Page 5 of Road Trip With the Ghost Hunter

His brows furrowed while still staring straight ahead. “Yeah.”

That’s it. That’s all he was giving me.

“Right,” I mumbled, tapping my fingers on my bent knee.

Okay, so I needed a better plan. What if I send Benny my location? Does Benny even have an iPhone?Frik.Okay. No. Ithink I remember making fun of him for using some ancient thing that still flips closed. How are those still functional?

“Visiting family?” His deep tenor caused a shiver to melt down my body.

Cool trick, sneaky fucker but I won’t be fooled by your sexiness. I won’t be one of those dumb girls in a horror movie who gets screamed at by people watching the TV.

The distraction of outsmarting a potential murderer couldn’t have prepared me for the full-body onslaught that suddenly tightened my gut. Family. No. I wasn’t visiting family. I had none left. The hand squeezing my knee dug in deep as breathing became harder to do. I could hear his low murmured questions muffled in the background.

My vision wasn’t focused.

I was all alone and I got into a car with a stranger for a long ass twenty hour drive, no one knew how to reach me, where to find me because my people are. All. Dead.

“Shit,” I heard his voice break through as the car veered off the road and lurched us forward as he parked.

My eyes blinked quickly, taking in the side of the highway where cars zoomed by. Thankfully, there wasn’t much traffic coming from my small town. Lucas’s hands unbuckled me, then took my face gently. My body jerked from his warm, calloused touch. I hadn’t felt a hand touch my face since lao lao. The week she left me. Forever.

“Breathe, Li,” his voice rumbled really low. If it wasn’t for his face being this close, I wouldn’t have heard it.

My eyes focused on his. The icy blue with flecks of gray almost swirled like a frozen lake on a clear winter’s day.

“There you go,” he said. “Follow my breathing,” he continued, taking the hand not on my knee and holding it against his chest. His large, strong, barreled chest felt like pure muscle.

His shirt was soft. Softer than I’d have guessed. It was a deep maroon with a patterned texture. My pointer finger subtly grazed one link of the pattern back and forth. Without realizing I was doing it, my breathing mimicked his. I couldn’t tell you how long we sat that way. His chest then took a deep inhale, breaking the rhythm we kept until I was settled.

My eyes slowly trailed from my finger, up his throat that for some insane reason I wanted to take a bite out of. That jolted me back to the present. My eyes snapped up to his; mine were wide, confused, and a bit dazed still.

“Welcome back,” he said, louder than he’d spoken that entire time.

Cataloging our intimate position, I carefully slid my hand out from under his, ignoring how my first thought was to put it back because I missed the heat of it. Scooting my body back against the passenger side window, I swallowed with some difficulty.

Lucas was still over the center console, leaning closer toward me. He studied my face, catching every nuance of expression I desperately wanted to hide.Please, I thought,please ignore what just happened. His eyes stopped at mine for a few seconds before he nodded.

“I saw a cooler,” he randomly started. “Not saying I’ll judge you, but snacks people bring on road trips say a lot about them.” He settled back into his seat before twisting his torso and reaching into the back.

Shocked, my lips twitched with a grin. Was it a coincidence, or did he read me so accurately? Either way, I exhaled with gratitude. I pulled my knees onto the seat and reached into the back to grab my cooler after he grabbed his. Our coolers bumped into each other on the way to the front. It was ridiculous, but perhaps the tension was so heavy that this light moment broke with relief. I giggled. He chuckled softly, letting me pull mine all the way and set it on my lap.

Lucas settled back in his seat again and rested his small camping cooler on the center console. “Alright,” he started. “On the count of three.”

I raised my eyebrow. This was cute. I had to admit. I latched my hand on the cooler cover, ready to reveal what I knew would be the last snacks and drinks he’d expect were in here. It took a lot of self-control to hold back the smirk my lips were begging to show him.

“I have to warn you. I have strong feelings towards those abominations you bought at the gas station.” My face morphed into utter shock and slight offense. “I’m preparing for the worst.”

I narrowed my eyes in challenge, then flicked my eyes to his cooler. “Game on,” I said.

I braced, holding onto my confidence but struggling because my road trip companion just softened his face, drawing my eyes to his lips as they gave a gentle grin.

If he were a murderer, capturing women and embarking on a road trip to their final destination, well, I was so screwed because in that moment, my inner Li saw herself vaulting over the coolers to kiss the crap out of that gorgeous man’s face.

Frik.

CHAPTER FOUR

Lucas

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