Page 19 of Dopplebanger

“You’re also crazy hot,” I said, curling my hand around her thigh. Good thing I was focusing on the good and shoving away guilt, because now I could bask in the way her skin felt under my palm, and how right here, right now, it felt like she belonged with me. “I can’t stop staring at you, and I kind of despise the road and the other cars driving on it for taking my attention away from you.”

Her cheeks colored, and my blood rushed faster through my veins. She covered my hand with hers. “Thank you. And thanks for paying attention to the road and the other cars so we don’t crash and die.”

“Admittedly, my main motivation is getting to our next stop in one piece so I can get my hands and lips on you again.”

She swallowed, and her tongue darted out to wet her lips. “You’re getting better at your motivational skills.”

I tightened my grip on her thigh, and my breaths were coming right on top of each other.

She ran her fingertips up my arm and settled them against the back of my neck. “Shall we see how mine are improving?”

My mind ran rampant with all sorts of scenarios, most of them involving her losing her clothes.

“Luckily, I don’t have to watch the cars or road.” She leaned closer, testing the limits of her seatbelt. Her warm breath hit my ear and then she pressed an open mouth kiss just underneath it. “I’m thinking we come up with a reward system. For every half hour you don’t wreck, you rack up another kiss.” One of her hands moved down my chest, my abs. “An hour earns serious groping”—she dragged her fingertips over the waistband of my jeans—“and we’re talking both ways.”

Holy shit, the woman was trying to kill me. My hard-on pushed against my zipper and I shifted in my seat yet again, bringing the tally to about a hundred and one. I needed to distract myself—and fast—or I’d be pulling this car over and showing her that I was good at both punishments and rewards.

“This is where we’re going?” Gwen asked as I maneuvered the car into a parking lot near one of those pop-up carnivals. During our last fuel and bathroom pit stop, I’d seen a flyer about the state fair in Caroline County and thought this would be a fun activity before we had dinner and found somewhere to settle in for the night.

Apparently, Gwen didn’t get the memo about it being fun since she was frowning at the flashing lights on the other side of the windshield.

“Itwasuntil you started looking at the place like it’s a dentist office and you have a root canal scheduled,” I said.

“It’s just that…” She wrinkled her nose. “I don’t like thinking about imperfect machines made by imperfect people being set up as quickly as possible. You wouldn’t trust a house that can be built and unbuilt in a matter of hours, would you?”

“I believe those are called tents, and yes I would.”

She pressed her lips together, battling between giving me a scowl and a smile. Thinking of her clinging to me only encouraged the carnival idea. She sighed, exaggeratedly loud. “This from the guy who doesn’t trust a brick structure that’s been standing for over a century. Look how high that Ferris wheel is. As someone?—”

I arched an eyebrow, warning her not to say it.

“Opposedto heights, I’d think you would avoid carnivals.”

“Well, you’d think wrong. The Ferris wheel might be a no-go, but there plenty of rides with protective cages and security belts and… it’s just different.” I grabbed her hand and ran my thumb over her knuckles, hoping it’d help soothe her worry. “How about we just try a few rides? I’ll hold your hand the whole time and keep you safe, I promise.”

“After the tire and pet-food slinging incident, I know you’re strong and all, but you’re not the Hulk.”

“Are you sure about that? Have you seen me get angry enough to test that theory? I mean I’m not confirming or denying, but I’d also like to point out that you haven’t seen me and Superman in the same room, either.”

She rolled her eyes, but this time she lost the battle to hold back her smile.

“Come on.” I laced our fingers together. “I’ll let you pick the rides.”

She was seconds from giving in, and I lifted our entwined hands and kissed the back of hers to tip the scale. The second she reached for the car door handle, I knew I’d won. “Fine. I hope you like the merry-go-round.”

TEN

The lights of the merry-go-round flickered in intervals, the electronic music sounding like it resented having to play the same notes over and over again. I glanced over at Evan, who sat atop a decked-out, inordinately pink horse. I’d chosen this ride first, just to show him I wasn’t kidding about my distrust of carnival contraptions. Only a yard or so off the ground, ninety percent of the other jockeys belonged in the ten and under age range. (The parents propping their kids on their ponies, bored expressions on their faces, didn’t count). Andeven then, I barely trusted it.

My stomach dipped and rose along with the horses’ movements, but then Evan reached over and grabbed my hand, and it went to somersaulting. The ride slowed after a ridiculously short time, and several parents picked their kids off their horses, while more stepped onto the ride to retrieve theirs.

Evan dismounted and walked up to my plastic steed. “I noticed you chose the unicorn.” He patted it on the head like he was commending it for being a good horsey during the ride.

“Well, I got sick of waiting for you to get me one on the black market.” I swung my leg over to climb off, and Evan placed hishands on my hips and helped me down, even though I was pretty sure both of us knew I didn’t need help.

As he slid his arms around my waist and pulled my back against his front, I was thinking maybe I should “need” help more often. His lips moved next to my ear, and my heartbeats scattered out of control. “Such little faith. I already have our sketchy back alley meet-up planned.” One hand slid around to my stomach, and his pinky dipped just inside the waistband of my shorts and brushed my skin. “You just need to be patient.”

“Suddenly I’m thinking waiting for things is overrated.”

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