“Okay.” I walk back over to her. She opens the trunk of her car and pulls out a duffle bag. It’s close to bursting, the seams straining against the contents. I eye it curiously. “If we’re not staying here, how come you’re unloading?” I ask.
Maeve bites her bottom lip. “Your car is better suited for my plans.”
“What, are we off-roading or something?”
“Or something,” she replies cryptically.
I head back over to my car, opening the trunk for her. She places the bag in the back and holds out her hand expectantly. “Keys, please.”
I smirk. “You think I’m going to let you drive my car?”
Maeve doesn’t waver. “Yes.”
Twenty minutes later, I glance over at her from the unfamiliar vantage point of my passenger seat. “Are you planning to stop before we hit New York?” I ask.
Maeve scoffs. “Patience is a virtue, Cole.”
“I don’t have many of those,” I tease.
She mutters something under her breath.
It’s probably another ten minutes before Maeve begins to slow the car and takes an exit off the highway. Other cars keep whizzing past us as we roll down the exit ramp toward the dark, empty road it intersects with.
Despite the entirely empty street, Maeve still sits at the stop sign for a whole three seconds and flicks the blinker on before turning to the right. I smile to myself. She’s a rule follower.
Which makes the fact she’s currently driving my car all the more ludicrous.
We continue along the seemingly abandoned road until flashing lights suddenly appear to the right. Maeve pulls the car under the marquee display that readsOlneyville Drive-In.
“We’re going to the movies?” I ask.
“I figured the Glenmont Cinema was out.”
She hands the attendant some money, and the gate opens, letting us into the already crowded cement lot in front of the massive screen displayed before us. Maeve backs in the next available spot, so that we’re facing away from the screen.
“Come on, Cole.” She climbs out of the driver’s seat and heads toward the rear of the car. I follow her, watching as she lifts the back door of my SUV and unzips her bag. She pulls out a fluffy blanket and a couple of pillows, followed by an assortment of candy and popcorn. I’m truly amazed she fit it all inside the duffel. She takes a seat on the tailgate, pulling off her sneakers and setting them to the side before spreading out the blanket and the pillows.
I climb in after her, pulling off my own shoes and lying down. We have a perfect vantage point toward the screen. Maeve lies down beside me, and she doesn’t leave a lot of space between us.
My body immediately reacts to her proximity. To her now familiar scent, like citrus and sunshine. To the sight of her in my sweatshirt.
The opening credits flash across the massive screen, and I glance over at her, shocked. She shrugs, a small smile playing across her lips.
“You said it was your favorite movie.”
“Yeah, it is,” I reply softly. I hope my expression conveys how much this means to me, because I can’t muster the right words right now.
We settle against the soft pillows as the movie starts, passing the snacks back and forth between us. She falls asleep halfway through the movie, and I give up on watching the familiar film as soon as she does, opting to study her instead. The pert tip of her nose, the eleven freckles that decorate her cheeks, the elegant curve of her jaw.
Someone slams a door shut in the car next to us, and she startles, groaning as she rolls over. We’re already close, so she ends up half on top of me. Surprised green eyes suddenly meet mine when she realizes I’m hard.
I give Maeve a sheepish grin I hope appears more charming than lustful. “What? It’s chemistry.”
She laughs. “I think you mean biology.”
“Okay, I’ll blame that field of science too,” I smirk.
She scoots up slightly, creating more delicious friction between our bodies and invoking even more of a response from mine. Our faces are only inches apart, maybe millimeters.