Page 5 of Loving Hard on the Highway

I jumped in front of her, forcing her to stop. “What are you going to do? Walk to California?”

“Since you stole my reservation,” she panted. “I have no choice.”

How could she be even hotter when she was upset?

“I’m sorry, ok? I don’t know how that happened. But if you need to get to Cali, we can go… together.” I looked at her and gave her my softest, most charming smile.

She looked at me, eyes glaring, lips pursed, like she wanted to shove my sorry ass into traffic. But then, there it was. The look of realization that she didn’t have a lot of options. And of thoseoptions, walking across the country was the worst one. Her eyes and jaw relaxed, and I knew I had her.

Then she hurled her backpack at me andalmostknocked me into traffic. I tossed her bag over my shoulder as she turned around and practically stomped back to the rental agency. I enjoyed the view, and I didn’t mean the sunny, palm tree-lined street view. This was going to be fun.

Chapter 3

Gabbie

There was a good chance I was about to be murdered by a serial killer. I mean, no way a guy that good-looking was going to offer to take a complete stranger across the country with him. I leaned against the car door, creating a huge gulf between us, just in case I had to jump out if I got serial killer vibes.

At least he smelled nice. The soft sandalwood with a hint of light musk was dreamy. I remembered that scent from our dance the night before. For some reason, I couldn’t stop thinking about it.

“You have any music preference?” he asked.

I shook my head and kept my focus on the view outside my window.

He clicked through a few radio stations, which was weird. I thought he’d put on a playlist from his Lyrix app.

“99.6 coast to coast hits,” chimed from the speaker.

“Let’s give this a try,” he said in an overly friendly voice.

I ignored him.

I was content to pay him no mind all the way to our first stop when I noticed he was staying on I-475.

“Take the Route 14 exit. It goes right to Cali,” I said flatly.

“What?” he scoffed. “Route 14 takes forever. We can hit I-20 in Atlanta.”

“I need to be in Saddleback, Tennessee, tonight, or my friends are going to send the cavalry out for me,” I snapped. “They have a room booked and everything. After that, I can figure out my next move, and you can go on without me.”

“Fine, I’ll drop you off in Saddleback if that’s what you want. But like I said, I’m going to Cali anyway.” He sighed. “Can you relax? You’re going to break the door if you hold on to the armrest any tighter.”

“It’s hard to relax when you might be a psycho serial killer,” I grumbled. “I feel like this is exactly how a slasher film begins. I have no idea who you are.”

“Well, I’m not a serial killer,” he said, looking me right in the eyes for a second before focusing back on the road. “I’m just a guy who works for a tech company in Silicon Valley.”

I peered suspiciously at him. “Last night, you said you were from Miami.”

“No, I said I was up from Miami.” Driving with one hand and waving the other with each word, he explained, “I was…on vacation. I had planned to ride my motorcycle, Reba, back to California, but some drunk had other plans.”

I frowned. “You named your bike Reba?”

“Yes. Which is a perfectly normal thing to do, by the way,” he continued. “And if anything, I should be the one worried about picking you up. It’s a little odd that you have no cell phone, and you have rendezvous in random towns. You won’t use your name or credit cards. Are you running from the law or something?”

He half laughed, but I sat frozen. In a way, that was exactly what I was doing. And I think my silence freaked him out.

“Oh, shit,” he gasped. “Are you running from the law?”

“I’m not a criminal, if that’s what you’re thinking. I’m running from my asshole ex, who has been a cop on the force for almost 20 years.” I turned my gaze back to the road outside my window. As I expected, a slew of questions came.

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