Page 55 of Marrying the Gardener
I peer at the empty interstate before us, which slices through sheer, rolling mountain stone. “What are you going to hit outhere? There aren’t even headlights in the rearview mirror.”
“You are distracting the driver.”
Oh.I plant my elbow on the center console and cross my ankles. “But I’m comfy.”
“This is abuse.”
I laugh and put my feet back on the floor, watching breath leave him once I have. “You didn’t answer me about the redheads.”
“I said—” he echoes his swear from before. “Isn’t that an answer?”
“You could have fallen in love with Vivia. Or—orCharlotte. Unless, you’re astraightred hair guy. They’re both curly queens. Are you prejudiced against curls, Kaleb?”
The touch of a smile graces him. “Your hair is wavy, for the record.”
Not right now it isn’t. Parts of it are still a little damp even. I twist a strand tip between my fingers. “You’re avoiding the question.”
“I’m obsessed with redheads. Every fantasy I’ve ever had bleeds red. You’re the prettiest, most vibrant redhead I have ever seen. And…” He exhales, swears again. “The freckles.” He can’t seem to stop himself from swearing more. “They really areeverywhere. Seeing you in a bikini is cruelty of the highest order when I want to kiss each one.”
I look down at my pale skin spattered with little marks. They’re as copious as they can get. It’s quite nearly as though I was standing near Bob Ross when he was beating a paintbrush, and all the flecks embedded themselves in my skin. I circle my finger around my belly button. “That’s a lot of kisses.”
“Iknow.” He cups his free hand to his neck as his grip on the wheel tightens. “I’m deliriously tired right now, Rose-red. I can think of nothing but a situation where we’re up this late because I’m busy counting and kissing and tasting every mark on you.This isn’t a conversation to have while I’m this cognitively impaired. I don’t want to say something that repulses you by accident.”
“You don’t repulse me, Kaleb.”
“I can guarantee my thoughts tonight would.”
“Well, now I’m just curious at what oddities are running rampant in that silly skull of yours. You were joking about wearing a shock collar earlier. I think I’m aware your brain is a little funny.”
He wets his lips. “There is a large gap between joking about a shock collar and what I’m thinking of after having been watching you swim all night, Crimson. One is funny…the other is depraved.”
“Speaking of swimming, you didn’t swim. You wore swim trunks and everything, but you didn’t get in the water.”
“Every time you moved, I forgot how to swim, so I could not dream of both joining you and surviving.”
I hum and toy with the ruffles lining my bikini bottoms. “I saw you forgetting how to breathe, too.”
A stuttering breath fills him. He says, “Yeah… You do things to me that you don’t even understand.”
I can tell. And at least while I’m this exhausted and peaceful, I’m not sure I’d mind understanding. I wonder if I ever will.
So many times tonight Daria and Vivia glanced at Kaleb then remarked on how hot he was, how lucky I was, how they’d give anything toinsert much too detailed action regarding his body here. All I could do was laugh their comments off, catch his eye, and wonder where my feral-for-hot-man gene got misplaced.
To me, he was just a body. Just bare flesh. Appealing in a natural way. Beautiful, like long eyelashes or a regal stag’s antlers. After a night of listening to things I’d never think up on my own, I almost feel…broken.
“Kaleb?”
“Yeah?”
“Do you want to get a room together tonight and finish driving when we get up in the morning? We can find a hotel at the next exit.”
His throat bobs. “Definetogether.”
“What you mentioned last night. In a neutral place. So if it’s something I don’t want to think about for a while, I don’t have to have it hanging in my bedroom.”
An exit lane appears, and Kaleb throws on his blinker before he says, “Yes.” He curses, “—yes, Crimson,yes.”
Curling my toes, I cross my ankles on the floor, then I try not to think about what I’ve just agreed to as we find a hotel for the night. Tingling with anticipation built on electrified nerves, I shoot Ava a text to let her know we’re safe and she can stop waiting up for me.
