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Not long after, we fell asleep cuddled together in each other’s arms. We made love again in the morning—and that was the first time I’d ever thought of it in those terms. He insisted on me being on top again, which I tolerated because maybe he had a point, and it worked for us just fine.
We were on the road again after a quick breakfast, hoping to get to Albuquerque early in the afternoon.
My shoulders relaxed as we drove past desert. “I don’t have that feeling anymore, like I’m being watched. It’s nice.”
He grunted. “They won’t give up. But I plan on finding them before they locate you.”
“Why don’t they do something smart, like start a super PAC and make horrible commercials everyone hates?”
“They aren’t patient enough to be political. Ready to throw away their lives to make a point.”
“Josh had everything and he still got involved with that nonsense. I don’t understand at all—it was like he started to believe his own fake propaganda.” I stared out the window at the rocks and parched ground. “Maybe it was another kind of thrill seeking.”
Hank put his hand on my arm. “I’m sorry you’ve had such a hard time.”
“Yeah, well, I was in over my head with that man.” I glanced at his clenched, hard face. “It’s hard to explain. I knew the marriage wouldn’t last—but I felt like I owed him.” It had been much darker than that. Josh had been a skilled manipulator and had hated to be embarrassed. I’d been trying to figure out how to leave him without a huge fight, and putting it off. “The longer I knew him, the more unbalanced I realized he was. He hid it from me, at first.”
“When I’d heard you’d married him…” Hank swallowed. “I was very angry. Mostly with him.”
I shrugged. “I’m pretty sure he drugged me.”
Hank jerked and the car swerved.
I put my hand on his shoulder. “Don’t worry, darlin’, he’s dead and gone.” I should have walked away but I’d decided to turn the tables on Joshua MacCullen. He’d married me without a prenup and, after the way he’d gone about it, I’dplanned to be a pirate. Except, life with a snake is never that easy.
“Jesus,” Hank said, glancing at me. “That asshole.”
We drove in silence for a while. Josh had actually been one of the most charming and charismatic people I’d ever met, with a world of darkness under the surface. I rubbed the back of my neck and swallowed through my tight throat.
Hank pulled over at a rest area. After turning off the car, he cupped my face with one hand. “You’re something else.”
Warmth unfurled in my belly and my mouth curled up. “So are you.” I leaned forward and kissed him.
We made out, and everything else faded away. I was getting exciting ideas about what we could make happen in the back of the hybrid SUV rental. But he pulled away and rested his forehead against mine.
“I’m…” He cleared his throat. “You give me goosebumps.”
“I’d like to give you more than a bump,” I said, brushing my lips over his.
“We’re almost there.” He pressed his mouth against mine one last time. “Ready?”
I sighed. “You sure did get me ready. But, yeah.”
He grinned at me, and it was like a light turned on in my heart. “Keep staring at me like that and I won’t be able to drive,” he said, shifting in his seat.
I put a hand up in front of my face. “Stop tempting me to do naughty things.”
He tapped on the steering wheel for a moment. “What happens now, with us?”
My head dropped back against my seat. I’d been hoping he wouldn’t start this conversation. I almost made him spell it out, to give myself more time. Instead, I cleared my throat. “I don’t think we should define it, right now. We’re going to be living two thousand miles apart for who knows how long.”
He frowned, staring forward. “But you want me to visit you?”
“Yes,” I said, fervently. Then I swallowed and tried to rein in my desperation. I didn’t want to do a long-distance relationship—especially when I was finally going back to college.
He rubbed his face. “Sometimes I forget you’re only twenty-two years old.”
I crossed my arms. “Yes, a baby compared to your ancient twenty-seven.”
