Page 87 of Trip Through Your Wires

“You sure? I don’t mind.”

“I’ll be fine,” she grips the door with both hands and leans in. “It’s not that far.”

As the air coming out of the vents changes from warm to cool, I move my hand to the gear shift and get ready to pull away.

“Hey…” She sticks her head inside the car, bringing her face inches from mine. “Do you remember that night at the cave last summer, when you asked me if I liked secrets?”

I drop my hand from the gearshift and move it to the back of her head. “Yeah…”

“Well, guess I do. But only when they’re ours.” She presses her mouth to mine and kisses me, then slips back through the window. “Call me when you get home.”

“You can count on it,” I wink. “Maybe call Ellery today? It will make the Spanish Inquisition less painful for me when I get back.”

She laughs and blows me a kiss. “I will.”

As I pull down the drive and she fades from view, my chest tightens. Cruz is right, I am a sprung fucker. That girl in the rearview mirror is not just special, she is my future. Now, I just need her to get comfortable with the idea because hiding the way I feel about her is going to be not just tough, but damn near impossible.

***

When I finally make it home, I’m starving and need a shower. But before I can eat and wash the travel off me, there is something more important that I have to do.

Dropping my wallet and keys down onto my dresser, I make a beeline for the phone and dial Jenica’s number.

“Hey,” she picks up on the first ring. “You made it home, okay.”

“I did,” I confirm, loving the hint of worry I hear in her voice. “Did you talk to Ellery?”

“I did,” she exhales. “We talked forever.”

“Good,” I sit down on the bed and kick off my shoes. “I’m glad to hear it. What did you tell her?”

The line is quiet for a moment, then I hear the screen door in the background open and close. “I told her you fucked me six ways from Sunday.”

The heat and candor in her words makes my body ache. “We’ll make it seven in Charleston.”

“I’m going to hold you to it,” she says with a combination of suggestion and sensuality that makes me want to head right back to the airport and take a red eye down to Georgia. “But back to your question, I told her I was fine.”

Jenica fills me in on their chat and when she’s done, takes a deep breath. “She was poking around for details, so be ready.”

“I’m sure she was,” I laugh. “Thanks for the heads up. I take it you didn’t say anything about your fear of the three of us moving on without you?”

“No,” she sighs. “I knew if I did, she’d offer to do something crazy like have me move with her and pay for it and I’m not her responsibility, you know?”

No, I think. You’re mine. Now that we are together, Jenica will be with me where I am because I will be the one that makes her dreams come true, no one else.

But I don’t say this. Instead, I bite my tongue and let out a murmur of understanding. “Anything you don’t want me to say when she asks me how the weekend went?”

“Aside from the obvious?” she asks, her smile practically reaching through the phone. Shit, I miss her already. “No.”

“So, I can tell her I know about softball, and college?”

“Mm-hmm,” she breathes into the phone. “Why not.”

I lay back and close my eyes, listening to the crickets in the background. It’s comforting. Soothing. “What are you doing?” I ask softly.

“Not you,” she quips. “Sadly.”

“We’ll have to make up for that when I see you again.”

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