Page 43 of The Two Last Moments

She whimpers as my tongue strokes. The rest of her melts against me, as if she’s just hanging on. Every other thought has vanished from my brain. You could ask me my last name right now, and I wouldn’t remember any better than Lark did when she woke up in the hospital.

I could stay here and kiss her until the world stops turning.

Lark moans, and somehow that sound forces rationality back to the front of my mind. I pull my mouth away from hers.

Her pupils are blown wide. Her lips are pink, shiny from my tongue, and that sight makes the blood in my head rush downward, going straight to my cock. I make a growly sound in my chest.

“One more?” she begs.

We dive at each other again, even wilder than before. Tongues tangling, teeth clicking. Lark’s hands dive beneath my shirt, ghosting over my stomach. I feel her heartbeat everywhere I’m touching her. Like her whole body is one trembling pulsepoint.

Somehow, she manages to climb into my lap. I hiss as her ass presses the aching bulge in my jeans. My shirt goes over my head. Ends up flying to the back seat. Lark’s is next. Her small breasts are covered by a cotton bra, but I feel her nipples against my chest through the fabric. I don’t know if this is one kiss anymore, or a hundred. I’ve lost track.

My hands run up and down her back, while Lark strokes my pecs and my stomach. Her fingers keep moving down, popping the button of my jeans. Tugging down my zipper. She goes to reach inside, andfuck, I want her hand on my cock. Jerking me, guiding me inside her dripping wet heat.

“We can’t,” I hear myself saying. “Oh,fuck. We can’t do this.”

We break apart, and I almost reach for her again immediately, even though I know it’s wrong. “Lark.” Words. I need words. I need to use my brain right now and figure this out.

But more than anything, I can’t hurt her. That’s the last thing in the world that I would want. I’ll sink my fists into anyone who hurts this girl. And that includes me.

I turn her so she’s cradled sideways in my lap, and I turn to push my forehead against hers. “I need to know what happened,” I say. “Can you tell me?”

I feel her throat move as she swallows. “I’ll try. But…maybe we should get dressed.”

“True.” If highway patrol wanders by, we shouldn’t be sitting here half naked. I grab our shirts from the backseat and we put them on, sheepishly avoiding each other’s eyes. But I pull her back into my lap again. Holding her so she knows I’m here and she’s safe. She tucks her head under my chin.

“After you left, things were okay at first. We sat down for lunch. But Kathy seemed different from how she was on the phone. More tense and nervous. I figured she was just feeling awkward seeing me again, kind of like how I felt. But then, she told me that my uncle Ned, who’s supposed to be in Alaska, would be meeting us later today.”

“How did the guy get all the way here from remote Alaska with no notice?”

“Exactly. It made no sense. Then I asked her another question, getting my facts wrong on purpose. She didn’t correct me. Like she was forgetting her own story. She got up to make a phone call, and I decided to leave. I wanted to find a phone so I could call you. I knew if I could reach you, you’d help me.”

My heart lurches. I hold her tighter against me. “I’m sorry.”

Lark takes a heavy breath. “Why are you sorry? You were skeptical of her, and I should’ve believed you. I never should’ve gone with her. I’m so stupid.”

I lift her chin so she’ll look at me. “You’re not stupid for believing a convincing lie. That’s on Kathy, not you. You did nothing wrong.”

She blinks, and I can tell she wants to disagree. But she goes on instead. “After I left the restaurant, I tried to stay out of sight because I figured Kathy would be looking for me. I went around to the back of the building. Kathy was already out there talking to someone on her phone. And she said…” Lark’s voice cracks. “She said,‘She doesn’t remember anything.’ Kathy was talking aboutme. She was complaining that she wanted more money because she had given her name and ID to the police, and she was the one taking the risk. She was supposed to deliver me somewhere.”

I bite down on my tongue to keep from cursing. I want to go back, track down Kathy Sullivan, and demand some answers from that woman. But she’s probably long gone. Maybe I should’ve stayed at the travel stop and called the police, but I was focused on getting Lark out of there.

“Then the person she was talking to said they were on their way. Like they’d decided to come get me personally. What if it washim? The guy who hit me with the car?”

Shit.

I think of that SUV we passed on the way out of the parking lot. The driver who got out of the car and watched us as we disappeared down the highway.

Was that him? Whoever’s behind this?

“I thought he was my ex-boyfriend,” Lark says. “But I can’t believe anything Kathy told me, can I?”

“Some of the things she said were true. She had that school ID of yours, and they had a record of you as a student. But I doubt she’s your aunt. That was probably a lie.”

Tears well at the corners of Lark’s eyes. I wipe them away with my thumb.

“So much for finding my family,” she spits out.

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