be beautiful, but you’re pure perfection.” He runs another finger down my stomach to my thigh. My shiver follows.
“What about you?” I ask. He’s wearing shorts again, but that doesn’t hide his massive erection. My skin tingles, and my lady bits swell at the sight. I want to feel him, all of him, and not in my hand.
His nostrils flare, and another low growl comes from deep in his throat. “You have no idea how tempted I am, but I have to work something out first.”
Before I can ask him what he means, he’s on his feet and cleaning up the blankets. I roll onto my side and join him, deciding that a sandy bed isn’t a bad place to sleep at all.
“What are we going to do now?” I ask, peering up at him.
The morning wind flows through his hair, making a few long tresses flutter into his eyes. He has the rest pulled back into a low ponytail, and for a moment, I just stare. The man is so freakin’ attractive, it’s unreal.
He gives me a crooked smile, and I swear he knows what I’m thinking. “I’ve decided to break one of my rules. It’s the only way to properly take care of you.”
“Break your rules?”
“I’m going to withdraw money from my account back home. With that, we’ll have plenty to live on for a few weeks.”
“A few weeks?” My eyebrows shoot up even though I sound like a parrot repeating him.
His movements slow, his brow furrowing. He finishes with the blankets, and it’s not until both are tucked under his arm that he meets my gaze again. “I can’t take you back home, Brianna. The SF will find you. So the only option is for you to stay on the run with me.”
I swallow the thickness in my throat. I knew this was coming. As much as I didn’t want to face it, deep down I knew that this was what I chose when I stayed at his side. “I’ll have to call work and my friends. They’ll be worried about me.”
His crooked smile grows as he pushes a lock of hair behind my ear.
His touch makes my breath catch, but I manage to say, “Why are you smiling? This is hardly funny.”
“No, it’s not, but you’re choosing to stay with me. I hoped you would, and the fact that you are—how can I not be happy about that?”
I bring my hand up to cover his and remember again what I felt during the night, how I knew that he means something to me even though I can’t explain it. I should tell him, reassure him that it’s not just him feeling things, but when I open my mouth the words don’t come.
Still, his smile remains. “Let’s get a move on. That town is still twenty miles away. With any luck, we’ll have enough gas to reach it. And then we’ll find an ATM, fill the car up and get outta here as fast as we can.”
“You’re not worried they’ll catch us?” I step over small sagebrush as we walk back to the car.
He tenses but smiles, although it seems forced. “If we’re smart, we’ll evade them, but we’ll have to lay low for a few days so they don’t pick up my trail right away.”
I manage a shaky smile, but my stomach still twists into knots. Collin has proven to be more street-smart than I’ll ever be, but uneasiness fills me regardless.
Because we can’t run forever even if he does secure enough money to keep us going.
Sooner or later, the SF will catch us.
Chapter 23 – Collin
We don’t make it to town before the engine dies. Luckily, we’re not far. An old Citgo gas station is a quarter mile up the road.
I put the car into neutral. “I’ll push us there. Can you steer?”
Brianna nods so I get out. Through the back windshield, I watch her lithe form slip across the center of the car to the driver’s seat. The beast grumbles in appreciation.
He’s been strangely content since yesterday morning. Other than the random images he’s thrown me of eating people’s innards while I drive, he hasn’t been acting unruly.
Something tells me Brianna’s continued presence can be thanked for that.
Five minutes later, I push the car next to one of the station’s pumps. Brianna applies the breaks and puts it into park as I check our surroundings. The lone highway stretches for miles. Mountains rise in the distance, but here, the desert rules.
I inhale the dry