Page 32 of Leave

I rubbed my thumb along the stitching on the inside of the wheel. “There’s a lot I haven’t done in a long time. And I’d kind of—I’d like to try.”

“Yeah?” There was curiosity in that question, but no pressure. Maybe I was reading too much into a single syllable, but that was how it registered.

“I’d… Um… I’d like to fuck.” Heat rose in my face. He was still watching me, though I didn’t look to see what his expression was. The scrutiny was enough without knowing if he was eyeing me like an idiot, staring at me like I’d lost my fucking mind, or smirking like he was about to say something about—

“You want to?” he finally asked, and was that… was that interest in his voice? Or was I imagining it?

Gripping the wheel tighter, I told him the truth: “Yeah. I do.”

Again, he was quiet. Again, he was watching me.

I fidgeted in the driver seat, watching the white lines whip by. “We don’t have to do it now. I mean, like not tonight or—we’ve got plenty of time.”

“I’m not in a hurry,” he said evenly.

“I’m not either.” I finally stole a glance at him, and the heat in his eyes almost made me swerve. Resolutely facing the road again, I said, “I, um… I’m not in a hurry, but… I won’t say no to doing more than we have tonight.”

Riley pushed out a ragged breath, and the seat squeaked as he shifted. Was he adjusting himself? I didn’t look. If I caught somuch as a glimpse of any tenting in his pants, we were going to do something publicly indecent at a rest stop.

Which didn’t sound half bad in that moment.

“How, um…” He cleared his throat. “How long to our hotel?”

I licked my lips as I glanced at the GPS screen. “Still several hours.”

“Fuckinghell,” he groaned.

Fucking hell was right. When was the next rest stop?

“We’ll get there.” He sounded about as winded as I was. “But it won’t hurt my feelings if you ignore the speed limit.”

I laughed, and I glanced at him again.

Then I floored the gas.

I was so damn glad we hadn’t aimed for Grants Pass today. Wecould’vemade it, but the eight hours or so to Sacramento was long enough. Going all the way to Grants Pass would’ve meant five more hours until we checked into our hotel, which meant five more hours until—

“Jesus fuck,” I moaned, closing my eyes as Riley pinned me to the door and kissed up and down my neck. “I want you so bad.”

“Me too,” he murmured against my throat. “Not gonna lie—I was looking at those rest stops…”

I laughed a bit drunkenly. “You too, huh?”

“You better believe it.” He drew back and met my gaze, his eyes gleaming with lust like I’d never seen them before. “I don’t know how the hell you kept it between the lines all the way here.”

“It took some work.” I slid my hands up his back. “But now we’re here, so…”

“Uh-huh. We are.” He started to come in for a kiss, but hesitated, and his expression shifted to one of concern.

“What?” I asked.

“I…” Riley licked his lips. “I’m not gonna lie—I want to fuck until we can both feel it for a week.”

I raised my eyebrows as my heart sank. “But…”

He swallowed. “But…maybe it’s something we should work up to.”

I turned to him. “How do you figure?”

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