“I appreciate that.” But he wondered. “Are you here to also make sure I don’t stray, and I get to where I’m supposed to be?”
She turned her gaze to him. “Chase, you can go and do whatever you want. I’m not the boss of you. I have no say in your life. But for Eliza’s sake, I hope you want to go back to Willow Fork to see her. At least for a little while.”
“I want to be there for the both of you.” He hoped she believed that.
He pulled into the gas station with a minimart, cut the engine, and sighed. “What do you want to eat?”
She picked up her backpack, opened the door, and then glanced back at him. “I’ve got this.” She hopped out and stuffed her credit card into the pump before he made it around the truck.
“Hey. You didn’t have to do that.”
“I know.” She pulled the nozzle off the holder and held it out to him. “What do you want from inside?”
“I can—” He cut off his next words at her glare. “Something with caffeine.”
The smile he loved so much was back. “Okay. Salty or sweet snacks?”
He shrugged. “Both.” He really didn’t care. He just wanted to spend the next few hours with her by his side, soaking up her sweet smile and how she looked at him and at the same time tried to make it seem like she wasn’t staring at him.
She spun around and headed inside the minimart.
He placed the nozzle into his tank and stared across the truck bed at her zipping back to the cooler to grab a couple sodas. She disappeared down the aisles, her head barely visible as she shopped. She stood in line at the checkout. The guy behind her kept checking out her ass. He couldn’t blame the guy. She had a great ass. But he wanted to kick the guy’s teeth in for looking at her the way he loved to check her out.
He knew exactly what she looked like naked. How she tasted and smelled and felt against his skin.
His flesh remembered that one night they shared all too well, and the memory had him hard behind his fly. “This is going to be a long ride home.”
Home. For him that wasn’t a place anymore. It was with Eliza and her mama.
For now, that would have to be enough, until he figured out what came next. If all he had was them, he was a lucky man.
Not that he and Shelby were anything to each otherright now except Eliza’s parents. He hoped to change that. Soon.
His throbbing dick agreed.
It had been a damn long time since he’d had his hands on Shelby, or any woman for that matter.
She walked out of the store, a bag in hand and a grin for him, but the smile slipped when she met him next to the truck.
“What’s wrong?” He didn’t get the concern in her eyes.
“Did you sleep at all last night? Or this past week?”
He made a vow to himself when he went into rehab to never lie to her again. “Not really. Maybe two or three hours a night.”
She held out her hand. “I’ll drive. You can take a nap.”
He wanted to say he was fine, but his anxiety about leaving rehab and not knowing exactly what came next combined with being nervous about her being here sapped his energy.
She tipped her head back and stared up at him. “I just want you to be able to kick back and relax and not worry about anything for a while. That’s all, Chase.”
The way she said his name always did something to him.
He dropped his keys into her hand, brushing his fingers over her wrist as he did so. “I don’t know what I did to deserve this.”
“It’s not a punishment.”
He quickly shook his head. “I mean having you show up here to get me and being so damn nice about it after what I put you and Eliza through.”