“Turn around! There was an overpass area back on our left!”
I nod, making a U-turn to get us back to the road she saw.
We turn onto the smaller road, and a few hundred feet away, we pull under a country section of railway running parallel to the highway. It’ll do for a few minutes.
“Great job seeing this. I didn’t catch it.”
“You were doing your job, I was doing mine.”
Thunder crashes, making her jolt up against me as I turn off the bike but keep the headlights on. Reaching back, I smooth a hand up her outer thigh, rubbing lightly to reassure her.
“We make a good team, and we’re okay. Let me check how long it looks like we’ll be camped here for.”
Her teeth chatter, and I don’t like it. It takes an extreme amount of effort not to turn and stare at the wet clothes sucking up against her skin. She yanks off her helmet, blowing out a breath of relief for a reprieve from it.
I lift off my helmet as well, unavoidably looking her over as I hear her teeth chatter again. Beginning to put a plan together in my head, I can feel my brows pinch in contemplation. When my eyes connect with hers in the dim lighting, I chuff out a little laugh.
“It’s my mascara, isn’t it? It’s running down my face, and I look like a raccoon, don’t I?”
“A beautiful raccoon with wild hair.”
“That’s just freaking perfect…” she growls out in frustration.
My hearty laugh echoes off the concrete as I wait for the radar screen to pop up. She wipes haphazardly at her face, hoping to get off the smears but completely botching the whole thing. She needs help before the crap gets in her eyes and starts stinging.
“Come here, hold the phone light for me.”
Knowing she needs help, she does as I ask. I take the helmet from her hands and hang it from the handle. After accessing the flashlight, I hand my phone over to her. With gentle hands and a small smile I’ve perfected with years of bedside practice so I don’t startle her, I pull the wet strands of hair from her face and comb my fingers gingerly back through her hair. The air between us charges with pent up tension, both of us struggling to breathe because this feels…intimate. I feel my dimple make an appearance as I grab her face with my big palms and use my thumbs to wipe the smudged mascara gently from beneath her lash lines. After a few swipes, my eyes reconnect with hers and dance back and forth a few times.
“Gonna need you to breathe for me, Beautiful.”
She puffs out her held breath, and my thumb skitters over her bottom lip as my gaze zeros in on the way they part.
“There. That’s much better. If mascara’s running down your face, it should only be because you spent a wild night in my bed.”
Holly stops breathing again, her face flushing, and I smile so hard, it feels as if my cheeks are splitting my face in half. I love making her blush. A shiver overcomes her, and it’s not the sexy kind. I frown, running my palms over her arms.
“Cold?”
“Yes.”
“Okay, here.” I pull off my jacket, chilly cold rain be damned. She notices my wet shirt plastered to my skin, and I would enjoy the look in her eyes more if she weren’t freezing.
“No, you’re cold too,” she stutters, even as I wrap my jacket around her shoulders. A satisfied smirk pulls at my lips as I watch her melt into it and fight the urge to burrow her nose into the collar. Dare I say she likes the way it smells like rain and me?
“Now come here and let me keep you warm while we wait.”
Her eyes flash back up to mine like she’s skittish.
“You don’t have to do that.”
“Keeping you warm keeps me warm,” I reply with insistence, knowing she’ll give in. I mean, I’m pretty sure the woman can see my nipples cutting through my shirt too. Hers look better.
“Okay, fair point.”
I scoot back on the bike and reach for her while patting the leather in front of me.
“Leg over.”
