Taming Hollywood's Baddest Boy - Max Monroe Page 0,61

over mine, she kisses my cheeks and my nose and my forehead, all while saying “Thank you, thank you, thank you” over and over again.

I laugh. “I had a feeling you’d like that news.”

“Are you kidding me?” She stops the kiss parade to look into my eyes. “I love that fucking news. Best news ever.”

God, she’s the best.

I can’t stop myself from placing my hands on her soft cheeks and pulling her mouth to mine for an actual kiss. Lips to hers, I kiss her for a long moment, and when the kiss eventually ends, she grins down at me.

“I take it you’re excited about the four-wheeler, too, huh?”

“Something like that.” I wink and place a teasing slap to her bare ass. “Now, if you want to take that shower, you better get a move on it.”

“Aye-aye, captain!”

Off my body in one smooth movement, Billie grabs her coffee and strides her sexy as hell naked body into the connected bathroom.

The shower water is on mere minutes later.

And I’m left lying on the mattress, tempted, so fucking tempted, to join her.

But I know we need to get a move on, and me in the shower with Billie would equate to way too much time lost.

So, I busy myself with making sure our backpacks are all packed, but when that’s done and Billie is still enjoying herself in the shower, I spot the screenplay on the nightstand and decide to take advantage of the private opportunity to get a better feel for it.

Quickly and quietly, I open up to page twenty-four and start reading again.

Billie

All that yolk I’ve been bleeding for the last week is officially scrambled. In laymen’s terms: I’m fucked up in my feelings.

We left Lou’s later than Luca wanted, most likely because of my extra-long hot shower, but he didn’t give me any shit about it.

No rude comments. No asshole remarks.

Just a smile, some playful jokes about my contribution to Alaska’s depleting water table, and that was it.

But now we are on our way—via wheels, thank everything!

With my chest pressed against Luca’s back and my arms wrapped around his waist, he leads us on a different route than we came. A small trailer is hooked on the back, and Bailey lounges safely inside. Personally, I think he’s just as happy about the change in transportation mode as me.

The new path isn’t as rocky, but we’re still weaving in and out of the forest and the trees.

Not going to lie, the first five minutes into this drive, I was scared one of those darn branches was going to take my head off, but Luca has proven to be an expert driver, taking it slow when the path is more treacherous, and, like any man, opening up the throttle when we hit open road.

“You okay back there?” he asks, and I nod.

But then I realize he can’t see me nodding. Duh.

“I’m good!”

“We only have a little over two hours to go.”

Only two more hours.

I should be happy. Thrilled, even.

But this unknown panic starts in my belly and works its way up to my chest. I feel like the inside of my body has just developed Restless Leg Syndrome, and any moment, my organs are going to pack up their shit and find an escape route.

I try to breathe through the vibration inside of me, but my heart could give two fucks about my need for calm and jumps into a pounding rhythm.

What the hell? Why am I panicked?

I’m not flailing at the bottom of an Alaskan body of ice water, my limbs are all intact, and I haven’t seen any sign or scat from a bear at all—at least, not according to the knowledge I acquired from the book in Lou’s bathroom.

So, what is it? What has me so out of fucking sorts?

Maybe because, in two hours, you’ll be at Luca’s, and then, you’ll need to go home.

My chest grows tighter at the thought.

This, whatever the hell this is, will all be over soon.

This trip started out with him hating me for throwing a wrench in his carefully crafted solitude, and me hating me for putting myself in the position to have to. And I guess I was plenty freaking annoyed by him too.

But over time, something happened. All of those sour feelings disappeared and were replaced by something else.

Something that brought us together last night.

Something that turned into sex that felt a whole lot like more than just sex.

Luca was inside me bare, for fack’s sake! And it was one