years. And getting whacked in the head with a gun last night could very well have been, to loosely interpret the idiom, the straw to break the camel’s back.
“I’m normal again, don’t you worry.” Was he trying to convince her or himself?
She narrowed her eyes. “Yeah, not sure if normal on you is much different.”
He tossed his coffee cup in the trash before opening the door. “Shall we?” He positioned his ball cap backward—that looked far too sexy—then he secured their bags that were sitting by the door in his one hand while keeping the door open with his back. “I’m fine. Really,” he added as if sensing her hesitation about letting him drive. “Are you sure you’re okay? Feel like panic-cleaning? Panic-sex? How about we kill two birds with one stone . . . go back inside, have wild sex in my room, and then you can make the bed.”
“You did not just say that.” But really, the man had her smiling so much since they’d left D.C. that her cheeks physically hurt.
“Humor not your thing?” A.J. asked once they were in the SUV a few minutes later. “My buddies in the military—we have a tendency to say shit that others might not find funny or appropriate under certain circumstances, but it helps. For some reason, the humor helps us get through it all.” The deep timbre of his voice caused goose bumps to form on her bare arms.
She’d gone with a yellow tank top paired with white pants today, hoping to pull off a relaxed vacation vibe and not an FBI agent. Of all the places she’d lived growing up, the South had never been one of them. “I think I get it,” she spoke up once he pulled onto the highway that’d be almost a straight shot to Alabama. “People cope in different ways.”
“And how do you cope?”
She pivoted her focus his way. “What makes you think I need to cope with anything?” Okay, so she did already admit she panic-cleaned when stressed, so maybe he had her there.
He lowered the aviator shades he’d put on when they’d gotten into the car, stealing a quick glimpse of her that said I already have you figured out before setting his attention to the road.
Sunglasses. She’d forgotten hers and would definitely be needing a pair around this man. She wasn’t used to people getting a read on her so easily.
“So, um, did you speak to your colleagues before we left the hotel?”
“You mean before you walked out of your room looking like a ray of sunshine?” And there was that goofy but still sexy grin again.