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His eyes widened. “Really?”
“Yeah.”
She barely got the last word out before Colt yanked on her arm and hauled her to his truck.
“Wait! I need to pack. I don’t even know where we’re going. And I need to lock up.”
“None doing. You can call Lily and have her swing by to lock up, and you don’t need anything. Got it all covered.”
“What? That’s not possible. At least let me get a change of clothes and my toothbrush.”
Colt opened the passenger side and lifted her into his truck. “Nope. Covered.”
“But what are we going to tell everyone? Lily will figure it out when we’re both gone.”
“We’ll figure that out later. But she loves us both.”
Colt was right—Lily would never sell them out. She may not be thrilled, but for now, she’d take Colt’s outlook and just deal with that later.
When he walked around and climbed in behind the wheel Jenna couldn’t help but smile. “Why are you being so antsy?”
He put the truck in reverse and looked at her before backing up. “Sugar, I just got you to say yes. No way am I going to press my luck and give you a chance to change your mind.”
Chapter Fourteen
As soon as Colt cleared the Diamond city limits and passed the Come Back Real Soon sign, ease settled over him and excitement flared.
JJ looked at him and smiled. God, that smile. He could almost see that invisible rope she wore around herself disappear and the fun, happy, carefree girl shine through.
’Course, ditching her seat belt, tossing her glasses on the dash, and climbing through the back cab window into the bed of the truck also tipped him off.
“Woman, what are you doing?” Colt laughed when she pounded on the top of the cab from the outside.
“Turn up this song!”
He did. She started swaying. Her hands stretched out to the sides, letting the wind blow her hair free. Colt stole as many glances as he could through the rearview mirror. She was a vision. In that moment, he realized how hard it must be to feel trapped inside your own skin.
She climbed back through with a breathy sigh, running her fingers though all that hair.
“What has gotten into you?” When he glanced between JJ and the road he noticed her gaze was fixed on him.
“You.” She slid over, cupped his cheek, and buried her face in her neck, delivering small kisses along his jaw. “You’ve gotten into me. I don’t know how to explain it, and right now, I don’t want to try.”
He groaned because right then her tongue darted out to taste his skin. He wrapped his right arm around her while keeping his left hand on the top of the steering wheel. “It seems all I need to do is give you wide open space.”
She looked up at him, her expression so trusting. Like taking her for a ride out of town in his dusty truck somehow made him a hero. It was that look that did strange things to his chest. He would do anything if it meant she’d stare at him like that for the rest of the summer—hell, maybe even longer.
“Right now, right here, no one can see me or judge me. I just…I feel lighter. Like for a minute, I’m just Jenna and nothing else. Not Miranda’s daughter. Not a teacher with a white-trash history.” She kissed the side of his mouth. “But honestly, Colt, it’s more than that. You do something to me. When I’m with you, you know the real me and it’s okay. It’s okay to just—”
“Be,” he finished for her.
The words he’d told her at the bonfire flashed back, and he liked that JJ was letting go. She nodded and Colt knew exactly how she felt. Because when he was with her, all that ambition, drive, and kindness zeroed in on him. He wanted to be the kind of man who deserved that. The kind of man she could be proud of.
The kind who stuck around.
…
Jenna was on fire and burning from the inside out. When they crossed Diamond’s city limits, that spark flared out of control. Colt hadn’t given up on her. Instead, he took her somewhere else and allowed her to feel however she wanted to feel.
