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“What was your mom like?”

A wistful smile tugs at her lips as she looks over my shoulder. “Amazing. She was a musician, a business woman, and like I said, a total hippy but to me, she was just the woman who tucked me into bed at night, danced around the kitchen with me while we baked cookies, and told me everyday that I could do anything I dreamed up. She always urged me to reach for the stars. My dad always says that she would light up any room she walked into and people just adored her.”

“Oh, so that’s where you get it from,” I whisper and her gaze snaps to mine as tears gather in her eyes.

“Thank you for saying that.”

I nod. “I meant it. There’s something special about you, Juliette. I’d have to be blind and stupid to not see it.”

“Funny,” she muses, her gaze flicking over my face like she’s trying to memorize me and my heart pounds in my chest. “I was just thinking the same about you.”

Chapter Eleven

Juliette

“I’m bored,” I whine, scrunching up my face as I lean forward and turn the music down. Sinking back into my seat, I turn to the window. We’ve been back on the road for a few hours now but my ass hurts from this seat and I can only stare at the trees along the side of the road for so long before I lose my mind. Sawyer laughs, drawing my attention back to him with the warm, addictive sound.

“Is there something you’d like me to do about that?”

I flash him a grin. “Let’s play twenty questions.”

“Oh, God,” he groans as he throws his head back and rolls his eyes. Arching my brow, I cross my arms over my chest and pin him with a look. He may be perfectly content with not talking as he drives us back to Louisiana but since I’m not able to turn my phone on and I didn’t think far enough ahead to bring a book with me, I need him to help entertain me. Glancing over at me, he sighs. “Fine, but no stupid questions.”

“And what exactly constitutes a stupid question?”

“What’s your favorite color?” he asks, imitating a typical teenage girl voice as he grabs a lock of his hair and twirls it around his finger. I throw my head back and laugh.

“What’s your sign?” he continues. “What’s your favorite food? Shit like that.”

Once I get control of my giggles, I nod and meet his gaze as I try to make my face serious, giving him a mock salute. “Got it. No stupid questions and absolutely no fun will be had in this truck.”

“You’re lucky I’m driving and can’t do anything about that comment,” he growls through the grin on his face and my heart thunders in my chest as the heat builds in his eyes. From just one look, I’m imagining myself stripping naked in front of him and letting him have his way with me. My nipples pebble and warmth flushes over my skin as I clamp my lips together, pretending to be thinking of my first question.

“Okay,” I whisper before clearing my throat. A question pops into my mind and I flash him a smile. “If everything in your house had to be one color, what color would you choose?”

He glances over at me with wide eyes before shaking his head. “You sassy little shit.”

“What?” I ask, trying my best to look innocent as I fight back laughter. “It wasn’t one of your banned questions. Answer, please.”

“It absolutely was one of my banned questions!”

I shake my head. “No, I remember clearly. You said I couldn’t ask you your favorite color and I didn’t.”

“Semantics,” he scoffs and I bite my lip to keep my laughter at bay.

“Not really. It would actually be a smart idea to not pick your favorite color. I mean, if you had to stare at it all day long everywhere you went, you might get sick of it so that’s why you would choose…”

“Like a gray-ish blue, I guess,” he grumbles and I can’t help but laugh as I reach across the cab and nudge him. He shakes his head. “What?”

“You can totally tell that your mom is an artist just from that answer.”

He scowls at me. “How?”

“Most guys would say gray or blue but you got real specific.”

“My turn,” he replies, ignoring my comment and I roll my eyes as I nod. “Name a cheesy ass song that you have memorized.”

“Oh, this one is easy,” I say as I turn toward him more and start singing. “Maybe it’s intuition, but some things you just don’t question, like in your eyes I see my future in an instant and there it goes, I think I found my best friend…”