Page 34 of No Interest in Love

“Then what did you see?”

She buries her head in her hands, and as pale as she was before, she’s now beet red. It fills up the skin on her neck, runs over her high cheekbones. My heart pivots again. It pounds and drums and punches my rib cage, and I choke on the seeds in my mouth. Her arm brushes against mine, and instead of leaning away from the physical contact, I press into it, feeling like there are too many layers between our arms.

Too many layers…

…onour arms.

I’ve gone insane.

Shay’s eyes tilt upward, hair blowing gently around her face. I want to push it back for her, but my hands stay glued to the sunflower seeds. Just as she opens her mouth, finally looking like she’s going to reveal her bathroom trauma, Truffles comes barreling through the driver’s-side door. Milo and his nonstop mouth climb in after, jabbering about how he learned to pump diesel in this truck six years ago. I don’t miss the way his eyes drift over and note how close Shay and I are to each other, the fact that we’ve occupied the space in the back and left the front wide open. I force myself to relax, to increase the distance between our covered arms. Shay clears her throat and scoots a little ways down the seat. I suppose I’ll let her and her adorable regular-looking blush off the hook for now, but I’m gonna get her to tell me the rest of the story at some point between here and Alabama.

“Did you get me anything?” Shay asks, leaning forward and digging in the bag. She pulls out the salad and gives me a face. The blush is slowly dissipating.

“What?” I laugh at her.

“Is this what you ate too?”

“You don’t like salad?”

She shrugs, prying open the container. I pull out the fork and dressing from the bag, open them, and hand it over.

“I’m fine with salad. But I haven’t eaten since early yesterday morning.”

“I still don’t think you would’ve wanted what I had.”

“What’s that? Foot-long wiener?”

“Cheese-filled. Greasy. Gone in two seconds.”

Her head falls back and she closes her eyes. “Gah…That sounds magnificent.”

“You like wieners.”

“Yep, really big ones.”

I snort, relieved that she’s making me laugh. But also not so relieved…because I’m really attracted to sarcasm. My plan to get laid this week does not include this sudden-attraction-to-my-agent shit.

Shay stabs a piece of ranch-covered lettuce with egg and cheese and bacon bits and pushes it into her mouth. “Thank you,” she says to Milo around a mouthful. He nods, and Truffles perches on the seat to watch Shay and every move she makes while she eats. It’s not till after we get back onto the highway that I realize I’m watching her too, and trying real hard not to picture her eating a hot dog instead.

5:37P.M.

A light tap on my shoulder pushes my eyes open. I blink a few times before the view of an overcast sky out the window comes into focus.

“We’re here,” Milo says. I reach to the ceiling to stretch my muscles and jolt when Shay’s head falls from my shoulder when I do.

I have no idea when we fell asleep.

Milo gives me a smart-ass grin, and my eyes narrow because the dude thinks he’s some sort of Dumbledore of relationships. He nods out the front window while Shay fixes her shirt and slides clear across the cab so we aren’t in danger of accidentally touching each other. You know, like we’re in middle school. She has cooties and I’m dirty.

Though…I’m catching a whiff of my pit and I think I need to spring out the deodorant.

“There’s a shuttle that can take you to the airport. Just wait at that stop.”

Both Shay and I take a look at the middle-of-nowhere pit stop we’re at. The rain doesn’t look like it came out this far, since everything is pretty dry.

“Can I use your phone one more time?” I ask. Milo unbuckles and hands it over.

“Make it quick. I’m going in to take care of business.” He nods to the restrooms. “But I gotta hit the road when I get back to get this haul dropped off on time.”

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