Dirty Thoughts - Megan Erickson Page 0,15
town. It’s only been a week.”
He nodded and walked past her. After he opened up the driver’s side door, he flipped up the latch to pop the trunk. “Let’s check out the condition of your spare.”
She followed him around to the trunk, where he lifted up the flap in the fabric lining to discover . . . no spare.
“What the hell?” she muttered.
He blew out a breath. “Who’d you buy this from?”
“Five Star Motors, over on Fairview.”
He snorted and closed the trunk. “Asshole.”
She assumed he’d had an unpleasant experience with the owner of Five Star. “I called a tow because I wasn’t too keen on hanging my ass out in the road in the dark while trying to change it. Glad I didn’t bother now.”
His eyes looked lighter in the stark reflections of the car lights. “You made the right decision. It isn’t safe here.”
He held her gaze a moment too long, and she looked down at her feet, heat rushing into her cheeks. “So I guess you can give me a ride?”
“Let me get the car hooked up. Then we’ll get you home.” He glanced at her bare arms. “You need a jacket or something?”
Why did he have to be so nice? “I’m okay, thanks.”
He nodded and walked past her, pulling on his gloves.
About ten minutes later, he had her car hooked up to the tow and was motioning for her to hop into his truck. He even helped her inside, with a steady hand cupping her elbow.
The inside of the cabin was surprisingly clean for a tow truck. She stared at a picture that was hanging from the rearview mirror. It was a laminated photo of a naked woman. Even Jenna had to admit that if her boobs looked like that, she’d pose naked too.
When Cal sank into the driver’s seat beside her and started up the truck, she pointed at the picture wordlessly.
He barked out a laugh. “That’s all Gabe.”
“The kid?”
“Yeah, the kid. He needs a girlfriend or something.”
She hummed under her breath, and he shook his head with a grin as he pulled out onto the road.
It was after five minutes of silence that he spoke again. “You . . . uh . . . you look nice tonight,” Cal said softly.
She squeezed her eyes shut as goose bumps broke out on her arms. She’d heard pick-up lines. She’d heard them all. And she’d heard from the best. But none of them—none of them at all—lit up her body like an honest, real statement from Cal Payton. He said what he meant, always had. He thought she looked nice. Such a simple thing to say, but it meant a lot.
She looked over at him. They’d begun to reach the small neighborhoods outside of Tory, so the lights from the houses lit up Cal’s face. His jaw was stubbled, and a little bit of silver streaked the hair sticking out under the cap. He’d always had the thickest hair. She wondered if, as he’d aged, he’d grown chest hair. She wondered what his body looked like at thirty, compared to eighteen. Would he be thicker? Would he still catch his breath when she wrapped her fingers around . . .
She took her gaze away from him before he realized that she was staring. Because dirty thoughts about Cal while she was alone was one thing, but dirty thoughts about him while he was sitting within touching distance felt . . . well . . . dirty.
Jenna fingered the hem of her dress. “Thank you.”
She told him where the house was that she was renting, and he said he knew the neighborhood and remembered seeing the FOR RENT sign outside the house.
“So, did you have fun with Delilah?” he asked.
“Yeah, we had a nice time.”
“How was that drinks place? Martinis, you said?”
She laughed softly. “I always forget that I don’t like martinis.”
He glanced at her with a small smile. “You never did like the liquor.”
She pressed her lips together. They’d gone to a party once in high school. She’d drunk shots and some type of schnapps right from the bottle and then spent the whole night puking. Cal had stayed with her, holding her hair and rubbing her back. “Yeah, I still don’t.”
“That’s okay.” He reached over and patted her thigh. She was sure it wasn’t a conscious decision to touch her. But nothing was simple between them. It never had been. The calluses on his palm rasped along her bare skin, and she sucked in a breath.
He