Page 64 of Harrison Hyde and the Runaway Bride

Lily put the leftover tarts into a big airtight container then rinsed her hands, dried them on a towel, and said, “Guess I’ll head up. Night, big brother.” She hugged Harry’s neck and kissed his cheek, and Maria pretended not to notice that she whispered something into his ear before she left the room.

“Your sister generally go to bed by 9:30?” Maria asked.

“Actually, she’s a very early riser. But in this case, I think she was giving us our privacy. She asked me if we were involved,” he said.

“Oh?” Maria busied herself rinsing the sink. “She asked me, too.”

“What did you say?” He moved up behind her and clasped her waist in his hands.

“You first,” she told him. The sink was long since clean. She took the towel from just to her left and dried her hands.

“I said yes, and it was complicated. She said complicated how, and I said when I figured it out, I’d let her know.”

“And what did she whisper in your ear just now?” Maria asked then quickly added, “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.”

“You want the exact quote?” he asked, and then he gave it to her without waiting for a reply. “‘You’re out of your fucking mind if you don’t find a way to make this work.’”

Maria’s eyes widened, and she turned around, so she was back-to-the-sink with him in front of her, close but not quite touching, except where his hands rested on her hips. “She said that?”

“She likes you.”

“I like her, too.”

“I can tell.”

“And your dad’s amazing. I loved all those stories about your mom. She was special.”

“She was.”

He was gazing down into her eyes. She said, “I don’t want to fool around in your dad’s house. It feels disrespectful.”

“No means no,” he said. “But I feel I must point out that we fooled around on a jet.”

“I don’t think it would’ve embarrassed the pilot if he’d known.”

“Oh, he knew.”

“But it would probably mortify your father.”

“He would probably high five me in the morning. He was looking at you like his new favorite person.”

She laughed softly, and he dipped in for a kiss. “Not to be pushy, but the car’s right out back, and it’s already nice and dark. And everyone in this community has been asleep for an hour already.”

She pressed her lips to his and dropped her dish towel as they wrapped up in each other and kissed all the way out the back door, toward their borrowed, probably rented, car. He’d parked it up near a trash bin, so it was in shadow and all but invisible. When they reached it, she fumbled for the door handle behind her back while he kissed his way down her neck to her right shoulder, pushing her blouse aside along the way.

Maria’s heart was racing. She’d never felt anything like the way her body responded to him. It had not come close to this with Billy Bob. She got hold of the door handle, shifted herself sideways, and opened it. They tumbled inside together, him landing on top, and grinding and kissing her with their feet still sticking out.

Lights painted the car’s interior as someone drove by. She was only vaguely aware of whoever it was stopping and staying still for just a beat too long.

But then Harry’s mouth was on her neck, and his hands were sliding under her blouse, and she suddenly cared very little about passing cars. However, before she even got her blouse off, it happened again. Same thing, only the car was moving in the opposite direction this time.

Harry stopped ravaging her and lifted his head. He met her eyes, and she saw a hint of alarm in his, then he straightened up off her, fixed his pants, reached for her hand.

She let him pull her out of the car and straightened her clothes while he closed the car door so silently it didn’t make a sound.

Holding her hand, he led her around the side of the house, for a better look. The car came back again. They ducked behind a shrub as it moved slowly, like a shark that smelled a seal. It stopped again at the street corner. Its headlights illuminated the street signs that read Maple Street and Poplar Place. A voice floated on the cool night air.

“This doesn’t match the map. Where the hell is Oak Street?”

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