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“No,” she said, freeing her hand from his. “I can’t sing.”
“Oh, right, yeah, that’ll lose us the respect of the audience.” His easy sarcasm tempted her to laugh again. “You can’t be embarrassed with me, baby. I’ve seen you naked.”
Still smiling, Tess squawked and sat up. “Are you saying that’s embarrassing?”
“No, I’m saying I’ve seen you exposed and vulnerable…” A breath later, he lowered his volume to mutter, “Seen you come more times than I could count too.”
“You can’t judge me for something you do to me.”
“Nobody’s judging,” he said, his arms loosening in a shrug. “You’re safe with me, baby. Is what I’m saying. Always safe.”
Taking her hand in his again, he raised it to his lips to kiss her palm, then laid it on his thigh, twining their pinkie fingers again. He’d done that a few times this week. Such a simple gesture. Somehow it was more intimate than just holding hands.
Bringing Danny along on her adventure hadn’t been the plan. Eventually, they’d have to part ways. Still, while they were together, she didn’t think there was anything wrong with enjoying him.
TWELVE
BEING ON THE ROAD WITH Danny was easy. He made everything so easy. The rocking of the truck had been responsible for her drifting off more than once over the last three days. Apparently, she’d been lulled to sleep again. Music floated into her consciousness before anything else. It wasn’t loud, which was sweet, he’d probably worried about disturbing her. When his muttering of the song lyrics met her ears, she smiled.
On her side, tucked against the semi-reclined seat, waking up to the sight of his profile was a gift. The darkness outside didn’t worry her, though it did mean she’d been asleep for a while. Last she remembered they’d just finished lunch and got back on the road.
For three days, they’d been driving, rather Danny had. Parking at truck stops whenever he wanted to rest, they’d fill up with gas, pack snacks, and then get moving again.
“Got another hour in me, then you’re up at bat,” he said.
Tess smiled. “How did you know I was awake?”
“You stopped snoring.”
When she laughed, he caught a glance her way for a quick second to show his dimple. “I do not snore.”
“Maybe you do; can only take my word for it.”
Despite her increase of awareness, it took about a minute for her to sit up and stretch. When she did, her extended arm blocked Danny’s view. Teasing wasn’t usually part of the routine when fleeing her life. A lot of things were different with Danny. They played with each other. Had fun. Danger seemed a million miles away.
As soon as her arm got in his way, he pushed it down to his lap, which gave her an excuse to rub him through his jeans.
“In an hour,” he said, hooking her pinkie with his to drag her hand from his groin.
That was what he’d meant by up at bat. With him driving all day, it was fair that she do the majority of the work in bed. In the foreplay arena anyway, he still preferred being the driver once they got up to speed.
Figuring it best to let him get through the hour without distractions, Tess unhooked her arm from her seatbelt to reach over her mom, squeezing between the seats to search her carpet bag in the back. Retrieving her notebook was easy, the hunt for a pen took a little longer. Once she had both, Tess flopped back into her seat and put her arm beneath her seatbelt again.
No matter how many times she looked at the cards clipped to the cover of her notebook, deciphering them was impossible.
“They have to mean something.”
“You’ve been staring at those for days,” he said.
Because they plagued her. “They have to mean something,” she said again, her voice stronger. “How do you break a code without a key? What would she be trying to tell me? Is it a name? An address? I looked up a bunch of zip codes in the library, I covered every combination. I’m sure I did… Maybe I missed something.”
“You check on the computer?”
She glanced at him, the end of the pen on her lip. “I don’t use computers, you know that.”
“Internet’s a wonder, you should catch up with the cool kids.”
“Cool kids can keep their death trap,” she said, her attention descending to the cards again.
