Page 5 of Harbor

Yet, the only thing Lucia Marcello could think about as she watched the dark highway climb ahead of their vehicle was how long they had been driving. She blinked one too many times, pretty sure that the last time she had stared at the highway, there had been a lot fewer trees and more sunlight. The highway had been far more congested, too.

She peered at the clock on the dash, taking in the time before counting back the hours.

“Twenty,” she murmured.

In the driver’s seat, Renzo passed her a look. Despite her confusion, she hadn’t for one second forgot that he was next to her driving like he had been for the last several hours—almost an entire day of driving, now. It was impossible for her to just forget this man was near. Her whole body felt it, like he lit her on fire in the best way possible. All of her little hairs stood on end, and her nerves snapped. Even sitting beside her, he wasn’t nearly close enough.

Or, that’s how she felt.

Strange how that worked …

His brow quirked up, a silent question without him saying anything to her out loud. He wouldn’t want to wake his sleeping brother in the back seat, after all. He’d even turned down the music when it seemed to be making Diego toss and turn more than usual. Always his first concern, Diego took importance.

Lucia didn’t mind.

“What are you mumbling about over there?”

Had she been mumbling?

“We’ve been driving for twenty hours,” she told him quietly.

Renzo nodded, and his grip on the SUV’s steering wheel tightened. “Yeah, I know.”

If he’d been keeping track, too, he hadn’t said anything to Lucia about it. Then again, they had just taken off … they were basically on the run in a stolen vehicle after burning another stolen vehicle. She didn’t blame him for being distracted, and focusing on the things he needed his attention to be on.

How many hours they had been driving probably wasn’t even a blip on his radar. But it was on hers, now. The more she watched Renzo from the side, the easier it was for her to see what he was trying to suppress. His gaze dropped every so often, darting to the clock before going back to the road. His eyes were dimmed with tiredness even if it was hard to see in the low lighting of the vehicle. He kept that tight grip on the steering wheel no matter what, though, but Lucia was wondering how much effort that was taking him to do exactly that.

“Ren?”

“Hmm, what, baby?”

She smiled.

He’d said it so absently, like she wasn’t far from his mind now, but he was still worrying about other things. He needed to sleep. They needed to stop and rest, or she needed to drive. Either one would be fine for Lucia as long as it meant Renzo was going to relax for a couple of hours, and close his eyes.

“I can drive,” she said.

“I know you can drive.”

“So let me do that for a while. Pull over, let me drive.”

His gaze drifted to her again, and the edges of his lips quirked up in a smile. “I’m good.”

“But—”

“Lucia, I don’t even know where I’m going. How are you going to know, huh?”

He did have a good point even if she didn’t want to admit it. What good would it do them if she ended up getting lost while he was sleeping?

“Still haven’t figured that out, then?” she asked.

“Where we’re going?”

“Yeah.”

Renzo let out a sigh, and one of his hands finally left the steering wheel to snake across the middle of the seats. His fingers wrapped tightly around her thigh, and squeezed. It wasn’t much. He wasn’t even looking at her then what with his attention back on the road ahead of them, and the darkness stretching across miles and miles of highway. It didn’t have to be a lot, though.

That touch was enough. It sent sparks shooting across her skin, and heated her blood up like nothing else. His touch grounded her. And really, she hadn’t realized how much she needed that feeling until he did it.