“If that was wrong of me, I’m sorry,” she continued in a hushed tone. She waited for a moment for the hot, thick feeling in her chest and throat to recede. “You said on that night that the only rationale for us getting together so impulsively was that we wanted each other. Period.” His hand tightened on the wheel. “I understand that the circumstances have changed. I understand that there are things that make me objectionable to you.”
“I find you far from objectionable, Gia,” he grated out, still staring fiercely at the road.
“Let me finish. I was only going to say that I don’t think all those things make the original reason why we got together invalid. In fact, that reason seems as valid to me as it ever did. More so.”
His hands tightened on the wheel. “You want to give in to it?” he asked tensely through gritted teeth. “All in the name of a few fucks?”
Her heartbeat started to throb in her ears at his crudeness. She understood he was purposefully trying to put her off. It wasn’t going to work. She thought Seth knew that too.
“I don’t know. Maybe. We did that first night. Do you want to? Maybe you think it’ll mean more than just a few fucks, and that’s why you’re balking? It would be horrible, wouldn’t it?” she needled with quiet sarcasm. “Finding yourself wanting to be around an actress? Around me?”
A muscle jumped in his lean cheek. She almost felt the curse he restrained blistering his throat. The silence pounded in her ears. She sighed. Sensing his guard all too perfectly at that moment, she turned away from him and closed her eyes.
* * *
Maybe you think it’ll mean more than just a few fucks, and that’s why you’re balking?
Her voice kept replaying in his head, taunting him. His head started to throb with it. His cock had been intermittently throbbing with something altogether different, and even more incendiary.
Damn. The fact of the matter was, he had sensed it was something more than just a few fucks on that night two years ago. That’s the truth he was guarding himself against. And Gia had guessed that.
He glanced sideways for the hundredth time in the past several hours at her still form. She said she’d withheld the truth from him about her age and about her profession because she’d wanted him. Plain and simple.
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For once, while she slept, he raised the barricades on his memories. He recalled in graphic detail how good it had been with her. She’d been so sweet and generous, letting him devour her, and clearly loving it. He knew he was very demanding in bed. He knew what he liked and wasn’t afraid to voice it. Gia had been right there with him, even though he’d been more demanding and challenging with her than he had been with some long-term lovers.
More insistent, because his lust had never been as sharp as it had been for that fresh, beautiful young woman with a smile that pierced straight through him.
That still pierced.
He’d grown hard again. He hadn’t bargained on how brutal the impact would be when he combined memories of that night with Gia’s nearness to him in the vehicle. Even though he’d drunk two large bottles of water since that kiss, her taste still seemed to linger on his tongue.
He winced and glanced aside again at Gia’s silent form. The forbidden image of making love to her that first time flamed into his head, her fascinated gaze and vividly red cheeks in the mirrored reflections as she observed him watching, as his cock had plunged in and out of her. He’d always been a very visual person. It was part of who he was, a characteristic reflected in his near-photographic memory, his career, his aesthetics, his sexual preferences. Some women found it offensive that he liked to watch lovemaking. He understood that they might feel objectified by it, but that was never his intention. He’d learned to tone it down, depending upon his lover’s temperament.
But Gia had liked watching them together, almost as much as he had.
She’d liked a lot of things.
Blood pulsed into his cock.
He checked the rearview mirror. The highway had been mostly desolate. He’d taken Historic Route 66 intermittently because he thought Gia might like it, but he also knew that it would expose any followers more quickly than a busy interstate might. If he had to guess, he’d say their mission thus far had been successful. One of the most recognized faces in the country had vanished off the map. He felt safer about switching to the major highway in Amarillo, which would be soon.
Making sure Gia was still turned away, he tried to shift his aching cock to a more comfortable position. If she woke up anytime soon, he doubted he could hide his arousal from her. He was hard as a stone, the rigid column of his cock pressed against his jeans at a slanted vertical angle along his pelvis and lower belly. The outline of it was obvious in his jeans. He managed to shift it, but the stimulation didn’t help matters. Gia moved restlessly.
He grimaced, experiencing quiet, simmering agony. So this is what the road to hell looked like.
* * *
“Gia.”
She opened her eyes, immediately recognizing Seth’s voice. The car was dark and stationary. In the distance, she saw the glow of neon lights. She spun around in the seat. Seth was watching her, his face tense, long legs bent directly in front of the seat, his wrists draped over the wheel.
“Where are we?” she mumbled, starting to sit up. She looked behind her and saw a large gas station–convenience store in the distance. As she turned back to him, he quickly dropped his arms to his thighs.
“Outside of Amarillo, Texas. It’s two in the morning. I need a break.”
“Okay,” she said, rubbing her eyes. “I should go too.”