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I wanted just one more moment with him. One more feel of his fingers or tongue between my legs.
But it was better this way. Better to end it before I was totally addicted.
I eased out of bed and found my discarded clothes. I hastily pulled them on. With each piece, I donned my armor. I shoved away the memories of the last two days.
“I can be ready to go in a few,” I said without looking at Smoke.
Smoke threw the covers off and climbed out of bed. He faced away from me and stretched his arms over his head.
His naked backside had my stomach fluttering.
I quickly pivoted and got to packing.
Thirty minutes later, our suitcases were in the car, and I was sitting in the passenger side of the truck while Smoke checked the tires out and made sure we were road-worthy.
I sipped on the weak coffee from the motel, wondering how I was going to maintain my cool during the last leg of the trip. It was nearly eight hours to Waco and the idea of sitting in awkward silence or trying to talk about mundane things after he knew how I looked when I came had nerves skating through me.
My phone rang just as the driver’s side door opened.
Nerves turned to dread when I saw Mom flash across the screen. It was two hours earlier in Idaho, but my mom was an early riser. We were close and the fact that I hadn’t called and told her about Knox…
But now was not the time to talk to her. Not with Smoke next me.
I silenced the call and set the phone in the middle seat between us.
Smoke looked down at it. “Your mom calls early.”
“Really early,” I agreed. “We kind of have a ritual.”
“What kind of ritual?”
“It started when I was in college. I had a couple of 8:00 AM classes. Pure torture, really. On those days, Mom would be my alarm clock—my literal wake-up call. She’d water her plants while I watered myself with coffee.” I shot him a grin.
He smiled back. “Sounds like a nice ritual.”
“It was—is. We still do it sometimes. Not as much after I moved in with Knox. He likes quiet mornings.” I shook my head. “Man, every time I think about something in relation to him, I realize how wrong he was for me.”
The man sitting next to me wasn’t the right man for me either, but it did make me wonder. Would Smoke be annoyed at my mother’s early morning calls? Would he get jealous of the family conference chats I had once a month just to catch up?
“Why didn’t you answer?” he asked.
“Because she would know something was wrong. She always knows. Just by my tone. I can’t bullshit her. And I’m not ready to tell her about Knox or my zip code change.”
Smoke buckled his seatbelt. “Fair enough.” He put the truck in gear and then slowly drove around the parking lot to the exit.
“I should tell them sooner rather than later. I mean, they’ll know soon enough when they get the deposit back from the wedding venue. I called yesterday to cancel and left a message.”
“Face them head on,” he said. “Don’t hide from the news. You broke up with your fiancé. You moved to a different city. It’s done, and you made the decision. End of discussion.”
I shot him a grin. “End of discussion?”
“Yeah.”
“Not how that works in my family. Everything is up for discussion.”
“Why?”
“Why what?”
