Page 28 of Stunts and Sparks

While they were waiting for their clothes to dry, Heather slipped an arm around Cole’s waist and leaned her head against him. Even in that environment — with the harsh lighting, the noise of the machines, the slight stickiness of the floors, and the smell of various detergents lingering in the air — Cole felt like he’d finally come home. Just having her arm around him was enough to solidify the idea that he wanted, more than anything, to keep her. If anyone had asked him a week ago whether he would soon meet a woman he truly wanted to commit to, he would have laughed in their faces. But this was different. Heather was different.

“So,” she said, nuzzling into him a little more, “where are we going to dinner?”

He thought about it while the dryer continued its hypnotizing cycle. He hadn’t really planned this at all. It was just a spur-of-the-moment idea, a little improvisation to make her smile. But now he was going to have to improvise even further. He didn’t know the area at all, but he was still determined to make something out of this. “Well, I figure we’ll just drive around until we find a fancy enough Italian-looking place. Do you like Italian?”

“I like all kinds of food,” she answered. “I’m not that picky.”

“Okay. We’ll just drive around until we find someplace suitably fancy.” He nudged her and smiled down at her. “This is going to be fun.”

CHAPTER 14

HEATHER

If Heather could have chosen to go through this crisis with anyone else in her life, she wouldn’t have. That was the most shocking thought that struck her while they were driving to the next town. She would choose to go through this with Cole over anyone else. What did that mean exactly? Did she love him? Was she ready to admit that to herself?

They had gotten an older pickup truck this time. Cole called it a cowboy truck, but Heather thought it just looked kind of rusty. It didn’t matter, though. The main point was that it looked completely different from the last vehicle they had. Cole wanted to vary their ride as one more precaution, though it was probably unnecessary. The careless guy she’d met on her first day of work was being far more careful than even she would be in this situation.

She thought about what that probably meant, that he would go to these lengths to make sure she was safe. Had he really been as careless those first few days as she had thought he’d been? Maybe not. Maybe he just had that much confidence that he could perform the stunts without incident.

Despite the unfortunate circumstances, the highway was beautiful to Heather. There wasn’t anything particularly spectacular about it that should have impressed her. It was a typical desert landscape; there was sandy soil and shrubs, hills in the distance, but all around them the land was flat. The horizon was broad and the sky a beautiful shade of blue with not a cloud to be seen. Somehow, Heather was able to convince herself they were just on a fun road trip. Her window was open, and the wind was in her hair, and she felt more free than she ever had, even though she was actually running for her life. She couldn’t have said how much of that energy came directly from Cole, but she would have guessed it was a pretty high percentage.

For a brief hour, it felt like nothing in the world could possibly go wrong, and then for some reason, it did. The truck sputtered and slowed. Cole cursed. Heather asked, “What? What’s wrong?”

“The gas was lower than I thought it was.” He slapped the dashboard. “This stupid gauge isn’t working right. Oh, they’re going to hear about this when I return the clunker. A warning would have been nice.” He let his head drop onto the steering wheel and groaned. “This was not part of the plan.”

“No kidding?” Heather quipped. “I was sure this was your way of kidnapping me because you were jealous of the other guys.” Cole had done so much to lift her mood, she wanted to do the same for him, and what he always seemed to like best was a snarky little argument.

Without lifting his head from the wheel, he turned to look at her, half smiling, half grimacing. “Thanks, sweetheart, but I’m not in a laughing mood. I feel so stupid for not planning for this. I should have had a can of gas at least.”

“You couldn’t have guessed the gauge would be broken. Most rental places check for that sort of thing when a car is returned, don’t they?”

“They should,” he grumbled. “But this last rental location was pretty dicey. I wouldn’t have put it past those guys to do less than the bare minimum. I should have expected this.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Heather said. “I’m not blaming you. Anyway, it doesn’t do any good to blame anyone right now. We need to get some gas. I saw a station back there. We could walk to it from here.”

He sat up and thought about it. “That was three miles back.”

“Come on.” She arched an eyebrow at him and crossed her arms over her chest. “You don’t think I can walk three miles?” He should know better of all people. She was in the same profession he was. “You’re not the only one in great physical shape. I’m insulted that you don’t think I can hack it.”

“I know you can hack it. I just didn’t want you to have to.” He laughed and reached across the way to hug her. “Come on. Let’s go get some gas.”

They left the car on the side of the highway and started the long trek to the last gas station they had passed. Heather made it bearable by telling herself it was just a hike they decided to go on. When her body started to feel it, she told herself it was just training for her job. After a while, the horizon started to get a little wavy. Some time later, her head began to throb. She doubted it was a good sign, but she decided she could handle it herself. She just had to push through. Her pride wouldn’t let her ask for a breather. After all, she’d just told him she was more than capable of walking a few miles. No problem.

By the time they got to the gas station, Heather was a mess. She felt dizzy, and once she started leaning against the outside wall of the gas station building, she didn’t want to stand on her own anymore.

“You okay?” Cole took a break from picking out a gas can to ask her.

She nodded and thought of an excuse. “I just need to use the bathroom, I think.”

In the bathroom, she felt even worse. She splashed a little water on her face and arms to try and cool off, but it didn’t seem to be doing any good. She felt like she was coming down with something, and she really hoped that wasn’t the case. The last thing she needed was to be sick when they were on the run like this.

She left the bathroom and browsed the aisles, taking a moment to joke with Cole. “This isn’t a very fancy restaurant you picked, you know.”

He chuckled. “Well, I thought some variety would be nice.” Then he glanced out the windows and frowned. “Unfortunately, it’s going to be dark by the time we get back to the truck, and I have no idea if there’s even a restaurant open around here. I think we’re going to have to delay our fancy dinner.”

Heather crossed her arms in a playful pout. “That’s a poor excuse if you ask me. A cheapskate, that’s what you are.”

“Challenging me, are you? Well, then, pick anything you want from this top-notch eatery, sweetheart. Anything you can carry. We’ll have a picnic on the way back.”

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